A Tale of Two Goblins

chapter Fifteen

After a few hours I was able to get Jenny, Travis, Shirley and Sam discharged from the hospital and Sam drove us back to my apartment where I explained the whole Dreamstalker situation to her in finite detail, starting with the fact that all the victims were connected to me personally—down to the fact that our Dreamstalker had really been Osric Cassius and even though I struggled to get through it, I also told her about the Mandrake and the fact that I’d seen Quill again.

“Wow, if I didn’t think you were truly my best friend before,” Sam began, scratching Blue’s ears as he sat beside her on the couch. “I definitely do now.”

I laughed and nodded, watching the rain as it poured outside and channeled into little rivulets on my living room windows. “Yeah, I’d say we’re definitely on this trip called life together.”

I held up my glass of red wine and swished the liquid inside the glass while thinking about everything that had happened over the last week.

“So, I have to ask you, Dulce,” Sam started mysteriously before a huge grin overtook her mouth. “What in the heck happened to your hair?”

I was silent for a second or two before a laugh took hold of me and wouldn’t let go. My hair was now no longer black, but had migrated through a transitory purple only to end its journey as a flat brownish-grey.

Lovely, just lovely.

“About that,” I started and faced her, watching Blue collapse atop her lap as she continued to stroke his head. “Could you fix it?”

Being a witch, Sam could whip up a potion that would wash the color right out of my hair. My attempts to get it back to its golden honey-blond with my own magic had been less than successful.

“Of course,” Sam replied, taking a sip of her wine as the rain continued to trickle down my window panes. Sam put her glass on the coffee table and faced me with a sober expression. “No word from Knight?” she asked, snuggling into the blanket which she wrapped around her shoulders. We were both sitting on my couch, warm and toasty beside the space heater as the wind tore through the trees and the rain continued to pound outside.

At the mention of Knight, I swallowed hard. “No,” I said, glancing up at her. “No word from him at all.” Course, not having my cell phone since I dropped it on the hospital floor might’ve explained that. But Knight couldn’t use that as an excuse for his lack of communication—he also had my home number.

She nodded. “Are you worried?”

“Yeah, I’m really worried.” I sighed, as I thought about how worried I was. I didn’t know much about the Netherworld but from what I’d heard, it sounded like a tough place—wild and uncivilized in many ways. And the idea that Knight had taken it upon himself to lie to the Court of the ANC was unbelievable.

“Why would he have lied to the High Court, Sam?” I asked rhetorically.

“Because he’s in love with you,” she answered, startling me.

“In love with me?” I scoffed. “Please.”

She frowned and shrugged. “Someday you’re going to have to accept the fact that you’re a pretty awesome girl, Dulcie O’Neil.”

I laughed and emptied the contents of the wine into my mouth, wondering how I felt about the possibility of Knight being in love…with me. I banished the thought away as soon as it entered my head—there was no way he was in love with me. Was it even possible for Knight to be in love with anyone? Then that thought led to another one—had Knight ever been in love with someone?

I didn’t dare admit to myself how uncomfortable that thought left me.

“I just hope he’s okay,” I said in a small voice. “Wherever he is, I hope he’s okay.”

And I’d already told myself that if Knight didn’t contact me or show up on my doorstep in the next three days, I was going to the Netherworld to tell the High Court what really happened, that Knight had just been protecting me and I was the one who had let Quill go.

Yes, I realized that in doing so, Knight could be tried for perjury but I hoped his intention of protecting me would be a lesser offense than allowing Quill to escape. No, that was my failure and eventually I’d have to face up to it.

Three days, that was all I was giving Knight…

“Well, if I didn’t say thank you before,” Sam started, shattering my thoughts of Knight. “I’m saying it now.” She grasped my ankle and squeezed it. “Thank you, Dulce, for being such an amazing friend and risking your life for mine.”

