Mortal Kiss (27 page)

Instead, he turned to a rusted iron rack. On it a suit of ancient, ornate armor was hanging. It was made of a metal he couldn’t name, richly engraved and riveted together with tiny, intricate pins. It had belonged to Ballard, but it fit Mitch as if it had
been made for him alone. Slipping on the helmet, he buckled it beneath his chin before reaching for the breastplate
.

Behind him, there was a soft whinny, and Mitch smiled. “Hello, girl,” he whispered to the great horse hanging her head over one of the partitions. “Ready to ride?”

The mare raised her head and dropped it as if she knew what Mitch was saying. She was white—no, paler than white, a milky, translucent shade of opal that made her look even more ghostly than she was
.

Mitch stroked her nose. “Let me just get the dogs,” he whispered, opening the paper bag he was carrying and pulling out a large slab of raw steak
.

The chattering whine immediately rose as the smell of meat wafted through the stable. Mitch moved to the farthest pen and looked over the wooden fence. Inside were a host of men, wild and dirty, dressed in rags. Their faces were hungry, their bodies wasted; around their necks were chains of shining silver. They were all on their haunches, looking for Mitch and what he held in his hands. He slapped the meat against the fence that held them in, and the men went crazy, scrambling toward the steak, snapping at each other as they crashed together
.

“Come on then, boys,” said Mitch with a smile. “Time to hunt.”

“Finn?” Faye said, relieved to see him standing on her doorstep. “Is everything OK?”

He shook his head. “No. No, it’s not. I need you to come with me.”

Faye felt her eyes widen. “What,
now
? Where to?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet, but—”

“Finn?” Joe stepped to Faye’s side. “Why don’t you come in?”

Faye saw Finn’s face darken as he looked at his father. “What are you doing here?”

“Faye’s aunt is helping me translate the scroll,” Joe said, frowning at Finn’s expression. “Why don’t you come and help us? You know as much of the old language as I do.”

“No,” Finn said shortly, looking again at Faye. “Please, Faye. Come with me. You can’t trust anyone here. No one.”

Faye stared at him. “Finn, don’t. You’re scaring me.”

“What’s happened?” Joe asked, taking a step toward his son. Finn backed away, grasping Faye’s hand.

“I don’t know, Dad,” Finn said, his voice cracking slightly. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Eve,” Finn said hoarsely. “I’m talking about Eve.”

Faye looked at Joe, confused. She thought she saw a flicker of something like guilt pass through the big man’s eyes.

“You went to see Mercy, didn’t you?” Joe asked. “Finn, you know you can’t believe anything she says.”

“Whereas you never lie, do you, Dad?” Finn spat. “Faye. Just talk to me. Please—out here. Alone.”

Faye was still scared, but she nodded. She looked up at Joe. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

After a moment Joe nodded reluctantly. Finn ignored him, pulling Faye with him as he walked out into the dark, abandoned street. He kept walking until he found a secluded alley, out of view of the street, and pulled her into it.

“Finn,” Faye said. “What’s going on? Please tell me. Who’s Eve?”

Finn stared at her. Faye felt that familiar pull again, the one she’d felt inside her every time she saw him, ever since that day in the mall. She looked away, staring at a neon sign farther down the road. Its bulbs were dying, flickering sickly in the unnatural night.

“Faye,” he began, “I know this is strange—”

“Just tell me,” Faye said. “Just tell me who Eve was. Who was she to you?”

Finn took a deep breath. “Eve was your great-great-great-aunt. She wasn’t from here—she lived in Eastern Europe, where I guess your family emigrated from a long time ago. And she looked—she looked just like you.”

Faye nodded, numb, her mind spinning. “Wait,” she said. “Wait … Lucas showed me a picture of a woman who looked like me but wasn’t me. Oh God. Was that her? Was that Eve?”

Finn nodded. “Mercy was terrorizing her village. We heard about her arrival and came to help, and I—” He paused, shutting his eyes, the look on his face distant, as if he were watching the past replay behind his eyelids. “It was like a thunderbolt as soon as I saw her. I was young then, truly young, and they all said it would fade with time, but it didn’t. It never has.” He looked at her. “Until now. Until you, Faye.”

“What happened to her?” Faye asked quietly.

