Ashes of the Firebird (The Firebird Fairytales Book 2) Read online

  “I can’t turn it off like some sort of psychic switch. If that worked I would have done it months ago when I first started dreaming of you,” Aleksandra said sharply.

  “I didn’t have a say in that either.”

  “I know you didn’t, I’m sorry.” If it was anyone else, she would have taken their hand to comfort them but this was Mychal and she didn’t want him to leave. In some twisted way, she wanted to be around him. He made her feel safe. “How do you do it, Mychal? How do you look at those things every night and manage not to run away? It must be special priest training.”

  “I’m not a priest,” he said as he sat back in his chair. “I was raised by one and I got the teachings in certain areas but I have taken no vows. It’s not my calling. I face evil and I destroy it if I can. That is who I am. That is my only purpose. I’m good at it.”

  “Yes, you are. I have seen you in action and I honestly don’t know who I would be more afraid of, a demon or an angry you,” she said honestly.

  “I can see how I could’ve given that impression. I would never intentionally hurt you though, no matter how much you pissed me off.”

  “That’s comforting, I suppose.”

  A smile played around his lips, but he managed to keep a straight face.

  “If I intended to harm you why would I go to the trouble of trying to find things that are going to protect you? I would let the demons have you.”

  “You could me lulling me into a false sense of security.” Aleksandra felt for the silver cross that hung on her chest and she wondered why he was protecting her at all.

  “Do you think I’m the kind of person that could be bothered to do something like that even if I had the time?” he questioned.

  Aleksandra gathered her courage and managed to look at him. The tip of the cross tattooed on his chest peeked out the top of his V-neck shirt.

  “No, you wouldn’t do that.” They watched each other carefully for a few moments, as if they were weighing each other up.

  “I need to go,” Mychal said abruptly and got to his feet. “The doors and windows have already been marked so you needn’t worry about it.”

  “Thank you again for your help,” Aleksandra said politely as she stood. He unstopped the little vase and ran his finger around the top of its rim.

  “One more door to do,” he said and before she could protest, he marked her forehead with warm fingertips. “That should keep them out of your dreams. Good night.” He turned and made for the balcony door.

  “Mychal?” she whispered and he stopped to glance over his shoulder, “What are you?”

  “God only knows.”

  Chapter Twenty- Unexpected Guests

  “Good morning, sunshine!” Harley beamed at Isabelle from across the world. Isabelle grunted and drank some of her coffee.

  “What’s up, Harley?”

  “I see you’re still not a morning person.” Harley smiled, bright as a buttercup in her pale yellow singlet. Isabelle gave her a cold blank stare. “Okay, I see you’re not in the mood for teasing. Fox has the info you need. I will email it to you. Get your butt over here already. I have her using her satellite hacks to keep an eye on the place. If there is anything dodgy I will let you know.”

  “Finally! I have been bored out of my skull for weeks.”

  “Even with that fine bit of man candy floating around?” teased Harley. “I can’t wait until Mama Lya sees him. She will want to eat him with cream.”

  “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”

  “So how is it all going in that department?”

  “Intense,” she answered and didn’t elaborate. Harley rolled her eyes dramatically.

  “Come on, I want details! I’m practically a virgin again,” she argued. Isabelle looked at the gorgeous girl on the screen and wondered how that was possible. She would have at least half of New Orleans in love with her.

  “You’re only hard up because all your potentials are scared of Blue Jay.” Fox said as she appeared next to Harley on screen.

  “Shut-up, Fox,” Harley stressed.

  “He has made a move finally?” Isabelle asked, trying to catch up on the obvious gossip between the girls. Fox started laughing loudly and Harley groaned.

  “God, Belle, not you too.”

  “Don’t tell me it’s taken this long to figure it out.”

  “Yes it has,” Fox said before Harley could reply.

  “I hate you both. Can we get back to what we were talking about?”

