Demon Forged

anymore.”
    “No.” Irena shifted her weight, lines of strain around her mouth. “Go now. Find me at seven tomorrow morning, San Francisco time.”
    “Find you here?” Jake asked.
    “I’ll be here but a few minutes. My shields will be down, so you can jump directly to me.” She paused. “But before you do, practice with the staff and without it.”
    Jake nodded and closed his eyes—getting ready to teleport.
    “Jake!” Alejandro gestured toward the garden visible through the solarium’s remaining windows. “Do it out there.”
    A blush stained the Guardian’s cheeks. “Right.”
    As soon as Jake jogged outside, Alejandro turned back to Irena. He called in a jar of aloe from his cache.
    She began to protest. “I’ll heal—”
    “Yes, you will. But it hurts more than is necessary now. This will cool the burns.”
    She smiled faintly. “You know.”
    “Yes.” He knew burns very well.
    Jake’s Gift pushed against his psychic blocks. From the corner of his eye, Alejandro saw the young Guardian vanish.
    Beside him, Irena seemed to collapse on herself. “This first, Olek.”
    She rolled over onto her stomach, and Alejandro swore. A six-inch glass shard was embedded parallel to her spine. Blood pooled around the edges. The skin surrounding it had already begun to heal. Gently, Alejandro pinched the slippery glass and pulled. The healing skin tore, and fresh blood ran down the small of her back. Irena bit the side of her hand, muffling her cry.
    Alejandro clenched his teeth and continued to pull. Finally, the glass slid free of her flesh. He stared down at the bloodied, triangular shard. The point had stabbed as deep as a dagger.
    Holy Mother of God. “You should have asked me to remove it while Jake was here. He should have seen the consequences.”
    “He felt bad enough.”
    The tears in her eyes put Alejandro in vehement disagreement. But he held his tongue and formed a clean cloth, pressing it over the wound.
    She sat up again, bending her arm behind her back. Her fingers slid against his as she took over holding the compress. Though her breath came in shudders, the wry smile she gave him didn’t tremble.
    “Pain hurts so much more when I’m not fighting.”
    Yes. The injuries didn’t hurt less—but without an opponent to fight, there was only the pain to focus on.
    He retrieved the aloe jar and scooped out the gel. God, he needed to touch her. Again. He’d touched her more today than in hundreds of years.
    Damn his heart, he wasn’t satisfied by it.
    Gently, he slid the gel over the back of her hand, onto her wrist. Did he imagine that her eyes tracked the movement of his fingers? He scooped out more aloe.
    His gaze followed the winding body of her tattoo. “Have you come to fight?”
    “No, I—not to fight.” She shook her head. “Michael spoke with Khavi. We are to protect Detective Taylor.”
    Damn. It shouldn’t be worse that Taylor was someone he knew and liked—yet it was. “Protect her from what?”
    “A vampire.” The softness of her response told him how much she feared being unable to stop it. “Khavi told Michael more—his own future, I suspect—but he would not share it.”
    “But you think it’s important?” Important enough to mention.
    “He was . . . not himself.” Her tattoos seemed to retreat beneath Alejandro’s fingers, as if seeking protection. “He watches over Taylor now. I don’t know if I should have watched him .”
    She didn’t conceal the tremor in her voice, and Alejandro’s chest tightened. He wasn’t certain what to think of Michael’s parentage, but he was inclined to trust the Doyen. Irena, however—she had known Michael longer. Had been mentored by him. And she’d always plainly worn her admiration, respect, and loyalty toward him.
    Discovering that Michael had hidden the truth from them hadn’t only angered her. She’d been disillusioned. And after more than sixteen hundred years, she hadn’t just lost faith in the Doyen—faith had been torn away from her.
    Yes, he could understand why she felt betrayed and wary around Michael. “Yet you didn’t watch him. You came here, instead.”
    Had come here, though she never had before. He wanted to show his home to her, to watch her face as she looked at each room. He would tear it down and start over if he sensed even a hint of displeasure.
    Her gaze remained on his hands. “I want you to pull strings.”
    “Whose?”
    “Whoever we need to have Taylor assigned to SI and this