Fallen Star (29 page)

Lor flashed into view behind her, wrapped
both arms around her, and flashed out before she could do more than
gasp.

Jillian looked at Odintar. “Did you tell him
to do that?”

“She has to be debriefed and likely kept in
protective custody until we figure out what the hell Nazerel was
talking about.”

Elias nodded, obviously in complete
agreement. “Tell Jett she left with me.” He motioned his men from
the room, leaving Jillian and Odintar alone in the reception
area.

“That was not cool. She was terrified and
now—”

“It couldn’t be helped.” Odintar placed his
hands on her shoulders and kissed the tip of her nose. “I don’t
think Jett saw anything, but Roxie obviously did. The situation had
to be contained before she made things worse.”

Jett returned a few minutes later, his
concerned gaze sweeping the room. “Where’d everyone go? Where’s
Roxie?”

“Her headache got worse,” Jillian told him.
“They have a medication that reverses the effects. She’ll be
released as soon as she’s feeling better.”

“Where’d they take her? I want to make sure
she’s okay.”

“We’ll have her call you as soon as she’s
able,” Odintar told him.

“No way, man. I want to go there.”

“I understand, but it’s a private facility.
No visitors allowed.”

“This is bullshit!” He stomped right up to
Odintar and glared into his eyes. “You’re going to take me there or
I’m calling the media.”

“Roxi will call you in two hours or less.
There is no reason for your hostility.”

The pissing contest was getting them
nowhere. She touched Jett’s arm and waited until her looked at her.
“Jett, you know me. I’m not a stranger. I have a history with this
town. Roxi is going to be fine.”

Gradually a bit of the fight melted from his
posture. “Do you know where they took her?”

“I know you’re worried about her, but I
won’t let anyone harm her.” She looked right into his eyes, meaning
every word. “I’ll make sure she calls you and you can hear it from
Roxie herself.”

“It has to be a video call. Voices are too
easy to fake.”

She looked at Odintar and he nodded. “A
video call in two hours or less. It’s a deal.”

“I really will call the media.” He crossed
his arms over his chest and glared at Odintar.

“There will not be a need.”

She took Odintar by the hand and hurried him
from the shop before the situation could escalate. “And what are we
going to do when Roxie tells us to go screw ourselves?”

He finally smiled. “We’ll cross that bridge
when we come to it.”

Jillian triggered the locks on her car then
slipped in behind the wheel. Odintar joined her, in the front this
time. “Do you know how to drive?”

“I do, but I don’t mind. I gave myself a
headache too.”

After carefully backing out of the parking
space, she headed off down the street. She couldn’t forget the
image of Roxie’s terrified face as Lor appeared out of nowhere and
grabbed her. At least when Odintar first teleported with Jillian,
she’d had some sort of warning.

She was just about to turn onto Tropicana
Blvd when something or someone pulled at her mind. “Did you feel
that?”

“Only because our link is wide open. He’s
trying to reach you.”

The driver behind her laid on his horn, so
she pulled into a small parking lot on the right instead of
entering the busy flow of traffic. “He? How could you tell that was
a man?”

“Much can be learned from energy patterns.
I’ve been deciphering them for years.”

She searched inward, trying to understand
what she’d felt. “It’s gone. Whatever it was is—” Fear and pain
stabbed into her brain and she saw the lighted canopy of Fremont
Street. “He’s downtown. What should we do? Can you tell who he is
or what he wants? All I sense is desperation.”

“Lor and Blayne will meet us there. We’re to
approach with extreme caution.”

Yeah, no shit. No one needed to tell her to
be careful. The real question was should she approach at all. Was
this one of the Shadow Assassins? “Are all of our people accounted
for? Who else could send that signal?”

“His energy feels similar to my mother’s.”
Odintar looked at her meaningfully. “I think he’s battle born.”

To her knowledge there was only one battle
born hybrid left on Earth—her father. “Why would he reach out to
me?”

“It feels like he has no choice.”

Even with the recent restoration efforts,
downtown Las Vegas was a pretty scary place. “All right.” She
turned off the car, put the keys in her pocket and stuffed her
purse under her seat. Then she held out her hand and braced for the
sickening rush of acceleration. “Let’s go.”

