Ash to Embers (Courting Shadows) (22 page)

"I asked to whom you belong. It would be rude not to answer."

Sio looked Tian dead in the eyes. "I belong to the goddess."

Whatever she'd been expecting it hadn't been that. The freaky Deity maelstrom it kicked up ground against her already tenuous grasp on consciousness.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news Gargantua, but
our
goddess turned centuries ago. She no longer lays claim." Aiteas was having trouble keeping the seriousness from sifting back into his tone. Tian realized that it was a first since she'd known him.

"From you maybe," Sio said.

His voice licked tremors up her spine. Steam seeped from her skin even as she scrambled to control it. Aiteas watched her reaction. Then a smile curled the corners of his mouth.

"Well, well," he said. "I do love a curious turn of events."

"Look mate, I think we've maxed out our quota on curious events for the night, so how's about unsticking the road so we can go home and come up with something to amuse you another time?"

Belladonna hissed at Ceyla. The dried remains of Sio's blood flaked off her angry grimace and rained down in flecks onto the side console of the door. "Even the halflings are so entitled."

Aiteas patted the top of her cotton candy plume. "Ceyla, do you know why your cell gets such welcoming passage and helpful tidbits of information while in our territories?"

"Tian gives you her blood." There was a disapproving undercurrent to the statement that silenced the quiet murmurs from the Tribe and gained their rapt attention.

"
She
respects the essence of Faerie in all its forms," Aiteas said.

"Tian has no interest in her own well-being or existence. She does what's necessary to get the job done. She's the horror story the Pureblood's use to gain compliance. Doesn't give you the right to take advantage."

"If you're so troubled by the sacrifice of your nearest and dearest, perhaps you would prefer to take her place?"

"Since when have you earned that you lousy git?"

"So it's enough to be appalled on her behalf, but not so important that you would spill of your own vein."

"Piss off, you want a sodding liter, take it."

"Ugh," Belladonna said wrinkling her small nose. "No one's interested in the poison of a demon whore."

Ceyla lunged across the seat, but Tian got to the pixie first, slamming her dagger through the female's right wing.

"Stop talking," Tian said through clenched teeth. She glanced back at Ceyla. "You good?"

"If by 'good' you mean I'm level enough not to lose my temper and rain an apocalyptic plague of demons down on San Francisco then yeah, I'm fucking ace."

Belladonna's bubblegum pink lips were white with pain, but she cocked her chin. "Eamon should have left you where he found you, mongrel." She threw a pointed sneer at Aiteas. "I never did understand why you chose to give the information that allowed her release, cousin. If I ever get the chance to return her to Angus Og, I will, just to make a point."

Tian removed the dagger to avoid a psychotic episode that ended with pixie sushi. The threat was too tempting. She couldn't afford to put herself any further out of Eamon's good graces without setting off a dangerous series of events.

"I'll remember that."

"My cousin forgets herself," Aiteas said. "Angus Og is a monster. He always has been. Any attempt to make good on such a threat would see you entertaining in his Brugh Belladonna. I'll gift wrap you myself."

Belladonna looked chastened, as if she'd realized she'd gone too far and didn't know how to take it back. "They still haven't paid tribute for the extra passengers," the small female grumbled.

"No one asked you, bint," Ceyla said, scorching the remaining bit of her cigarette, and taking an angry drag. The smoke sifted in tense tendrils from her open mouth.

"Thanks to your earlier indiscretion, cousin mine, we are owed nothing," Aiteas answered.

"And if you were?" Tian rallied against the lightheaded spins of exhaustion. "What is it that you want, Aiteas?"

He considered her. The quiet whispers from the tribe were overwhelmed by the mass shushing that grew in response. "This car reeks of old magicks. It tastes of knowledge, visceral truth that runs soul deep and sifts away in the first light of dawn. I yearn to relearn that which has been forgotten. Let me taste you Tian, you smell more than yourself, or more yourself, than before."

Tian licked her lips. It was a nervous gesture. "What point are you asking to take from?" Her voice sounded hollow.

"No," Sio said.

Aiteas hesitated, clearly a first for him, before he turned back to Tian. "Your mouth."

"I said no."

