Crave the Night (6 page)

“
Parlor tricks.” He swore under his
breath, and she flinched. “You meant it as far more than that. You
intend coercion.”

“
You use teeth and claws. My powers
serve the same function. Survival.”

“
It’s not the same. Not at
all.”

“
Glamor is a standard fey tactic. We
have to show our strength, and if we do it right, it’s no worse
than a hypnotist making a person do the chicken dance.
Embarrassing, but harmless.”

“
I doubt your victims would consider
it harmless.”

“
Do you apologize to your
prey?”

Rafe stewed a moment. “Are we your prey? Is
that why you’re tearing an entire town up by its roots?”

“
Don’t cry to me about that,” she shot
back. “At least your people will survive.”

“
And yours won’t? Is that what’s at
stake?”

She gave him a hard look, but said nothing.
Apparently, he’d hit the truth. She’d taken a blood oath to protect
her people. He felt a sneaking respect for her, predator to
predator. Under the right circumstances, he would do the same thing
to protect his Pack.

Enlightening, but now he could almost see
her retreating behind the thick walls of her reserve. This wasn’t
getting him answers.

“
Why are your gargoyles invisible
now?” he asked, deliberately changing directions.

“
Huh?” She blinked, and then looked
uncomfortably around the room. “Um. They prefer it that
way.”

“
I’ve never heard of sensitive
gargoyles.”

Rafe heard rustling again. He’d posed the
question to unsettle her, but he was truly curious. He leaned in
from his side of the desk, closing the distance between them. “They
usually revel in their ability to frighten the enemy. Why are these
so different?”

“
Don’t.” To Rafe’s surprise, she put a
hand over his. “Please, don’t. I can’t answer that
question.”

Adrenaline jolted through him at her touch.
Her fingers were cold, slight tremors coursing through them. She
was afraid? Disturbed? Certainly shaken enough to break with her
tough-girl stance.

Unexpectedly, it moved him. “Why not?”

“
I can’t tell you that.”

Of course not. Fey don’t
give straight answers
. Playing to the moment, he put his
other hand over hers, warming it. “What about the other servants?
Are they also invisible because they’re shy?”

“
Yes. No. You’re holding my hand, Mr.
Devries.”

“
So I noticed.”

She closed her eyes, as if refusing to look
at him. “It’s not necessary.”

“
Is it pleasant?”

“
That’s immaterial.”

He released her, sitting back in the
chair. She suddenly felt too far away.
Get serious. She’s a psycho fairy
. “So what’s
the deal with the staff?”

“
They came with me. They built this
house.”

“
They’re your people? All of them?”
Rafe glanced around the deceptively empty room. “Wherever they
are.”

“
They are light fey, like me, but we
are a confederation of many sub-species. Not that it’s any concern
of yours.” She leaned back in her turn, folding her arms. “Given
the option, we’ll hide ourselves rather than interact with
others.”

“
Why so unsociable?”

For a moment, her face softened, as if she
were dropping her guard a fraction. “Maybe it would be easier if
you understood.”

“
Probably,” he said dryly.

She gave him an annoyed look. “We
don’t
use
magic, we
are
magic. Just like your friend
said, if a vow is spoken in our presence, it becomes true. That’s a
dangerous state of affairs unless one takes precautions. Humans
never could follow the rules. Just read their so-called fairy
tales. Promises, vows, enchantments, gold pieces turning into dried
leaves, princes turning into frogs—it was pure chaos, and we always
took the blame. So we hid for safety in the wild places. If we have
to be near other species, invisibility acts like a dampening field.
Far fewer accidental spells take hold.”

Rafe felt like he’d been handed a puzzle
piece, but wasn’t sure if it was from the right jigsaw. “Must be
getting harder, with so few uninhabited places to run to.”

“
These mountains are one of our last
refuges.”

Did that mean Lila was from these
parts? “But you seem perfectly comfortable as a corporate type. How
does that work?”


“A few of
the younger generation pursued an education. I admit that even with
precautions there is risk involved, but we’re not as eager to hide
away. We find the modern world exciting.” It was the first
substantial thing she’d said about herself.

She rested her hands again on the desk, near
his but not touching. His fingers itched to brush against her fine,
smooth skin, but knew it would be a mistake just when she’d decided
to start talking. As with coaxing a wild animal, haste was his
enemy.

He adopted his shooting-the-breeze voice.
“Yeah, well, the wolves went through the same thing. The rural
Packs like ours were the last to resist human contact. We gave
in.”

“
Did it cause a rift among your
people? Those that wanted to keep to themselves, others who did
not?” It sounded like she really wanted to know.

“
Oh, sure,” Rafe answered, realizing
that they’d found tenuous common ground. “But once we got cable TV,
the naysayers shut up. There’s no such thing as a werewolf who can
resist the World Series.”

To his utter surprise, she laughed. It was
the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, and it changed
everything. He’d found a way to win her confidence.

“
What kind of place did you grow up
in?” he asked her hours later.

They had done nothing but sit there and
talk, at first about the wolves. It was all inconsequential things.
Grandma Reed’s wild berry pie and rose hip cordial. The old
drive-in movie theater down in Blainesville. The calf that got its
head stuck through the gate. His young nephew Ben’s antics. He had
spread himself out like a photo album, leafing through the pages of
his childhood and pointing out the events and characters at a
leisurely pace. As he rambled on, he could almost smell the
sun-washed earth of a Wolf Creek summer afternoon.

Clearly fascinated, Lila listened to every
word. She leaned forward on the desk, her chin cupped in her hands,
her green eyes searching his face for every nuance of expression.
This, then, was what fey liked, what they absorbed like meat and
drink—stories. It didn’t seem to matter much what they were
about.

