Dangerous Women Part 53

"Aye," Jamie said. "Right, then." And rang the bell.

Afterward, they wandered slowly through the streets of Bordeaux, making their way toward nothing in particular, not speaking much.

Dr. Hasdi had received them courteously, though with a look of mingled horror and apprehension on his face when he saw the scroll. This look had faded to one of relief at hearing-the manservant had had enough French to interpret for them-that his granddaughter was safe, then to shock, and finally to a set expression that Jamie couldn't read. Was it anger, sadness, resignation?

When Jamie had finished the story, they sat uneasily, not sure what to do next. Dr. Hasdi sat at his desk, head bowed, his hands resting gently on the scroll. Finally, he raised his head, and nodded to them both, one and then the other. His face was calm now, giving nothing away.

"Thank you," he said in heavily accented French. "Shalom."

"Are ye hungry?" Ian motioned toward a small boulangerie whose trays bore filled rolls and big, fragrant round loaves. He was starving himself, though half an hour ago, his wame had been in knots.

"Aye, maybe." Jamie kept walking, though, and Ian shrugged and followed.

"What d'ye think the Captain will do when we tell him?" Ian wasn't all that bothered. There was always work for a good-sized man who kent what to do with a sword. And he owned his own weapons. They'd have to buy Jamie a sword, though. Everything he was wearing, from pistols to ax, belonged to D'Eglise.

He was busy enough calculating the cost of a decent sword against what remained of their pay that he didn't notice Jamie not answering him. He did notice that his friend was walking faster, though, and, hurrying to catch up, he saw what they were heading for. The tavern where the pretty brown-haired barmaid had taken Jamie for a Jew.

Oh, like that, is it? he thought, and hid a grin. Aye, well, there was one sure way the lad could prove to the la.s.s that he wasn't a Jew.

The place was moiling when they walked in, and not in a good way; Ian sensed it instantly. There were soldiers there, army soldiers and other fighting-men, mercenaries like themselves, and no love wasted between them. You could cut the air with a knife, and judging from a splotch of half-dried blood on the floor, somebody had already tried.

There were women, but fewer than before, and the barmaids kept their eyes on their trays, not flirting tonight.

Jamie wasn't taking heed of the atmosphere; Ian could see him looking round for her; the brown-haired la.s.s wasn't on the floor. They might have asked after her-if they'd known her name.

"Upstairs, maybe?" Ian said, leaning in to half-shout into Jamie's ear over the noise. Jamie nodded and began forging through the crowd, Ian bobbing in his wake, hoping they found the la.s.s quickly so he could eat whilst Jamie got on with it.

The stairs were crowded-with men coming down. Something was amiss up there, and Jamie shoved someone into the wall with a thump, pus.h.i.+ng past. Some nameless anxiety shot jolted down his spine, and he was half-prepared before he pushed through a little knot of onlookers at the head of the stairs and saw them.

Big Mathieu, and the brown-haired girl. There was a big open room here, with a hallway lined with tiny cubicles leading back from it; Mathieu had the girl by the arm and was boosting her toward the hallway with a hand on her b.u.m, despite her protests.

"Let go of her!" Jamie said, not shouting, but raising his voice well enough to be heard easily. Mathieu paid not the least attention, though everyone else turned to look at Jamie, startled.

He heard Ian mutter, "Joseph, Mary and Bride preserve us," behind him, but paid no heed. He covered the distance to Mathieu in three strides, and kicked him in the a.r.s.e.

He ducked, by reflex, but Mathieu merely turned and gave him a hot eye, ignoring the whoops and guffaws from the spectators.

"Later, little boy," he said. "I'm busy now."

He scooped the young woman into one big arm and kissed her sloppily, rubbing his stubbled face hard over hers, so she squealed and pushed at him to get away.

Jamie drew the pistol from his belt.

"I said, let her go." The noise dropped suddenly, but he barely noticed for the roaring of blood in his ears.

Mathieu turned his head, incredulous. Then he snorted with contempt, grinned unpleasantly and shoved the girl into the wall so her head struck with a thump, pinning her there with his bulk.

The pistol was primed.

"Salop!" Jamie roared. "Don't touch her! Let her go!" He clenched his teeth and aimed with both hands, rage and fright making his hands tremble.

