Alternate Worlds: The Fallen (9 page)

There were a lot of ways ‘what goes around
comes around’ could manifest itself. Gideon had gotten his revenge
for what I’d done in a way I doubted he’d even considered.

“We’ll have to go back there,” I said
decisively. “You’ll have to go with me because I can’t fly. And
we’ll need to disguise you. I don’t want to take a chance that any
of the cultists will recognize you and try something else.”

“I am strong now. I would welcome the
opportunity to fight them again.”

“I’m sure you would, and I can’t say I blame
you. Thing is, though, humans take a dim view of wholesale
slaughter. If you waded in and whacked off a lot of heads, every
cop for miles around and half the federal government would be
looking for you—which might not bother you since you can always
head back across the border. But it could make my life hellish and
I’m just not going to go if you won’t give me your word that you
won’t do anything that’ll land me in jail. I’ve got other plans for
my life.”

Chapter Eight

He gave in easier than I’d expected, which
made me more than a little suspicious. From what I could see, the
world he hailed from was all about vengeance—taking it and dishing
it out. Considering the circumstances, I would have wanted revenge
myself if they’d done to me what they’d done, and tried to do, to
him so I could relate to the desire for it. I just hoped he could
contain himself until I was out of the picture.

He seemed to take it as a matter of fact
that as long as he was there any way he might just as well take
care of his needs. On an emotional level, I wasn’t nearly as
enthusiastic as I had been before because I found I couldn’t be as
objective and detached about it. On the other hand, I couldn’t
think of any way to object that wouldn’t give my feelings away.
Besides, I
did
enjoy it. I figured I might as well make hay
while the sun was shining.

Having done without for almost a week—half a
week anyway—I discovered I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm anyway
once he got the juices flowing. Since the route of indifference
wasn’t possible, I decided to go the other way and tease him to the
point of rough, quick sex to minimize the temptation to go all
mushy and stupid about it. It worked like a charm, because, I
suppose, he’d done without, too—maybe not—but I didn’t want to
think about that. He was hungry enough to convince me he’d gone
without and that was all that really mattered.

Since I figured the sooner done the better,
I took some measurements and headed out to the mall the following
morning to find clothes that would help him blend in. The price
tags were a real shock, enough that my practical side kicked
in.

New clothes were going to be a lot more
noticeable than older clothes. I didn’t want to make him look like
a homeless man either, but Gideon was drop dead gorgeous. Women
were going to notice even if the men didn’t. As much as I wanted to
dress him ‘pretty’, I decided that wasn’t such a great idea and
began searching for stores that recycled clothing.

It was exhausting, but I finally found a
couple of shirts and pairs of pants I thought would fit him
reasonably well. I didn’t bother with undies. He went around
swinging in the breeze now. I figured the pants were going to be
more restrictive than he liked. Topping the stack off with a pair
of tennis shoes and cap with a visor to hide as much of his
beautiful face as possible, I paid for it and headed home
again.

Gideon was pacing my living room when I got
back, not surprising since I’d told him I wouldn’t be gone
long.

I was happy to see the clothes fit him—not
happy with the way he looked in them. There was just no making the
guy look bad.

He hated the shoes worse that he hated the
clothes, and he was pretty unhappy about those.

That long, beautiful black hair had to go. I
knew it, and yet I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it off.
Finally, I brushed it back from his face, secured it with a pony
tail stretch band and tucked it under his cap.

He liked the cap.

Probably because he looked like hell in it.
One could always count on a man becoming instantly attached to
anything that looked like shit on them.

The first part of the trip didn’t go well.
Gideon twitched, complaining about the restriction of the clothes
and the fact that he couldn’t get out of them very quickly if he
needed to. The shoes pinched and the trousers were strangling his
cock and balls.

I told him to do like every other man I’d
ever seen, play with them until he was comfortable. I also pointed
out that he wasn’t supposed to get out of the clothes quickly
because he’d promised me he wasn’t going to do anything
violent.

I had to slap his hand when we stopped for
lunch, because he was still trying to adjust himself. He glared at
me, but subsided, merely shifting and wincing like he had a stake
up his ass from time to time.

Patience, Nicole! I told myself. The man had
never been trussed up in clothes before. I was sure it wasn’t
something he was
going
to get used to either, because he
would be ditching them as quickly as he could.

I whiled away the second half of the trip
talking—mostly to myself—about the farm and what I would do with
it. Despite everything, I was really looking forward to a change in
my life, maybe
because
of everything.

I didn’t get so wrapped up that I talked
about my plans for the kid. I figured we’d pretty much made our
peace on that subject. There was no sense in starting the war all
over again by reminding him of what I’d done. Besides, I thought
I’d feel better if we could end this affair on a high note.
Fighting was no way to end it.

Toward the last, as we came closer to the
town, uneasiness loosened my tongue even more. I really didn’t
relish returning to the scene of the crime so soon
after
the
crime. It was risky. I was fairly sure no one had seen me well
enough to recognize me except the girl I’d hit with the taser and
as far as I knew she was still in the loony bin. I wasn’t one
hundred percent certain, though—of anything.

Since I figured two strangers asking
anything at all about the cult or the fire would be enough to
arouse suspicions, I merely drove around town until I found a
real-estate company. I was nervous about taking Gideon in, but more
nervous about leaving him outside in the car—which I knew he
wouldn’t stay in.

The receptionist glanced up when we came in,
did a double take when she caught a glimpse of Gideon, and was
instantly transformed into borderline retarded. “Can I help you?”
she stammered, falling all over her tongue.

It thrust me immediately into territorial
bitch mode. I’d realized I would have to introduce Gideon. He
didn’t look a thing like me, so I didn’t think it would be very
believable to claim him as a relative. On the other hand, I thought
he looked a little too young to be my husband—young enough it might
attract attention to us that I didn’t want.

