“Yes,” he murmured. “
You
are.”
Even years later, Jodie would never really know which of them reacted more strongly to his
compliment. She coughed and sputtered her way through an embarrassed thank you while he stammered out a bumbled but touching apology. That one clumsy interlude led to coffee in the Met’s Balcony Café, which led to dinner the following night, and so on and so on. And from that first moment together, he had always called her, “my lovely.”
All t
he way up to the moment of her suicide. Why hadn’t she believed him? Why had she doomed them both with one momentary weakness? Why didn’t she—
“Gabe? Sweetheart?” A woman called from the front room. Seconds later, heels clicked across the oaken floor. “Are you home?”
Jodie scurried to gather her broken pieces, only to see Gabe scrambling to throw a drop cloth over the painting.
“In the studio, Aimee,” he replied.
He turned away from the easel. A bright smile stretched his lips when the woman, a baby dressed in pink riding on her hip, stepped into the room. “How are my two lovelies?”
Jodie, perched on high, felt the slice when Gabe used her endearment on these two strangers.
Blissfully unaware of his audience, Gabe strode forward and scooped up the child, nuzzling his nose in the fold of her neck. The little girl cooed and gurgled.
“She’s teething,” the woman said on a tired sigh. “So we can expect several more months of sleepless nights.”
As if to confirm the diagnosis, the child shoved a tiny fist into her mouth, drool spilling over the flat of her hand. Sharp pains, more agonizing than the shrapnel and flames she’d endured on Earth, pierced Jodie’s core. Here, then, was the life she should have known.
“
Hey, little girl,” a smooth voice whispered from behind her. “You lost?”
Jodie’s attention whirled to the
curious orb hovering inches from her. “Sean! How on earth did you find me?”
“I didn’t
.” He took her hand, squeezed. “The Board put out an O.R.A.L. bulletin on you.”
S
he cocked her head in his direction. “What’s an O.R.A.L. bulletin?”
“Out
side the Realm of the Afterlife.” One by one, he unfolded her fingers to count out the letters. “O, R, A, L. In other words, they sent me to fetch you like a standard bounty. Luc must have pissed you off plenty to send you down here. What did he do?”
“Nothing more than any other man.”
Sighing, she turned her attention to Gabe.
“Ah,” he
murmured. “Is that Gabe?”
Did she hear
pity in his voice? Jodie’s gaze veered to Sean, who studied the touching scene below the way a botanist might study a forest of foreign plants.
“What do you know about Gabe?”
“Everything.” Without giving her a chance to argue, he floated toward the painting on the easel and lifted the drape. “Except why he painted this. It’s really very angry, isn’t it?”
“Wait.
” A protective instinct amassed inside her, and she pivoted to Sean’s side, pushing him away from the easel. “Forget about the painting and tell me. How do you know Gabe?”
He turned toward her again, wiggling his fingers meaningfully. “
You became a bounty,” he reminded her. “Which allowed the Board to fill me in on your full history.”
Shame enveloped her in a sodden blanket. Shoot. She should have realized the Board would send
someone after her, and that they’d provide him with all the dirty details of her past to make his task easier. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Once again, she’d acted without considering the repercussions. “Does Luc know?”
“That you’re gone? Yes,” Sean replied. “About your past? No. But I think you should tell him. It might help him understand you a little more.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” she murmured and ducked her head in a penitent stance. “Besides, there’s nothing left for me here. I’m ready to go back to the Halfway House now.”
“You’re not going to the Halfway House.”
Sympathy still tinged his words.
Her gaze snapped up.
“Why not?”
His expression remained bland, revealing nothing.
“Because you have to be reprocessed. Just like every other soul who absconds from the Afterlife.”
Her heart rose into her throat
, and she swallowed the lump with a gulp of unshed tears. “Will it hurt?”
“Maybe a little.”
He squeezed his index finger against his thumb. A smile twisted his lips. But if he meant to comfort her, his antics had fallen short of the distance between his fingertips.
Terror of the unknown held her firmly in its grip. What would happen to her now? Solitary confinement?
Banishment? The hell Gabe had portrayed in his painting? Would she spend eternity consumed by flames?
Apparently unaware of the dread running rampant through her imagination,
Sean gestured toward the ceiling. “Come on. Luc will be waiting at Reception.”
Terrific. Like that made her any more eager to move. Still, she surrendered to her fate.
With a solemn nod, she followed Sean up and away.
Chapter 19
Luc stalked the Reception Area, occasionally throwing stony glares at Sherman who paced before the doors leading to the Elders’ Auditorium. But his thoughts remained firmly with Jodie. Why the hell had she flown to Earth so soon after her battle with the Fury? Did she realize the risk she’d taken? Probably not. Because with her energy stores already drained, her cells badly misaligned, and no guidance from the Board, she could easily find herself stranded in the Chasm between the astral planes. And no one,
no one
, wanted to wind up falling between those cracks.