Mathieu didn't even look at him. The big man half turned away, a casual hand on her breast. She squealed as he twisted it, and Jamie fired. Mathieu whirled, the pistol he'd had concealed in his own belt now in hand, and the air shattered in an explosion of sound and white smoke.

There were shouts of alarm, excitement-and another pistol went off, somewhere behind Jamie. Ian? he thought dimly, but no, Ian was running toward Mathieu, leaping for the ma.s.sive arm rising, the second pistol's barrel making circles as Mathieu struggled to fix it on Jamie. It discharged, and the ball hit one of the lanterns that stood on the tables, which exploded with a whuff and a bloom of flame.

Jamie had reversed his pistol and was hammering at Mathieu's head with the b.u.t.t before he was conscious of having crossed the room. Mathieu's mad-boar eyes were almost invisible, slitted with the glee of fighting, and the sudden curtain of blood that fell over his face did nothing but enhance his grin, blood running down between his teeth. He shook Ian off with a shove that sent him cras.h.i.+ng into the wall, then wrapped one big arm almost casually around Jamie's body and, with a snap of his head, b.u.t.ted him in the face.

Jamie had turned his head reflexively and thus avoided a broken nose, but the impact crushed the flesh of his jaw into his teeth and his mouth filled with blood. His head was spinning with the force of the blow, but he got a hand under Mathieu's jaw and shoved upward with all his strength, trying to break the man's neck. His hand slipped off the sweat-greased flesh, though, and Mathieu let go his grip in order to try to knee Jamie in the stones. A knee like a cannonball struck him a numbing blow in the thigh as he squirmed free, and he staggered, grabbing Mathieu's arm just as Ian came dodging in from the side, seizing the other. Without a moment's hesitation, Mathieu's huge forearms twisted; he seized the Scots by the scruffs of their necks and cracked their heads together.

Jamie couldn't see and could barely move, but kept moving anyway, groping blindly. He was on the floor, could feel boards, wetness ... His pawing hand struck flesh and he lunged forward and bit Mathieu as hard as he could in the calf of the leg. Fresh blood filled his mouth, hotter than his own, and he gagged but kept his teeth locked in the hairy flesh, clinging stubbornly as the leg he clung to kicked in frenzy. His ears were ringing, he was vaguely aware of screaming and shouting, but it didn't matter.

Something had come upon him and nothing mattered. Some small remnant of his consciousness registered surprise, and then that was gone, too. No pain, no thought. He was a red thing and while he saw things, faces, blood, bits of room, they didn't matter. Blood took him, and when some sense of himself came back, he was kneeling astride the man, hands locked around the big man's neck, hands throbbing with a pounding pulse, his or his victim's, he couldn't tell.

Him. Him. He'd lost the man's name. His eyes were bulging, the ragged mouth s...o...b..red and gaped, and there was a small, sweet crack as something broke under Jamie's thumbs. He squeezed with all he had, squeezed and squeezed and felt the huge body beneath him go strangely limp.

He went on squeezing, couldn't stop, until a hand seized him by the arm and shook him, hard.

"Stop," a voice croaked, hot in his ear. "Jamie. Stop."

He blinked up at the white, bony face, unable to put a name to it. Then drew breath-the first he could remember drawing for some time-and with it came a thick stink, blood and s.h.i.+t and reeking sweat, and he became suddenly aware of the horrible spongy feeling of the body he was sitting on. He scrambled awkwardly off, sprawling on the floor as his muscles spasmed and trembled.

Then he saw her.

She was lying crumpled against the wall, curled into herself, her brown hair spilling across the boards. He got to his knees, crawling to her.

He was making a small whimpering noise, trying to talk, having no words. Got to the wall and gathered her into his arms, limp, her head lolling, striking his shoulder, her hair soft against his face, smelling of smoke and her own sweet musk.

"A nighean," he managed. "Christ, a nighean. Are ye ..."

"Jesus," said a voice by his side, and he felt the vibration as Ian-thank G.o.d, the name had come back, of course it was Ian-collapsed next to him. His friend had a bloodstained dirk still clutched in his hand. "Oh, Jesus, Jamie."

He looked up, puzzled, desperate, and then looked down as the girl's body slipped from his grasp and fell back across his knees with impossible boneless grace, the small dark hole in her white breast stained with only a little blood. Not much at all.

He'd made Jamie come with him to the cathedral of St. Andre, and insisted he go to confession. Jamie had balked-no great surprise.

