Constant Cravings (13 page)

“Since you turned off the water I’ll take that as a ‘no’ on a three-way,” Nym called.

I pulled on my robe just as Liam opened the door wearing nothing but a towel.

“Take it as a ‘yes’ on tea.”

I slipped on my favorite fuzzy orange bedroom shoes (which clashed horribly with my green bathrobe) and walked to the closet. My apartment isn’t big, but it has great closet space. Honestly, I don’t mind sleeping on a double bed instead of a queen if it means I can have a bigger closet.

“I’ve got another robe in here,” I said to Liam.

“Don’t bother on my account,” Nym said.

As I walked past the elf I brushed against him. That slight touch was enough for me to use my newly strengthened talent. It would appear I didn’t even have to touch skin. I only needed to be near someone and focus on them. It was curiosity that made me reach out with my mind. I found that what Liam said was exactly correct. Empathy was instinctive. It helped that Nym wasn’t hard to read either.

When he spoke, his tone was light and I could sense the playfulness in his voice. He wasn’t trying to block me in any way so I took advantage and literally “felt him out”.

Nym would never pursue Liam at this point because he liked me. As far as he was concerned it was plain to see how I felt. He considered Liam a lost cause romantically, as well as a good friend. I could feel similar warm, fuzzy emotions when Nym looked at me and this made me smile.

“Are you reading my mind?” the elf asked. “Because I can think of something dirtier if you want.”

He winked and I knew he didn’t mind me knowing his true feelings.

Liam moved closer. “I don’t want to know,” he teased. “I’d appreciate a robe. Even I get a little chill now and then.”

I went to the back of the closet and took out a plush black robe. “It’s too big for me, but perfect for snuggling up in cold weather,” I said, passing the robe to Liam.

Beads of water still glistened against his skin. He moved slightly and one of the droplets on his chest started to run. I followed the drop downward over his abs and gasped when he let his towel fall to the floor.

“Wow,” Nym said.

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Tracey H. Kitts

“Since you’ve already seen the show,” Liam said as he pulled on the robe. He tied the sash and ran a hand through his long white hair. I wondered if my desire was as obvious as his beauty. I’d never seen a smile so welcoming or eyes so kind as when he looked down at me and brushed the hair back from my face. For a moment I was lost. I reached out, barely touching his skin where the robe hung open, and trailed my fingertips over his abs. I wanted to feel every curve, every line and nuance of his physique, to read his body like Braille.

With everything in me I focused on one thought,
“I don’t mind a little craving.”
Liam’s smile let me know he’d understood. It wasn’t exactly telepathy, but I knew he could feel my words.

He ran his fingers through my hair again and I sighed. “I should comb it before it dries this way,” I said.

He traced my cheekbone with the back of his hand before pulling away with a sexy growl.

I shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. “Are you sure you aren’t part werewolf?”

“Positive. You just bring out the animal in me.”

“Oh please,” Nym said, rolling his eyes. “It wasn’t
that
sexy.” I raised an eyebrow, giving Nym a skeptical look.

The elf put his hands on his hips and returned my look. “All right, it was hot. But his werewolf impersonation has nothing to do with why I went looking for you tonight.”

I laughed.

“Why don’t you tell us what you were doing at Red?” Liam asked.

We followed Nym into the kitchen and he handed me a cup of elvish tea. “I carry only two bags at a time and I made you a double dose.” He turned to Liam. “I found some breakfast tea in the cabinet for us.” He passed Liam a cup as he said to me, “I hope you don’t mind?”

“No. Help yourself.” Actually, I was impressed with how well he knew his way around the kitchen.

I sat at the table and Liam scooped three teaspoons of sugar into his tea while Nym began to explain.

“I went to The Spot after I left here earlier.”

“To harass Aurora,” Liam added.

“Of course. I didn’t have anything else going on tonight. Anyway, I was having some coffee and a slice of pie when she mentioned that crazy witch who tried to get me to eat her cookies. Do you remember that?”

Liam nearly choked on his tea and put the cup down. He laughed for a minute before replying, “Yeah, I remember it.” They looked at me.

