hundred bucks! Mud wrestlin’ contest. You’d be a natural.” Rhiana froze him with a look.
Dazed people brushed past her, clutching brightly colored plastic cups adorned with umbrellas. No doubt they contained New Orleans’s infamous Hurricanes. There was a tingling along her nerve endings, which weren’t entirely human. This was a place where the membranes between the dimensions were tissue thin. Were the branes thin because of voodoo, or had belief in magic taken root here because of the lack of separation?
They had stashed the man at the Inn on Bourbon. She reached the hotel and ran gratefully up the steps and into the air-conditioned lobby. Bellmen, all of them African American, cat-footed past her, looking like officers in an operetta with their red uniforms and gold epaulets. The staff behind the front desk were all white. Rhiana wondered if this was how New Orleans had always been, or if it was a small symptom of what was happening with the opening of the gates.
There was a pressure on her chest as if the city were breathing, focusing on her. It forced her to lean against the wall of the elevator. She stepped off the elevator and got her bearings. Down the hallway to the corner room. A room service tray piled with dirty dishes lay on the floor outside. The door was flung open after only a single knock.
The man was of medium height and whip-thin. He wore only a pair of black jeans. There was the white line of an old knife wound across his ribs; his toenails were long and yellowed. The stink of cigarette smoke hung in his clothes and hair, and he needed a shower. Doug Andresson reared back and raked her with a hot look.
“Now that’s more what I’m talkin’ about. Some
serious
booty.” He grabbed Rhiana’s wrist and yanked her into the room. “Now get those clothes off, and get your ass in the bed.” Whiskey breath gusted into her face.
Rhiana reached out to her power, ready to freeze the breath in his chest, choke him on the offensive words, but she met an implacable wall.
Oh shit, he’s a paladin. Magic won’t work on him.
She felt a flash of all too human female fear.
Time for a human solution. She swung her purse and hit him in the temple while at the same time she drove the high heel of her shoe into his instep. He howled, clutched at his foot, and hopped. While he was off balance she shoved him hard in the chest. He crashed down on the unmade bed.
“First, I am Madoc’s daughter. Second, I’m in charge of you now. Third, I’m going to get you the sword.”
As she watched, the furious glare faded from the dark eyes, and calculation took its place. He wasn’t smart, but she bet he was cunning.
“Now get dressed. I’m taking you back to the compound.”
“No.” He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at her. “I like it here just fine. There’s shit to do in New Orleans.”
“Oh, really?” She looked ostentatiously around the room. “It’s pretty clear from the stink that you haven’t let a maid in here in days. I saw the room service tray outside the door. The women are coming here.” She forced herself to look at the crusted stains on the sheet. “And you don’t look like a music lover.”
For the briefest flash she saw Richard’s profile, eyes half closed, head thrown back as his hands swept across the keyboard of the piano. She pushed the memory aside.
“I’ll keep you supplied with whatever you want, but you need to be where I can find you fast.” Rhiana had a sudden inspiration. “And I need to keep you safe. You’re very important.”
FIVE
R ICHARD
T he clink of silverware on china had me jerking upright, and the abrupt movement set my thigh to throbbing. The bedside lamp, a tall glass column, switched on, momentarily blinding me. I threw an arm across my eyes, but in that brief moment before spots exploded across my vision I had seen Cross.
“Oh, sorry,” the creature muttered. The light was dimmed, and I opened my eyes.
Cross dragged over a
Dazed people brushed past her, clutching brightly colored plastic cups adorned with umbrellas. No doubt they contained New Orleans’s infamous Hurricanes. There was a tingling along her nerve endings, which weren’t entirely human. This was a place where the membranes between the dimensions were tissue thin. Were the branes thin because of voodoo, or had belief in magic taken root here because of the lack of separation?
They had stashed the man at the Inn on Bourbon. She reached the hotel and ran gratefully up the steps and into the air-conditioned lobby. Bellmen, all of them African American, cat-footed past her, looking like officers in an operetta with their red uniforms and gold epaulets. The staff behind the front desk were all white. Rhiana wondered if this was how New Orleans had always been, or if it was a small symptom of what was happening with the opening of the gates.
There was a pressure on her chest as if the city were breathing, focusing on her. It forced her to lean against the wall of the elevator. She stepped off the elevator and got her bearings. Down the hallway to the corner room. A room service tray piled with dirty dishes lay on the floor outside. The door was flung open after only a single knock.
The man was of medium height and whip-thin. He wore only a pair of black jeans. There was the white line of an old knife wound across his ribs; his toenails were long and yellowed. The stink of cigarette smoke hung in his clothes and hair, and he needed a shower. Doug Andresson reared back and raked her with a hot look.
“Now that’s more what I’m talkin’ about. Some
serious
booty.” He grabbed Rhiana’s wrist and yanked her into the room. “Now get those clothes off, and get your ass in the bed.” Whiskey breath gusted into her face.
Rhiana reached out to her power, ready to freeze the breath in his chest, choke him on the offensive words, but she met an implacable wall.
Oh shit, he’s a paladin. Magic won’t work on him.
She felt a flash of all too human female fear.
Time for a human solution. She swung her purse and hit him in the temple while at the same time she drove the high heel of her shoe into his instep. He howled, clutched at his foot, and hopped. While he was off balance she shoved him hard in the chest. He crashed down on the unmade bed.
“First, I am Madoc’s daughter. Second, I’m in charge of you now. Third, I’m going to get you the sword.”
As she watched, the furious glare faded from the dark eyes, and calculation took its place. He wasn’t smart, but she bet he was cunning.
“Now get dressed. I’m taking you back to the compound.”
“No.” He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at her. “I like it here just fine. There’s shit to do in New Orleans.”
“Oh, really?” She looked ostentatiously around the room. “It’s pretty clear from the stink that you haven’t let a maid in here in days. I saw the room service tray outside the door. The women are coming here.” She forced herself to look at the crusted stains on the sheet. “And you don’t look like a music lover.”
For the briefest flash she saw Richard’s profile, eyes half closed, head thrown back as his hands swept across the keyboard of the piano. She pushed the memory aside.
“I’ll keep you supplied with whatever you want, but you need to be where I can find you fast.” Rhiana had a sudden inspiration. “And I need to keep you safe. You’re very important.”
FIVE
R ICHARD
T he clink of silverware on china had me jerking upright, and the abrupt movement set my thigh to throbbing. The bedside lamp, a tall glass column, switched on, momentarily blinding me. I threw an arm across my eyes, but in that brief moment before spots exploded across my vision I had seen Cross.
“Oh, sorry,” the creature muttered. The light was dimmed, and I opened my eyes.
Cross dragged over a
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