The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (75 page)

“Stop, sir!” she called, but the man only sped up.

Three more strides and he would be out the sliding glass doors. A black SUV was parked at the curb, door open, like it waited for the man. She couldn’t let him get away. If he did, she would be left with nothing except her paperwork, a few pills, and barely enough money to get a cab ride and a cheap hotel for a few nights.

She lunged toward her bag, grabbing the ribbons as if they were the bag’s lifeline.

The man looked back at her with his storm-colored eyes, and for a split second she could do nothing but stare at him. She tried to memorize the hard arch of his thin lips, his Roman nose, and the widow’s peak speckled with gray. He jerked the bag and she tried to hold tight, but the ribbons pulled through her fingers, leaving only paper cuts in their wake.

“Stop!” She lurched forward, ignoring the searing pain in her fingers as she tried to grab one of the bag’s handles. The thick polyester fabric scraped against her finger tips, but she missed the handle and her foot struck the end of the bag as it came to an unexpected stop.

There was a strangled noise as the man suddenly fell to the floor. Standing in front of him was Jasper, his slightly too-long chestnut hair in his face and his fist still extended from stopping the thief. The door to the black SUV slammed shut and the car took off with a screech of tires.

“Jasper?” She grabbed her bag but didn’t take her eyes off the man who had regularly visited her dreams over the last months. “What’re you doing here?”

“Saving your ass. I can’t believe you would just leave Vegas without telling anyone. If I weren’t here, you would’ve been screwed.” He glanced down at the thief. “You found trouble already. You have no business being here alone.”

Airport security rushed through the baggage claim area toward them and stopped beside the man on the floor. “What happened?” a heavyset guard asked.

“The thief tried to steal my bag,” Starling said, twisting her suitcase for them to see. “My
friend
,” she said, motioning to Jasper, “stopped him.” She tried to sound thankful, but after the tongue-lashing Jasper had delivered, she couldn’t help stop the anger from seeping into her tone.

“Do you know the man who tried to steal your luggage?” the guard asked as another security officer pulled the thief’s hands behind his back and zip tied them.

“No.”

The thief lurched forward trying to pull out of the guard’s grip. “Get off!”

“Do you have any idea why he would have tried to steal your bag?” the guard asked.

Telling the man the truth—that a group of vulture-shifters was out to get her and her supply of GX 149, and the man at her feet was likely a shape-shifter—seemed like the worst possible answer. She didn’t have time for anyone else to think she was crazy.

“I don’t know,” she said, trying to add a quiver of fear to her voice so the guard would empathize with her rather than question her as to the thief’s motives. “He just came up and took my bag. I was so scared,” she said for added effect.

“I think I need to get her out of here,” Jasper said, wrapping his arm around her. “It looks like this has been quite a bit for her to handle. You won’t need her for anything, will you?”

“No, we will handle this man. That is, unless she wishes to press charges.” The guard gave her a questioning glance.

“No,” she answered. “I just want to get out of here and away from him.” She tried to focus on the guard and the thief, but most of her attention was centered on Jasper’s hand, warm on her arm. It could have been her fear, or the adrenaline, but she desired his touch. Before the unwelcome feeling grew, she pulled out of Jasper’s hold. He didn’t need to think she was weak, or worse, that she wanted him to touch her.

The thief struggled. “The bitch is lying! I didn’t take her bag! It’s mine.”

“Really?” the guard asked, with a raise of his brow. “Where were you traveling from?” He looked at the white baggage ticket stuck around the handle.

“Vegas. Let me go.”

“Where were you traveling from, ma’am?” the guard asked, turning to Starling.

“Vegas. The guy is lying. I swear I didn’t see him on my flight. He knew this was my bag. Or does he tie white and red ribbons to his bag as well?”

The guard motioned to the other guard. “There’s only one way to solve this,” he said, kneeling down and unzipping the luggage. “What’s on top?” he said without opening the bag.

