The Golden Bell (9 page)

“Perhaps I should be questioning you. You
never did give me any details about your father’s murder, other
than that Haunt were involved. There aren’t that many of us who
could have participated. The Earth population is down to hundreds.
I know the police investigated the murder and your disappearance.
I’ve seen the reports, but by the time we found out and sent our
own people to check into it, the scent traces were faint. I can’t
guarantee that some of those Haunt haven’t since crossed over. The
council knows this and wouldn’t have turned you loose here without
a protector.”

“So you’re just being cautious?”

He scanned the moons for a moment. “You know,
what happened to your father was overkill. He wasn’t a warrior.
One, maybe two Haunt could have taken him out, but estimates are
that there were at least four or five.” He considered her. “It
seems like they were looking for something. What could that be,
Rain?”

She rubbed her right bicep. “Maybe it died
with him. What little I saw as I was getting away…” she trailed
off. The memories were stark.

Fallon looked more thoughtful that pitying.
“Do you know what I think, Rain? I think you do know what they
wanted, and you took it with you. I also think you were pursued by
more than members of the Cult.” He let that statement hang, then
added, “I think whatever this thing was, you either hid it…or you
still have it.”

Her eyes widened.

He shook his head slowly. “You’ve got to work
on those tells, sweetheart. You’re a book. It’s a weapon, isn’t
it?”

“It’s not a…” She could have swallowed her
tongue, she was so chagrined by her mistake.

White teeth flashed in a predator’s smile.
“Not a weapon. Are you sure? Men do kill for them.”

A growl of vexation vibrated in her throat.
“Not your business, Fallon.”

“Things that can be used against my people
are my business. So?”

“You’ve been trying to gain my trust. That’s
what this has been about. That’s why you seduced me.” If she
couldn’t dodge him, she’d go on the attack.

He shook his head, but remained relaxed.
“While I’m not above those kind of tactics, no. I wanted to see
what it would be like. Happily, it was all I expected.” His teeth
flashed again.

She snarled. “If I wanted to make a weapon,
I’d test it on you first. I haven’t made any…yet.”

He shrugged. “Why don’t you just show it to
me and end the battle? Why all the secrecy?”

“Because it’s mine. Because it’s none of your
business! Not the council’s, not yours. Got it? It’s mine.” She
didn’t like his pushing, didn’t want to think about giving up the
Bell. It wouldn’t help anything.

Fallon was relentless. “Is the secrecy worth
risking your father’s murderers going free?”

“If I knew anything about that, I’d come
clean. I don’t. You werewolves all look alike to me.” She was going
to lose her temper, so she left. Oddly, he didn’t follow her to her
room. Maybe he knew she would be easy enough to find when he was
ready to interrogate her again. This reprieve couldn’t last.

Anxiety made her restless, and pacing her
small room didn’t help. She needed out, so she threw on some jeans,
a navy sports bra and a long sleeved, black shirt. Dressed for
success, she scaled her garden wall.

She wasn’t trying to escape the Dark Lands.
It was freezing cold on the other side of the gate, assuming she
could even find it. Her sense of direction sucked. Even if she
could follow the snow machine tracks back, she’d freeze long before
she reached civilization.

No, she just needed a break from company,
especially Fallon’s. Crossing the grassy spot behind the wall, she
took a straight line toward the looming shape of an obstacle course
she’d seen in the distance that morning. At the time it had been
swarming with Haunt, but now it stood abandoned at the edge of the
park.

Rolling her neck, she jumped up and grabbed
one of the dangling ropes. Wrapping the rope around one leg and
holding it with her heels, she climbed up hand over hand to the top
beam. Walking across was easy, she’d always had excellent balance
and no fear of heights. She climbed down the cargo net and then
sprinted over to the pole at the end, climbing it like a palm tree.
The next bit was harder, a series of poles spaced at two-foot
intervals, and not in a straight line. Pretending they were
stepping stones, she paced across them, her carriage straight and
confident. To dismount, she grabbed the hand bar and slid down the
line, over an open pit filled with water.

Enjoying the challenge, she slithered,
shinnied and hopped at full speed, then sprinted back to the
beginning of the course and did it all again.