Had he ever told her about the
Chasm? About the spirits trapped in silent darkness for eternity? He couldn’t remember. Which meant she probably didn’t know that land of hopelessness existed. Hell of a trainer he’d turned out to be. So fixated on the idea she didn’t belong, he’d practically sabotaged her into failure. If he could do her training over again, he’d definitely mention a few things he’d overlooked the first time around. Things like details about the Chasm, how to successfully rope a Fury, and how to call for help when needed so the Board didn’t have to send out a high alert. Guilt slapped him across both cheeks, a dueler’s challenge. Maybe he should talk to Sherman, insist she needed more on-the-job training before going off on her own. And this time he’d treat her like a partner rather than an unwanted insect.
Amazing when he considered that
despite the lapses in her education, she’d risen above the challenges. Time and time again. Oh, she was still way too soft for the job, as evidenced by this sporadic flight. What the hell fascination did Earth hold that compelled such drastic action on her part? The answer flashed across his brain in twelve-foot neon letters. Gabe. The hero left behind.
How do you know about Gabe?
Her voice, familiar and welcome, filled his senses. The psychic link between them pulsed, which could only mean one thing. Sean must have located her. Thank God.
Sure enough, Luc became a silent eavesdropper to her dialogue with the former detective.
Although…monologue was more like it, since he could only hear Jodie’s side of the conversation.
There’s nothing left for me here
.
Judging by t
he fatalistic way she said those words, the toneless incantation, her reunion hadn’t quite gone the way she planned. A strange pang struck him, some sort of regret by proxy. After all she’d gone through to travel to Earth, he wished she might have found some hope or promise from the journey. Unfortunately, based on the tone of her voice, she’d been dealt another disappointing hand.
I’m ready to go back to the Halfway House now.
And now she would receive another crushing blow. Even without hearing Sean’s reply, past experience suggested she was about to learn that, as an O.R.A.L. offender, she couldn’t return to the Halfway House just yet.
Why not?
Bingo. She had to come here for reprocessing first.
Will it hurt?
The crack in her voice broke his heart. That pang of regret returned, deeper and more painful now. She’d always stood up for herself, but now she sounded broken. Beaten. What had happened to the woman who’d single-handedly brought down a Fury? What exactly had she witnessed with Gabe that stole the fight out of her?
B
etrayal. Had to be. Luc knew all too well how a loss of trust could steal not only your courage, but your will, your pride, and your very life. Poor kid. A burst of energy swirled through him. Sean and Jodie must have entered the Afterlife’s outer circle. Steady thrums now pulsed, communicating her fear to his sensors. As the two drew nearer to Ghoul Central, the drumbeat of her heart echoed heavy-metal-erratic in his chest.
When she finally landed a few feet from him, Sean’s arm wrapped possessively around her waist, Luc s
canned her from head to toe. She looked more bedraggled now than she had after battling the Lighthouse Widow. Perhaps because, after her bout with the Fury, her spirit still shined. Not quite so bright, but noticeable. Now, however, her light had dimmed, leaving her aura dull and tarnished.
Luc forced a light tone. “Welcome back.”
Despite his attempt at humor, Jodie refused to look at him, focusing her attention on some spot in the crowded serpentine line of new arrivals behind him. Her posture sagged, and as she leaned against Sean, she resembled nothing more than a puppet whose strings had suddenly snapped. Bruises still discolored her flesh, lending credence to her desperate need for rest as soon as possible. And now she’d have to go through reprocessing? This poor damsel was in serious distress. And she needed a knight in shining armor to come to her rescue. Fast.
Time to step up to the plate, Luc, ol’ boy. Be a responsible partner.
Seeking an ally, Luc swung his gaze to Sean. Before he could clearly gauge Sean’s stance, however, Sherman rushed forward, blocking his view.
“Ah, Sean.” With
bowlegged strides, the ancient spirit guide neared the pair, arms outstretched. “You got her. Excellent. The Board will be very pleased with your success.” His glance flicked over Jodie with the warmth of a rabid cobra. “Miss Devlin, you will follow me, please.”
Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God…
Her litany echoed in his head. Each syllable raised her anxiety level from panicked to trapped to downright terrified.
Sherman
reached for her, but Luc flew forward and clamped a firm grip on Jodie’s wrist. “If you don’t mind, I’ll escort Miss Devlin inside.”
Sherman’s
amphibious eyes narrowed into slits beneath his sparse snowy brows. “Of course, Luc. If you’re sure…?”
In reply, he
pulled her away from Sean, away from Sherman’s reptilian clutches, and hauled her up against his hip. She never reacted.
Jesus. She’s become a mannequin, completely malleable
. And the idea horrified him.
“Yeah
,” he growled at Sherman. “I’m sure.”
Silence permeated the room, with the men staring at each other
in a mute, immobile tug-of-war. Jodie made no motion, no sound.
As Luc anticipated, Sherman blinked first
. “That is your prerogative.”
“Ye
s, it is,” he replied, his terse tone leaving no room for additional argument. It was a prerogative he’d never before invoked, which probably explained Sherman’s hesitancy.
