‘‘Good. Because I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop myself,’’ I said, smiling into his mouth. The second my lips touched his, fire swept through me. Mindful of the surroundings-and not wanting to have to explain to a startled cab driver why the backseat of his vehicle was engulfed in flames-I controlled the dragon fire, allowing it to pass back into Gabriel.
‘‘You taste so good,’’ he murmured, his hands hard on my hips as he tried to pull me over his lap. ‘‘You taste of the cool water that hides deep in a stream. You taste of the night air, soft and scented and mysterious. The taste of you drives me wild. I want to be with you, be inside you, shout to the world that you are mine at the same time I want to keep you hidden where you will exist only for me. You make me feel invincible, little bird.’’
‘‘You are invincible,’’ I whispered, nibbling his delicious lower lip. ‘‘You are my dragon in shining armor who will slay that pesky Saint George for me.’’
His dimples deepened even though he sighed with frustration as, aware the cabby was watching us in his rearview mirror, I settled back down on the seat next to Gabriel.
‘‘Saint George?’’ he asked.
‘‘Well, his name is Porter, and he’s not a saint, but I can tell you that he has stepped over the line and done something very foolish.’’
‘‘You think the blackmailer kidnapped your twin?’’
'Can you think of anyone else who would do something so crazy?'
Gabriel shook his head. ‘‘No. It does seem to be an attempt to manipulate you by holding Cyrene hostage.’’
‘‘Exactly. I guess he figured I needed a little push into stealing the phylactery back for him.’’
‘‘You should have told me about this from the first. I would have taken care of him for you,’’ Gabriel said with smug self-assurance that grated.
The look I gave him should have, by rights, left him babbling in apology. ‘‘Certainly not! I’m insulted you think I’m so feeble I can’t deal with one little blackmailer on my own. I didn’t mean you should actually slay him for me, you know. I can take care of that all right.’’
Gabriel grinned at the annoyed expression on my face. ‘‘Such a fierce little bird.’’
‘‘I may be little, but I pack a hell of a punch,’’ I said, nodding toward my ankle where the dagger was strapped.
‘‘I have no doubt of that, just as I have no doubt that so long as I am around, you will never have need to prove that. What do you plan to do about the thief taker Porter?’’
‘‘I hadn’t thought beyond making sure Cyrene is safe. I guess we’ll have to deal with him now.’’
‘‘I will take care of him for you,’’ Gabriel said calmly. ‘‘We will rescue your twin, and then see to it this thief taker does not bother you again. After that, we will be free to move on to more important matters.’’
‘‘About that…’’ I took his hand in mine. ‘‘I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me that you’d be willing to forgo the phylactery in order to help my twin, but there’s a little problem-’’
He brushed his thumb across my lips. I bit it.
‘‘There is no problem. I am not giving up the phylactery.’’
‘‘You’re letting Drake go off to Paris without you. He’ll get to it first-hopefully-which means he’ll probably keep it. I know he won’t use it against you like his brother would, but I assumed it would rankle somewhat that Drake would get it rather than you.’’
‘‘It is not yet noon,’’ he answered with a smile.
‘‘What does the time of day have to do with it?’’
'The vault of the L’au-dela lies within Suffrage House, the same building in which you were imprisoned. It is closely guarded, as you might expect, but there is added protection during the day in the form of all the employees who conduct routine committee business.’’
‘‘Ah. So you weren’t going to try breaking in during the day?’’
He shook his head. ‘‘It would be folly to even try. We will attempt it this evening-which means I have a few hours that can be spent taking care of the problem with Cyrene.’’
A smidgen of the guilt roiling around inside me eased, but what I had to say next canceled any feelings of relief. ‘‘I’m afraid that wasn’t the only problem I had in mind. Gabriel, I’m-oh, here we are.’’
The taxi pulled up outside of Drake’s house. I used the few seconds while we got out and Gabriel paid off the driver to work out what I was going to say.
‘‘Gabriel, you know that I’m a doppelganger,’’ I said once the taxi pulled off. He had tried to gently push me toward the front door, but I resisted.
‘‘That point hadn’t escaped me,’’ he said with a flash of his dimples.
‘‘I don’t know how much you know about doppelgangers-not much, I suspect, since there are only a handful of us around-but there’s more to doppelgangers than shadow walking.’’
‘‘Is there?’’
‘‘Yes. We can also enter the shadow world.’’
Gabriel’s eyebrows arched. ‘‘Shadow world?’’
‘‘That’s the doppelganger name for it. It’s a sort of separate plane that coexists with our reality, rather like an overlay. It’s hard to describe what it looks like, but things in it are slightly… off.’’
‘‘Ah, you’re talking about the beyond.’’ Gabriel nodded. ‘‘I thought that was the realm of elves and the fey.’’
‘‘They make up the larger population of inhabitants. As a doppelganger, I’m one of the others who can also enter it, despite the fact that I’m bound to Magoth.’’
‘‘I understand, but what does that have to do with this situation?’’
‘‘I don’t know where Cyrene is. I couldn’t hear nine-tenths of what she said, which means I’m going to have to track her down.’’
Bright man that he is, Gabriel instantly guessed where it was all going. ‘‘And you can only do so while you are in the beyond?’’
‘‘Yes. And I can’t take you with me.’’
His brows arched. ‘‘You just said others can enter the beyond.’’
‘‘Some people can, yes. Elves act as kind of a conduit- they can bring people into it, but doppelgangers…’’ I sighed. ‘‘We’re just shadows ourselves, really, so we can slip into and out of it easily, but we can’t take anyone with us. The best I can do is to track down Cy and call you when I’ve found her. I don’t mind saying I’d like to have you with me to deal with the blackmailer, but I’m afraid I don’t know of any other way.’’
‘‘How will you trail her?’’ he asked.
‘‘How? Oh… she’s an elemental being. She leaves a faint trail wherever she goes. It’s not visible in our world, but in the beyond, faint traces linger for a few hours. So I should be able to track her from here to wherever she is, so long as too much time hasn’t passed.’’
‘‘Interesting.’’ He looked curious. ‘‘Do dragons leave signs, as well?’’
I smiled. ‘‘Yes. Dragon scales glitter like… well, glitter in the beyond. And much as I hate to offend you…’’ I ran my hand down his bared neck, showing him my palm. The faintest iridescent sparkle showed on it. ‘‘You shed. Quite a lot, actually.’’
‘‘I don’t know whether to be offended or to make a suggestive comment about rubbing my scales all over your naked body,’’ he said with a flash of his silver eyes. ‘‘Proceed, little bird.’’
I glanced around. No one was near us on the street. ‘‘I’ll call you as soon as I find her, I promise.’’
He said nothing, just watched as I slipped into the shadow world and set off down the road.
Chapter Twenty-one
The trail was there on the ground, faint but still visible slightly darkened footprints, as if Cyrene had been walking with wet feet across a dry floor. There were other elemental beings in the area leaving tracks as well- London was headquarters to several Otherworld groups, including a lot of elementalists-but it was easy enough to pick Cyrene’s trail apart from the others.
It wasn’t until I was three blocks away that an uncomfortable feeling started pricking between my shoulder
