Even though he couldn’t see her, Ari blew Charlie a kiss. She turned and strolled down his familiar street. It was Saturday and the sun was now shining. Folks were out in their yards, pulling up to their houses with the weekly shopping. Ordinary sounds, sounds of life—laughter, conversation, and the sounds of dogs communicating filled the street. A beautiful, untouched ordinary. And it was now Ari’s job to make sure it stayed that way. She hunted, she killed, and she captured, just as she’d done in helping the Aissawa Brotherhood exorcise and trap Beau/Nick/Stalker in the Secretum some weeks back. Getting Beau back to his life after he’d missed months of it was harder because … well, they didn’t have time to help him assimilate. They pretty much dropped him off, back to his real life, to let his family deal with the memory loss. It sucked. But it would have sucked more if he’d been possessed for the rest of his life.
With a quick glance around, Ari turned down a path to a shadowed walkway between houses and used the Peripatos to take her home.
She appeared in the kitchen, not even causing a flinch of surprise from Trey or Glass. This was a Jinn world, after all. Flames and people appearing here and there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Hey, guys,” she said as she grabbed a soda from the fridge.
“Hey, Ari,” Trey replied. Glass gave her a chin lift in answer.
The two of them were sitting at the breakfast table, obviously deep in conversation about something.
“I think they’re ripping you off,” Glass said.
Trey sighed. “It’s a standard rate.”
It occurred to her they were probably discussing the gallery commission for Trey’s paintings. He had an upcoming show, and he and Glass seemed to be having this conversation a lot lately.
“We can do better.”
“Glass …”
Ari left them to it and wandered up the stairs where she sensed Jai. She found him in his room. He was sitting on a lounger reading. Leaning against the doorframe, she drank him in for a moment, feeling very lucky that she got to return home to him. Sensing her gaze, he laid his book aside and glanced up at her.
“Did you check in on them?”
Ari nodded. “They’re both doing fine.”
She smirked. “Charlie has a girlfriend. It looks serious.”
Jai frowned. “How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged and sauntered casually toward him, placing her soda on top of his bookshelf to free her hands. Jai watched her with hooded eyes as she moved his book, careful to not lose his spot. With a smile, she placed a knee on either side of his hips and settled on his lap. Her hands drifted over his chest until they rested near his heart.
Jai’s hands moved up her thighs to rest on her hips.
“I feel happy. Relaxed. It’s been four months since Lilif, and three since we had to deal with anything major.
It’s been nice. And it’s wonderful to know Charlie is happy too.”
Jai’s right hand drifted across her lower belly, making her shiver. “I hate to spoil how relaxed you’re feeling, baby, but Michael called while you were out.” Ari tensed and Jai felt it, his eyes lifting from his hands to her face. “It’s nothing bad. We have a new assignment.”
She sighed and leaned her forehead against his. “Assassins are us.”
He squeezed her waist. “We don’t have to keep doing this if you’re unhappy with it.”
Ari leaned back in surprise. “You know that’s not it. I like keeping people safe. It has a price, but it’s worth it. I’m just sighing because vacation is over.”
He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her gently. “Vacation is over.”
23
A Star’s Light Dims When It’s Split in Two
“So we’re getting a break, right?” Ari teased Michael as they settled around the Roes’ dining table. “I mean, Jai, Trey, and I have dealt with two Ghulahs and a Qarin, one after the other. That means a break, right?”
Michael shrugged. “I could start alternating you so you don’t go out as a team of three and two, but individually.
That way you’d each get a break.”
Ari wrinkled her nose. “But not together.”
“There’s no rest for the wicked, I’m afraid.”
Fallon sighed. “Quick, Mom, give Dad some food, he’s starting to speak in cliché.”
Caroline chuckled and brought out a large tray of roast potatoes. She placed them next to the chicken and everyone settled in, plenty of food on their plates. Jai spoke to Michael about the possibility of setting up language classes for the rest of the Guild since his lessons with Ari had gone fairly well; Caroline and Trey discussed the latest sale of one of Trey’s paintings.
That left Ari and Fallon with Ari’s nosy curiosity over a rumor she’d heard. “So spill,” she murmured, tilting her head toward Fallon.
Fallon frowned. “About what?” she asked quietly.
“About a visitor Michael had and his interest in you.”
Fallon rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what Ari was talking about. Two weeks ago the young leader of a neighboring Guild—the McEttricks—paid Michael a courtesy visit. He’d just taken over the Guild after the passing of his uncle. And young Eli McEttrick was easy on the eyes.
Ari met him briefly when Michael introduced her, Jai, and Trey to him. The neighboring Guilds now knew Michael had assassins on retainer in case they ever needed them, and Eli had been curious to meet them. A big guy, tall and well built, Eli came across to Ari as the kind of guy who didn’t like BS. Well, Fallon Roe was the queen of zero-tolerance for BS.
Two days prior, upon returning from assignment with Jai, Ari bumped into Megan at the training center. She gleefully told Ari that Eli had paid another visit to Burlington, and he and Fallon had been seen getting rather cozy by his car.
Ari wanted to know what the deal was.
“It’s nothing,” Fallon replied in a hushed voice. “We met, we argued, we sparked, we argued some more, and then he kissed me out of the blue. It was nothing.”
Ari grinned. “Was it hot?”
Fallon kept her eyes on her plate and grumbled, “So freaking hot.”
“This might just—” Ari’s words were cut off into frozen silence as cutlery clattered to the table. Flames hissed to life in the Roe’s dining room and two tall, unfamiliar Jinn wearing stony expressions appeared out of the Peripatos.
Michael shot to his feet, his skin darkening with anger at the rude intrusion. “What is the meaning of this?”