  “Sure thing, boss.” Fox was grinning still when she turned to Isabelle, “I’m finding any info I can for you and I will keep it here for when you arrive. Have a look at the newest layout of the building I have found. You better have a really good plan on how to get in and out because the place is like a fortress.”

  “We are onto it. Aramis is completely obsessed. All he ever does is workout, teach Anya magic and plan how to get Yanka back,” Isabelle commented. “You would think that the Álfr would be more fun.”

  “You know an actual Álfr! Wicked.” Fox and Harley looked excited.

  “He isn’t that interesting.”

  “Better not be talking about me.” Hamish said as he walked in mid-conversation once again. He saw the computer screen and moved over. “Nice to see you again, Harley. Hello, haven’t met you yet.”

  “I’m Fox.”

  “The nerd of the operation.”

  “I prefer the brains of the operation but whatever,” said Fox, “you must be Hamish.”

  “The one and only. So what are we talking about?” Hamish asked as he sat next to Isabelle and stole her coffee.

  “Harley has got a guy chasing her.”

  “No surprise. She’s smoking hot.”

  “He’s forty and he used to be her dad’s best friend,” explained Isabelle.

  “Oh, the scandal,” he laughed girlishly. “If it makes you feel better, my girl here is a hell of a lot older than forty.” Isabelle pinched him hard and he yelped like a pup.

  “At least he is a good looking forty year old, not one who is bald with a gut hanging over his trousers,” she pointed out. “Last time I saw him, he looked better than most guys half of his age.”

  “Nothing has changed, he is fine, fine, fine,” Fox piped in. “He is still knocking out clients for being disrespectful to the girls.”

  “Sounds like a bouncer in a strip club,” Hamish commented. Three women went silent and stared him down, “Ah, not that there is any other comparison.”

  “Anyway, you should think about it, Harley,” Isabelle continued.

  “Don’t pressure her,” Hamish said. “She can make up her own mind.”

  “Thank you, Hamish!” Harley said, “You’re the only one who has stood up for me so far. These two are meant to be my closest friends and they are no help at all.”

  “Anytime, sweet pea,” he said with one of his megawatt smiles.

  “I want you to listen to us and think about it,” said Isabelle. “He’s always been crazy about you. Even I know that. That’s all I will say on the matter.”

  “Really? That’s all for good or just for now?” There was no disguising how annoyed Harley was getting. Hamish started chuckling and Isabelle felt like whacking him.

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” she threatened.

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” Harley mimicked with a cheeky grin. “I have to go. Unlike some people I have an honest job to do.”

  “Have there been any other attacks?”

  “Not for weeks. It is almost too quiet in the city at the moment.”

  “Vasilli has turned up in Budapest and we don’t know why. We are going to be keeping an eye on him. Until we get there, be careful. That goes for you too, Fox. If they can see you’re friends with Harley they might try to get at you as well.”

  “We’ll be careful. I’ve been spending a lot of time at Fox’s anyway trying to sort out this Yanka stuff.”

  “Good. Stick together and let me know if you see a
nything out of the ordinary.”

  Harley watched Isabelle and Hamish’s faces disappear as they logged out. She could tell why Isabelle liked Hamish so much, the killer combo of rough and charming. Isabelle had spoken about their fling and Harley always felt she talked about him with a sense of regret. At least now, they were getting a second chance.

  “What mischief are you two up to so early in the morning?” Blue Jay asked as he walked into the office carrying a cardboard tray of coffees. He was wearing a red singlet that contrasted brightly against his dark skin, blue jeans and had his hair out so it brushed his shoulders. The body underneath the clothes was still trim and muscular. The girls were right. He was a hot forty year old. Still, Harley had never seen the attraction to her in his blue eyes that the girls spoke about.

  “Coffee! My hero,” Fox winked at him as she took one.

  “We were talking to Isabelle. She will probably come over soon by the sounds of things,” Harley explained as she took the offered cappuccino. It had been made with skim milk and had three sugars, the way she liked it. “I might need you to watch the shop for a few weeks while I give her a hand sorting this Yanka business out.”

