the Darkest Edge Of Dawn (2010) (22 page)

"Jesus, Emma. Why does everything have to be a fight?" I asked tiredly. She stood by the table, still in her white tank and plaid pajama bottoms, hair down and in its usual early morning, cave-girl disarray. "I haven't even asked the League yet, but don't you think it'd be best until this blows over?"

Rex sat at the table, silently eating his cereal. Smart guy.

"No. What about school and the play? You just want me to give up everything every time you work a stupid case?!"

"You know, you're lucky I don't ship you off to Orlando with your grandparents," I shot back. I did
not
want to do this. Not this early in the morning.

Em laughed. "At least it's sunny down there."

"Great. You can go to Orlando, then."

Her eyes narrowed and pink bloomed on her cheeks. "No,
Mother,
I will not. I want to stay right here. Not the League. Not Orlando. Here in my own goddamn house!"

"Emma!"
Rex and I exclaimed at the same time.

Her lips thinned. The coiled tension coming off of her was palpable. "I can take care of myself. I have Brim. I can take him to school with me. He can be like my bodyguard."

"They are not going to allow a hellhound in school, Emma. He isn't even supposed to
be here.
It's illegal to keep them in the first place!"

Her hands fisted at her sides. She knew she wasn't winning this argument. "You make me so angry. I hate you!" she forced through gritted teeth, and then spun on her bare heel and stomped out the back door, slamming it as hard as she could.

Immediately I went for the back door, her comment only firing my blood even more.

"Charlie," Rex said. "Let her go."

I paused with my hand on the knob, swinging my gaze back to Rex. "I'm not letting her go, and don't you tell me what to do or how to raise my kid! The only thing I want to hear from you is that you have a twenty-one-thousand-dollar wad of cash hidden somewhere!"

I jerked the door open, ignoring Rex's second warning to let her go, and followed my daughter into the backyard. "Emma!" She stopped in the middle of the yard and turned to me. "You can still go to school and still practice for the play. Rex will stay with you, and I'll have Aaron add a warlock to guard you as well. But at night, you'll be safer at the League."

"You have no idea the things I can do. I don't need them. I told you I can protect myself."

The breeze blew her hair, but her entire body remained still and so damn quiet that it made me very concerned. She was trying so hard to be convincing, wanted so much for me to believe her. But I couldn't. How could I when she stood there with her thin frame and narrow shoulders, looking like a hard wind could break her in two?

She doesn't really hate you,
I told myself over and over again as her words sank in. "Emma."

I saw it building, her frustrated scream, her white-knuckled fists. I just never expected her to unleash a massive power surge aimed straight at me.

It happened so fast, I didn't have time to move. An invisible wave of energy hit me with such force that it knocked the wind out of me and sent me flying backward to land on my ass, leaves and small bits of lawn flying in my face.

The scent of dirt and tangy green grass filled the air; some of it, I was certain, had gone up my nose. I scrambled up, body shaking, and spit a leaf fragment from the corner of my mouth.

Emma remained still, like a tiny ball of fury. She wasn't done. The only things that moved on her were her hair and her clothes, which fluttered with each strong burst of wind through the backyard. The trees bent and rubbed together. Green flashed in the darkness overhead.

And then her lips started moving.

"Emma ..." I warned.

A metal clang cut through the morning. I glanced beyond her shoulder to see the kennel door swing wide and Brim bound out. Four blindingly fast, gigantic strides later, he slid to a stop at her side, his claws cutting deep ruts into the grass. He was poised, battle-ready, looking very much like the pregnant hellhound in the warehouse. Defend to the death.

"Emma Kate Garrity ..."
I warned again, hardly able to hear myself over the rush of my pulse.

I had no weapons. Not even the protection of jeans and a jacket as I was dressed pretty much the same as my kid. My own hands flexed at my sides. Energy grew from my core and cut a vibrating path through my body. Wind whipped around my child and the snarling beast. Brim made her look so small, his back coming to her elbow.

"I wanted to learn crafting from Aunt Bryn and you said no," she said. "I wanted to learn how to fight and you said no. I wanted to ... be like you." Tears erupted in her wide eyes. Her lip quivered, and she couldn't finish her sentence, her innocent face a canvas of despair and disappointment. "You always say no."