I just nodded, feeling tears springing into my eyes. Yes, Sam was my best friend and the closest person to me in the world. I reached over and hugged her for the nth time that evening. Even though she’d asked if she could spend the night because she was afraid to be alone, she’d merely beaten me to it—there was no way I wanted to be alone either.

I pulled away from her and there was an expression on her face like she was in the midst of pondering some involved subject. “Do you think Quill is happy?” she asked in a voice that sounded far away.

I cocked my head as I considered it. “No,” I said, finally. “I think he’s tried to make a bad situation as good as he can. He’s been able to rise to the top because he’s smart and he knows how to play the game, but as to being happy, no I don’t think he is.” And it wasn’t a thought that brought me any sort of pleasure.

“I bet he was happiest when he was working with us at the ANC,” Sam continued. “When you two used to flirt and argue and flirt and argue some more.”

I made a face at her. “We never flirted!”

“Total lie, Dulce!” Sam laughed and Blue lifted his head from Sam’s lap as if to say that he, too, knew it was a total lie. “Do you know that we all used to make bets on whether or not it would be a Dulcie-Quillan flirt day or argue day?”

I faced her with my mouth agape. “You did not!”

She laughed and nodded. “Yeah, we did. And I have to admit, the odds usually ended up being fifty-fifty, which never surprised me, knowing your penchant for arguing.”

“Hey, I don’t like to argue,” I started but Sam’s raised eyebrow snatched the words right off my tongue, defeating me. I smiled but there was unexpressed grief inside me as I thought of Quill, remembering the last words he said to me.

You take care of yourself, my little warrior.

His words had been easier to listen to than “goodbye” would have been, but they basically meant the same thing—neither of us knew if we’d ever see each other again. And although I didn’t want to admit it, I ached to see Quill again because being around him reminded me of a time when things weren’t so difficult—before I knew that friends could betray one another and before I knew what it felt like to be addicted to illegal narcotics. Seeing Quill returned me to an innocent time when he played the muse of pirate captain, when the Wrangler was still around and when life was overall easier.

“What are you thinking about?” Sam asked.

“Stuff I shouldn’t be thinking about,” I answered, noncommittally.

A knock on the door pulled me from my reverie and alerted me to the fact that Dia and Trey had arrived—we’d decided to have a little Dreamstalker-ass-busting celebratory dinner at my place. I stood up, Blue at my side, and approached the door, grabbing hold of Blue’s collar when he started to paw the door while barking. Opening it with a smile, I faced Dia, who was drenched from head to toe, wearing a deep frown that clashed with her otherwise pretty face.

“I should have told you to pick up the food,” she grumbled as she glanced at Blue. “Is he friendly?”

I shrugged. “No, not really.”

She made a face and cautiously entered while Blue sniffed her twice and instantly lost interest, trotting back over to the couch which he jumped on, circled a few times and made himself comfortable.

Trey was quick behind Dia and offered me a happy grin. It seemed like nothing got in the way of a happy mood and Trey and I had to admit, I liked him the better for it.

“Hi Dulce,” he said, when a huge, beaming smile spread across his lips as he spotted Sam. “Hi, Sam!”

Sam smiled up at him and waved while I helped Dia with the bag of Italian takeout, bringing it into the kitchen, where I plopped it up on the counter and started unloading the various dishes. Dia rifled through my drawers, searching for utensils and plates.

“Any word from Knight?” I asked under my breath, not wanting to alert Trey to the fact that there was a problem. Trey really admired and liked Knight so I didn’t want to worry him unnecessarily. But, I had a feeling it might become necessary as time went on.

Dia faced me and sighed. “No, you?”

I shook my head and returned to the task of serving up each dish. “I’m scared for him, Dia.”

She put a consoling hand on my shoulder. “He’ll reach out to you, Dulcie, I’m sure he will. He’s probably up to his neck in crap at the moment.”

“He would call me, if he was able to.”

“Just give him a little more time. It’s been, what…” she glanced down at her watch. “Four hours since we heard from him last? He could be in court.”

