Tempest’s Legacy (8 page)

“Now you listen to me, dog breath. I am
not
a child. I am
not
weak.”

To emphasize my point, I gave him another hard jab to the sternum. He took another startled step back.

“I know when to stay out of shit, and I know I’ve been weak in the past. But I’m not that girl any longer.” One more poke and Anyan gave more ground.

“You have two choices. You say this isn’t personal; I say that’s bullshit. So either you take me with you on your official investigation or I’ll come anyway. You can’t keep me from following you.” I shoved him again, much harder than before, hard enough to make him stagger. I stalked toward him, using my power to punctuate my points.

“You can’t keep me from being one step behind you, the entire way.”

Shove.

“You can’t stop me from going into the Borderlands and meeting these contacts of yours.”

Shove.

“You aren’t my father.” Shove. “You don’t control me.” Shove. “You don’t tell me what to do.” Shove. “I’m strong now, and you can’t stop me from coming with you.”

With those words, I let the wodge of power that I used to hold down Ryu spread out, pressing him harder into the earth. I knew the baobhan sith wasn’t the issue, however; the one who stood between me and my goal was standing in front of me. But not for long.

“I’m coming with you, Anyan,” I said as I pulled a Gladiator and unleashed hell.

I let my Atlantic’s power manifest itself forward, blasting out of me to lift the barghest off his feet. It took him up, up, and then flipped him over onto his back. Anyan hung there, in midair, for a split second. And then I drilled him back down into the earth. Feeling him call to his element, I knew the ground helped to cushion him from the brunt of the impact. But he still landed hard enough to create an Anyan-shaped crater. He lay spread-eagled, the wind undoubtedly knocked out of him. When he didn’t
breathe for a long handful of seconds, I began to worry. But finally the barghest exhaled with a whoosh, and I saw the big man blink a few times. Probably clearing the stars from his eyes.

I reined my power back in, stepping to the side so I could keep both men in my line of sight as I released them. Ryu was up first.

He stared at me like I’d grown a handlebar mustache. I resisted the temptation to flick him off.

I was just about to snap at the vampire to close his mouth and stop gaping when I heard a bruised-sounding wheeze emit from Anyan’s prone form.

He sat up slowly and carefully. For a second, I thought he was gasping for breath before I realized he was actually… chuckling? Was he laughing at me?

Anyan leaned back on his hands, letting his head fall back as his slightly breathless chuckles became full-on guffaws.

I frowned, unable to figure out why he was laughing. If it was because he thought I was joking, I’d happily expand the Anyan-crater he was currently lying in by pile-driving him once more…

But when his laughter finally slowed a bit, and his eyes met mine, he wasn’t angry. Nor was he mocking me. He glowed with pride, and he was smiling like I’d just brought home a trophy.

“Dear gods, Jane, I’ve been waiting for you to do something like that.” Laughter bubbled up in him again as he carefully lay back down.

“Fuck, that hurt.” The barghest groaned as he gathered power from the earth to heal himself. “But it was worth it to see your mettle. And Ryu…” Anyan chortled
again, enjoying his joke. “I thought Ryu was going to piss himself.”

Ryu’s face was still slack, so shocked by my aggression that he didn’t even blink when the barghest needled him. Normally Ryu would have flipped.

Anyan stood slowly, stretching his big frame as if to make sure everything still worked.

“I knew you’d be strong,” he said, finally growing serious, although his eyes still twinkled. “I figured you’d be stronger than me. But you beat all my expectations. And I’m glad, Jane. I hated seeing you vulnerable.”

I blushed, looking down. Why was he being nice? If he was trying to butter me up only to tell me to stay home, I’d give him a buttering…

“And you’ve made it clear that we can’t stand in your way, if you really want to come.”

My eyes met his, which were suddenly fierce and hard.

“But if you do this, Jane, you know the drill. You have to follow
my
orders. I’m in charge of this little outfit, and I grant no quarter. If you’re with me, you do what I say. And just because you’re strong doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable. I know Nell has given you good defensive training, because I told her to. And as you’ve just illustrated, you can muscle your way around. But you’re not trained offensively, nor have you any finesse. So if I say you stay behind on a particular mission, you stay behind. It won’t be because you’re weak,” he said before I could protest. “It’ll be because I’m your general and you’re my soldier, my weapon. I deploy you where I think you can do the most damage. Or I hold you back so I don’t lose you before the next fight. Do you understand me?”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “You don’t actually want me to call you ‘General,’ do you? ’Cause that’s creepy.”

“Jane.”

“Fine. I’m in. What you say goes. General.”

He shook his head at me. “Don’t make me regret this by getting yourself killed. I told Nell to make you strong, and you both succeeded. Now don’t fuck it up. We leave in an hour.”

Anyan walked off, leaving me to watch his retreating backside. I was stunned. And more than a little appreciative of the view…

I heard a throat clearing behind me. I turned around.

It’s like he’s never seen me before
, I realized. Strangely enough, the thought made me smile. I also noticed, for the first time, that Julian was watching us from the back porch. He had a way of blending in with the background that wasn’t magical, as I would have felt the glamour, but was equally effective. For despite the fact I’d been unaware of his presence, there stood my fellow halfling, his whole body somehow exuding excitement and amusement, even though he wasn’t smiling or anything. Julian did love it when I stuck it to the Man.

So he was certain to love
this
…

“Ryu Baobhan Sith,” I said, smiling at my former lover sweetly, drawing out my next words, caressing them with my tongue and lips. “Meet Jane True.”

