Immune (2 page)

I froze in mid-reach for the doorknob. “Their own kind? You mean the ones who would slaughter them?”

Milly held her ground. “You might be immune to the werewolf, but I’m not, and neither is Giselle. You forget that those around you aren’t immune the way you are. Even if he wouldn’t act in malice, all it would take is a simple paper cut and a little drool— something Alex is never short on—and I’d be furry for the rest of my life.” Milly tossed her hair and continued. “Never mind the fact that a Harpy is hardly safe for anyone to be around. They are not known for their kindness. It’s why the black Coven spelled them in the first place, instead of just hiring them.”

I shook my head; I was so angry I couldn’t even answer her. Both Eve and Alex had nowhere else to go, their ‘own kind’ didn’t want them. Worse, their ‘own kind’ had put out death warrants on them both. The last of her words sunk in and I lifted my eyes to Milly’s. “How do you know how the Black Coven was doing things?”

Giselle sat swaying in her seat, the coffee in her hand sloshing over and splashing onto the table.

Milly’s eyes flashed. “Don’t question me, Rylee. I was kicked out of my Coven over my ties with you.”

My jaw dropped. “What the hell are you talking about?” At least she had the grace to flush. “Your precious Coven was trying to kill you; have you forgotten already?”

She strode across the room, helped Giselle to her feet and headed out of the kitchen. Over her shoulder, she cast her final words, green eyes flashing.

“Don’t make me take more drastic steps, Rylee. This may be your home, but I will protect myself in whatever manner I see fit. And if that means getting rid of your pets personally, then so be it.”

“M
other fucking whore!” I shouted to the grey, snow filled clouds overhead as I stomped out to the barn. Of all the times for Milly to decide she wasn’t comfortable with Alex and Eve, this was not it. Lately, she’d been moody, not sleeping well, not to mention the whole Coven trying to kill her business. No doubt she was on edge, but this was ridiculous. And the timing was oh-so-shitty.

I needed to find this kid, and then book it for New Mexico. I could feel the time ticking down. A week was going to be tight, and I had a bad feeling it wouldn’t be enough. At least not enough to deal with whatever the hell was going on. For a brief moment I considered contacting O’Shea. I could use some help with this, but I immediately banished the thought. Let him and Milly go their way, and I’d go mine. A clean break was what I needed if I was going to get over whatever it was I was feeling for the agent. I banged the barn door open, not bothering to be subtle about it, and startled Eve awake. My bad.

A grumpy, thousand pound, half-awake Harpy is not a pleasant sight. The body of a bird, torso, breasts and head of a woman (albeit large enough not to look out of proportion to the rest of her), she sported a wicked beak from the lower half of her face. Talons gripped the bales of hay she’d been sitting on, crushing them easily. She hissed at me, her beak clacking; her large golden eyes unfocussed as she lunged my way.

“Eve, stop!” I yelled, dropping into a roll and then diving under a swipe of her claws. Using her name should have snapped her out of this, but for some reason, she didn’t respond. Dodging and diving between barn posts, I kept her at bay. “Eve, wake up!” I didn’t want to hurt her, I was her mentor now, the last thing I should have been doing was sticking her with one of my blades. Besides, I suspected being wounded would only make her more pissy; not the effect I was going for. I pressed up against the back of the barn, the big doors behind me creaking before I finally pulled a sword.

Letting out a screech, the Harpy came at me, beak wide open, her eyes shut. I raised my sword, prepping myself for the blow.

A flurry of black and silver whipped between us.

“Evie, bad!”

Eve froze and blinked twice, then looked down at me and my rescuer. “Alex?”

He frowned up at her, and then struck one claw over the other. “Bad, Evie. No hurt, Rylee.”

She looked over at me, then bobbed her head, eyes clearing as she came fully awake. “I’m sorry. I was having a bad dream about a demon and thought I could smell him.”

“No shit, you were having a bad dream.” I grumbled, sliding my sword back into its sheath. “Alex, you’re going to come with me, we’ve got some work to do and then we’re going to see Dox.”

