Page 16 of Pike

“I can’t believe you did that to me,” she insisted.

When she shivered, Pike slipped out of his jacket and tossed it around her shoulders. “Lavinia, all manner of creatures make up the world. You are woefully ill-equipped for ninety-nine percent of them.”

“I know. But you almost let me walk off with someone who would have had sex with me to feed on part of my soul.” She pointed to her chest. “I need my soul.”

“You’ll thank me one day,” he insisted.

“When? When I’m huddled in my bed, a quivering mess, unable to walk out of my apartment for fear of whom or what I’ll meet?”

“Exactly. Then you’ll get up. You’ll put on your boots. You’ll go outside. You’ll be fine. And probably wearing those comfy pants.”

“I’m hanging on by a thread.”

He saw the tiniest flicker in her eyes. Something light and bright amidst the darkness. Amusement? Appreciation? He couldn’t be sure, and she hid her face the moment she caught him staring.

“You’re laughing at me,” she said.

“Not at all. I think I keep my composure rather well.”

There was a pause as she tried to find something else to say. At last she came back with “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

He breathed in her scent. Delicious and deep, a hint of honey and sandalwood and something indescribable. Uniquely Lavinia. “I was going to give you time. To rest.”

“I prefer to dive in, since I’m failing at all your tests. I need to keep at it until I get something right. At this point I’ll settle for making the perfect sandwich, just as long as it tastes good.”

“You’ll…learn.” He squashed down his impulse to make a joke. To make light of the situation.

She clenched her fists in the sleeves of his jacket. “At least we know none of your tests can actually kill me. Wouldn’t that be a joke?” To his surprise, she stepped out of reach. “If I died trying to learn how to live.”

“Then let’s go into the park. Get some fresh air.”

“I don’t want a walk,” she burst out. “It’s late. I’d rather go home.”

Her eyes bulged with the effort of having to keep her comments to herself. Pike wished she would let go of her control. He wondered what kind of visions she could manifest if she’d let loose the rope she kept tied around her own neck.

His hand between her shoulders, he gently guided her in the opposite direction. “Okay, then. I’ll take you home.”

“I’m freezing.”

She didn’t look like a supernatural, although Pike knew from experience that most of the paranormals he’d come into contact with looked perfectly…ordinary. He still expected to see something astonishing when he looked at her. Something beyond the pretty features. Something cloaked in mystery, in magic, that matched the way she smelled.

“I can still feel it in my belly.” She let her hand rest on her abdomen. “A pulling in my gut. A desire I can’t even describe to you.”

Pike caught a whisper of movement from the alley. He turned in time to catch the first stirrings of decomposition before the ghoul staggered out from behind a fire escape.

With a sigh, he pushed Lavinia behind him. “Another ghoul? Jesus, woman, what the hell kind of perfume did you put on today?”

The ghoul lurched forward. Newly raised, she hadn’t quite had time to adjust to the magic yet. Adjust to whatever dark power coursed through her bones and forced her to rise instead of staying peacefully asleep beneath the ground. Warlocks. Pike never understood the allure of raising the dead.

“Please don’t make me fight her,” Lavinia said. “I’m not sure I have it in me.”

“What?” Pike pointed. “Afraid you can’t take her? She might be a tough old bird. Look at the granny shoes. Still has them on.”

“Please,” Lavinia begged. “Just do it, will you?”

“Just do it,” he repeated.

“Pike!”

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