Finn opened his eyes, staring at the drawn blinds of the bookstore. “She died,” he said shortly, his voice full of pain. “And I thought I knew how, until today, and now …” He shook his head, trailing off.

Faye stared at him, feeling the anger build in her chest, beside the pulse of energy that always seemed to be there when she was with him.

“So what?” she asked. “You’ve just been looking for a replacement ever since? You just figured I could slide right in and be your Eve again? Because I look like her? Because I share her blood?”

Finn’s head snapped toward her in shock. “No!” he said. “Of course not! Faye—how could you even think that?”

“How could I not?” Faye asked, distraught. “I look like her, Finn! I look just like her, and that’s the only reason you’re even talking to me now!”

“No!” Finn said again. “Faye, don’t you feel it? It’s like … it’s like a thing in your chest, right? A thing that ties you to me as if we were joined together with a rope or something. Except that it’s stronger than a rope. I know it is, because it’s been there for years. It’s always been there. And I know you feel it, because I do too.” Finn placed a hand over his heart. “It’s right here, isn’t it? I swear, Faye, the moment I saw you—that moment in the mall, it felt like everything was falling into place, and I could feel you, right there, I could hear you breathing as if there were no one else there but us.”

“But how do I know?” Faye asked, wanting to cry. “How do I know whether that’s for me or Eve? She’s always there too, isn’t she?”

Finn ran his hands through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut. “No. No. It started being Eve. In some ways, you are so alike. But in others, you’re not. You’re
so strong, Faye. You face things head-on. You don’t flinch. You look after yourself. Eve was different. She was delicate—she needed me to protect her. And I didn’t. I couldn’t. She slipped out of my grasp like water, and I didn’t even see her go.”

Finn stepped forward, clutching Faye’s arms and pulling her toward him until their foreheads touched. “You’re my second chance, Faye,” he whispered. “I loved Eve for one hundred and fifty years.
One hundred and fifty years!
But I love you ten times as much, and it’s going to last ten times as long. The thought of losing you … I have to keep you safe. I have to. If I lose you—if I fail again, I don’t think I’ll even want to live. Please come away with me. Just you and me, Faye. Please.”

With a gasp, Faye wrenched herself out of his grasp and backed away, tears flooding down her face. “I can’t!” she said, agonized. “I can’t do this—I can’t deal with this. I don’t understand any of it.”

“You don’t have to,” Finn pleaded. “Just accept it.”

“How can you say that?” Faye shook her head. “I don’t even know you!”

“You do,” he whispered. He stepped forward, cupping her face in his hands, so close that she could feel his heart beating hard against her chest. “You do, Faye. We’ve known each other forever, it’s just taken this long for us to find each other.” He took a deep, shaking breath. “Tell me you don’t feel what I feel, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Faye stared at him, trying to force the lie through her lips, trying to tell him she didn’t feel anything, but she knew he could see the truth in her eyes. She reached up, pulling his hands from her face. Then she turned on her heel and fled back to the shop.

#

Finn walked to the end of the alley and stood in the empty street, watching Faye disappear into the bookstore.

“You can come out now,” he said into the empty air as the door shut behind her.

There was a moment’s silence before cautious footsteps echoed out of the shadows. Lucas walked toward Finn slowly, stopping where Finn could see him.

“How did you know I was there?”

Finn glared at the boy. “The wolf is pretty close to the surface right now,” he said. “So I’d really recommend not pissing me off.”

Lucas nodded. “Right.” He looked down, digging his hands into his pockets.

“So … I heard all that.”

“So?”

“Pretty heavy stuff. I guess I didn’t realize … what you and Faye were all about.”

“Yeah, well,” said Finn, “it’s not really any of your business, is it?”

“Why are you being such an idiot?” Lucas asked, his sudden anger surprising Finn. “You can’t protect her by running away. She’s safer here—with all of us.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! It is! And if you didn’t have your head so far up your own—” Lucas cut himself off with a sigh. “Look, you’re not the only one who cares about her. But …” He looked away with an embarrassed shrug. “I’ve never had a brother, I guess. And now that I have one, I don’t want to fight with him, you know? So why don’t we start again? I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. It seems to be working out so far.”