  “You’re going to go with her? Do you have any idea how dangerous it’s going to be? You are going to get yourself killed for something that doesn’t even concern you!” Blue Jay exclaimed. He had never raised his voice to her about anything.

  “I just remembered I need to be over there,” Fox said vaguely and left Harley to fend for herself.

  “It doesn’t concern you, Blue.”

  “It doesn’t concern you either. This is other people’s mess, so why should you risk your life to clean it up?”

  “I owe Isabelle my life! If it wasn’t for her, the gangs would have killed me a hundred times over for what I did to Dad’s killer. She never asks me for anything. I’m not going to let her down.” Harley’s temper was flaring up. “What’s it to you anyway? I can take care of myself.”

  “I know you can, cher. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about you and try to protect you from this supernatural shit storm.” His blue eyes were getting darker the angrier he became. She had never seen them turn on her like that.

  “You know what? I’m not asking you to protect me.” She couldn’t handle him and the look on his face so she swivelled her chair back around to her computer. Blue Jay grabbed the back of her chair and swung it back around, gripping her armrests.

  “Don’t turn your back on me, girl,” he growled. “You’re right, you didn’t ask me to protect you but I’m going to anyway because you’re one of mine.” He let go of the armrests roughly, the back of the chair hitting the desk before he stormed out, slamming the office door behind him. Harley sat shaking and sipping her coffee until Fox came in and sat down next to her.

  “Do you still think he doesn’t care about you?”

  “Drop it, Fox. He is really mad at me,” Harley said. For some reason, she felt a little weepy that she had disappointed him.

  “Yeah, he is but he will get over it. No one can stay angry with you for long so that’s a bonus. Come on, I need your help on a client’s bike. Let’s get some grease under your nails and you’ll feel better.”

  Harley worked and stuffed up all day. The music was insanely loud to match her mood. Fox was the only one game enough to approach her. She tried hard to ignore Blue Jay. He always seemed to be in her line of sight to annoy her. She caught glimpses of sweat dripping down his neck, him tucking hair behind his ear while unconsciously wiping a bit of oil on the side of his face. When he straddled a bike and moved the handlebars to check how straight they were she wanted to hit herself in the head with a wrench. Damn everyone to hell for putting ideas in her head about him! One thing for sure, she decided, was she really needed to get laid. She wouldn’t have given him and his attitude a second thought if she was.

  Everyone seemed to be happy when the day was at an end. Fox came up to where she was working and handed her a bottle of water.

  “Come around tonight and I will make you something for dinner,” she said before leaving. Fox must have been really worried about her to offer to cook.

  Finally, all that was left was Harley and Blue Jay. If it was a normal day, she wouldn’t think anything of it. They would have had a beer and a laugh before saying goodnight. Now Harley was waiting for their fight to continue and after a day of being pissed off, she was itching for it.

  “Are you going to ignore me forever?” he asked as he organised one of the workbenches.

  “Considering it,” Harley replied as she finished fitting in a clutch cable.

  “You’re being a royal bitch to someone who is actually trying to give a shit about what happens to you.” Harley threw the spanner she was holding and it smashed into the workbench beside him.

  “Screw you!” she shouted, “You’re the one that got up in my face all pissed off this morning trying to make my choices for me!”

  “Only because you won’t use your fucking head when you are making them!” he yelled back. She charged towards him not watching where she was going, tripped over the scrap metal bin and hit the concrete face first.

  “Fuck!” she sobbed with embarrassment. She had scratched up her hands, elbows and knees and had a cut on her thigh where a bit of metal had caught her.

  “It’s okay, I got you,” Blue Jay said gently, his temper defused at the sight of her blood. He picked her up and sat her on the workbench he had cleaned. He ducked into the office and came back with the first aid kit. Harley was cursing as she grabbed a clean rag and dabbed the gashes on her elbows that were bleeding.