Aiteas stared at Sio with the rapid calculation of a politician before breaking into a haughty smile. The tension between the two built causing the rest of the vehicle's occupants to shift under the discomfort of it.

"Would you prefer I ask to take from her breast?" Aiteas bated.

A dark look slid under Sio's features that caused the lazy smile on Atieas' face to slip.

"I already told you, the answer is no, but I bleed just fine. I'll donate in her place. You have my permission if you think you're man enough not to make a scene like your writhing cohort."

Aiteas looked startled. "What makes you think that I would have any interest in your fluids,
human
?"

Ceyla was quiet as she chain smoked beside them, blowing thick plumes of toxins out the driver side window.

"Curiosity. Whatever else happens, Aiteas, you're not touching her and I won't offer again. What's your answer?" Sio said.

"What's your name?"

"Do you always answer one question with another?"

"Not always. Your turn."

"Sio. What's your answer?"

"Bleed for me Sio."

His head felt stuffed with cotton and the murmur skirting the shadows in the back of his brain was new and wouldn't go away. Tian was watching him with a nebulous look that he found way too appealing. She was still sitting in his lap, even though she'd scooted as close to the dashboard as possible. Funny, before he'd met her he would have said that it was physically impossible to come from a kiss. He hadn't, but it had been too close for comfort. She hit him with an earnest stare that vibrated the molecules in his bone marrow.

"You don't have to do this," she said. A slow flush reasserted itself under his gaze, spilling upward from her neckline, sliding under her skin like a storm cloud.

"I know."

Sio tore his eyes away. The last thing he needed was to get distracted by the things he wanted to do to her. He bit down on his lip, dragging it against his front teeth. The sharp copper tang that hit his tongue was gamey and unmistakable. He glared over at Aiteas to escape the nagging impulse to claim the female in his lap and attempted to gauge the other male's reaction to the anti-climactic glory of his blood-letting.

Scarlet eyes regarded him with a disconcerting level of attentiveness. There was no discernible change to the set of the pixie's face, but for an unfathomable reason Sio got the impression the guy was nervous.

"It's not getting any fresher."

Aiteas raised a manicured brow and managed to look haughty under all of the design work sketched into his face. "I'd have thought you would have chosen a more innocuous site."

Sio could feel his stubborn streak start to boil. "You're the one that picked it, tough guy. Not my problem if you're feeling shy, but it's your call. Take it or leave it."

The space around the Navigator burst into an uproar of excited whispers and nervous giggles. Sio was shoved against the seat by a blanket of invisible force. He choked on a curse, worked to avoid tonguing the tear in his lower lip, and struggled under the pressure while Aiteas took his sweet time.

Bright green sparks cascaded like a waterfall from the pixie's bizarre moss colored hair as the rapidly beating wings created enough current to collect them, spin them up, and fling them around the cab like a swarm of deranged fireflies. The Ooh's and Ahh's from their audience did nothing to mute the weirdness quotient of the moment. Sio was drowning in the sharp smells of eucalyptus and cut grass.

"If you insist," Aiteas said. His tone was more intimate than necessary.

The disconcerting weight of a bare foot touched down on Sio's collarbone, but the sensation was overshadowed by the invisible hands that cupped his face and tilted his head back. An unseen mouth descended on his own and only the slight tingling of the wound indicated Aiteas was physically involved.

The Demi-fae kissed him with lips and teeth and tongue, laving the abrasion with a miniature scarlet mouth while the invisible pout went to work in a decidedly un-platonic manor. If he'd never met Tian he'd have been impressed by the bastard's skill. As it stood though, Sio found, for the first time in what felt like years, his physical response was reassuringly neutral.

Knowing it was a mistake before he did it, he glanced at her. She glowed in the soft light from the dashboard, and was in full on avoidance mode, staring out the window. His pulse slammed through his body like a pinball machine. His second mistake was giving into the desire to touch her. He did it anyway, grabbing her wrist hard enough to get her attention. He hadn't expected the invisible pressure to let up enough to grant any range of motion let alone a touch.

Masochistic motherfucker.

He might as well have stuffed his finger into a light socket. Her head whipped around and her eyes went wide. The wild sense of unfurling was back, pouring through his skin and spilling up through his mouth like wine.