The quick jump across town felt like nothing
now that she knew what to expect. They materialized in an alley and
she quickly unbent her knees.

“His signal is weak, but it’s still there,”
Odintar told her. “Can you feel it?”

She closed her eyes and let her emotions
surge, a lifetime of resentment combined with the fundamental
desire to assist those in need. Air swirled up through her,
bringing the sensation closer to the surface. “He’s over
there.”

Checking the street for cross traffic, she
hurried toward the area from which she sensed the signal. A
three-story parking garage formed one side of the alley while the
back side of narrow businesses lined the other. Late-afternoon
shadows had given way to twilight, so she hurried. If they lost the
light completely, they might never find him.

“Trust your abilities,” Odintar urged.
“Focus only on the signal. Tune everything else out.”

Easier said than done. The pavement was
slimy and the scent of rotting garbage and bodily fluids hung heavy
in the air. She had to do this or her father could die. Did she
care? The one and only contribution to her life had been seducing
her mother. Why should she care if his life ended? Shame gave her a
stubborn shake. Every life was precious. She had to help him if she
could.

She paused, tuning out the rank smells and
the distant pulse of muffled music. Air swirled around her, driving
away the stench. She inhaled deeply and let the energy wash over
her. Asshole or not, she needed to find her father.

“There!” She locked on to the signal and
didn’t let go.

Gerrod crouched in a corner created by a
stairwell inside the parking garage. His legs were drawn up to his
chest and one of his feet was bare. The front of his shirt and one
side of his pants were soaked in blood, but the cause of the
bleeding wasn’t obvious.

“You came.” He forced a weak smile. “I
wasn’t sure you would.” His head dropped back against the brick
wall and the signal blinked out.

With a worried cry, she fell to her knees,
amazed by the fear and sorrow surging within her. “Is he dead?”

Odintar quickly scanned him then shook his
head. “Unconscious. He’s extremely weak.”

Suddenly Blayne and Lor stood behind them.
Their big bodies blocked most of the light in the narrow alley.
“Can we move him? We’re too exposed here?”

Odintar examined him more closely, searching
for the cause of the blood. An alloy band encircled his neck.
Odintar gingerly pushed the band upward and blood gushed from a
long nearly surgical incision concealed beneath the band. “Shit!
Someone slit his throat.”

Someone handed him a wad of cloth. Jillian
glanced back and found Lor had taken off his shirt.

Using the shirt as a pressure bandage,
Odintar attempted to stop the bleeding. “This is pointless. Let’s
get him out of here.”

Blayne pushed past her and scooped up her
father as if he were a child. Odintar kept the shirt pressed
tightly against his throat, but blood was already seeping
through.

Odintar motioned toward her with his chin.
“Will you—

“Go,” Lor urged. “I’ve got her.”

She rushed to Lor’s side and he wrapped his
arm around her waist, teleporting with staggering speed. She had
time for one startled gasp and then they arrived inside the
Bunker.

Blayne had carried her father into the
clinic. Uniformed medics rushed around the bed, fighting the
Mystics for much-needed space.

Suddenly Odintar ripped off his T-shirt and
spread his arms. Fire ignited deep inside his dragon sigil, making
the entire mark glow vivid red. Tension rippled up his back then
rolled across his shoulders. Then he shouted, “Get back!”

The medics scrambled out of the way as a
thin stream of Fire arced from Odintar’s fingertip and cauterized
the wound in Gerrod’s throat. The stench of burning flesh filled
the air, but the wound stopped bleeding. Unfortunately the pillow
beside his neck burst into flames. Someone ran for a fire
extinguisher. Odintar switched gears with practiced fluidity,
showering the pillow with Water before the flames could really get
going.

“That’s one way to do it,” one of the medics
muttered with a dry laugh.

“It worked. His blood pressure has
stabilized,” another pointed out as she waved her hand in front of
her face in an effort to dissipate the smell.

“I think we can take it from here,” the
first medic asserted. He was probably a doctor not just a medic. He
seemed personally affronted by Odintar’s actions and the intrusion
into his domain.

“He needs blood and I’m your best bet for a
match. He’s a Rodyte/Bilarrian hybrid.”