A dull ache coiled around my heart and a strong, sickening sense of foreboding came over me. I stepped forward. Brim growled. "Emma, please don't ..."

Her head shook as the tears streamed down her face, making her nose bright red. "I
never
want to be like you."

And with that, she did the unthinkable, the thing that I feared the most.

She leapt onto Brim's back, flung her arms around his neck, and the two bounded out of the backyard.

"EMMA!"

I ran after them, fueled by panic, crashing through the bushes, into the neighbor's side yard and across the street, as my daughter and her hellhound loped over the soccer fields, drawing farther and farther away from me until they were just a dark shadow disappearing into the park.

Still I sprinted until I couldn't see them anymore, until my lungs burned so hot and the air being sucked down my throat so cold that I felt sick to my stomach.

She'll come back. She'll come back,
I kept repeating to myself as I finally stopped.

I jogged back to the house in my sweat-soaked tank, hair tangled, a nest for grass and earth and leaves. My bare feet were scratched and cold, covered in dew and dirt. Small pebbles stuck to the bottoms.

Rex was standing on the porch, his face pale. "She'll come back," he echoed as I wiped my feet. "As soon as she cools off, she'll come back." It sounded more like he was trying to assure himself than me.

I pushed past him, immediately going for the phone to put out an APB to every branch of the ITF in Atlanta to be on the lookout for my kid and her hellhound. The order was very clear: Locate only. Engage my kid and her protector and face serious fucking consequences. I was not playing.

I sensed Rex behind me, but didn't turn and instead went for the stairs. "Call Bryn, Aaron, Marti, the school, everyone we know ..."

"What are you going to do?"

"Look for her. What else can I do?" My eyes burned. "She doesn't even have a jacket."

Rex took a step forward and grabbed the railing. "She won't get hurt, Charlie. You saw what she can do. You're overreacting." He held up his hands. "With cause, though. Who can blame you after what happened with Mynogan? But we have the world's strongest ward room. That kid is loaded down with protection amulets every time she goes anywhere. Give her some time to chill out. She'll come back. You should go to work."

"Are you out of your fucking mind? I'm not going to work while my kid is out there lost and--" My teeth ground together, forcing down the intense wave of loss and fear rising to the surface.

"Well, you need to do something. No offense, but you're the last person she wants to see or talk to right now anyway."

My fingers curled around the railing as my temper flared, blinding me for a second. The wood cracked under my nails. "Fuck you, Rex."

Ninety minutes later, after I'd driven around Druid Hills, and then tried repeatedly to connect with Emma only to be blocked by her every time, I got a call from Titus. My daughter had gone to Mott Tech. I had to take several deep, shuddering breaths with that one. Relieved beyond comprehension? Yes. But that she'd made it all the way out of the city where a thousand different, horrible things could have happened? Furious.

Part of me, though, was glad for the darkness and the cover it had provided them. Besides Em being hurt, I'd begun to second guess my hasty decision to call in the troops and worry that some noob would find them, fire on Brim, and end up creating a really bad situation. That they ended up making it to Mott Tech unseen was a miracle. I supposed the darkness did have its uses on occasion.

At first, I wanted to turn the vehicle around and race to the lab, but Emma didn't want to see me or even talk to me on the phone just yet, which left me feeling stung, rejected, and hurt.

If she wanted time alone, she could have it.

I pulled my Tahoe to the curb on a residential street and just sat there for a long time. I didn't know what to do, didn't know how to deal with this divide or her sudden anger. She meant more to me than anything else on this Earth, and it seemed like I was constantly doing the wrong things and failing miserably in her eyes. I only wanted to keep her happy. Healthy. Alive. And, yeah, maybe I was smothering her in the process, but under the circumstances, I didn't think I was being all that protective.

The ringer on my cell jerked me out of my thoughts. "Madigan."

"It's me. You find her?"

"Yeah. She's at Mott Tech with Titus."

Hank's sigh blew through the phone speaker like a heavy wind. "Thank God. How you holding up?"

