That was utter foolishness. He’d just about convinced himself of that when he reached Sanctuary in New Orleans and teleported into the third floor, which was reserved for such activities. Because the club was owned by a family of Were-Hunter bears, they took a lot of precautions when it came to catering to their “special” clientele.
Of all the limanis located throughout the world, none was more famous or legendary than Sanctuary. The Peltier bears had seen to that. Its reputation for fairness and hospitality set it apart.
Urian came here because he knew his father had a spy among their happy family.
He just didn’t know who. Sadly, neither did Davyn. They’d both been trying to find out, and that had been one piece of trivia that kept eluding them.
Since the staff tonight would be minimal, Urian thought that maybe he might get a better handle on who to look for. So with a nod to the guard on the “landing pad,” he headed for the stairs so that he could walk to the bottom floor and not spook any humans in the bar and grill.
It was weird to be here with so few Were-Hunters. Most of them were still at Ash’s wedding. Urian headed to the bar, where Tony, one of the few humans who worked here, was bartending and ordered another beer.
He’d just gotten it when he had that unique sensation at the base of his neck that alerted him a Daimon was near.
Urian turned to skim the bar …
No one was there. Now that was weird. Disturbed, he walked all the way through both levels. Because he still had the sensation. It was unmistakable.
There was a Daimon here.
He couldn’t find them.
And that had never happened before.
What the hell was going on?
January 24, 2009
Urian tried calling Styxx again, and again it rolled to voice mail. Afraid Styxx might have slipped into another coma, Urian flashed himself to Styxx’s condo.
He knew the minute he materialized that something wasn’t right. Everything about the condo felt off. But glancing around, he saw nothing out of place.
“Styxx?”
No one answered.
He quickly searched the condo to find it empty. This time when he went into Styxx’s bedroom, he saw that Styxx had pulled out the sketchbook page of him and Phoebe and left it on top of his desk with a folded note. Fear cinched his gut as he opened it and read.
Urian,
You’re the only one who will notice that I’m not here. Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything particularly stupid. I just don’t want to live in a world I don’t understand anymore.
When I find my place and the peace I need to function, I’ll be in touch. Until then, take care, my brother. And thank you for being my friend.
S
Grinding his teeth, Urian wanted to find Styxx and beat the shit out of him for the pain he felt right now, and he didn’t know why he felt it. Why should he care? He barely knew Styxx.
It must be that they were kindred spirits. Styxx was the only one who really understood about Phoebe. After almost six years, everyone else had lost patience with his unwillingness to move on and find someone new to love.
But it wasn’t that easy. Not when you had a past that was so hard to share with another person. One that left you bleeding and vulnerable. It was difficult to open up to anyone because the moment you did, you knew you ran the risk of being hurt worse, and humiliated should they ever tell your secrets, and when you’d been hurt all your life by others …
There was only so much bravery in any given soul. And while Urian was more than willing to risk his life, he’d never again risk his heart. He was done with that shit.
Not even sex was worth the possibility of getting emotionally attached. He’d rather take things into his own hands than risk going through one more bout of Xanthia-style psychodrama, or worse, Xyn or Phoebe heartbreak.
At his age, it just wasn’t worth it.
That level of burn was unending.
To finally find the courage to trust and to dare lay your heart in the hands of another and then to lose them was the ultimate cruelty. And it was not something you ever got over. Ever.
Six years was just a blink of the eye. And apparently so was eleven thousand. As he well knew. ’Cause not a day went by where he didn’t think about Xyn.
If he closed his eyes right now, he could still see the red of her hair in his hands. Feel her lips tickling his skin. Smell her scent on a stray breeze. She was every bit as deeply embedded in his soul as Phoebe.
They had left him changed. Had left him marked.
And in the end, they had left him abandoned.
Lost.
He couldn’t go through it again. He’d rather be dead.
Urian cleared his throat. “Good luck, brother. I hope when you find a way to sleep through the night and breathe again, you’ll share the secret with me.”
Because right now, he still wasn’t sleeping. Some days and nights, he barely functioned.
July 4, 2009
Urian cocked his head as he watched Xirena and Simi arguing. “Um, demons? What exactly are you doing?”’Cause from his vantage point as he entered the room, it sounded like they were attempting to decide what flavor of barbecue went best on a baby to eat it.
The two of them were in the throne room of Katateros, which Ash had turned into a giant living room, with four boxes of Burberry layettes for an infant girl and were about to come to blows in their argument.
Simi got up from her furry purple bean bag chair. Dressed in a short black ruffled skirt and crop top, she pursed her lips. “Akri-Uri, tell the Simi’s idiot sister that the hickory sweet sauce is better with the pink baby! ’Cause it more tasty and sweet!”
Xirena actually let out a burst of flames. “No, Xiamara! For baby, you must have more spice for the digestion. You need it!”
Yeah, no, that sounded like they planned to eat someone’s baby.
At a loss, Urian glanced back and forth between them, unsure how best to handle this situation, because he didn’t want to be on either of their menus.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Simi cocked her hip and looked at him. “Wells?”
“Uh … what baby are you going to eat?”
Simi froze, then became extremely happy. “Can we?”
“No!” He rushed to correct that, if that wasn’t where they were going with this weirdness. “You aren’t planning to eat a baby?”
Simi shook her head. “But if the Simi can, she will. Cans she?”
“No,” he repeated. “What are you doing?”
“Now the Simi sad she can’t eat a baby ’cause they’s so tender.” She pouted.
Xirena sighed. “I know, sissy. So sad.” She shook her head as she folded up the layette. “The nice pirate man and his wife had their baby. So we were sending this for them.”
“Oh.” Urian had forgotten about that. “Rafael Santiago and Celena.”
Simi nodded enthusiastically. “Baby Ephani!” She held up the bottles. “Which flavor do you think Baby Ephani would like?”
Urian bit back his laughter. “Why not both? Let the baby decide?”
She gasped. “Good idea!” She dropped the bottles into the box, then ran forward to hug him.
Only she hit him so hard, it was more like a tackle. Urian smiled, especially when her wings fluttered and feathers went flying. That was the strangest part of all about the Charonte. When they were happy, they had feathered wings. When you pissed one off, their wings turned fleshy and leatherlike, complete with spiked tips on the ends of them.
Simi pulled back to scowl at him. “Why you so sad, akri-Uri?”
“I’m okay, Simi.”
She put her hand over his head. “No, you’re not. You gots a lot of heart-hurt.” Her lips quivered. “Simi sorry. It’s not fun being one-of-a-kind. Believe me, the Simi knows.”
That she did. The reason she spoke the way that she did was that Apollymi had sent her to live with Ash when she was a toddler. With no other Charonte in the human world, she’d grown up with no one to teach her anything about them. It was only after her sister and brother had managed to escape, thousands of years later, that she’d finally had another Charonte with her.
“I’m not as cute and precious as you are, Simikee.”