About the fourth run through, she started to
tire. It was late and she’d been running a marathon of sorts for
the better part of a year. She turned back toward the garden, and
froze. She scented Haunt on the air. There, to her right.

Her nose and ears were keener in human form
than when she changed, oddly enough. Unfortunately, it wasn’t keen
enough to distinguish individual Haunt scents. She looked in the
direction of the smell, but couldn’t see anything, even with her
superior night vision. Whoever it was, they hadn’t bothered her
yet.

Breathing deeply to ward off panic, paced
toward her garden. Now that her senses were attuned, she could tell
there was more than one following her, to her right, left and
behind. Brilliant. She’d have to sprint for it if they moved in,
and she’d already used up precious adrenaline.

Reaching into her pocket, she casually
removed a little toy of hers and closed her eyes as she held it up.
A brilliant flash lit up the darkness as she broke the modified
glow stick, wiping out the night vision of those following her.
Opening her eyes, she sprinted the distance to the garden, leaping
obstacles as she ran. Vaulting up, she grabbed the top of the wall
and swung over, hitting the ground running. She threw open her
patio door and dashed in…and muffled a shriek as the lights turned
on.

“You do realize that you just blinded your
security detail.”

“Fallon,” she gasped, blinking at him
warily.

“I can tolerate your sneaking out at night if
you really must, but not your incapacitating your protection. What
did you use on them?”

She looked at her hand dumbly, then recovered
and shoved it behind her back. “Just a little glow stick.”

“Give it here.” He held out his hand.

“No. It’s used up, anyway.”

One minute she had the stick behind her back,
the next he had it, leaving her blinking with his speed. “Hey!”

He examined the glow stick and stuck it in
his pocket. “You said you didn’t make weapons.”

“That’s an overgrown flashlight.”

“You just blinded three of my men with it.
Had they been human, it would have been permanent. As it is,
they’ll be days healing.”

“Lucky them,” she said flippantly. “How was I
to know I wasn’t running for my life?”

He regarded her steadily. “Let’s get some
ground rules straight. When you want to go out at night, you tell
me or my head of security; I’ll introduce you. That way we can
avoid your panicking and doing something rash. How many of these
things do you have?” He raised the hand holding the spent glow
stick.

She shrugged. “I can make as many as I
want.”

Fallon sighed. “If we didn’t already have
similar technology, I’d tell you to patent it. In another
situation, I would applaud your quick thinking. As it is, take care
not to hurt the people who care for you. You’re not an island
anymore.” He left.

Disconcerted by his quiet words, she sat down
in a chair. Great. Now she felt bad. Well, how was she supposed to
know it hadn’t been the bad guys chasing her? Those poor sods
probably had families.

Disgruntled, knowing she’d sleep poorly
anyway, she sat around and tried to think of something to make
amends.

Fallon paused in drinking his coffee, one
brow raised. Malian had just delivered a piece of paper with a
complex schematic. He had to smile as he read the messy handwriting
across the top. Rain had designed a night vision goggle to protect
his Haunt’s eyes from sudden flashes.

So that was how geniuses apologized. A simple
‘I’m sorry’ would have done. Apparently her mind worked
differently. A point to remember.

“Something funny, my lord?”

Fallon smirked at his head of security and
handed over the paper.

Rykarr studied it, and laughed. “Interesting
apology. I’d hire her, if I were you.”

Fallon slanted him a glance and went back to
his coffee. “You would, wouldn’t you? She’s a handful.”

“Beauty, though.”

That earned him another look. “You’re looking
for me to fall in love and settle down, aren’t you? I plan to take
her on, but I’m not in love yet.”

“Matter of time with that one.” To look at
him, you wouldn’t think Rykarr was a romantic. He looked like a
mercenary with his gunmetal gray hair and black eye patch. Even a
Haunt couldn’t heal all injuries.

“A bottomless well of interesting turns, I’ll
admit. That’s largely her appeal.”

“Not her fetching hazel eyes. I understand.
Her mind is exactly what I’d pursue, too.” An old veteran who’d
served his father and taught Fallon much of what he knew, he got
away with a lot of cheek.