I laughed at that one. "Not even sure I can answer that question. Give me a distraction, Hank. Tell me we have a lead. Something. Anything."

He chuckled. "It's your lucky day then, kiddo. I've got Llyran's medical file. You want to meet at the warehouse?"

"Sure. I'll be there in fifteen."

* * *

I slowed my vehicle, flashed my badge to the officer in the patrol car, and drove into the parking lot, aimed for the double space between Liz's black ITF van and Hank's Mercedes.

As I pulled into the spot, Hank ducked out of the coupe. He leaned against the car's shiny black paint job, holding the file in front of him with both hands, one foot crossed over the other. He wore tan cargo pants and a long-sleeved, white crew. Calvin Klein could sell an incredible amount of underwear, or anything else for that matter, if they put Hank's photo on a billboard.

My stomach did a light flip. Last time I'd seen Hank, I almost killed him and kissed him all in the span of a few minutes. Hard to forget--

Partner, Charlie, he's your partner and your best friend. Just chill with the hormones.

I shoved the gear into park and drew in an uneasy breath.
No big deal. Just get it over with.
I grabbed my jacket off the passenger seat and then went to face my partner.

"Morning, sunshine," he said, amused at what I knew was a fierce scowl on my face.

I relaxed my facial muscles and made a pretty horrible attempt at smiling. "Morning. That the file?" I reached for it, but he pulled it back, giving me an admonishing look, cocking his head as though waiting for something. I crossed my arms over my chest. "What?"

Satisfied, his arm dropped. "We should talk about yesterday, the pool ..."

"No, we shouldn't. It was nothing. We have work to do. Now please hand over the file." His eyebrow lifted. Torturously slow, my cheeks grew hot. "Okay, fine. Talk. You have thirty seconds."

A small smile twitched one corner of his mouth, making a dimple in his left cheek. A wicked glow lit a stare that lingered too long on me, a slow, slumberous perusal that made my mouth go dry. He reached out and expertly hooked a finger into the waistband of my jeans and tugged me forward until my hips hit his. "Don't run away from me again," he said in a low, possessive tone.

Oh God, it was sexy as hell.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Yesterday I'd wondered who the hell I was, and this morning I had to wonder what the hell was happening with my partner.

"You and I, whatever this is, is ..." His hand dropped from my waist to drag his fingers through his hair, looking beyond me for a moment before turning his face back to me. "I can't stop thinking what it would've been like--your tongue in my mouth."

I blinked as heat ebbed all the way into my bones. I finally managed a swallow as a lightheaded sensation made me sway slightly on my feet. "Are you using your siren crap on me?"

"No. But think of all the fun we'd have if I did." His irises turned diamond-blue.

"Did your head not heal correctly? Are you trying to get me in trouble? Trying to ruin our friendship?"

"I'm trying to get your tongue in my mouth."

The rational part of my brain was about to vacate the premises. "Please stop saying that."

"Why, does it affect you, Charlie?" He leaned down and nuzzled my earlobe ever so lightly, breathing his hot breath on my neck, just grazing my cheek with his day-old stubble.

A delicious shiver went through me. "No, no it doesn't." My knees were about to give out. He laughed against my neck, his lips brushing my skin and making me grab onto his hips for balance.

"We should at least explore whatever this is between us. Once and for all."

I looked up at him in a daze. "Once and for all," I repeated. "Explore." Man, that word conjured up all kinds of possibilities.

"I'm a great
explorer,
you know." His lips spread into a broad, white smile as though he couldn't hold it in any longer.

And then I understood.

"You're an asshole." I stepped back, consumed in heat, heart pounding, but relieved that he'd been totally playing me. "And that was the cheesiest line I've ever heard in my life. Does that actually work for you?"

Hank's rich, deep laughter nearly did me in. His grin was absolutely shameful. Then he licked his thumb and pointer finger and trailed them over his eyebrows and said, "I know. Pretty slick, right?"

"Idiot. Who are you and what have you done to Hank?" I shoved him back. "Just give me the damn file, will you?"

"What? I figured you'd be all embarrassed after succumbing to my incredible charm yesterday. Look, it happens. No big deal. Just trying to lighten an awkward moment."