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Constant Cravings

“Oh you haven’t heard that story,” Nym said.

“This witch was completely obsessed with him,” Liam interrupted.

“So she baked me some magical cookies.”

“Her plan would have worked if I wasn’t there,” Liam said.

Nym nodded his agreement.

“How did this obsession start?” I asked.

“I slept with her,” Nym admitted. “We hooked up at a club one night. The sex was pretty good, but she was creepy.”

“Creepy how?”

He took a sip of tea. “She started talking about our future and actually used the word
relationship
before the sheets had cooled down.”

“Yikes,” I said, laughing. “That is a little weird.”

“It’s a lot weird,” the elf said. “Anyway, she knew where I lived and kept dropping by with presents. This went on for a few weeks. I was polite, accepted the gifts and thanked her, but made no move to progress what she called our relationship.”

“You probably shouldn’t have accepted the gifts,” Liam said.

The elf turned to him, hands on hips. “What else was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to be rude. Anyway, she stopped by one afternoon with a basket of cookies. I wasn’t there, but found them at my door. As you know, I’m not that good at detecting magic sometimes. Liam stopped by just in time to keep me from eating them.”

“They would have made him fall madly in love with her,” the shaman explained.

“But what has this got to do with anything?”

The elf looked impatient. “I’m getting to that. It’s all relevant, Luna just didn’t know the backstory. Here’s the point, I hadn’t thought about this stuff in a while until Aurora mentioned it. That made me think back to the last time she and I had talked about the witch and her cookies and
that
made me think about the hoofprints you saw earlier today.”

“You saw hoofprints?” Liam asked.

Nym waved off his comment. “Stop interrupting. Anyway, the last time we talked about the witch, Aurora joked that I should ask Oberon to send the Wild Hunt after her.”

He looked like this was a great revelation of some sort, but I just wasn’t getting it.

“Before you explain whatever it is I’m obviously missing, what happened to the witch?” I asked.

“She gave up.”

Liam slapped his hand down on the counter. “Of course! Do you really think Cernunnos is in town?” He turned to me then. “Are you certain you saw hoofprints?”

“Whoa. Slow down. I have no idea what’s going on. What the fuck is the Wild Hunt?”

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Tracey H. Kitts

Liam propped against the bar, looking better than anyone with wet hair and wearing a bathrobe had a right to.

“It surprises me the stories aren’t in more books, but it’s not a very popular myth.

The most widely known version is that seeing the Wild Hunt means some sort of catastrophe like war or plague is on the way. People also used to believe that anyone who saw the Hunt would die or be kidnapped and transported to the land of the dead.” He paused and I sipped my tea, wondering how to proceed.

“All right. But what exactly is the Hunt?”

“Hunters.”

I gave the shaman a sarcastic look.

“Seriously. There are all kinds of hunters and that’s what the Hunt consists of.

Elves, goblins, werewolves, you name it.”

“Who is this Cernunnos you mentioned and what has he got to do with the hoofprints I saw?” I told Liam exactly what I’d seen and he paused again.

“Cernunnos is known by many names, among them the Horned God. The hoofprints you saw were most likely his.”

“You mean his horse’s?”

“No, I mean his.”

I finished my tea and took a second to wonder how my life got so complicated so fast. For the moment I decided not to ask if Cernunnos had hooves. I needed a better understanding of what we were potentially dealing with first.

“You said those were myths about the Hunt. So what’s its real purpose?”

“Cernunnos is the grim reaper of the magical world. He is also the leader of The Wild Hunt. When someone in the magical community is sentenced to death he is the one who carries out the task.”

“Or in some cases if someone of magical descent has led an evil life he’ll hunt them down just for fun when it’s their time to go,” Nym added.

“The fae are immortal unless they are stabbed through the heart or decapitated with an iron weapon,” Liam said. “Cernunnos carries an iron sword. He alone has authorization from King Oberon to slay one of our kind.” This new information made my chill return, but it piqued my curiosity as well.

“What makes you think he’s here?”

“The weather. I should have thought of it before. Wherever the Hunt travels the cold follows them. After all, Cernunnos is the bringer of death. The last time he visited Atlanta was in 1917. It got down to fifteen degrees.”

