Deceiver's Bond: Book Two of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (19 page)

I swiped angrily at my traitorous eyes, tears leaving their incriminating stains on the fabric of my gloves. I examined the spots of moisture contemptuously before closing my fingers over them, a reflexive act I hadn’t done since childhood.

I dug my fingers into the meat of my palms. I was not helpless child, damn it! I was not a crybaby. And I sure as hell didn’t murder men who despised me, much less blubber over them. Nervy hot pain lassoed my wrists, making me gasp.

Straighten the hell up, Buttercup. Vince needs you.

The thought almost brought me to my knees, but I told myself to shut it. I drew in a shaking breath and forced my hands to relax.

When I’d recovered enough to trust my voice, I called to the djinn, “Maya, Tanu, I thank you for coming to my aid.”

They responded by coasting to hover in front of me. “Does the Lire require the service of the djinn?” they asked at once.

“Yes. Please. I need answers. I need to know where that sidhe
bitch
took Vince.” I clenched up, remembering his rapturous expression, before jerking my arms downward, as if to rid myself of the memory. “I have to get him back. Nothing else matters.”

Behind me, Kieran barked out a bitter, derisive laugh. I whipped around.

Swaying on his feet, he glared down his nose at me, anger open and raw on his markedly pallid face.

What was he so pissed off about? If anyone had cause to be angry, I did. “My pain amuses you? What the hell is the matter with you? Have you no shred of decency?”

He snorted. “Your pain means nothing to me. It is your ignorance I find laughable. You cannot get him back. The way is sealed. The earliest conjunction is midsummer and, by then, it will be too late.” He wavered on his feet and took a small step to keep his balance. “Because of you, it is too late for us
both
.”

“Too late for what?” I tried to keep my voice steady, but there was no hiding my anxiety.

He laughed again, lips curled into a sneer, before slurring, “You should have bonded with him, instead of your demon lover. She has no such constraint.” He pitched forward, knees collapsing under his weight.

“Crap!” Without thinking, I lunged toward him, even though he was far out of my reach. At the last second, I remembered my TK. I safely caught and moved his limp body to the family room couch.

What the hell was he talking about? What demon lover? Not Paimon?

I strode across the room and barely restrained myself from spinning him face up so I could shake some answers out of him.

“You okay?” Michael asked.

I shook my head, but his question and obvious concern gave me the edge over my emotions. “Can you get me a Ziploc bag and a towel?” I spared him a glance before adding, “Please.”

“You want some ice too?”

“No. I can manage that myself.”

I lighted on the edge of the couch. Setting aside my distaste, I leaned over Kieran and gave him a quick visual examination. I resisted the urge to rearrange his disheveled ebony hair, which had fallen to obscure most of his face. Before I could gauge his condition, he groaned and struggled to push himself upright.

I almost jumped away, self-preservation kicking in, but I stopped and forced myself to act tough. I pressed the flat of my hand between his shoulder blades to prevent him from getting up.

“Stay put,” I scolded, sounding like a drill sergeant. Thinking better of being so close to a man I’d nearly murdered, I snatched my hand away and retreated to the ottoman. I tried for a more reasonable tone. “Just … hang there for a second. Take it slow.”

He sluggishly wiped the hair away from his eyes and squinted at me. “Do not … concern yourself. I am … fine.”

He got his forearms under him, but didn’t get his chin more than ten inches from the cushion before crashing down again. He pressed his forehead against his bent right arm, upper arms tensed, as though he intended to right himself at any second.

I glanced at the two djinn. “Will he be okay? Can you tell?”

Maya floated over to trace a nebulous tendril along the side of Kieran’s face.

He jerked his head to the side and muttered, “Enough,” before his eyelids fluttered shut and his body slumped. He mumbled incoherently.

Maya replied, “This sidhe has what the humans call a concussion. With proper care, he will live. Is this what the Lire wishes?”

“Yes. I may not like him, but I don’t want him to die. Besides, he has all the answers. I need him alive.”

Tanu said, “The Lire is wise. The djinn do not possess the answers the Lire seeks. The human Vince no longer resides within the dominion of the djinn.”

