Page 22

21

THE POSSESSION

N ick walked stiffly over to a table by the apartment’s door, where he and Jem used to place their keys and other things they used day-to-day. He nearly tripped over something curled up on the floor, and stared down in shock when he realized it was Panther.

The big, black wolfhound had wound himself up into a fluffy ball not far from the door, almost like someone left him there, and told him to guard it.

Nick glanced in the direction of the girl.

“Someone” probably had.

Miri wouldn’t be happy about that. She didn’t like people pushing her dog.

Nick didn’t much like it, either.

The dog whined, thumping his tail at Nick as if apologetically. Nick rubbed the dog’s head, then scooped up the earpiece he’d left on the small table when he walked in. He fitted it to his ear, pausing only to rub the dog soothingly again.

Then he straightened and activated the comm with his mind.

He keyed in Black’s ID and switched to sub-vocals.

He didn’t want to upset the kid even more.

“I’ve got a situation here,” here, he said, the instant he heard Black pick up. He spoke vampire-soft, a bare vibration in his throat. “I need some help. Me and Jem’s old room. The kid’s here. And before you ask, I have no fucking idea how she got inside, but she’s obviously disturbed…”

The girl blinked.

Gods-damn it. Did she hear that?

She must have.

He tried to calm his words.

She was obviously disturbed.

“Send Miri. Or Holo, maybe. But I need someone here now. She’s confused. She needs someone to talk to her. Someone who can––”

“I’m not confused.” Her mouth hardened. “Or disturbed.”

She spoke perfect Prexci, like, scholar-perfect––the kind Jem and some of the older seers like Yarli and even Black occasionally used. The words sounded loud in the dark room, and damned weird coming from such a young mouth. Bell-clear, her voice had a strangely melodic quality, something that made Nick flinch, then stare.

Why did that feel familiar, too?

Had he noticed that in her voice before?

Nick couldn’t remember her speaking at Rucker’s house, other than in a whisper when he first found her, and a few words he overheard when Miri had been escorting her outside and asking her questions.

Either way, he needed to handle this carefully. Regardless of her haughty words, she was painfully young. She was was young and obviously she was really fucking confused, or why the hell would she be in here at all, much less putting her hands on him?

Why would she go near him, a vampire, at all?

She had to know what he was.

She’d known his eyes were the wrong color when he wore the contact lenses. She hadn’t seemed disturbed by his cold skin when she reached up for him through those metal bars, trying to hold his hand. Unless this was all just some weird psychological projection. Had she somehow imprinted on him, as the first face she saw when she was “rescued”? Did she see Nick as her savior? Did she feel like she owed him something?

The thought made him feel even sicker.

“Hey.” Nick held up his hands, palms out. “I’m not angry. I’m not. But you shouldn’t be in here. You shouldn’t be doing what you were doing to anyone, but especially not to me. You don’t owe me anything, kid. You never owe anyone that… okay?”

He ended a little lamely, and cleared his throat, aware of his own discomfort.

“I’m not a kid,” she said simply.

“You are, though––” Nick began.

“I’m not,” she retorted.

He started to argue with her again, then cut himself off. There was no point arguing with a kid about whether or not they were a kid.

He held his hand higher in alarm when she began to get up off the couch. He realized only then, to his utter and complete horror, that she was completely naked.

“Jesus fuck…” he snapped, fighting anger now.

He turned his face away, and stared at the wall, his hand still held up to ward her off.

“Where are your goddamned clothes, Aura?”

As soon as he’d realized she wasn’t wearing anything, he made sure not to look anywhere lower than her neck, but still managed to glimpse enough of her small, pale breasts, and a swath of skin down her belly to her legs, to feel deeply, deeply fucking disturbed.

“Kid, you are really fucking confused if you think this is remotely going to happen.”

“Why?” she whispered.

Her voice sounded so damned young.

“Why? Well, I’m married, for one.” His voice came out harsher than he intended. “And you’re a damned child for another…” He continued to hold up his hand, even as he switched back to his headset. “Some fucking help here would be nice,” he snapped into the comm.

“We’re on our way,” Black growled back.

“You can’t get here faster? What the fuck are you doing?”

“You can’t handle one seer pup?” Black retorted. “What is she doing? Staring at you adoringly to death? Calling you pretty again?”

Nick bit his lip. His fangs extended as anger heated his chest.

He was tempted to tell Black exactly what she’d been doing, but something in him couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to embarrass her.

He also didn’t particularly want it to get back to Jem.

He forced himself to take a breath, still staring at the wall.

He clicked off the comm with Black

He aimed his words at the girl without looking at her.

“Look, no one’s blaming you for being confused, kid,” he said, forcing his voice calm. “We don’t blame you for not knowing how we do things here, or for trying to relate to us the way you used to relate to…” He cut himself off, still staring at the wall. “But we’re not like the people in that house where we found you. We’re not like Lucian Rucker. None of us are.” He cleared his throat. “It’s not just me. It’s anyone here. You can’t just climb into people’s beds and start taking off their clothes. It’s not appropriate, and––”

“I’m not confused,” she cut in, her voice harder again, back to that more adult, eerily cultured-sounding voice. “And I’m not a kid.”

“I’m not saying it as an insult––”

“Maybe you should ask Luc if he saw me as a kid,” she shot back.

Nick felt his fangs extend. He growled, “I don’t consider ‘Luc’ to be the judge of anything decent or right. I wouldn’t take his word on much of anything––”

“Well, at least he didn’t pretend he didn’t want me when he did,” she retorted.

Nick started to say something back, something he’d definitely regret, but he swallowed it.

He subdued his voice.