Fallon just smiled. Rykarr could fish all he
liked, he wasn’t going to get a bite. “How are her replacement
soldiers doing?”

“Much warier than the last batch. Any idea
what tricks she has left?”

“Expect anything.” Her room had already been
searched, but they hadn’t found anything suspicious. After the glow
stick experience, he wasn’t sure they would recognize trouble if
they saw it. She liked to disguise her tricks.

Must have a thing for secret agents.

He did like the way her mind worked. Combined
with the British flavored accent, she more than held his interest.
While he wouldn’t mistake that interest for love, it was growing.
It was inevitable, and he planned to take her down with him.
Getting her there, though… It would help if she trusted him.

She didn’t trust him. Rain unscrewed the
housing from a broken communication device and set it down in the
clockwise pattern she’d started with the screws. Malian had rustled
up an entire laundry basket of defunct and broken devices, plus a
rather nice tool kit. If Rain had been the one paying her, she’d
have given her a raise. Instead, she’d praised her ingenuity and
sent her out for a list of components, chemicals and lunch. She
wondered how long it would take before Fallon showed up to comment
on her budding lab.

Not that she was cooking up anything
dangerous right now. If she had been, she’d have hidden it among
the junk pile, fully expecting him to poke around. The best way to
hide something was in plain sight, which is why she’d attached the
Bell to a flat gold collar she’d had Malian find. Actually, she’d
requested that Malian find something inexpensive like beads or
leather to hang the pendant from. From the weight of the necklace,
she didn’t think it was made of gold-plated nickel. It looked good,
though she’d had to wear one of the dressier outfits Fallon had
purchased for her to make it blend in. At least the amber silk
tunic and harem pants were comfortable.

As she was pondering the probability of
ruining the hardwood floor if she started messing with chemicals,
there came a knock on the door. “It’s open.”

Fallon walked in and frowned at her table
full of junk. “Malian requested a soldering gun for you.”

“Yes. I’ll pay you back. I’m planning to
construct a levitating solar light with some of these spare parts.
It should sell well.”

He waved that off. “This room isn’t meant to
be a hobby shop. I’ll get you a proper workroom set up. If nothing
else, you’ll need more tables.” He surveyed the spare parts
spilling off the table, scattered on the floor and overflowing a
basket with a frown. “Make a list of what you’d like to have and
I’ll see it set up: books, tools, materials…whatever. I’d rather
you had a safe and comfortable working environment than be forced
to make do with the kitchen table and a fingernail file.”

Stunned at his generosity, she stared at him.
Suspicious moisture burned her eyes, and she had the alarming urge
to run over and hug him. He probably had no idea what he’d just
done for her. “Really?” she whispered.

Slow and confident, his smile lit up her
heart. “I don’t need to stifle your mind, sweetheart. It’s one of
the sexiest things about you.”

That did it. She got up and crushed him in a
hug. After all, he’d broken the touch barrier when he’d nearly made
love to her. Like a little girl suddenly shown affection, she
seemed to look for an excuse to touch him. “Thank you,” she said,
strangling on the emotion. If he didn’t stop it, she was going to
fall in love with him.

He laughed as if surprised, then returned the
hug, stroking her back. “Here I thought it would be difficult to
convince you to go sailing with me. Will that count as part of your
thank you?”

She reached up and pulled his head down for a
kiss. There was nothing chaste about it. He took over and seemed to
get serious enjoyment from it, then reluctantly raised his head.
“Mm. Hold that thought, honey. I promise we’ll get back to it on
the boat. Ready?”

The boat turned out to be a thirty-five foot
sailboat with blue and gold sails. Rain gaped when she saw it. “Are
you sure you know how to drive this thing?”

He laughed and handed her aboard the gleaming
white vessel. “It’s called sailing when you’re in a boat. Do you
like it?”

“It’s pretty. What are we fishing for today?
Tell me it resembles fish.”

He dropped a fast kiss on her lips. “It
resembles fish. Ready?”

The waters were calm and they dropped anchor
in the bay, within distant sight of the Citadel. Fallon baited his
hook and tossed it over the side, fixing his pole in the special
holder attached to the rail. “Now then, here comes my favorite part
of fishing.” He leaned over and kissed her.