Adam (28 page)

“Unfortunately drugs remove all manner of logic. With this particular drug, some of the mothers don’t even realize they are pregnant for most of their term ... or they simply don’t care.”

“And so she cries. My future mate. A female you say will be a powerful Druid one day if she survives this withdrawal. And I will see that she does.”

Aaron moved to find entrance into the nursery, but Corrine held him back by his arm.

“You can’t touch her, Aaron. Even as young as she is, you will very likely trigger those changes that will make her Druid, causing her to become dependent on you for the rest of her life.”

“So? Is that not how it should be?”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps she should be allowed to form a life as an individual first, before she feels the urge to become part of a pair.”

Corrine could tell by the darkness flooding his handsome visage that Aaron didn’t like the idea at all.

“Look what leaving her in the care of humans has done for her so far,” he said bitterly. “And you cannot dangle her in front of me like bait, she who will be my salvation, and then force me to leave her unprotected amongst—” He came short of calling humans “savages,” but the unspoken word hung in the air. “I am sorry,” Aaron said quickly. “I know you are human.”

“No offense is taken, Aaron. Your arguments are strong, unfortunately. We are very thoughtless and sometimes cruel with our own. And I don’t suggest you leave her here abandoned and unprotected as she is.”

Through the glass a plume of dark smoke suddenly appeared, the suddenness of it and the no doubt painful change in air pressure setting every single infant in the room to screaming. Kane reached out to touch the child in question, and before anyone could see him, he disappeared with her.

“There,” she soothed the Demon beside her, who was itching to protect the girl child. “Kane is taking her somewhere safe where she will be raised by Demon parents in the Demon world until such time as you feel it is wise to introduce yourself to her. Perhaps in about twenty years or so.”

“That is not long at all,” Aaron said with a sigh of marked relief.

That made Corrine chuckle. Humans and Demons saw the passing of time so differently.

The lights in the hospital had been flickering angrily ever since their arrival, and were now fluctuating so wildly it looked as though they would lose power at any moment.

“Come on. Let’s go,” Corrine encouraged him. “Between your influence on the technology around us and the fact that a baby is now missing from the nursery, we had best leave.”

“Of course.”

Aaron reached out to take Corrine’s hand, and in a burst of dust they disappeared from the hospital corridor.

Sometime later Aaron left Corrine in downtown Tokyo, where her husband had promised to take her out for a genuine Japanese dinner. Aaron the Earth Demon had agreed with her decision to keep the baby girl’s foster family a mystery for now so he would not be tempted to interfere with her upbringing. But Corrine had a feeling he would be on her doorstep soon, fussing at her for the information. It really wouldn’t matter too much. The foster parents she had chosen were powerful and strong-willed, and Aaron would have his hands full trying to get past them before they felt the time was appropriate for her to meet her would-be mate.

She felt compassion for Aaron. He had come to Corrine as Noah’s new laws demanded of him, to have the Matchmaker seek his mate. Corrine had been learning the hard way that she would not always be successful in her search for specific Druids, however. Perhaps the Druid mate for the Demon in question had died or perhaps the mate had not been born yet. And then there were a number of other things that could go wrong or throw up an obstacle in the seeking process. Often it was the mental complexity of the Demon in question, the Demon’s subconscious working against itself. And more recently she had realized that perhaps that Demon was not meant to find a Druid mate. Perhaps that Demon’s soul mate was another type of Nightwalker breed completely. She did not have the power to find those mates. At least she didn’t have that power yet. She was stretching herself, trying to see if she could do it ... if she could figure out the path to that kind of ability. If she could find that power within herself, then she would be a true Matchmaker, with no obstacles in her way and no limitations to the mates she could find.

How beautiful that would be.