“Wasn’t that record broken a year or two ago?” Nym asked.

“Just for an hour or so. He didn’t stay as long on that visit.” Liam sat down across from me as he explained further, “Cernunnos is the one exception to lifting the veil.”

“What do you mean?”

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Constant Cravings

“He is only visible when he wants to be.”

Finally something made sense. “He has to be able to hide in order to assassinate fairies.”

“Exactly,” the men answered together.

I stood up and put my cup in the sink. “Let me make sure I’ve got a grasp on all of this. You believe that the grim reaper of magical beings is in town for some unknown reason and you plan to just go have a chat with him?”

“Why not? He isn’t after me,” Liam said.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Because I’m not hard to find.”

“What help could he be to us?”

“Remember all those random hunters I mentioned? Well, if one of them is loose in the city, he’ll know about it. There is still a possibility we might be looking for a werewolf or something similar. Marco wouldn’t know about wolves that belong to the Hunt. Many of them are centuries old, pledging their lives and their souls to the service of Cernunnos. Who knows how they might have changed in all that time?”

“So you’re saying it’s still possible that I saw a werewolf with glowing red eyes?”

“Maybe.”

79

Tracey H. Kitts

Chapter Eleven

I listened while they shared stories they’d heard about the Wild Hunt. I was beginning to wonder if talking to this Cernunnos was worth the trouble. I still hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask what he looked like.

“Why are you being so helpful?” Liam asked Nym. “Not that you haven’t helped me out in the past, but this goes above and beyond on gathering information.” The elf shrugged. “Curiosity. The whole thing is just so fucking bizarre. I mean, something out of nowhere
ate
her friend and now it looks like the Wild Hunt is in town.” He shivered as a smile spread across his face. “Isn’t it exciting?” He looked at me and added quickly, “Not that getting eaten by a strange monster is exciting. I’m really sorry about that.”

“Me too,” I said. It was nice to be able to offer him a smile. Thanks to Liam’s potion I was no longer grieving; I just wanted to know what the hell happened to Rachel and why.

“Besides, it isn’t like my schedule fills up that quickly,” Nym said.

“Don’t you work?” I asked.

“Nym is independently wealthy,” Liam answered.

The term “independently wealthy” brought to mind my favorite superhero and his multitalented butler. I moved to stand beside Nym’s chair and pinched the tip of one pointy ear. “Just a rich little elf looking for a good time?” I teased.

He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me onto his lap so fast all I could do was squeal.

“You know where I can find one?” he asked.

“Probably not with Cernunnos,” Liam said, laughing. “But I suppose that all depends on your idea of a good time.”

“What’s your idea of a good time?” Nym asked me.

“Having two sexy men clean my house.”

I was only joking, but as I watched them a few minutes later cleaning my house I had to admit I liked what I saw.

“Is there somewhere I can spread these out?” Liam asked. He was holding a handful of wet clothes, including his leather pants.

“I’ll put them in the back room,” I offered.
And clean up the remnants of that love spell
before anyone finds it.
I wasn’t touching him when I thought this and Liam gave no indication of realizing what I was doing.

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Constant Cravings

I took the clothes into the back room and cleaned the table, putting the dried herbs and melted candle in the trash. When Nym walked in I jumped and tried not to look guilty of anything.

“How about some Chinese?” he asked.

An hour later while I finished my steamed rice and veggies, my house was cleaner than it had been in months. I had a very small “laundry room” in what was barely more than a closet in my kitchen. Liam used the steam vacuum I kept wedged in the corner to shampoo my carpet while Nym did my laundry. Normally I kept the place spotless, especially if I expected clients to come by for a reading. Lately though, I’d been distracted and for me it had gotten messy.

“I can’t say thank you enough,” I told them once we were all back in the kitchen.

“You’re welcome,” Liam said. He kissed my forehead and then went back to eating sweet and sour chicken. “I knew you were kidding, but I did track mud all down the hall and into the bedroom.”

I laughed. “Are fairies the last polite men left in the world or what?” Nym cleared his throat.