I nodded, she was right—maybe I was jumping to conclusions. But, there was a little voice in the back of my head that said Knight would have gotten in touch with me, no matter how busy he’d been. Especially when we ended our conversation with him knowing I was going to go to sleep in order to meet up with the Dreamstalker.

“I got the reports on the blood tests back,” Dia started, distracting my thoughts from Knight, which was just as well because worrying about him wasn’t helping me.

I glanced at her, wondering why the blood tests were even a consideration now. Obviously we knew who our Dreamstalker was or had been. “And?”

“More than half of them were on some sort of blood—Kraken, Were…” She glanced at me. “Fairy.”

“What?” I demanded. “Fairy?”

There weren’t a lot of fairies in the U.S. We totaled maybe ten and in Splendor, there were just two—me and the fairy hooker, Zara. And, needless-to-say, I hadn’t been donating my blood. Damn Zara…

“Why do I have a feeling that’s the next case we’re going to be working on?” I mumbled.

Dia laughed. “Honey, I already told you I am not interested in working with you again. You about gave me heart failure this time around.”

I smiled. “What if I promise to be a better team player?”

She just gave me a diva-like expression and refrained from further comment.

“Where’s dinner?” Trey called from the living room. “I’m a hungry man!”

I laughed and shook my head, suddenly feeling grateful to be surrounded by my friends.

#

Two hours later, Dia and Trey left and I was doing dishes while Sam cuddled up on the couch, watching reruns of “The Tudors. ”

“I just don’t see how it’s possible for an ordinary human man to be as hot as Henry Cavill is,” Sam announced. “He’s got to be the best looking guy I think I’ve ever seen.”

I laughed but had to disagree—there was one man who I could honestly say was the be all, end all in the looks category as far as I was concerned and that man was Knight.

I sighed inwardly as I thought about Knight again, for the umpteenth time this evening. It was like I just couldn’t eradicate thoughts of him, try as I might. I even promised myself that once I got a good night’s sleep, of which I was in dire need, my next plan would be getting to the Netherworld and confessing that I was the one who screwed up in the apprehension of Quillan.

I couldn’t let Knight fall on the sword for this one.

I finished the dishes and not wanting to watch TV, turned on my computer and thought about checking my emails. I hadn’t checked them in days and had to imagine my inbox was at the point of overflowing.

I logged into Yahoo and scanned the various subject lines, pausing once I recognized another email from Barbara Mandley, the literary agent. I opened it and smiled at her announcement that although my book had a few areas that could be improved upon, she wanted to offer representation.

I leaned back as I thought about it. Wow, I’d be able to say I actually had an agent and that had to mean the road to publication had just opened its golden gates for me. This was maybe the start of a new life for me—one where I didn’t have to work law enforcement any longer and could write for a living.

As exciting as the thought was, I also felt a bit sad since, if I made it in the big leagues, I’d probably have to give up my life in law enforcement. I had to admit that I actually did enjoy keeping the citizens of Splendor on the straight and narrow. But, I didn’t have time to think about any of that now. I was getting way ahead of myself.

I considered sharing the news that I now had an agent with Sam, but I was so exhausted, I figured I could save the conversation for the morning. And Bram…Bram would be very happy to hear it as well. But, that could also wait. For now, I had some Zzzz I needed to catch up on.

“Oh my God,” Sam started. “I just saw Henry’s butt and it was totally bare. Dulce, you gotta come watch this one.”

I laughed just as a frantic knock on my door captured my attention. I glanced at the clock and noticed it was just past midnight.

“Who the hell is coming by at this hour?” Sam asked, pulling her attention from Henry’s hot ass. “And in the rain, no less?”

I shrugged and reached for the Op 6 which stood unattended on my kitchen table. I palmed the gun and wrapped my fingers around it, holding it at my side as I approached the door. Glancing through the peephole was useless because the light above my door had burned out and it was dark outside.