The blood rushed to Starling’s face as she thought about the mass of second hand clothes and cheap shoes inside. “There’s a gray sweatshirt with a University of Montana logo and a red dress.”

The guard looked to the thief. “You want to venture a guess, or just admit that you intended on stealing the woman’s bag?”

“I didn’t
intend
on anything,” the thief retorted.

The guard opened the bag and gave Starling a look of validation. “Are you sure you don’t wish to press charges?” He slid the zipper shut.

Starling shook her head. “I just don’t want him to do this to someone else.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am. We’ll look into this and make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again.”

“Thank you, sir,” Starling said.

“Let me escort you to a cab.” Jasper leaned in closer. “Hopefully we can get that far without you getting into any more trouble,” he whispered.

She turned away from him, and pulling her bag, made her way outside and into the muggy midsummer Savannah heat.

“Did you know that man?” Jasper asked from behind her.

“No. Did you?”

Jasper stepped beside her. “No, but did you see the vulture tattooed on his arm? I have to assume he was one of your shape-shifter friends. Maybe a Catharterian.”

She watched as the security guards dragged the man through the crowd of rubber-necking bystanders. “The Catharterians couldn’t possibly have known I was here already, could they?”

“They would do anything to learn the reason behind the births that have taken place in the nymph culture. He knew you flew in from Vegas. And I knew you were here … ”

“So you are saying you followed me?” After their trip to Vegas, Starling had imagined him coming to her rescue like he had for Harper, her new stepmother, but she hadn’t thought it would ever come true. Jasper had disappeared without so much as a phone call or a note that indicated she was anything more to him than a forgotten ward. Since then, she’d spent the last months trying in vain to forget him while she, Harper, and her father, Chance, moved to Vegas for her father’s job at the Bellagio’s poker tables.

“You didn’t think I would let you go traipsing around the United States without protection, did you?”

“It’s been six months. I thought you’d gone back to the Sisterhood.”

“You know me better than that, Starling. I’m not about to leave you when you could still be in danger.”

“Actually, I barely know you at all,” she retorted. For a brief moment in time, she had thought otherwise. In Vegas, she’d thought he’d cared for her when she’d seen the spark of attraction, and they’d spent one glorious night in deep conversation. Yet, looking back, he’d never told her anything about who he truly was aside from a bodyguard. “I haven’t seen you since we left Vegas. If you’ve been around, where’ve you been?”

“I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I’d been at your elbow the entire time,” Jasper said, a hurt look on his face. “Sometimes the best thing a bodyguard can do is not to be seen.”

“Ha. Right. Whatever you need to tell yourself,” she said, trying to control the anger that bubbled up with each passing second as she recalled the emotional rollercoaster she’d experienced since he’d left.

But more than anything, she was mad at herself. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to feel anything for the man who’d been sent to protect them. He’d only been doing the job he’d been given by the Sisterhood, the governing body for nymphs, by keeping her out of the line of fire in Vegas. If that meant leading her around by her hormones, he must have thought it okay, but she should have known better.

“Look, I have to do whatever I need to keep you safe. The last few months, that meant looking into the vulture shape-shifters, Catharterians, trying to find out more about the extent of Dr. Redbird’s involvement in the organization, and to see if there is any validity to the threat she made to you and your kind. But thanks to you and your running away like your ass was on fire, now I can’t do the work that needs to be done. Instead I have to be here, babysitting you, making sure that you don’t cause any more trouble.”

“I don’t need a babysitter. I’m old enough to take care of myself.” Starling jumped in line for a taxi.

“You don’t know what you need,” he said. “Do you even have a place to stay? Or did you forget to plan that far ahead?”

She clenched her fist around the straps of her purse, which held her paperwork and wallet. “I have a plan. Thank you very much.”

“Getting a taxi to the cheapest hotel isn’t a plan.” Jasper’s eyes filled with fiery sparks as he stared at her.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked, hoping to divert his attention from her inadequacies.

“I’m allowed to have secrets.”

“Well then, why don’t you take your secrets and get moving. I need to take care of some business.”

“And what business would that be?”