Then I used my mojo to wallop Ryu back to the ground with one more healthy blast of my Atlantic’s power. He came up spluttering as I swished off in the direction of my house, sighing happily. Julian gave me a furtive low-five as I walked past him, and I could tell he was trying very, very hard not to laugh at his boss. Ryu probably hadn’t
strictly deserved that last wallop, but, I have to admit, showing off my magical muscles—both to him and to Anyan—had felt so good, on so many levels.

Turns out my former lover wasn’t the only one with a little suntin’ suntin’ up his sleeve.

I
stood in front of my closet, completely at a loss. What do you pack for a vengeance quest? I didn’t have time to rewatch my Tarantino, and from what I remembered, Uma’s wardrobe wasn’t going to work on me. Imagine yellow pleather on a girl who was half-seal rather than pure Viking.
Not
pretty.

I sat down on my bed, feeling nauseous as I realized what I’d gotten myself into. I was determined to help find my mother’s killer, but I hadn’t really thought this through. First of all, my mother was dead. She was dead and I was… packing. Furthermore, I didn’t want to go anywhere with Ryu; I wanted to pull out his toenails and poke them into his eyeballs. That said, I kept thinking of the look of horror on his face when Ryu realized I was no longer just a walking, talking snack bar. It felt good. Less good, however, was the fact that, despite how Anyan had reacted, I knew he had to feel the same way, on some level.

So, running off like this probably wasn’t the best idea. It meant that I wasn’t dealing with my grief, I was launching myself into imminent danger, and I was about to embark on a trip for who knows how long with my ex
and
the man I had a crush on.

Which brought me back to packing. Should I pack my safety razor and nice panties? Or the kitchen knives and a balaclava?

I sighed, glancing at the clock. Which informed me I now had but thirty-five minutes to figure out how to pack for revenge, tell my father that I was disappearing with three random dudes, and find someone to cover for me at work. Keeping in mind that I was already helping to cover for my pregnant boss.

Well, Jane
, I thought,
you were just complaining about being bored. You’ve read your Mercedes Lackey. She warned you about wanting to live in interesting times.

I yanked open my old duffel bag and shoved in a few shirts, a zip-up hoodie, two pairs of jeans, and about eighteen pairs of underwear. I was terrified of running out of clean panties, which I realized was completely ridiculous. So I unpacked ten pairs and threw in a small bottle of Woolite for handwashing instead. Then I reconsidered, pulled out the Woolite, and put back in the undies. I repeated this process about eight times before I nearly pulled my own hair out.

Get a grip, Jane True!
I threatened myself.
Your underwear is not the priority!

I sighed and added the Woolite, removed five pairs of panties, and packed some bras. And what the hell was I going to sleep in? I had flannel pajamas, a couple of T-shirt nighties, and some hoochtastic sexiness. My
libido, ever irrepressible, suggested the black teddy for Anyan, while my temper, still simmering over Ryu’s behavior, suggested I go naked and bring a taser, just to torture the vampire.

I went with a long T-shirt.

Finally, I packed socks to wear with my Converse, a toothbrush and toothpaste, my face wash and lotion, and a pack of travel razors. For makeup I brought my concealer, blush, and some mascara. I didn’t know if makeup was appropriate for vengeance quests, but I decided to file it under “war paint” and let it go at that.

Everything ended up being a ton of shit, and my old duffel was bulging. I couldn’t think of anything to unpack, so I just forced shut the zippers and prayed it would hold. Now I had to deal with my dad. I had fifteen minutes to explain to him that I was leaving and that I wasn’t sure where I was going or when I would be back. I also had to articulate to him how much I loved him and how much he meant to me, just in case I died while I was gone. All without making it seem like I was scared that I might, indeed, die. Fuck.

I took a deep breath and walked downstairs, clutching my backpack. My dad was in his old recliner, watching the Food Network. I laid my pack by the door and went in to talk to him.

“Dad?”

“Yeah, honey?”

I paused, stricken. What the hell was I going to tell him? I imagined myself blurting out the truth: that Mom was dead and that I was going to help find who killed her. Because I was magical, and stuff.

That’d go down well.

“Jane, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Daddy…” I breathed, my voice in my throat.

Just then the doorbell rang. Watching me with concern, my dad stood to answer it. I was rooted to the spot, incapable of figuring out how to get out of that door without breaking my father’s heart.

“Mr. True,” Ryu’s smooth voice echoed from the doorway.

Shitpissbugger
, I swore. Why was he early? He was never early.

“Ryu. Well, that’s a surprise. How are you?”

The men shook hands and I felt my own palms begin to sweat.

“I’m fine, sir. Just here to pick up Jane.”

I groaned inwardly as my dad’s face crinkled in confusion.

“Pick up Jane? Where are you two going?”

I shot Ryu a dirty look as I went to talk to my dad.

“Dad, I have to go somewhere. With Ryu and some other friends. I’ll be gone… a few weeks,” I hazarded. My dad looked as suspicious as I sounded. “It’s last-minute, I know, but something has come up. It’s important and I… I have to go, Dad. I’m sorry. I love you. Remember Nurse Ratched?” During the Boston debacle, Nell the gnome had guarded my dad for me. Anyan had roped her in, again, for while I was away. She’d make sure my dad was safe from Jarl.

My father blinked at me. “The short one?”

“Yup, that one. She’ll be staying here again. And there’s tons of food in the freezer, plus I’ll call the guys and make sure they come by for poker. You’ll be fine and I’ll be home soon…”