That suited Rafe fine. He’d always been able
to spin a good tale, and if that was what moved Lila from fighting
him to trusting him a little, he’d talk until he turned blue. But
turnabout was fair play. Now it was her turn to share
something.

“
I grew up in the forest.” She looked
down, playing with a pen. It was the one small item on her bald,
featureless desk. “We don’t form a village, exactly, but
scatter—sometimes with big distances between our homes. We do that
so we don’t have to cut down the trees. The only thing we ever
built of stone was the great hall where we all meet at the quarters
of the year. Those are times of celebration.”

She looked up, a sudden look of mischief in
her eyes. “It’s a good thing we’re far away from anyone else. The
dancing can get a bit noisy.”

Rafe imagined a forest full of drunken,
frolicking gargoyles, and backed away from the image as quickly as
possible. The thought of Lila dancing in the moonlight glades was
quite a different prospect.

She looked out the window at vast blue sky
with the air of someone making a careful decision. “Are you
hungry?”

“
Sure, I could eat.”

She gave him a sidelong glance that was
almost shy, and pushed back her chair. “Follow me.”

Leading him through a different door, she
went down a spiral staircase that ended in the room nearest the hot
tub. Floor to ceiling windows covered one wall, showing the view of
the water and the mountains in the distance. The silver ribbon of
the Owl River linked the lake and the foothills like a long,
sinuous leash.

“
Beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked,
pausing near the window.

“
Yes, it sure is.” But Rafe was
looking at her still form, as slender and tall as a rush by the
riverbank. He was supposed to be getting information out of her,
but he was getting dazzled in the process. Her sheer loveliness
tore at him, a constant ache that had a little to do with her
magic, and much to do with his natural desires. He stood next to
her, barely an inch between them. He could feel each one of her
breaths and see how the sunlight played on the soft architecture of
her throat as she spoke.

By the way she stared at the horizon,
she didn’t belong indoors any more than he did. They both were
creatures of the field and wood.
If only
we could stop pretending and run for the wilds.
He
imagined taking her in the long, waving grass of the fields. In the
fall it would be as pale a gold as her hair, her skin luminous in
the fading autumn sun.

But they were tied by fear and magic. The
only way out was past the steel door she’d built around her reasons
for being here. He’d barely caught a glance of the woman behind the
triple locks.

He had to be careful. Even in the
short time they had been talking, he was losing sight of the
basics: he was her prisoner. He was trying to learn enough to
resolve this hellish situation. Maybe there was a way they could
both walk away in one piece. She seemed so damned
vulnerable.
Pickle fork. Remember the
pickle fork
.

And focus on what she could do—had done—to
other Pack members. His mind flashed to his father, Darak, the
town. What was going on while he was here, about to have lunch with
the enemy? A wave of frustration and impatience mixed with his
attraction, making a conflicting brew of emotions.

Stay on track and keep
the information flowing
. “Do your people ever have
contact with the other species?”

“
As I said, some of the younger fey
do.” She turned to look at him, squinting a little against the
light. “It is a mixed blessing, the quiet of the woods. It can be
isolating. I remember my first look at the human schools. They were
so huge, and so filled with people. I was appalled and delighted.
In a single instant, I knew I had to go there.”

“
And when you arrived?”

She gave a self-deprecating smile. “I was
hopeless at first.”

He touched her arm, keeping the gesture
casual. Gaining her confidence. “You?”

This time, she didn’t pull away at his
advance. “I’d never seen most of the objects around me. I remember
discovering highlighters and thinking they were the most beautiful,
marvellous inventions ever, like exclamation points packed in a
tube. I barely understood computers. I nearly failed the first term
until one of the human girls took pity on me despite the mockery of
her classmates. She helped me adapt.”

He tried to imagine anyone mocking Lila, but
couldn’t.

She shrugged and turned back to the view.
“It was the happiest time of my life. I learned so much from her,
including the fact that there are kind people willing to share
their potato chips and pizza even when they’re broke.”

Rafe studied Lila, trying to envision her
happy. “Do you stay in touch?”

“
A little. She’s married now.” She
sounded wistful. “I loved my human friends. I wanted a part in
their busy, colorful world. It was bursting with interest for me,
challenging everything I knew. I hurled myself into it, awkward
though I was. Though I still am.”

He pondered the image for a moment. A girl
who loved friends and excitement, one prepared to throw over
convention and follow her own star. That’s who Lila was once. How
did she get to be the dangerous, frightened woman he’d found
here?

“
What did your family think about all
this?”

“
They did not understand the
appeal.”

“
You were the rebel in the
family?”

“
Not the only one. My sister,
Rosemund, formed a scandalous attachment to a werebear.”

Despite himself, Rafe chuckled. “The girls,
they do love their teddy bears.”

“
I had a partiality for the football
team. In general.” She gave him a sly smile. “But then my sister
kept her trophy. I was more interested in catch and
release.”

Rafe felt his eyebrows rise. “Obviously, I
went to the wrong college.”

Her eyes twinkled, giving her fib
away.
Trickster
fey
.

For a moment, it was like he was looking at
a different Lila. One who was alive, vibrant, and full of
excitement for the future. An odd shock of recognition hit him. In
another time and place, he could fall in love with this woman.

Her smile grew wider. “So there is my life
story. Now you can stop asking questions and tell me what you would
like for lunch.”

Something squirmy from
the pet store? A nice, raw flank steak?
“Just a sandwich
would be fine.”

“
Wait here,” she said, heading off to
yet another part of the rambling house.