The Beholder (25 page)

Nina glanced behind her and saw Kane’s bones writhing beneath his skin; then the tawny fur erupted as he shimmered into full lion form. Another opponent had entered the ring and was already in his other skin. She knew Ethan was right. They couldn’t fight the whole pride. Kane was lost to her. She had to accept it, even though she felt her heart being ripped in half. She had to lean on Ethan’s arm to walk.

Kane watched Nina until she left and he was certain Ethan and Nina would be okay. He closed his eyes for a second, burning her image into the back of his eyelids. This would be the last time he saw his brother or Nina. He would gladly give his life to assure her and Ethan’s safety. and that’s exactly what he’d done. He couldn’t
risk escape, in the process putting their lives in danger. Nothing really mattered to him other than knowing they were safely away.

Watching Nina leave and knowing he’d never see her again caused numbness to spread through his whole body, all the way to his soul. He’d never felt such desolate emptiness. Was it love? He’d cared for his family and Ethan, but it wasn’t like this feeling. This felt like he was bleeding inwardly, as if he’d lost a part of himself. He still couldn’t quite believe he was capable of loving so deeply, not with the dangerous wild creature inside him. But he was feeling it, and it hurt like hell, like someone was pulling his ribs out one by one.

Kane was jarred from his ruminations by his opponent’s attack. He bit back viciously and savagely, taking out all his frustration.

T
wo and a half hours later, Nina drove slowly down the main road of the Patomani Indian Reservation. For the tenth time, she glanced around her, half expecting to pass someone in the tribe. It was mid-afternoon, a busy time. She hoped not to encounter anyone. Her eyes were puffy from crying, her heart still ached and she wasn’t in the mood to share her experiences with anyone. What she really wanted to do was go to her quiet place.

“What’s wrong?” Ethan asked.

“Other than having a gleaner with me?” she said, trying to tease but only sounding sad. She couldn’t help it. All she could think about was Kane. That hard expression on his face the last time she’d seen him would be burned into her memory for the rest of her life. Losing him was hard enough, but wondering if he cared about her was even worse.

“Put that way, I see what you mean.”

Ethan’s reply dragged her back from her misery. “It’s just that I didn’t get approval from the Guardian to take you to Sehsola.”

Nina sighed loudly as she pulled into a snow-covered farming road. It bordered a huge field. The snow wasn’t half as deep here in the southeastern part of Virginia as it had been in the mountains. It looked as if they’d only received three inches at best. The sun had gone behind a cloud, and the field was a gray wasteland, cold and frozen and barren.

She drove to the end of the field and parked near the woods. Ethan had driven Kane’s Jeep to the courthouse, and they had just hopped into it and taken off. His scent still lingered in it, and she gulped past the lump in her throat that just wouldn’t go away.

“If we’re doing something wrong—”

“No, my sister would have agreed once I explained everything, but I just don’t feel like dredging it all back up. I’ll tell her later, when she’s back from her honeymoon.” Every time Nina breathed, she felt the bottomless empty fissure Kane had left in her chest. It wouldn’t ever go away. “Come on, I’ll show you the prayer cave. We’ll walk from here.” Nina closed the door softly and Ethan followed her lead.

She found a path she knew by heart. She could see tracks in the snow where her people had gone in to fast and pray. It was their holy place.

She thought of something and said, “You know, I didn’t ask you, but my vow to save you can only work if you’re willing to go to our dimension. Are you?”

“This world holds nothing but painful memories for me. What is your dimension like?”

“Sehsola’s a peaceful dimension. You won’t have to kill to survive there. In fact, violence is not allowed.”

“You mean it’s like heaven.”

“That’s right. You’ll want for nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Nina, with her usual acumen, sensed what he was too reticent to ask her. “You won’t be lonely there.”

“Even with this beautiful face.” He teasingly pointed to his red eyes. He blinked and gave her a quick glimpse of the flames behind them. Blink, and they were just red and bloodshot again in his human form. Their sharpness was a tad disconcerting, though.

The look quickly reminded her not to forget he was first and foremost a gleaner, a charming one when he tried, but one none the less. And in a few days he’d have to kill again to stay alive if he wasn’t going to Sehsola. “I wouldn’t worry. The females there will be all over you,” she said, hoping to lighten the uncomfortable moment.

