Smoke and Mirrors (15 page)

Staring up at that rooftop as they passed, she tightened her grip on Cormac just a bit. Then scanned the street with her Sight again, using her hold on Cormac to keep herself steady. Once she found what she was looking for, she couldn’t help the spread of a triumphant smile.

“Let me lead,” she told him.

Mystified, he shifted his grip so she could direct them across the street. At the crosswalk, he couldn’t help but notice that they came so close they nearly brushed shoulders with a couple of the Others he had peripherally spotted trailing them. The minotaur and one of the elves that had been in the café the night before, and it appeared they were both more interested in Kimberly than Cormac. The two both had matching guilty expressions when they saw the sharp look he gave them.

Then he blinked as their forms shifted and wavered in his vision. He was soon looking at a mirror image of himself and one of Kimberly, and a couple of nearby pedestrians were doing double-takes. His hackles raised when he thought he scented another of his kind—but then he realized that the scent originated from what had been the minotaur, along with heavy notes of incense that came very close to matching the mix he used in his store.

He no longer smelled like himself. Or anything, in fact. He couldn’t even see his own hand when he lifted it in front of his face, even with his Sight.

Illusion. Kimberly intended to throw Viper off their scent with duplicates.

And it was working perfectly. Now that they’d been made and their targets looked to have disappeared into thin air, the minotaur and elf made it a point to rush off in opposite directions, not yet realizing their appearances had been altered.

He sensed Viper’s presence moving with grace and speed, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, fading in the distance as he followed the elf who had been made to look like Kimberly. Then a light pressure on the small of his back propelled him forward. It was surreal not to see or smell her but to still feel Kimberly’s fingers sliding around to take his arm.

“That was very clever,” he said.

“Thank you,” came her disembodied voice in reply. “I’ll drop it in a couple minutes. We’re almost there.”

“I wonder what other clever things you can do with this talent of yours.”

He grinned as her heartrate sped up under his fingertips, her body temperature rising. Kimberly gave him a light jab with her elbow, a hint of breathless laughter in her voice.

“Are you coming on to me, Mr. Hunter?”

“Come to think of it, yes. I like you. Very much.”

It was difficult to say who was more surprised by the admission. They continued on in relative silence, only their footfalls and the occasional ripple in a puddle giving away their presence.

When they were just around the corner from Allegretto’s, Kimberly waited until she was sure no one on the street was looking to drop the illusion. Her sober expression as she regarded him cut right through his good mood.

“Are you sure about that?”

He frowned down at her, covering her hand on his arm with his own. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She pulled away, speeding up to head into Allegretto’s first. He lengthened his stride to catch up, holding the door for her. She didn’t answer his question, hurrying behind the counter. Annabelle scooted over to make some room, her eyes widening when she spotted Cormac stalking inside behind her.

As Kimberly shed her jacket and tossed her backpack under the counter, Annabelle sidled over to the display to stop before Cormac.

“What can I get you, handsome?”

He dragged his gaze off of Kimberly, not returning the flirtatious smile Annabelle gave him. He studied her briefly before returning his attention to Kimberly, speaking a bit louder than necessary.

“If you can get her to answer me, that’s all I require at the moment.”

Annabelle and Cormac both stared at Kimberly. She glanced over her shoulder, then threw her hands up. “Not now! I’m working. We’ll talk about it later.”

Don stuck his head out of the kitchen door, mopping sweat off his face with a bandana before turning the full force of his frown on Cormac. He looked back and forth between him and Kimberly, then eased his way out to take a casual lean against the counter. The thick muscles of his arms bunched impressively as he leaned forward.

“This isn’t a public park, son. No loitering unless you’re buying something.”

Though a muscle twitched under Cormac’s left eye, he gave a cursory look at the selection of sweets before pointing out a chocolate croissant. He kept his eye on Kimberly the entire time Annabelle prepared and rang up his order. When he turned to look, there were no free seats, and Don was still giving his “move along” glare.

Voicing a low growl of frustration, he turned to the door, glancing at Kimberly over his shoulder. “I’ll see you when you finish your shift.”

She nodded, not meeting his gaze. He’d get a piece of her mind soon enough.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Cormac took a deep breath once he was outside, tucking the bag with the croissant into an inner pocket of his jacket, then made a beeline for a dark alley between buildings just down the street.

Once under the cover of late afternoon shadow, he melted into the darkness between the buildings. It swallowed him up, letting him slide between the bars meant to keep passing pedestrians out. Within a few yards, he reached a fire escape about sixteen feet above the ground, with the ladder extending only a bit below that.

He leapt. Aside from the faint clang from his shoes hitting the platform and his hands grasping the rusting metal rail tight enough to make it squeal, he made no sound as he worked his way up to the roof.

He pulled himself over the edge and stalked over to the section overlooking the café, crouching down and settling himself in to wait. His fingertips bit into the granite cornice and his gaze went distant as he focused on other senses to remain aware of any potential threats approaching.

The sun continued its trek across the sky, sliding past the horizon. Stars winked into view, visible at that height even with the haze of smog and light pollution lingering over the city.

Cormac remained still, unmoving save for the occasional gust of wind stirring his hair or clothes.

While he was aware of his surrounds, a great deal of his attention was turned inward. He was starting to see why Kimberly was driven so crazy by his tendency to sidestep her direct questions.

He could not imagine why she was so spooked by his admittance of fondness, nor could he figure out why she was so hesitant to tell him why she thought he didn’t mean it when he told her so. She’d returned his physical advances, initiated touch on her own a couple of times, and was trusting enough to take him at his word. So why the hell did she think he didn’t really want her?