Amber eyes lit up as he started to hop and jump around my legs like an excited puppy. “Brownies!” He yelped.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

I fingered the gold bracelet in my pocket. I couldn’t ask Eve to wear it, not after the spell the black Coven had used to control her consisting of a large ruby buried in her foot. There was still an imprint in her flesh where it had been buried and used to control her. “Eve, you will have to find somewhere else to roost while I’m gone.”

Alex frowned up at me. “Evie come?”

“No, Eve can’t come. I can’t hide a Harpy.”

She sat back and preened her feathers. They’d gone from a greasy brown to a glistening sable and tan with a little extra care. “You are my mentor. I should come with you. To help, and to learn.”

I held back a groan, teeth clenched. “I can’t hide you, Eve. You’re too big.” I rubbed my hands over my face, the air around me crackling with cold. “Listen, I have to go to New Mexico after my salvage. You could go ahead of me, stay with my friend Dox until I get there. Can you do that?”

She paused in her grooming. “I can fly quickly. I can be there in no time.”

Okay, that was one problem dealt with. What I would do with her once I got to New Mexico was beyond me, but at least Milly wouldn’t be doing anything drastic. I put a hand over my eyes; the only thing that would make this day worse would be O’Shea showing up to see Milly. I didn’t think I was ready yet to watch them play kissy face.

The sound of a vehicle pulling into the yard jerked my head up. I peeked out the barn door to see O’Shea step out of a black SUV. Damn, I just had to think of the worst-case scenario, didn’t I?

Dressed as a typical FBI agent, he wore a dark suit under a long black trench coat, sunglasses and with his raven-coloured hair slicked back. Man in black and all that jazz. Not so typical in that he was one of a very few people that knew the supernatural existed, I mean, truly ‘I believe in dragons’ kind of knew.

“Shit.”

Alex peeked out the crack in the door below me. “Man with gun.”

“Yes, now shush.”

I should have been prepping to leave, should have been piling my gear into the Jeep and peeling out of here. But O’Shea was walking up the steps and knocking on the door. A terrible, masochistic side of me wanted to see them together. Only then would it be real, only then could I—maybe—let go of this silly hope he might have more than professional feelings for me. Stupid, I know.

Milly came to the door, still in her robe, which gaped open completely with a gust of wind; even I could see her bare breasts — there was no way he’d miss them at that range.

“Nipples.” Alex muttered.

Good grief, no man was safe from her charms.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Milly leaned over, pressing herself against O’Shea before pointing to the barn. He glanced over his shoulder and I pulled back from the door.

“Time to go,” I said. So there, I’d seen them together. I knew they’d seen each other over the last week. Milly had said it was for coffee, but that was just one of her many code words for sex. It didn’t bother me. Nope, not one bit.

Alex bunted his head into my hand, “Rylee sad.”

A single deep breath. “Nope. Not sad.” I scratched him behind one floppy ear. “We’ve got to go now. Eve . . .” I turned to see her head nearly on the ground, large blobs of moisture gathered in the corner of her eyes.

A crying Harpy? I did not have time for this! Doing my best to keep my voice even, I asked, “What’s wrong, Eve?”

“You do not want me now, I am a burden.”

The barn door creaked open and a swirl of cold air and snow whipped in.

“Adamson, we’ve got a problem.”

“Damn, just add it to the pile,” I snapped, striding over to Eve, softening my voice. “Listen, I do want you with me, but do you really want to wear this?” I pulled the large bracelet out of my pocket. “It’s just like Alex’s collar, you wouldn’t be seen for what you truly are; in fact, it would actually change you, making you small enough to ride in the Jeep with me.”

She recoiled as if I’d slapped her, wings going wide as she scrambled away from me, knocking over bales of hay and generally making a ruckus that could probably be heard back at the house. I waited for her to settle down, my hands on my hips.

“You would spell me!”

Shaking my head, I answered her. “No, that’s why I didn’t suggest this. It’s why I would prefer you would go ahead of me to wait for us. That’s it.”

Alex sat between us and flopped a wave at O’Shea. “Hi ho. Alex going for car ride.” He grinned, tongue lolling out between his teeth.

“Where are you going? Milly wouldn’t tell me.” O’Shea asked, coming to stand beside me. I could smell him, even over the hay and dust of the barn. His cologne tickled my nose and made me want to bury my face into the crook of his neck. I glanced over and it was as if the cold wind from outside snuck in and whipped up my spine. “You’ve got lipstick on you.”