He smiled and said, “This sounds more promising by the moment.” The jocularity left his voice. “So, they must be hard up like me to be in this dimension.”

“To be honest, they were a threat here on earth, like you, and the Guardians sent them there.”

“Hmmm, desperate women in paradise. What more could a guy want?”

“Sunscreen, mouthwash, a locked door,” she said.

Ethan chuckled. Nina only smiled sadly.

They reached the cave entrance, and she paused long
enough to listen. She didn’t hear or feel anyone inside, so she pulled aside the branches that hid the opening.

The smell of incense and burning herbs met her. Damp cold air wafted from the dark abyss of the cave’s inner recesses. Outside light could not penetrate it. Takala had explored those depths as a child, but no matter how much she tried to convince Nina to go with her, the primordial magic she sensed in the bedrock frightened her. She felt it teeming now, strumming against her mind. She had learned to tune it out, and she did so now, but she couldn’t stop the shivers. One shook her body as she paused before a magical circle of stones and said, “We need to build a fire, and then I’ll call Koda.”

“Who’s Koda?”

“My temperamental spirit guide.”

“I heard that.” Koda’s voice projected through the air, rather than in her mind. Energy whirled into a writhing mass as his bear body materialized. Today he sparkled with the brightest aqua she’d ever seen. He really was beautiful. An attempt to impress Ethan, no doubt.

“Well, it’s the truth,” she said as she went over to a corner of the cave and scooped up an armful of kindling.

“I always do as I am commanded.” Koda looked upward toward heaven.

“I hope this transfer has been okayed.”

“Yes.”

“And after we’re done here, please appear before Quinton and tell him I kept my word.” She wanted to add “And if you see Kane still alive, let me know.” But
it would have been like losing him all over again, and that was too painful. “I shall.”

“Good. Then let’s get to it.” Nina arranged the wood inside the stone circle. She reached for a lighter that was left in the cave, but Ethan said, “Allow me.”

He narrowed his eyes at the kindling and concentrated. Suddenly it burst into flames.

Nina turned to Ethan. “Are you ready?”

He nodded.

She might have hugged him, but a touchy-feely goodbye didn’t seem wise. Instead, she nodded and walked around the circle of stones, chanting an exchange prayer in the Maiden Bear’s primitive language. Koda joined her. The acrid smell of magic coursed through the cave, pulsing against her body. Spirals of smoke curled up and formed huge hands with long undulating fingers.

“It’s time. Jump.” Nina pointed to the inner circle.

Ethan hesitated at the flames and the filmy fingers for only a moment. Then he said, “Thank you, Nina Rainwater. I’ll never forget this kindness.”

“I’ll always remember you.” And your brother. Tears swam in her eyes, blurring the flames and the smoky images.

Ethan leaped into the fire. The fingers closed around him and for a moment held him aloft.

Koda jumped into the circle, encompassing Ethan and the fingers within his large mass. They disappeared in a whoosh.

The fire went out, and Nina stood there, alone,
rubbing her arms. For a moment she had forgotten about Kane, but the emptiness of never seeing him again fell on her like blocks of iron. She dropped to her knees, covered her face and cried.

An hour later, Nina walked into her grandmother’s kitchen.

Empty.

“Grandmother!” Nina called out.

She wasn’t used to entering Meikoda’s house and finding it empty. She was the old Guardian and high priestess. Meikoda’s wisdom and indomitable strength drew the Patomani people to her in droves, especially the women of the high council. They were all powerful shamans and related. It wasn’t unusual to find her aunts, great aunts and cousins, all twelve of them, crowded into the kitchen in the throes of studying ancient spellcasting or levitating, or just plain playing toothpick poker. Today it was still as death.

At least she could slip in without anyone hitting her with a hundred questions.

The front door opened with a loud thump. It crashed against the door stop and bounced a few times. A signal that her sister, Takala, had just entered. She had superhuman strength and had never really mastered it. Her grandmother had replaced the front door countless times. Takala barreled over, around and through anything in her way.

“There you are, Buddha.” Takala bounded into the kitchen like a cyclone, yet managed to maintain an air
of pride and arrogance in her stiff back and shoulders. “How was the job?”