And that was why, after dinner, she was going to visit the Queen, Kestra. Kestra had a remarkable power that allowed her not only to map out the current abilities of a Nightwalker, but also to see that person’s future abilities, and perhaps even guide them toward new powers. The one constant in the Demon and Druid races, as Corrine understood it, was that they never stopped growing in power and ability. Even Gideon, the Ancient, who was over a thousand years old, had learned the way to a new ability. And this was thanks to Kestra. Oh, he would have likely found the way on his own over many, many years of testing and practicing, but Kestra had dramatically cut down that learning curve.

Corrine was excited and nervous at the same time. What if Kestra saw nothing in her abilities that could lead her where she wanted to go? How could she truly call herself a Matchmaker if she could only make Demon/Druid matches? And if she could go beyond Demon and Druid, did that mean other Nightwalkers would come to her door seeking for a mate?

“Oh my God. It’ll be a full-time job.”

And protecting her had already become Kane’s full-time job, it seemed. All of her consultations were now conducted with Kane right outside the door, making sure everyone inside was behaving themselves. If she cried out for him, he was always a quick teleport away. Ever since the fiasco with Noah losing control in his mad efforts to obtain Kestra, Kane refused to take any chances with her safety. Perhaps he wasn’t as old and as strong as some of the Demons that came to her, and perhaps he might not win against them in a head-to-head, but he was damn well going to give it his all.

And she loved him for that. For that and a thousand other reasons. She had worried early on, a bit secretly, that they might grow a little bit bored of each other as time went on. That it would be exhausting being in each other’s brains all of the time. Instead the very opposite had proved true. There wasn’t all that wasted time wandering around wishing for this and that from her man. The minute something occurred to her, he heard it and responded. And vice versa. It had to be the most unselfish, reciprocal, and generous relationship she’d ever known.

And now here she was, in the middle of the overwhelming city of Tokyo, where she didn’t know a single word of Japanese and kind of stood out like a sore thumb with her wild curls of red hair and her obvious touristy behavior. And this just because she’d had the passing thought earlier that she would love to eat and shop in Tokyo one day. Kane had suggested there was no time like the present, since they were so close.

So here she was, gazing into outrageous storefront windows, some with live moving people in them, showing off fashions and jewels. Corrine stared and watched and didn’t care if she was playing the American tourist.

“Oh, excuse me,” someone said after bumping into her.

Corrine instantly picked up on the sound of English, after spending nearly thirty minutes immersed in the Japanese chatter of people on their cell phones or having conversations she didn’t have a hope of understanding. Kane would be there soon enough, but for the moment it was a relief to make a familiar connection.

“You speak English?” she asked the athletic-looking brunette. She was fair-skinned and willowy, her hair cut at short angles, shaping the dramatic bone structure of her beautiful face.

“Yes,” she said with a smile. “First time in Tokyo?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m getting better at traveling, but it still amazes me what a culture shock some places can be. But not in a bad way. Look at all of this! There’s so much light.”

“I know.” The brunette didn’t seem as impressed. Clearly she was well traveled and very familiar with her surroundings.

“Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hold you up,” Corrine said apologetically.

“Not at all. I’m the one who almost plowed you down.” She stepped closer, smiling with a strange sort of discomfort. It was the first indication Corrine had that she wasn’t being entirely genuine. “I have a few moments,” she said. “Can I help you do a little shopping or something? I love to shop.”

“Well, actually I’m waiting for my husband,” Corrine said, her feeling of unease growing. She couldn’t figure out why she was uneasy, but she was learning more and more to go with her instincts.

“It will only be a few minutes. We can go in this store right here,” the brunette said softly.

And just like that, the pitch in her voice seemed to change. She met Corrine’s eyes directly, their bottomless brown suddenly compelling. Corrine felt drawn in and she wondered, with a mental laugh, why she had been so uptight about the generosity of a stranger. She really was so pretty and so sweet. Truly harmless.

“Come with me, Corrine,” the woman said in dulcet tones that seemed to defy the noise and hustle going on all around them. All those distractions faded away as Corrine connected to this stranger in such a soulful way.

“What’s your name?” Corrine asked with a genuine hunger to know. She suddenly wanted to know everything about her.