I opened the door and found Knight standing before me, rain trailing down the hard planes of his face.

“Knight?” I whispered, almost afraid he was another Mandrake hallucination that would vanish before me. Then I had to remind myself I hadn’t taken any Mandrake in days which meant…Knight was here and…safe.

“Dulcie,” he said it in the same tone, as if neither one of us believed the other was real.

And then I did something that was so uncharacteristically me, so completely alien from the old Dulcie O’Neil but something that had to be done, all the same. I laid the gun on the table beside the door, walked outside and gently pulled the door closed behind me.

“I missed you,” I said and leaned up on my tip toes, wrapping my arms around his neck and I kissed him.

I kissed him like I’d never kissed anyone before, as all the anxiety and worry that had been building up within me dissolved into Knight’s taste.

Knight was safe.

The words were like music to my mind.

Knight’s tongue was in my mouth before I could think and I welcomed it. I ran my hands through his sopping hair and held him tighter. As if it wasn’t close enough, he hoisted me into his arms and I wrapped my legs around him, deepening the kiss until I almost couldn’t breathe.

And Knight. I’d never seen him like his—his eyes were closed, one hand splaying through my hair as the other held me in place. He pushed me against the closed door and pulled his mouth from mine, shifting the hair from in front of my neck as he trailed a line of kisses down my throat.

“Why didn’t you call me?” I whispered. “I was worried sick about you.”

He chuckled but didn’t stop nibbling my neck. “You were worried sick about me?” he asked, amused. “I’ve been beside myself wondering if you were…alive.”

I grasped his hair and pulled him away from my neck. “Knight, what happened at the High Court?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

He didn’t answer but gripped my neck and forced his mouth on mine again. His passion was insatiable and I couldn’t help the groan that escaped my mouth.

“God, I want you, Dulcie,” he growled.

“I want you too,” I started and that seemed to be enough for him because his hand was suddenly turning the doorknob, like he’d grown tired of freezing outside and wanted to get it on in the comfort of my bed. I put my hand on top of his. “Sam is here, Knight.”

He dropped his head and I could see the sag of his broad shoulders. He glanced up and smiled but there was disappointment in his eyes. “I’m happy Sam is okay, Dulce, but at the moment, I could kill her.”

I laughed and shook my head, before the need to know what had happened to him gnawed away at me again. “What happened at the High Court and what the hell were you thinking when you to lied to them, Knight? That was so stupid.”

He shook his head and just gazed at me for a moment or two. “I had to do it, Dulce. They’d be easier on me than they would on you.”

“Why?”

He grasped my chin, tilting it up again. “I can’t think about that right now. All I can focus on is tasting you.”

He kissed me with an intense passion, pulling me into him, until I could feel the hardness between his thighs. I wrapped one leg around his waist, wanting to feel him inside my own melting core. If Sam hadn’t been on the other side of the door, I would have ripped my clothes off and told Knight to take me right then and there. But, Sam was on the other side of the door and the thought of her enforced my self-control.

“Knight, talk to me,” I said, pulling away from him. “Are you ready to go inside?”

He arched a brow. “No, I’m not, but there’s no use in freezing out here.”

I smiled and palmed the doorknob, opening the door. I offered Sam a sheepish grin as she glanced at both of us. “Knight!” she said with a smile.

“Sam, how are you doing?” he asked and I couldn’t help but notice that he had his hands clasped in front of himself to hide the raging....ahem….thing behind his pants and looked totally ridiculous in the process.

“I’m great,” she answered and then looked at me again with a smile that I knew all too well. She turned off the TV. “I am getting pretty tired so I’ll just retire in Dulce’s room. Night guys.”

“Night,” I said and figured I wouldn’t hear the end of it tomorrow. But, for now, I could concentrate on Knight.

We watched her disappear into my room and close the door behind her and as soon as she did so, Knight’s hands were all over me again, his tongue in my mouth. I had to pry myself away again.