  “Now, if I sit on this stool and clean you up, you promise not to do something silly like kick me in the balls?” Blue Jay asked as he put the kit down next to her. Harley nodded her head and kept her mouth shut.

  “Okay then.” He took out the antiseptic wipes and began cleaning the grit and metal filings out of her scrapes and scratches. It stung like hell, but Harley stayed still as best she could as she focused on the colours in his hair and the Ryan Adams CD that was playing.

  “You know I didn’t mean to try to tell you what to do with your life,” he said finally. “I worry about you, honey. I don’t want you to be scared for your safety all the time because you pissed off the wrong people. It’s okay for Isabelle. She has extra gifts from that bite and can handle anything that they throw at her. You’re good at what you do but you are still only human.”

  “I know that, but you don’t have to look out for me all the time as an obligation to my old man either,” she replied. Blue Jay looked up at her and she squirmed.

  “I’ve never done it out of an obligation to John. I’ve known you longer now than I knew him, even with all those years you were away growing up.” Harley remembered something that Fox had said about her coming back into his life as a woman and she wished she hadn’t. His warm hand gripped her bare leg and adjusted it so he could look at the ugly cut in her thigh.

  “You got a bit of metal in there, so hold still.” He got out a pair of tweezers and leaned over it. His warm breath tickled against her skin making goose bumps spring up. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. Very carefully, he held her leg down with his palm before he gripped the piece of metal and pulled it out. Harley groaned and did her best not to move. It hadn’t hurt as much as when he bandaged her up after the Tehuantl claws got her after all.

  “You seem to be patching me up a fair bit lately,” Harley said and he raised an eyebrow at her.

  “It’s not like I don’t enjoy having my hands on a pretty girl, but I prefer it when she isn’t pissed off and bleeding.” Harley grinned and she knew their argument was over.

  “You think I am pretty?” she teased a little.

  “Yeah, you’re okay for a cranky bitch,” he laughed as he wiped some antiseptic cream into her leg. Harley was careful not to flash her panties under her denim shorts as she propped her leg up so he could wrap a bandage around it. The whole pose was a bit su
ggestive but it couldn’t be helped. It didn’t appear to faze Blue Jay and it wasn’t until Harley saw his hands twitching a little that she wondered if it might.

  “That should do you,” Blue Jay said as he got to his feet and stood in front of her. Harley lowered her leg and mustered up enough courage to look him in the eye.

  “I’m sorry for yelling at you,” she said, “and for throwing tools at you. I was out of line.”

  “Forget about it. I haven’t been a picnic myself. I want you to be careful, that’s all. I don’t like to see you hurt all the time.” His eyes had softened to a buttery blue and she knew she was forgiven.

  “Thanks,” she said and hugged him. He hesitated a moment before Harley felt his hands slide down her back and pull her against him. Relief washed through her as she breathed in his familiar smell of aftershave and engine grease. She usually would have pulled back by now and she was surprised to find that she really didn’t want to. He hadn’t let go either so she dared to tighten her legs around him. She felt his heart beat jump against her cheek. His big hands moved down to where her singlet stopped and traced his fingertips on her bare skin.

  Oh, God, the girls were right after all, Harley thought and what was worse was that she was enjoying it and it wasn’t because she hadn’t had sex in months. Her back arched a little as a fresh wave of goose bumps ran up her skin. She moved her hand up to trace the tattoo on his arm to his shoulder.

  “Harley,” Blue Jay said slowly and she looked up at him, “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” she said, “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” he mimicked as her fingers trailed over his shoulders and gripped the straps of his singlet.

  Very slowly, she pulled him close and kissed him softly, a press of lips to test his reaction. His eyes were wide with surprise. He rallied, gripping her face and returning her kiss. His lips were hot and soft and knew exactly what they were doing. She was breathless when he stopped so he could kiss her cheeks and eyelids, his hands buried in her thick hair. Her pulse jumped as he kissed the soft skin behind her ear and down the curve of her neck.