“If I were you,” he muttered in a low growl. “I wouldn’t view anything that fucker did or said as some standard for ‘normality.’ Like I said, we aren’t like him here. None of us are. If you tried that on Black or one of the others here, you’d get the same reaction you did from me. That’s true of any person in this building.”

She flushed bright pink. She opened her mouth, closed it.

“Why would I try it on one of them?” She sounded near tears. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m just some whore who gives herself to anyone?”

Nick flinched in shock. He opened his mouth, closed it.

Gods-damn it. This is why he needed Miriam here. Of course he couldn’t be trusted to say the right thing.

He weighed back and forth whether to apologize, then shrugged.

“Again… what I’m saying is absolutely no reflection on you,” he said, falling somewhere in the middle. “I’m just saying… you shouldn’t be climbing into anyone’s bed right now, Aura. Whether it’s me or anyone else doesn’t matter. You’re more than that. You’re too young to see it, maybe, but that’s the least important thing in your life right now. You should be hanging out with other kids, enjoying being young––”

She let out a laugh.

The laugh was so bitter-sounding, Nick winced.

He opened his mouth, about to try and back-pedal, or maybe direct the conversation somewhere else, when the front door to the apartment opened sharply.

Black strode in, frowned. He reached for the light switch and hit it on. Nick hadn’t fully realized how dark it was in there until he had. He could see in the dark, almost better than in full light, and the girl hadn’t seemed to have any trouble seeing him, either.

Miri walked in behind her husband, then came to a dead stop, letting out a quiet, shocked gasp when she saw Aura standing there, entirely nude.

Black came to a dead stop, too.

Then Nick saw the third person to walk in after Miriam.

Jem stared from Nick to the girl and back again.

Fury bloomed in his light green eyes. Not just fury––a violence-trembling rage. The violet rings around each of his irises seemed to glow in the gold-colored overheads. Nick stared at the look there, bewildered, and a little afraid.

What the fuck? Jem didn’t really think he was screwing around with some kid, did he?

Jesus fucking Christ. How could he possibly think that of him?

“How did she get in here?” Black asked, speaking only to Nick.

“I don’t know.” Nick tore his eyes off Jem with an effort, and looked at Black. “What the fuck time is it?” He looked at his watch, trying to answer his own question, and realized it was after one o’clock in the afternoon. Had he really been lying there for three hours?

“Not expecting me so soon, cousin?” Jem asked coldly.

Nick gave him a disbelieving look that quickly turned angry.

Black didn’t seem to have any patience for Jem’s addition to the conversation either. He gave the green-eyed seer a hard, warning look, then returned his gaze to Nick.

“How the fuck did she get in here?” he repeated, colder. “How did she even know where you were?”

Nick exhaled, increasingly having to fight anger.

How on earth was this his fault? Everyone in the building, including his own mate, thought he was a child molester now? Because that was just… gaos, he didn’t even have words for how fucked up that was.

“How did she get out of your place?” he retorted back.

Black and Miri exchanged looks, and Nick scowled.

He answered Black’s question before the dark-haired seer could ask it a third time.

“I didn’t lock the door,” Nick said, exasperated. “I was expecting Jem.” He glanced at his mate, then looked away with a scowl when Jem only glared at him. “I think the bigger question is, how the hell did she know where to find me? Did she just open doors at random until she found someone she knew? Did she send Panther after me? What?”

He looked at the girl as he said that part, and caught her staring at Jem.

The two of them looked at one another in a way that might have been comical under different circumstances. Jem didn’t glare at Aura like an adult glaring at a child, but more like an adult glaring at another adult. The girl, Aura, didn’t look at Jem like a young person normally would an adult, either. Aura glared at him like Jem was another girl on the schoolyard, and she was plotting how to scratch his eyes out, or maybe something a lot worse.

Nick clicked his comm to Jem’s channel.

He kept it on sub-vocals, but glanced warily at the kid, knowing she might hear it.

“Jesus, Jem. She’s a fucking kid. Back off a little.”

“Back off a little?” Jem glared openly at him, naked fury in his eyes, enough that Nick felt hairs raise on the back of his neck. “You want me to take it easy on her? Extend some brotherly love? Just how did you wake up, brother?” he snarled. “Which part of you had her mouth on it? Or were you about to tell me she only came here for some fatherly advice?”

Nick stared at him, too shocked to answer at first.

“A little compassion wouldn’t be amiss,” he said finally, speaking aloud that time, still staring at his mate. “Jesus, Jem. What the hell is the matter with you?”

“What’s the matter with me?” Jem snarled.

Miri jumped visibly. Her eyes widened as she stared at Jem.

“Yeah,” Nick growled back, refusing to back down. “What the fuck is going on with you lately? Since when are you incapable of being rational about––”

“Rational?” Jem growled.

Black lost patience.

“Shut the fuck up!” He glared Jem, then at Nick. “Both of you. Shut. Up.”

Jem opened his mouth, but Black raised a warning hand.

“Not another fucking word.” Black pointed at Jem. “You, especially. Or I’ll have you hit with a tranquilizer dart and thrown in a room until you can control yourself.”

Black didn’t wait for Jem’s reaction.

He focused back on the girl. His eyes remained unwaveringly on her face.

Unlike Nick, Black didn’t soft-pedal his words.

“Why did you come in here?” he asked, blunt. “What do you want with Nick?”

The girl tore her eyes off Jem. She looked faintly caught as she looked from Black to Miri. Her face flushed that pink color again.

Now she looked both embarrassed and angry.

“He’s mine,” she said.

A stubborn, immovable note entered her voice. She glared at Dalejem, as if daring him to disagree, or maybe challenging him openly.

“He’s fucking mine,” she repeated coldly.