“You never answered my question, why would the High Court go easier on you than me?”

“Because I’m higher up in the ranks,” he answered absentmindedly as his hands found my waist and he pulled me into him. “I’ve proven myself, so to say.”

I frowned. “And I haven’t?”

He smiled down at me. “You’ve proven yourself and then some, you know that. But that’s coming from me—the Netherworld ANC hasn’t worked with you and they don’t know you, Dulce, but they know me.”

I nodded, guessing that made sense but I still didn’t like it and it didn’t change my plan to make sure his name didn’t get muddied in this whole situation.

“So, what happened with the case?” I demanded.

He took a few steps from me, pulling out one of my kitchen chairs and deposited himself in it with a sigh, as if he realized the sex stuff was over for the night. “I didn’t stay to find out.”

“You left in the middle of your case?” I asked, my voice dropping in disbelief.

“I didn’t wait for the case to begin,” he answered with a grin. “Once I knew you were going to meet the Dreamstalker on his terms, I left.” He glanced at me and his gaze raked me from head to toe. “I couldn’t focus on anything else, knowing you could be dying.”

I approached him and sat down on his lap, straddling him. He wrapped his hands around my waist and buried his face in my chest.

“I’m not going to let you take the rap for me letting Quillan go,” I whispered in his ear and started kissing his neck.

“You don’t have a choice,” he responded, his hands on either of my breasts as I began rocking myself against the hardness in his pants.

“The High Court is going to be pissed you bailed on them,” I added.

He chuckled. “Pissed isn’t even the word for it.” He brought his hands back to my waist and dropped his head back as he closed his eyes while I continued to gyrate against him.

This wasn’t an argument that was going to be won tonight. For tonight, I just appreciated the fact that Knight was safe, that Sam was alive and the Dreamstalker was dead. Tomorrow I could face all the other problems that had recently become my life—I could face the question of the illegal blood on the underground market and I could figure out what the hell I was going to do about the High Court.

Knight glanced up at me and his eyes glowed that eerie luminescence I’d first seen at Bram’s party.

“Okay, big guy, what’s with the eye glowing bit?” I asked, while rubbing my fingers against his incredibly soft lips.

He diverted his gaze as if he was embarrassed. “Are they glowing?” he asked.

I tilted his chin up and smiled down at him. “Yep and now there are no interruptions like Angela or Bram’s party so you’d better tell me why.”

He sighed and it spoke volumes. Anything Knight didn’t want to inform me about, I wanted to know all the more. “It’s something Lokis do,” he said simply.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I answered with a raised brow.

He chuckled. “Nothing with you is ever easy, Dulcie.”

“No tangents either,” I said with a smirk. “Nice try though.”

He returned the smirk. “I’ll tell you on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Dinner tomorrow night, my house, eight o’clock.”

I narrowed my eyes and smiled. “Done.”

He grasped my waist and lifted me off his lap, placing me on my kitchen floor. Then he stood up. “Until tomorrow,” he said with a smile.

“Wait a second,” I started, my hands on my hips. “I just agreed to your condition.”

He nodded. “Yes, you did, but it isn’t tomorrow night at my house at eight o’clock, is it?”

I frowned. “But…”

“Dulcie, I know you too well. Between now and tomorrow night, there’s a very good chance you’ll talk yourself out of the fact that you and I are great for each other. So, rather than giving up my secret now, I’ll tell you tomorrow…once you show up for our date.”

I laughed even though I was annoyed.

He reached for me and placed a chaste kiss on my lips then pulled away, starting for the door. He grasped the handle and opened it, stepping into the darkness before he turned around and faced me again.

“And be sure to show up because this is one of my better secrets.”

Then he closed the door behind him and left me in my living room with only Blue for company.

“What a…” I started.

Blue glanced up at me and shook his canine head before closing his eyes as he drifted back into doggy sleep.