For the first time, Finn really looked at Lucas. They were alike, he could tell, despite the centuries and the father that separated them.

“Come on,” Lucas urged. “I’m not going to chase after my brother’s girl. But I will help you keep her safe. OK?”

Finn nodded slowly.

“All right, then,” said Lucas with a tentative smile. “Let’s forget this getting-out-of-town stuff and get back inside. They’re working on a battle plan in there.”

Faye tried to concentrate on what Aunt Pam and Joe were saying, but her mind kept wandering to her confrontation with Finn. He seemed so convinced of what he was saying, so passionate. And that connection between them was there, in her chest, thrumming even now.

“If you look here,” Aunt Pam was saying, “I think this refers to the Prince, not to the Immortal. I know the preposition is confusing, but …”

The door opened and Lucas came in, followed by Finn. Faye felt her face betray her conflicted emotions and looked away, pretending to be focused on the notes Aunt Pam was pointing at.

“Welcome back, boys,” she heard Joe say dryly. “Finn? Are you here to stay?”

There was a pause before Finn’s quiet voice cut through the silence of the shop. “For now. But we need to talk, Dad.”

“We will, I promise,” Joe assured him. “But right now we have to apply ourselves to this.”

“What have you found out?” Finn asked, apparently deciding that right now all he could do was join them. “Anything useful?”

“Well,” said Faye, feeling Finn’s eyes rest on her as she spoke up. “Apparently this isn’t a spell. It’s an account.”

Finn took a step toward her. “What do you mean, an account?” he asked. His voice was soft and full of concern. Faye tried to ignore what it was doing to her insides, and instead leaned over the scroll again.

“Aunt Pam says it describes a ritual,” she told him.

“A ritual for what?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” said Joe. “Finn, why don’t you take a look? We could do with another pair of eyes on this, I think.”

Faye stepped out of the way as Finn moved nearer, but not quickly enough to stop his hand from brushing gently against hers. She felt his fingers curl around hers briefly before he let go and concentrated on the scroll. Faye swallowed hard.

#

Finn watched Faye, trying to catch her eye, but she deliberately avoided his gaze. He wondered if he’d done the right thing in telling her what he had—maybe he’d pushed her too hard. But if his dad was right, they were running out of time, and Finn was terrified to think that something might happen to her. After what had happened to Eve, all those years ago … He had to find a way to protect Faye from whatever was coming. Whatever it took.

Finn stepped into the space Faye left at the desk beside her aunt. The scroll was held open by a couple of books, and he frowned as he leaned closer.

“What have you learned so far?” he asked.

“Well,” began Aunt Pam after a deep breath, “as far as we can tell, the text talks about a feudal prince who ruled a now-forgotten land in Eastern Europe, centuries ago, during the Dark Ages, when Immortals were pure creatures and still walked the earth. His land had been overrun by Mercy’s kin, his subjects held in her thrall.”

Lucas shuddered. “This is so weird. That’s my mom you’re talking about.”

“The Prince was desperate to find a way of helping his people,” Joe went on, taking up the story. “But Mercy’s powers were growing strong in his land, swarming over it like darkness itself. The Prince had fallen in love with one of the few
Immortals who had not fled the region. The couple was happy—devoted, and so in love that anyone who saw them together was blessed.”

Finn nodded, pointing at the scroll. “It says here they were planning marriage. A huge celebration of their love, to bring cheer to the whole land.”

“Right,” Aunt Pam agreed, “and that’s about as far as we’ve gotten.”

Finn studied the scroll, frowning. He couldn’t make out all of it, but there were a few words he recognized. “It’s talking about a bargain with Annwn,” he muttered, reading on.

“One of Mercy’s?” Joe asked.

“No, I don’t think so.” Finn frowned. “It was a bargain that the Immortal suggested. To the Prince.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Faye.

Finn looked up at his father. “Listen to this,” he said, translating the scroll aloud. “ ‘Though the Immortal was consumed by her love for her One, her soul was in torment. She could not look upon the suffering of his people and enjoy her own happiness.’ ”

“So what does that mean?” Lucas asked. “Did she not marry the Prince after all?”

Finn stared at the ancient writing, feeling something dark and cruel settle on his shoulders. He could feel Faye, standing just a few feet away, but suddenly he couldn’t look at her.