Under the circumstances, though, it took all
I could do and then some to keep from digging my claws into him and
screaming ‘mine!’

I managed a tight smile. “My—uh—brother and
I are looking for a place around this area.”

The girl looked at me blankly.

I forced a chuckle, ignoring the look Gideon
gave me. “He’s my half brother, actually.”

She was having trouble gathering her wits. I
could see that, and also the speculative gleam that had come into
her eyes when I hadn’t staked my territory. “Of course we want
something that would be big enough for his wife and kids, too,” I
added sweetly.

Her face fell, almost comically, except that
I didn’t feel much like laughing. She asked us to take a seat, but
before we had, the agent came out of his office and invited us
in.

For a man who must spend a lot of time at
his desk, he looked pretty fit. He wasn’t hard on the eyes
either.

Of course I knew all the charm he was
pouring on was aimed at my pocket book, not me, but it soothed my
wounded ego that he at least appeared to find me attractive.

“What’re you folks looking for?”

I frowned. “Actually, we’ve only just begun
and we’re not entirely sure. What I was hoping for was to get a map
of the area and a listing of the properties that were
available.”

He frowned, obviously not pleased at the
idea that he wouldn’t be able to follow me around and press for a
sale.

“That way I could eliminate the ones that
were totally unsuitable and once I’ve taken note of the one’s that
interest me I could get you to show them.”

“Something in town? Or in the country?”

I glanced at Gideon. His eyes were stormy. I
had a feeling he was going to give me hell when we left. “The
countryside,” I answered, giving the guy my best smile.

He began searching his desk drawers for
files, giving us his spiel about the county and town while he was
at it. Producing a map, he began sorting through his listings and
marking spots of interest.

It took almost an hour. My face was starting
to cramp from smiling. “Goodness,” I drawled sweetly when he
finally ran out of breath and listings. “This could take a while.
We’ll look these over and get back to you in a couple of days.
Thank you so much for all your help.”

“I’d be delighted if you’d let me take to
dinner this evening. We could talk about the properties you’ve
looked at over dinner and drinks.” He glanced at Gideon. “Both of
you,” he added belatedly, looking more than a little
uncomfortable.

I pretended to think it over. “Actually,
we’re really tired from the drive and I’d like to look at a few of
these today. Maybe tomorrow?”

“What was that all about?” Gideon growled
when we’d gotten back into the car.

I kept my smile with an effort, waving to
the realtor, who’d followed us out. “Getting information without
arousing suspicions,” I retorted.

“He did not take his gaze from your
breasts,” Gideon said harshly.

“That was the idea,” I said dryly. “It’s why
I wore this blouse. If a man’s mind is on his cock, it isn’t on
other things.”

“You were trying to—entice the man to fuck
you?” he demanded, outraged.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not! I didn’t
even know it would be a man before I got there. I just figured if
it was a man I would want to distract him, that’s all. I didn’t
want him asking a lot of questions about us or why we were thinking
about buying a place anywhere near this hick town. He wasn’t bad
looking, though,” I added, mostly because I was still ticked off
about the way that
girl
had practically drooled all over
Gideon. I hadn’t noticed whether Gideon was encouraging her or not,
mostly because I refused to look and see, but he certainly hadn’t
dis
couraged her and neither had my lie that he was married
with kids for more than a few minutes, and she was not only young,
she was pretty. Not that she actually had to be pretty as long as
she was young.

I pulled off and parked as soon as I saw a
likely looking spot, opening the map to study it. Gideon, still
boiling mad, had apparently decided to give me the disapproving
silent treatment.

Ignoring his bad humor, I studied the map
until I’d located the temple and then checked to see how many
places near it were up for sale.

Of course, I was depending on the
possibility that it was fairly close, and also that the cultists
hadn’t just taken the sword when they’d taken him, but I figured
Gideon had already thought of the cult himself.

“You checked the temple and the other
buildings?” I asked, just in case.

“Yes.”

Sighing, I put the map away. Three of the
places were right on the same damned road as the temple. There was
no way to avoid going by it.

The first place I stopped turned out to be a
house for sale. I couldn’t see any sign of a barn or other
structure on the property, so I kept driving. I couldn’t resist
glancing toward the temple as we passed. Raw new lumber met my
gaze. Cult members were running around the burned hull like
ants.

They were rebuilding.

At least half of them paused to watch the
car pass. Obviously not too many cars came this way.

My belly clenched as uneasiness flooded me.
It was unnerving to have so many psychos looking at me. Very
casually, I propped my arm on the armrest and propped my face in my
hand because I didn’t want to be recognized but I also didn’t want
to make it obvious that I was trying
not
to be
recognized.

A little further down the road, I spotted an
old barn in the distance. It looked like it was about to collapse
in on itself. It wasn’t one of the properties the realtor had
marked, but I figured we might as well look.

“I have looked here,” Gideon said when I
turned off the road and headed toward it.

“It won’t hurt to look again.”

There was no sign of the sword, of course. I
hadn’t expected it to be easy to find. If it had, Gideon would
already have found it, but I was still disappointed and I became
more disheartened and more uneasy as the day wore on. Darkness fell
and we’d still had no luck. I didn’t like the idea of staying in
town overnight, but there wasn’t another town of any size for
miles.

Once we’d gotten a room for the night we
went out to eat. There were no fast food joints which left us no
choice except to go to one of the local diners or do without.
Everyone stared, hard. I tried to tell myself it was just typical
small town nosiness. I knew that was probably all it was, and it
still made me uneasy.

Gideon had spent most of the day scowling at
me. I was surprised he stayed angry. Ordinarily, he didn’t nurse
his temper. It was rather like quicksilver, erupting fairly easily,
but dissipating just as quickly.