Their two forms hovered behind the TV room’s massive leather ottoman, which Jerome and Peter used in place of a coffee table. On countless occasions, my neighbors had served me tea here, all the accoutrements spread out over two red lacquer trays Jerome kept stored inside the ottoman’s hinged interior. I wondered whether Michael and Daniel even knew the trays were there.

Kieran groaned again and muttered something, so I knew he wasn’t unconscious, but he was obviously out of it.

I searched the djinn’s indistinct faces, as though their swirling eyes and misty forms would reveal something useful.

“How could this happen?” I hated hearing the desperation in my voice but was helpless to stop it. “Surely you knew Daniel was up to something. Why didn’t you stop him?”

Tanu floated closer. “The djinn sense all human intention. In his undertaking, the human Daniel harbored no harmful purpose.”

“And once the circle was in place, you were powerless to interfere.”

“The Lire is correct,” they replied in unison.

Glancing at the dazed sidhe, I asked, “What about him? Can you sense his intentions? Can you protect me from him?”

Kieran mumbled something in another language, but I was fairly sure it wasn’t in response to anything we were saying.

Maya hesitated before answering, “With no magic barrier to interfere, the djinn will protect the blood-bound Lire when she resides within their domain.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Although they were powerful, they could only do so much. I muffled my sigh. “Can you keep him here? You know, make sure he doesn’t leave or try to go back home without my say so?”

“Yes. Is this what the Lire wishes?” Tanu asked.

“It is. At least until I get Vince back.” I nodded at them. “Thank you. I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll call on you if I need your help.”

“The djinn will come when needed,” Maya said.

“Or called,” Tanu added.

“As always,” they said in unison.

They both extended a misty tendril, caressing my cheek with their cool touch, before fading from view.

Michael watched them go before handing me the baggie and a white bar towel. “Sorry it took so long. I don’t know where everything is.”

“That’s okay. Thanks.”

He shrugged. “I’m sorry, Lire. I didn’t know this would happen.”

My anger threatened to return, but I swallowed it, waving my hand dismissively. “Maybe not, but Daniel’s been keeping things from us. And he contacted the sidhe, even though I told him not to. If anything happens to Vince—” I blew air over my teeth. Tossing out useless threats, or thinking the worst, wasn’t going to accomplish anything.

I set to working my magic, pulling water vapor from the air and forming individual pearls of ice until the baggie was full. I zipped it shut, setting it aside before once again perching on the couch next to Kieran. I removed my right glove.

“What are you doing?” Michael stepped closer.

“Checking for bleeding.”

“But you—”

“Were you able to read his mind?”

He sighed. “Right.”

As I suspected, my clairvoyance didn’t react when I touched the prone sidhe. He tried to avoid the contact, but it was a half-hearted effort at best. I combed my fingers into his long hair, over his scalp, checking for signs of injury. A small contusion swelled at the back of his head, not more than an inch in diameter. I didn’t feel anything wet or sticky. I gently probed the contusion and examined my fingers. No blood. That was good. I hoped to avoid a trip to the hospital if at all possible. I wanted Kieran firmly under the thumb of the djinn until I had my answers. Then he could go to hell for all I cared.

After replacing my glove, I wrapped the bag of ice with the towel.

“We need to get him up. Maya says he has a concussion. Come on. Help me.” I levitated Kieran upright on the couch.

The sidhe mumbled something indistinct but his neck remained slack. I knelt next to him and pressed the bag of ice against his injury, steadying his head between my hands so he didn’t get whiplash.

“Kieran, wake up,” Michael shook him by the shoulders.

The sidhe just groaned.

The soft cushion made kneeling awkward. I almost sprawled on top of him while trying to focus on levitating his body upright and neck straight. “Come on.” I grunted. “Wake up.”

“It would be easier if you just straddled him,” Michael observed.

I shot him a withering glare. “Are you nuts?”

“You’re practically falling on top of him as it is.”

“That’s because this is killing my back. You know, I could just leave you and Daniel to deal with him on your own.”
Jackass
.

He gave Kieran another vigorous shake. “Dude. Time to wake up. Rise and shine.”

After a little more coaxing, Kieran uttered a series of foreign words and raised his head.

Finally.