The female medic mouthed the words “A what?”
But the doctor didn’t seem surprised by the revelation.

“Kim type his blood. Let’s hope we get
lucky.”

Kim, the female medic, gathered the supplies
and drew a small sample of Odintar’s blood. Jillian hurried to his
side as Kim went into the adjoining lab. “How’s your back? Does it
hurt to activate the sigil?”

He chuckled. “Burns almost as badly as when
she put it there.”

“Well, thank you. I can’t help feeling that
this is important. The Shadow Assassins leave town and he ends up
nearly dead. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences. Someone
tried to kill him. We need to know who and why.”

“And how he got away,” she added with a
helpless shudder.

Kim returned with some sort of vacuum-sealed
kit clutched in her hand. “Doctor Reyes said you’ll have to do.”
She smiled at Odintar. “That’s a direct quote.”

“No doubt it is.”

“Could you move your chair over here by the
bed. Some of these tubes aren’t very long.” She pulled a wheeled
silver tray to the foot of the bed and opened the packages without
removing what was inside. “According to Doctor Reyes, your blood
isn’t a perfect match, but your blood type is tolerated well by
people with the other types.”

“Like a human with O negative blood?”
Jillian crept closer to the bed without getting in Kim’s way.

“Exactly.” She looked at Jillian and then
Gerrod. “You should probably wait in the lounge. This will take at
least an hour.”

“You’re transferring blood from my husband
to my father. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her claim made Odintar smile and Jillian
realized it was the first time she’d referred to him as anything
other than lover.

“If Blayne or Lor can give him energy, that
will help as much as the blood,” Odintar said. “I could use some
too. It’s been one hell of a day.”

“I’ll go find one or the other, or
both.”

Kim tried to conceal her curiosity and
failed.

“First time you’ve worked with Mystics?”
Jillian asked, suddenly feeling quite superior.

Kim nodded. “The orientation doesn’t even
begin to explain what just happened.”

Jillian leaned over and gave Odintar a kiss.
“I’ll be right back.”

“You know where to find me.”

She was nearly out the door when she heard
Kim ask, “Is the image on your back some sort of tattoo?”

Again Jillian smiled. She had learned so
much in just a week and her education had just begun. Soon she’d
have a Bilarrian mentor and access to something called the Wisdom
of the Ages. It sounded like a truly interactive version of the
internet.

Blayne and several soldiers were clustered
in the corridor outside Elias’ office.

Blayne saw her approaching and broke away
from the others. “Lor is catching everyone up. Were they able to
save him?”

“The bleeding has stopped and Odintar is
about to give him more. He asked if someone could feed him
energy.”

“Odintar needs energy or Gerrod needs
energy?”

“Actually both.”

“Not a problem. I can at least get things
started.”

She turned around and headed back toward the
clinic, Blayne at her side.

“Wait.” She skid to a stop. “Roxie needs to
call Jett. If he doesn’t hear from her in under two hours he’s
going to notify the media.”

Blayne chuckled. “And tell them what? He
doesn’t know anything and can prove even less. They’ll think he’s a
nutcase.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and
glared at him. “I promised him I’d make this happen. Where’s Roxie?
I’ll tell her myself.”

“I never argue with that look. Give me a
minute. I’ll have Elias arrange the call.”

“It’s supposed to be a video call.”

He shook his head with a muffled laugh.
“Anything else?” he tossed the question over his shoulder as he
headed off down the hall.

“That will be all—for now.”

He waved without turning around.

She wasn’t even sure what time it was.
Hopefully they were still within the two-hour window.

Blayne returned a few minutes later, but all
playfulness had evaporated from his demeanor. “Elias was not amused
by your assignment. Apparently, Roxie has been giving him hell ever
since she arrived.”

“Go Roxie,” she whispered under her breath,
earning a startled look from Blayne.

Kim was back in the lab when they reached
the clinic. Odintar sat beside the bed, his head resting back
against the wall. A blood-filled tube ran from the bend of his
elbow into a small device. The device hummed and a small divided
screen displayed several sets of numbers that meant nothing to
Jillian. Another tube ran from the opposite side of the device and
into Gerrod’s arm.