“Sean?” Sherman turned
to the other hunter. “She’s your bounty. Do you have any objection?”
Luc’s patience, thin as
a single hair, snapped. “She’s nobody’s bounty. She’s
my
partner.”
Flashing
an enormous shit-eating grin, Sean bowed. “I have no objection, Sherman. In fact, I think the idea perfect.”
Later, Luc would have to
seriously consider kicking the snot out of Sean Martino. But for the moment, Jodie needed him more. “Come on, babe,” he crooned and drew her forward.
The
auditorium doors snicked open, and then quickly closed, sealing them inside. Before them, the long aisle waited. Squeezing her wrist for reassurance, Luc led her toward the dais where the Council of Elders waited their turn to reprimand the runaway.
“You don’t have to stay with me,” Jodie whispered, her feet slowing to the pace of a condemned prisoner’s.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I’m a big girl. I don’t need a bodyguard.”
Funny. Away from Sean and Sherman, her spark had rekindled. Good. He far preferred the feisty Jodie he knew to the doormat he’d seen in the Reception Area. Go figure…
“What you need is a friend
,” he murmured. “And in this place, I’m the closest thing you’ve got.”
Frowning, she yanked her hand from his. “I don’t want your pity, Luc.”
“Glad to hear it. Because I’m not a pity kind of guy. I do, however, grant respect where respect is due. And honey, you’ve earned mine.” His hand clamping her forearm, he tilted his head near her ear. Now he needed to earn hers. “No matter what you’re feeling right now, take my advice here, okay?”
Head cocked, she gazed at him, a thousand questions mirrored in her oceanic eyes. “How do I know you’re not going to offer me bad advice to kick me out of bounty hunting?”
Wow. He winced. She might as well have punched him in the gut. But he held up his hand, a thumb crossed over his palm, and leveled a steady honest stare her way. “Scout’s honor. My only objective is to get you out of here fast so you can rest away those battle scars. Okay?”
For a long moment they stood still, bookends, facing each other with a wall of silence between them.Finally, she sighed. “O-okay. What should I do?”
“Be honest. Accept their pronouncement, promise them you’ll never run again and we’ll go back to bounty hunting as if nothing unusual happened between us. Think you can do that?”
The surrender in her expression angled to disbelief. “Of course I can,” she snapped. “After all, nothing unusual
did
happen. Right?”
The one-eighty in her demeanor startled him.
What had he done to piss her off this time? He studied the bristle of static electricity bouncing off her. Hoo-yeah. She was furious. Now, however, with a dozen Elders standing by, was not the time for the two of them to enter into a heated debate. “Yeah,” he said flatly. “Right.”
As they neared the dais, two of the Elders floated forward, one male, one female. The others disappered in wisps of white smoke.
Luc recognized the male as Placide, the Elder he’d chosen as a guide upon his arrival in the Afterlife. Tall, slender, with short-cropped white hair, a British accent and stiff formal manners, Placide bore a striking resemblance to the actor, Michael Caine. Which had been one of the reasons Luc had selected him from the twelve.
From a young age, Luc had always dreamed of having enough money to hire a butler. And who better to play butler/valet in his fantasies than Michael Caine? For a short time in his teen years, he’d flirted with the idea of Sir John Gielgud, too. But Sir John lost his nomination when he played a butler for Arthur Bach in the comedy about the millionaire drunk playboy. Luc was nothing if not original in his thinking, and Hobson, the part played by Gielgud, was a bit too undignified for what Luc had always had in mind.
Okay, so the Afterlife wasn’t exactly the same as the movies. Still the choice had suited him well, except when Placide harped on fears about Daphne’s betrayal twisting him into complicated knots.
The female beside Placide, a lovely Grecian-looking lady with sparkling blue eyes in a heart-shaped face, was probably Jodie’s counselor. Sure enough, when the wise woman opened her arms, Jodie pulled away and raced into her embrace, a penitent child seeking solace at her mother’s breast.
Placide, white cuffs flowing like ripples on a stream, clapped a hand on Luc’s shoulder. “Naturally, the Board counts on your discretion in this matter.”
Luc frowned. “Of course.” Like they’d ever had to remind him about confidentiality before. Then again, he’d never escorted a bounty inside before.
“While Serenity confers with Ms. Devlin, perhaps you and I should take this opportunity to speak?” Placide suggested.
Hell, no. His head didn’t require whitewashing at the moment, thankyouverymuch.
“I think I should probably return to the Halfway House and catch some sleep.” To punctuate his statement, he yawned, mouth opened in a wide o and arms flung wide. “You know how it is. So many souls to catch, so little time.”
Placide’s deep frown told Luc his witty repartee had fallen on stubborn ears. “You and Ms. Devlin have been temporarily suspended from your duties.” He wagged an index finger. “This is not a request, Luc. These orders come directly from the Board.”
A heated flush washed Luc’s cheeks. “Well, then, why the hell didn’t you just come out and say so?”
One silver eyebrow arched in Luc’s direction. “Because I wanted to give you an opportunity to show me how much you’ve learned since your first time here.”