“Here’s—” I’d hardly gotten the word out before he shoved at me.

I toppled backward, bouncing off the ottoman to land in the narrow space between the two pieces of furniture. I fell hard, on my right side, too startled to use my telekinesis to catch myself.

My breath went out of my lungs in a hollow-sounding grunt. Michael jumped back a step and bent to help me up.

“Don’t touch me,” I managed to wheeze. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the gesture, but Michael wasn’t wearing gloves.

I levitated myself to my feet and glared down at the sidhe, who was decidedly awake but looking woozy and pale. “You really are a bastard,” I hissed and threw the bag of ice at him, hitting him square in the chest. He jerked backward, surprised by the impact. “Tend to you own fucking injury, asshole. And don’t go back to sleep or I’ll pin your eyelids open with toothpicks.”

I glared at Michael. “Keep him awake, and if he starts looking queasy or throws up, tell me right away.”

I stalked into the living room, alternating between cursing and scolding myself for lashing out. I needed Kieran’s help. Spouting f-bombs and calling him an asshole probably wasn’t going to put him into a cooperative mood.

While I calmed down, I surveyed Jerome and Peter’s disrupted living room.
What a joke
. The rearranged furniture was the least of my worries. I choked back a bitter laugh and gazed down at the carpet. I’d come to a stop about where Daniel had placed the egg-like object.

The talisman!

Maybe it could offer some clues. I immediately scanned the floor. So stupid, throwing it away without a care. Hopefully, the breaking glass I remembered hearing didn’t mean I’d find it in pieces.

“Lire?”

I’d never heard Daniel sound so tentative. I pressed my lips together and attempted to ignore him.

“I’m sorry. I … I didn’t think things would go down the way they did. Norma—”

“Shut. Up.” I bit off each word and glared at him so feverishly I had to keep fire from bursting out my eyeballs. “You betrayed us. You betrayed Vince. Nothing you say can change that.” I shook my head vigorously. “How could you?” I asked, although it came out more an accusation than a question. I pressed my hand to my chest, fighting to keep the grief from overwhelming me. “I thought we were friends.”

I turned my back on his desperate expression before I was tempted to feel guilty for my hardness. When I glanced toward the TV room, Kieran watched me with interest from the sectional couch, dutifully holding the bag of ice to the back of his head. Behind him, Michael met my eyes before tipping his head in understanding. I looked away, trying to breathe normally despite the lump of emotions that smoldered in my chest.

While I searched the living room, trying to remember in which direction and how hard I had thrown the talisman, Michael and Daniel spoke in hushed tones from the kitchen. Every time I glanced in their direction, Kieran’s intense gaze made me feel like a bug under glass. It wasn’t easy to ignore his constant scrutiny, but at least he was alert and his color had improved.

When I found the carved egg-like object, I sagged, relieved to find it intact. A picture of Jerome and Peter, arm in arm at Kaanapali Beach, had fallen to the floor, its glass broken and in pieces under their round lamp table. I added it to my list of things to feel guilty about and left it for Daniel or Michael to clean up.

I turned the talisman over in my hands. It felt too light to be solid stone. I supposed it could be hollow. Perhaps it was an egg, although the carvings were intricate and deep—deeper than a typical eggshell would allow. Even through my gloves, it felt cool and still. Any power it once harbored was long gone.

“The draíocloch won’t help you. Its power is expended,” Kieran said. He didn’t have to add, ‘worthless human.’ His superior tone and bitter expression said it all.

Tell me something I don’t know, asshole.

I curled my fingers around the spent object, closing my mouth against my scathing retort, and reminded myself that I needed Kieran to cooperate.

But how many wasted minutes had gone by since Vince had disappeared? I still didn’t know the answers to even the most basic questions. Where and why did Maeve take Vince? Was he safe? What did she plan to do now? And why was Kieran still here? Why hadn’t he disappeared along with her?

I squeezed my eyes shut, body trembling from inaction, but I quelled the urge to throttle the information I wanted out of him. I forced myself to relax my tightened grip on the egg.

Come on, Lire. Pull yourself together.

If I didn’t get a handle on things, I’d continue to act impulsively instead of making smart decisions, which, until now, had been zero to none.