Nina was still stinging from the moniker. She hated it, but if she asked Takala to stop calling her Buddha, her stubborn sister would just do it more. “Uneventful,” Nina said, not wanting to discuss Kane.

Nina took in Takala’s garb. She was in her Kate Beckinsale
Underworld
regalia. Her long legs were encased in tight black leather pants and knee-length boots with three-inch heels. Nina didn’t know how she walked in those things. She’d fall flat on her face if she wore them. But they served a purpose. Takala kept a switchblade in the right one. A black leather greatcoat fell down below her calves. A tie-dyed T-shirt was knotted at the waist. A spiked black belt slanted across her hips. Silver hoop earrings flopped near her cheeks and matched the layers of silver necklaces falling down her chest and the many bracelets on her wrists. She wore dark plum nail polish and matching lipstick that would have looked horrible on anyone else. On Takala, it only enhanced her plump lips. Takala was a private investigator, and she said she dressed to impress her clients with her toughness, but Nina knew she just liked the attention of flashy clothes. Takala was much fairer than Nina, and her chestnut hair, highlighted by dirty-blond streaks, was wild and all over her head and shoulders. She had the tousled look down pat.

“You won’t believe what I just heard.” Takala headed for the refrigerator, her boots clicking on the linoleum. Because of her strength, her metabolism was always in overdrive and she ate constantly.
“Where’s Grandmother?”

“Grocery shopping—aren’t you interested in my news? You’ve been gone almost a week—I thought you might want to know what’s happening around here.”

“I do.”

Takala pulled out a chunk of cheddar cheese, grabbed a paring knife from a drawer and began cutting off chunks and stuffing them in her mouth. She had a mouthful when she actually looked at Nina, actually seeing for the first time. Takala had one green eye and one blue. Meikoda had nicknamed her Lioness with Two Colored Eyes. Other people, who were brave enough, just called her Two Colors. Both her eyes were trained on Nina now. “Good grief, Buddha, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, right. You always go around with mole eyes.” She laid down the cheese and grabbed Nina’s wrists. “You’ve been crying. These are cuff marks.” Takala pulled down Nina’s turtleneck, and Nina jerked back, but not soon enough. “No way, girlfriend! Hickies! I didn’t think you were into bondage. I didn’t think you were into anything—wait a minute. You’re not a virgin anymore.” Nina blushed.

Takala laughed out loud. “Hallelujah! Welcome to the world of lust. Now spill everything and don’t leave out one juicy morsel.”

Takala had always been too nosy and observant and annoying, but Nina loved her for being all those things. “Tell me your news first.” Nina pulled out a kitchen
chair and sat down, dreading what she would be forced to tell Takala just so she could have some peace and quiet.

Takala picked up the cheese again and cut off a chunk. “Oh, Akando just told me Aden’s getting hitched to a time jumper named Hannah Gray.” She stuck it in her mouth, rolling her eyes in bliss at having something so tasty to chew.

“Really. A time jumper?” Nina couldn’t help but sound incredulous. She’d never met one, only heard the legend of them. They were human vessels created for the Guardian to use to jump between dimensions in the pursuit of evil.

“Yeah. I heard she’s pretty, too. And guess what else? She’s a first cousin we never knew about. Tansy’s daughter.”

“Wow! I never knew she’d gotten pregnant, or even had a boyfriend.”

“Grandmother told me that when Aunt Lena found out Tansy was pregnant, Lena forced her to go to a Catholic home for unwed mothers. Lena made sure no one found out and swore Grandmother to secrecy.” Takala hacked off another chunk.

“It’s too bad Lena cared more about appearances than she cared about Tansy and her grandchild. No wonder Tansy looked so sad before she died,” Nina said, remembering she’d never seen a woman look so forlorn in her life.

“And Lena, too. Now we know why.”

Lena had died right after Tansy. Nina had always thought Lena died of a broken heart from losing her
daughter, but there was a lot more suffering involved. “Poor Tansy. Have you met Hannah?”

“Not yet. Grandmother has. She suggested we have them over for dinner tonight.” Takala popped another wad of cheese in her mouth and ate it in two gulps, then said, “I had thought you and Aden might hook up, but now—”

“Why did you think that?”