“Sana,” she replied. “How pretty you are, Corrine,” Sana said, reaching to stroke a graceful pair of fingertips down the side of the redhead’s cheek. “You want to come with me right now, don’t you?”

“Oh yes,” Corrine agreed.

No!

In her head, the shout of the voice she knew as well as her own was cold and sharp, shocking like icy water dashed across her senses. Corrine stepped back suddenly, surprised to see how close she had gotten to Sana. They were practically embracing.

No, sweetheart! Look away from her eyes and do not meet them again,
Kane instructed her sharply.
She is a Vampire and is trying to mesmerize you with her mind. And no doubt she is realizing this instant that you are breaking free of her spell. You need to get away from her!

Corrine felt her heart jolt into overdrive as an aggressive change washed down Sana’s body. Corrine looked away from her and desperately sought some kind of safety. But what safety could there possibly be for a defenseless Druid facing off against a powerful Vampire? And Corrine was no idiot. She knew there was only one reason a Vampire would want to lure her away.

The only thing she had going for her was the fact that they were in a crowd of humans. As a rule Vampires didn’t do things that might expose their true nature to the human public.

But rogue Vampires didn’t really much care about Vampire rules and regulations, and she was willing to bet this one could give a merry shit whether attacking her in public drew some attention.

“Touch me, and the Demon King and all his brethren will hunt you into the ground. You, Sana. Personally. My husband will see to that,” Corrine promised in a low hiss of threat.

The Vampire smiled. She clearly didn’t seem to care about the prospect of being the target of all Demons everywhere.

“I’m going to devour you,” she said in a low sort of growl.

Then she reached out and grabbed Corrine by the collar of her shirt, jerking her up close against her body. Sana opened her mouth, flexing a wicked-looking set of fangs.

Then she jerked sharply, her body turning a little oddly.

Suddenly she seemed to dissolve away right before Corrine’s shocked eyes. And as the Vampire disappeared, a second woman appeared, little dots of black-and-white at first, like a low-resolution photograph viewed too close. Slowly her image focused into the picture of a small woman with exotic features, eyes of indeterminate color, and long, black and gray hair.

The Vampire was nowhere to be seen.

“There’s a pack more of them right around the corner. They’ll be on us in a second. Come with me!”

I don’t know who this is! I can’t even tell what she is! I am coming, Corrine. I’m almost there!

She could feel his imminent arrival. She knew he was close and rushing to get to her.

“What ... ?”

“Ah hell, Corrine, why do you always have to over-think things?” the young woman said with exasperation. Then she grabbed Corrine by the wrist. The sensation that came over Corrine was like turning into champagne, little bits of herself fizzing and bubbling away. Before she faded completely, she saw a cadre of Vampires rushing at her from all directions. But their grasping hands went right through her and the mysterious woman. Then she was gone in a swirl of white and black. When her body rushed back together, she found herself on another street in Tokyo, this one perhaps only blocks away from her previous location. She was struck by a wave of incredible nausea.

“That will pass,” the dark-haired girl said with scant compassion. But to be fair, she was distracted by checking their surroundings for any further threat. “Kane is almost here. Instants away. He will be happy to know that this time he wasn’t too late.” Her strangely shaded eyes fixed on Corrine’s for a moment. “This probably won’t make sense to you for a long time. If ever. Just know that you have avoided danger. You are safe. That’s all that matters.”

Then a huge shift in air pressure heralded the thunderous appearance of Corrine’s mate, the black cloud of sulfuric smoke accompanying him out of control as it tended to be when he was upset or emotionally stressed. His skills as a Mind Demon altered the perceptions of all the humans nearby, so that they saw none of it for what it was. And by the time the smoke cleared and his arms wrapped around her, the mysterious dark-haired girl was gone.

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Corrine demanded as her husband swept her up tight to his body and prepared to teleport them far away and to better-assured safety.

“A hell of a guardian angel,” Kane said, and he breathed a sigh of relief into her beautiful riot of red hair.

Now that he had hold of her, nothing could hurt her.

He teleported them away.