He grunted, lifted a hand to the small bare patch of skin on his neck, and wiped off the stain but said nothing about it. Fine. I could pretend like I didn’t care too.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Shifting away from him, I blew out a breath. “Because right now I’m dealing with a rather more pressing issue.” I pointed at the Harpy who was all but cowering in the corner. It was so easy to forget that while she was huge and could kill with ease, she was still a child; she still needed the basics: love, attention, care.

“Eve, the only way you can come with me right now is if you wear this.” I held the gold bracelet up again and she hissed at me. “If you don’t want to come, that’s fine. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to. You can go ahead on your own to meet me.”

I laid the bracelet on the ground. “You remember where I’m going?” She bobbed her head.

“You would let me decide?”

“Yes. Either way is fine. Just leave when I leave.”

O’Shea touched my arm, tugging lightly on my leather jacket. “We need to talk.”

“We can talk here.”

“I don’t want an audience.” Like a werewolf and a Harpy would have anyone to spill their guts to. Still, I followed him out of the barn, albeit reluctantly. As the door shut behind us, he stepped so close he was in my personal space—as in our bodies were brushing up against one another. In the past, he’d used this trick for intimidation, but it didn’t feel like that was the case now. I moved back and he followed until my back was pressed against the wooden boards of the barn.

“Hey, mind giving me some room here?”

“No, we need to talk. You’ve been avoiding me and Agent Valley. He wants an answer. He needs to know if you will work for him. The AA division could use you; they’re floundering trying to play catch up with the supernatural.”

I couldn’t stop the words, they slipped out before my filter kicked in. “And what do you want?”

The cold, wind, and world seemed to disappear around us. All I could see was his midnight dark eyes, the line of his jaw and lips. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“I want . . .”

Alex took that moment to burst out of the barn, spinning as he chased his tail. Before we could move, he rammed into our legs, knocking us both to the ground. That’s what I get for letting myself be distracted.

The ground was frozen, hard, basically unforgiving. And it hurt like hell when my back slammed into it, O’Shea landing on top of me. The air rushed out of me in a whoosh, the weight of O’Shea not helping one bit.

“Off,” I managed. O’Shea did a push up over my body and stood, then offered me a hand.

I lay there waiting for my lungs to reconnect with my brain. Finally, I was able to suck in a breath of cold air that burned its way down my throat. Ignoring O’Shea’s outstretched hand, I rolled to my knees, then stood.

Alex was already at my Jeep, hopping and jumping in his excitement, claws digging into the paint as he worked at popping the handle open. It was hard for me to get mad at him; he didn’t mean any harm. Milly’s words came back to me. A part of me knew she was right; it would take a seemingly harmless bite from Alex and Milly would be turning fuzzy, maybe on a permanent basis. The other part of me wanted to smack her upside the head. She was the best goddamn witch around and she was afraid of one silly, submissive werewolf? Something was way off with her; I just had to figure out what. Add it to the list of problems.

“A penny for your thoughts,” O’Shea asked, holding out a polished coin to me. “They look dark and brooding. Are you going on a salvage?”

Ah, if only it were as simple as returning a child home. I lied, hating to do so. As much as I had only moments before been considering his help, I knew my mind would only be thinking about him and Milly in bed. Nope, not a good place for the psyche when on a salvage.

“No. Not today.”

I walked toward the root cellar. The entranceway was at the back of the house. Flakes of snow drifted down, the first of the year. It was later than usual. Maybe global warming, but more likely some damn weather elemental had its knickers in a knot.

“Adamson.”

My shoulders tightened when he used my surname. It was the only thing I had left from my past, from parents who didn’t want me and a little sister I was accused of murdering.

“Don’t call me that.”

His footsteps faltered. I slid the bar back on the old root cellar and flung the doors open. Dug out under the house, the cellar was a cool dry place, perfect to keep weapons and gear clean and ready for use. After trotting down the cement stairs, I breathed in deep. There was still the faint scent of smoke from the Black Coven trying to kill me and Alex, but there was also the hint of onions and some other vegetable I couldn’t identify from the previous use of the area.