“If you know so much, then you don’t need me to tell you.” Starling stepped forward in the taxi line.

She hated being treated like she was stupid. Though she was just short of nineteen, she was not a child. In fact, she’d barely had a chance to be young, thanks to the spirits and ghosts who invaded her reality. She’d been forced to grow up a long time ago.

“Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass?”

She whirled on him at that remark, ready to let him have it. How dare he take that aggravated tone with her? But he just smiled. The grin was more suited to a mischievous child than to the man who had broken her heart. The humid air clung to her skin, but it wasn’t the heat that made the warmth rise in her cheeks. “If you think you deserve anything more from me after the way you treated me, you have another think coming.”

“Let me make it up to you.” His smile retreated. “I booked us both rooms not far from here.”

She thought of the meager amount of cash in her wallet, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to start forgiving Jasper just to get a free room. “No.”

“Look, I know you’re pissed. You have every right to be. But you can’t get around Savannah without me. The Catharterians are clearly already gunning for you, and I don’t think I could live with myself if I let you get hurt.”

Starling’s room in the Bohemian Hotel looked out over the Savannah River as the muddy water rushed by in its push to reach the Atlantic. She was perched on the edge of the bed, looking out the window, scanning the distance.

“Are they still bothering you?” Jasper asked.

She didn’t move.

“Starling?”

“Hmm?” she asked, her attention turning to him.

“Are the spirits still bothering you?”

“No,” she said, pausing. “I’m doing good, really.”

He might have believed her if everything about her, even the way she perched on the tips of her toes like she was ready to take flight, didn’t say otherwise. Her black hair sparkled in the evening light, the color so rich it looked slightly red. For a second, he wondered if she looked red and blue when she shifted into her swan form. He could just imagine her shift. Her taking off her shirt exposing her milky, white skin; flesh begging to be touched … it had to be the same over her entire body, all the way to her nipples.

His response pressed hard against his zipper, and he forced himself to turn away. She was off-limits for a thousand reasons, but at the top of the list was the fact that it was his job to protect her. The young woman could be nothing more than another person the Sisterhood had enlisted him to save from harm. The worst thing he could possibly do was put her in danger of falling in love, not just with him, but anyone.

“Why did you come down here, Starling?” If she told him it was to follow some guy, it would be hard not to lose his mind. Then again, it would surprise him if she had come down here for some stupid reason like a guy. She seemed so much more mature than most women her age. He couldn’t be sure whether it was the way she was raised, with a mother who’d had her fair share of problems, or whether it was because Starling was a nymph, but unlike most college age women, she didn’t spend her time trying on jeans or flipping her hair while she texted away on her cell phone.

“I’m surprised you don’t know. You seem to know everything,” she answered.

“I wish I knew everything. It would make my job a hell of a lot easier.”

“You mean it gets easier than being a shadow?”

He ignored her jibe. She was angry. She had earned the right, but he didn’t have to give her the response she was gunning for. Nothing good would come of a fight.

“Are you still shifting into your swan form?”

“Not since my mother was killed.”

“If it will make you feel better to go for a fly, I can keep you from getting hurt.”

“Really? You are going to tell me that you care how I feel?” She gave him a look of disgust. “Why don’t you just leave?”

“Look, I’ll leave, but if you need me, I booked the next room.” He pointed to the right. “Don’t go anywhere without letting me know. Savannah isn’t a great place for you to be running, or flying, alone.”

“If I need a babysitter I’ll let you know.”

• • •

Starling had spent the night staring out the window, watching the lights of steamboats and liners as they passed down the river. When she’d finally slipped into the lull of sleep, her dreams had been filled with images of her mother’s spirit. Each time she tried to ask her mother, Carey, about the books, her spirit would fade from view, until finally Starling had given up and just sat in silence.

The morning sun stole through the window and filled the room with its light.

Starling …
Asclepius’s wraithlike voice broke the silence of her sleep-fogged mind.
I’m waiting. I need your help.

“Go away,” she said aloud.