"No. I can't."

"We'll go together." Ian had taken him firmly by the arm and very literally dragged him over the threshold. Once inside, he was counting on the atmosphere of the place to keep Jamie there.

His friend stopped dead, the whites of his eyes showing as he glanced warily around.

The stone vault of the ceiling soared into shadow overhead, but pools of colored light from the stained-gla.s.s windows lay soft on the worn slates of the aisle.

"I shouldna be here," Jamie muttered under his breath.

"Where better, eejit? Come on," Ian muttered back, and pulled Jamie down the side aisle to the chapel of Saint Estephe. Most of the side chapels were lavishly furnished, monuments to the importance of wealthy families. This one was a tiny, undecorated stone alcove, containing little more than an altar, a faded tapestry of a faceless saint, and a small stand where candles could be placed.

"Stay here." Ian planted Jamie dead in front of the altar and ducked out, going to buy a candle from the old woman who sold them near the main door. He'd changed his mind about trying to make Jamie go to confession; he knew fine when ye could get a Fraser to do something, and when ye couldn't.

He worried a bit that Jamie would leave, and hurried back to the chapel, but Jamie was still there, standing in the middle of the tiny s.p.a.ce, head down, staring at the floor.

"Here, then," Ian said, pulling him toward the altar. He plunked the candle-an expensive one, beeswax and large-on the stand, and pulled the paper spill the old lady had given him out of his sleeve, offering it to Jamie. "Light it. We'll say a prayer for your da. And ... and for her."

He could see tears trembling on Jamie's lashes, glittering in the red glow of the sanctuary lamp that hung above the altar, but Jamie blinked them back and firmed his jaw.

"All right," he said, low voiced, but he hesitated. Ian sighed, took the spill out of his hand and, standing on tiptoe, lit it from the sanctuary lamp.

"Do it," he whispered, handing it to Jamie, "or I'll gie ye a good one in the kidney, right here."

Jamie made a sound that might have been the breath of a laugh, and lowered the lit spill to the candle's wick. The fire rose up, a pure high flame with blue at its heart, then settled as Jamie pulled the spill away and shook it out in a plume of smoke.

They stood for some time, hands clasped loosely in front of them, watching the candle burn. Ian prayed for his mam and da, his sister and her bairns ... with some hesitation (was it proper to pray for a Jew?), for Rebekah bat-Leah, and with a sidelong glance at Jamie, to be sure he wasn't looking, for Jenny Fraser. Then the soul of Brian Fraser ... and then, eyes tight shut, for the friend beside him.

The sounds of the church faded, the whispering stones and echoes of wood, the shuffle of feet and the rolling gabble of the pigeons on the roof. Ian stopped saying words, but was still praying. And then that stopped, too, and there was only peace, and the soft beating of his heart.

He heard Jamie sigh, from somewhere deep inside, and opened his eyes. Without speaking, they went out, leaving the candle to keep watch.

"Did ye not mean to go to confession yourself?" Jamie asked, stopping near the church's main door. There was a priest in the confessional; two or three people stood a discreet distance away from the carved wooden stall, out of earshot, waiting.

"It'll bide," Ian said, with a shrug. "If ye're goin' to h.e.l.l, I might as well go, too. G.o.d knows, ye'll never manage alone."

Jamie smiled-a wee bit of a smile, but still-and pushed the door open into sunlight.

They strolled aimlessly for a bit, not talking, and found themselves eventually on the river's edge, watching the Garonne's dark waters flow past, carrying debris from a recent storm.

"It means 'peace,'" Jamie said at last. "What he said to me. The Doctor. 'Shalom.'" Ian kent that fine.

"Aye," he said. "But peace is no our business now, is it? We're soldiers." He jerked his chin toward the nearby pier, where a packet-boat rode at anchor. "I hear the King of Prussia needs a few good men."

"So he does," said Jamie, and squared his shoulders. "Come on, then."

Author's note: I would like to acknowledge the help of several people in researching aspects of Jewish history, law, and custom for this story: Elle Druskin (author of To Catch a Cop), Sarah Meyer (registered midwife), Carol Krenz, Celia K. and her Reb Mom, and especially Darlene Marshall (author of Castaway Dreams). I'm indebted also to Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's very helpful book Jewish Literacy. Any errors are mine.

Sherrilyn Kenyon Be careful what you search for-because you just might find it.