The small feet on Sio's collarbone went molten. They burned through his ruined T-shirt and branded the shit out of his skin. Sio swore while Aiteas lost his footing, and tumbled down into Tian's lap. The pixie landed arching into a grand mal seizure, with his wings pinned beneath him. The sparks coming out of his hair made him a road flare. The green flames died as if he'd been doused and Aiteas collapsed into a boneless heap on Tian's thigh. They all leaned in.

"Goddess," Ceyla said drawing out the word. "I feel like we should poke him with a stick or something. Find out if he's dead."

Belladonna hissed in disapproval where she hovered on the side console of the door.

"Give it a minute," Tian said, ignoring the cotton candy nightmare along with her own advice and prodding the body in the ribs with an index finger.

The air around them churned with silent malice until Aiteas' scarlet eyes popped wide. He gasped, dragging in breath as if he'd spent the last twelve minutes drowning. The unmarked patches of his skin were flushed the bright crimson of a boiled lobster. A ridiculous smile plastered itself across his face as he reached down, grabbed his cock, flipped over and made his way to hands and knees. His head hung down below his shoulders. He shook, laughing hysterically between pants, until his whole body had doubled over.

Tian slid a gentle finger under his chin and raised his face. The prick's eyes were radioactive. "Aiteas," she said. "Don't think I won't bill you for the dry-cleaning." He blinked those glowing orbs up at her, and burst into another round of exuberant laughter.

"Not too human after all, mate. Look at him, he's faced," Ceyla said, grinning and elbowing Sio in the ribs.

"Now that's what I'd call a little death," Aiteas said, wiping away tears. A manic burst of cheering and hysterical laughter from his Tribe enveloped the vehicle. "I think I had a heart attack," he shouted. The mini mental patients cheered louder.

A horse-faced female with a wild shock of bright yellow hair and deep blue wings tumbled through the open sun roof with a squeak and hovered over Tian's lap, seeking permission to land. Tian shrugged and the cassette tape clad pixie touched down on bended knee next to her king.

"My lord," she said. "You smell delectable."

Aiteas gripped her chin and shifted her focus toward Sio with a sloppy grin. "What does that look like to you, Immarrie?"

She appraised Sio with bright indigo eyes. "Sex," she answered, making a comical clawing gesture with her hands. Several members of the tribe, both male and female, swooned, screaming in agreement as if he were the Beatles. Aiteas paused and looked up at him.

"He does actually, doesn't he?" the male said before dissolving into yet another fit of giggles. "But no! That my Gate of Haight, will be our most guarded secret in centuries."

The resulting cacophony was deafening. Tian was leaning on the dash, looking like she was about to pass out any second. Sio opened his mouth to say something, but Ceyla beat him to it.

"That's lovely, really." She pursed her lips before continuing. "So how's about ungluing the car then? Please."

Aiteas leveraged himself to a standing position using the shoulder of the blonde next to him. He leveled a slender finger at Ceyla's nose, but couldn't keep a straight face. "It's been unstuck since I had my
moment
. Tits on a troll, I feel outstanding. Anyone else feel so peachy keen?"

There was another roar of delight from the tribe as the stereo system turned itself back on. Aiteas shimmied his hips to the music. "You sure you stuffy bastards don't want to stay and have some fun?"

"This is dumb already." Belladonna climbed up the side of the window and hurled herself over.

"Night like this one should be ripe with Neo-Hippies to torment," Tian said.

Aiteas clapped and laughed so hard he staggered. "Oh yeah," he sighed. "I do love pissing those patchouli stink sons of bitches off. Very well, be unconscious if you must, and Sio, tiger, pop by for a visit anytime."

"Sure," Sio said. He watched the lunatic night lights lift off at varying intervals and shoot out into the darkness. Aiteas was the last to leave. He winked, blew a kiss at Tian, and darted out of the cab, still chuckling to himself.

"They're completely insane, aren't they?"

Tian shrugged, a charming half smile curled the corner of her mouth. "Who isn't?"

"Demented," Ceyla affirmed.

There was a beat of awkward silence where no one knew what else to say. Eventually, Tian cleared her throat and looked at Ceyla. "We still parked in the middle of the road?"