He was positively burning with curiosity, and even found himself tempted to stomp back into Allegretto’s to make an offer for the café to Don just to free her up to talk to him. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money to burn—but even as he had the thought, and though he wasn’t any flavor of human, he knew that would be pushing her boundaries a bit too far.

He wanted her talking to him because she wanted to. He wanted her close. He wanted her happy, damn it.

The worst part of it all was that he was beginning to think it had been a mistake to keep his nature from her. She deserved to know. He knew that. Now that he knew her better, it was clear she wouldn’t have posed a threat to him had she known from the start. The trouble was that he was sure she would shut him out the minute he came clean.

He didn’t think he had erred in being direct about his feelings, but he was almost certain that she was turning skittish because she had picked up on his failure to be completely honest with her.

It was a dilemma, and he had no ready answer for how to fix it. In all his years, with all his experience and power, he had never had the urge to spend time with a female the way he did with Kimberly. He might let off steam with a willing partner now and then, but he didn’t form attachments—let alone relationships. She wasn’t greedy or grasping for his money or power. She wasn’t put off by his bristling or attempts to brush her off. More than that, he liked speaking with her. He liked showing her new things, seeing the wonder in her expression, and her admiration when she found something he did or showed her impressive.

He needed to make things right before he dug himself a deeper hole. Even if he was helping with her hunt, she already suspected he was more than he appeared.

Or maybe she had caught a glimpse of the real him when she drank the special brew from the Black Star.

After a time, the hairs on his arms rose, and a silent snarl twisted his lips. A small chunk of the cornice crumbled to sand as he clenched his hand, then he rose and swung around to face Viper standing on the opposite side of the roof behind him.

“I never thought I’d see you protecting a mage. A sorcerer, no less.”

“And I never thought you’d be foolish enough to challenge me a second time. She’s mine.”

Viper’s yellow eyes flared in the dark, his razorblade smile prompting another growl out of Cormac. The newcomer stepped off the edge of the roof, his trench coat flaring out around him, coming to a halt when there were only a few meager yards separating the two men.

“The bird’s not yours. You haven’t marked her. You haven’t taken her. You haven’t given in to her not inconsiderable charms.” Viper licked his lips. “That smells a great deal like fair game to me, Hunter. She doesn’t even know what you are yet, does she?”

Cormac’s own eyes glowed a fierce white-blue, fallen stars flashing in the night.

“Oh, hit a sore spot, I see.”

“I may not have marked her—yet—but she’s mine, all the same.”

“Rieva doesn’t think so. She thinks you’re bad for the girl.” Viper laughed. “Worse than me, if you can believe it.”

Cormac hissed and took a step closer. Viper stood his ground.

“If you touch this one,” Cormac said, “I’ll kill you. No warnings. No second chances.”

Viper cocked his head to one side, his eyes flaring brighter. “I don’t think such theatrics are necessary. I think she’ll come to me of her own will. As soon as I tell her whose company she’s been keeping, she’ll be the one begging me for help in her little quest.”

Cormac darted forward, hands outstretched into claws, but Viper was already on the move. His form was expanding, wings darker than the night spreading to catch the wind and carry him up and back, away from the rooftop and far out of reach.

Cormac stood there, fists clenched at his sides, staring after the fleeing form winging away into the dark. He was tempted to give chase, but there would be little point. If he gave in to his urge to hunt, that would leave Kimberly alone and unprotected.

Viper wasn’t the only interested party out there. After seeing how many Others had been following them on the street, he was on edge, ready to lash out at the next unlucky creature to make a move on Kimberly.

The litany in his head was growing louder.

His. She was his.

He didn’t stop growling until he realized his fingernails had bitten into his flesh, blood dribbling from his fists to patter on the tarred roof. He flexed his fingers, letting the wounds close. With a thought, the tiny droplets of blood that had fallen burned away into steam and rust-colored flakes, flitting away on the wind.

He resumed his place overlooking the café, not really seeing what was happening below.

He couldn’t be around Kimberly every moment of the day, and couldn’t be certain that those he’d assigned to guard her mother were capable of dealing with a threat as significant as Viper. He had to figure out how to tell Kimberly the truth, and do it quick, before Viper could slither in and do it for him. He had to find some way of convincing her that he hadn’t deliberately set out to hurt or deceive her.

If he couldn’t manage that much, he had to make sure she understood that Viper would never help her, and that he’d only be looking out for his own interests. Not hers.

Gradually, he got control over his temper. No matter how therapeutic he thought it might be on the short term, shifting and rampaging through the city wouldn’t help his case.

Taking a steadying breath, he kept an eye on the comings and goings on the street below. There were a few Others who came by, probably sniffing Kimberly out, but they were soon making haste elsewhere when they caught his scent.

Rieva was living up to expectations, spreading the word. Cormac had never guessed she would have mentioned anything to Viper. Not this soon. Of all the possible outcomes, of all the many creatures he had thought might have been curious and tried their hand for winning Kimberly’s interest, Viper was one of the last he had wanted or expected.

He might have been able to convince someone else to let Kimberly bind them for a few days or weeks. Just long enough to get her foot in the door at The Circle. Buying himself more time to figure out how to come clean.

He couldn’t risk waiting much longer. Viper hadn’t been lying; the snake was right. If Viper told her before Cormac did, she’d run from him and never look back. Right into the arms of the very creature that would use her until every last spark of her power was gone.