New York Times bestseller Sherrilyn Kenyon is one of the superstars of the paranormal romance field. She's probably best-known for the twenty-two-volume Dark-Hunter series, including such t.i.tles as Night Embrace, Dance with the Devil, Kiss of the Night, and Bad Moon Rising, and extending to manga and short stories as well as novels, but she also writes the League series, including Born of Night, Born of Fire, Born of Ice, and Born of Shadows, and the Chronicles of Nick series, which includes Infinity and Invincible. She's also produced the four-volume B.A.D. (Bureau of American Defense) sequence, three of those written with Dianna Love, including Silent Truth, Whispered Lies, Phantom in the Night, and the collection Born to be BAD, and the three-volume Belador Code sequence, again written with Dianna Love. Her most recent novels are Born of Silence, a League novel, and Infamous, part of the Chronicles of Nick series. There's a compendium to the Dark-Hunter series, The Dark-Hunter Companion, written by Kenyon and Alethea Kontis, and Kenyon has also written nonfiction such as The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages and The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook. She lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and maintains a website at sherrilynkenyon.com.

h.e.l.l HATH NO FURY.

Based on a true legend "I don't think we should be here."

"Oh, c'mon, Cait, calm down. Everything's fine. We have the equipment set up and-"

"I feel like someone's watching me." Cait Irwin turned around slowly, scanning the thick woods, which appeared to be even more sinister now that the sun was setting. The trees spread out in every direction, so thick and numerous that she couldn't even see where they'd parked her car, never mind the highway that was so far back that nothing could be heard from it.

We could die here and no one would know ...

Anne, her best friend from childhood, c.o.c.ked her hip as she lowered her thermal-imaging camera to smirk at Cait. "I hope something is watching you ... Which direction should I be shooting?"

Cait shook her head at her friend's joy. There was nothing Anne loved more than a good ghost sighting. "Anne, I'm not joking. There's something here." She pinned her with a caustic glower. "You brought me along because I'm psychic, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then trust me. This"-Cait rubbed the chills from her arms-"isn't right."

"What's going on?" Brandon set his large camera crate down next to Anne's feet as he rejoined them. He and Jamie had gone out to set their DVRs and cameras for the night.

While she and Anne were slight of frame, Brandon and Jamie were well bulked, Brandon more from beer and channel surfing, but Jamie from hours spent in the gym. Even so, with his blond hair and blue eyes, Brandon was good-looking in a Boy Scout kind of way. But Jamie had that whole dark, brooding, s.e.xy scowl thing that made most women melt and giggle whenever he glanced their way.

Anne indicated her with a jerk of her chin. "Wunderkind over there is already picking up something."

Brandon's eyes widened. "I hope you mean spiritwise and not some backwoods bug we have no immunity to. I left my vitamin C at home."

Cait s.h.i.+vered as another wave of trepidation went through her. This one was even stronger than the previous one. "Whose bright idea was this anyway?"

Anne pointed to Brandon, who grinned proudly.

He winked at her. "C'mon, Cait. It's a ghost town. We don't get to investigate one of these every day. Surely ye of the unflappable const.i.tution isn't wigging out like a little girl at a horror movie."

"Boo!"

Cait shrieked as Jamie grabbed her from behind.

Laughing, he stepped around her, then shrugged his Alienware backpack off his shoulder and set it next to the camera case.

She glared at the walking mountain. "d.a.m.n it, Jamie! You're not funny!"

"No, but you are. I didn't know you could jump that high. I'm impressed."

Hissing at him like a feral cat, she flicked her nails in his direction. "If I didn't think it'd come back on me, I'd hex you."

He flashed that devilish grin that was flanked by dimples so deep, they cut moons into both of his cheeks. "Ah, baby, you can hex me up any time you want!"

Cait suppressed a need to strangle him. All aggravation aside, a martial arts instructor who was built like Rambo might come in handy one day. And still her Spidey senses tingled, warning her that that day might not be too far in the future.

"We're not supposed to be here." She bit her lip as she glanced around, trying to find what had her so rattled.

"No one is," Brandon said in a spooky tone. "This ground is cursed. Oooo-eeee-oooo ..."

She ignored him. But he was right. At one time, Randolph County had been the richest in all of Alabama. Until the locals had forced a Native American business owner to leave her store behind and walk the Trail of Tears.