Sunlight creeping across his face woke Jones from a dreamless sleep. For a moment he just lay there, feeling warm and comfortable. His head was clearer than he had expected and even the urge to find the nearest bottle of beer and down it had been tamped down to a dull roar. Shasta still slept beside him, snoring gently, one hand curled up under his chin like a child. A lock of dark hair had fallen across his face in a comma and Jones reached out to brush it away, absently thinking of the times he’d done that for Drae. The thought made him feel suddenly sick and he shoved it away to the back of his mind before it could trigger the urge to drink again.
He realized Shasta had opened his eyes and took his hand away, pushing himself up to a sitting position. Shasta snorted a laugh and poked him in the ribs, making him jump.
“I thought we weren’t going to be weird. Grey.”
“This isn’t weird. We just have things to do.”
“You still want to try and lure Aloria into the Kingsblack’s jaws? She’ll smell it coming from a mile away.”
“You got a better suggestion?” Jones asked, irritated.
“Stay in bed with me all day.”
Jones rolled his eyes and shoved himself out of bed, though he was forced to stop and look back when Shasta caught his hand. “What?”
“Sorry. It was just a bad joke.” Shasta’s eyes searched his face and he offered half a smile. “Forgive me, Grey?”
“Quit calling me that. This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Hey, you wanna go get changed? You seem to have put on your cranky pants again.” Shasta released his hand and got to his feet. “I’m going to go see about breakfast.”
“Bacon and scrambled eggs?” Jones asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
“Smart boy.” Shasta stood on tiptoe to kiss him, so quickly that Jones barely felt the warmth of his mouth, then he was gone out the door. Jones looked after him for a long moment, then shook his head and went into the bathroom to have a shower.
When he went down into the kitchen, with his hair still damp from the shower and his face freshly shaven, he found both Shasta and Shiki waiting for him, already eating breakfast. Shasta motioned towards a covered plate with his fork, his mouth full of food. Nodding to him in silent thanks, Jones took the plate to the table and sat down to eat, downing half his mug of coffee in one go.
“So Shasta says you want to try and get Aloria into the between places?” Shiki asked once he’d cleaned off most of his plate.
Jones nodded, swallowing the last mouthful. “If we can get her there and trap her there, then the Kingsblack will take care of her.”
“Are you sure? You’ll be in a lot of danger if something goes wrong.”
“I’m pretty sure about it,” Jones said after a moment of thought. “And something has to be done. Now more than ever.”
“I know.” Shiki chewed on his thumbnail, eyes going distant as he thought. “I don’t think the trouble will be getting her there. If she thinks it’ll give her a chance at you, then I think she’ll do it. It’ll be keeping her from killing you and disappearing again before the Kingsblack can find you. And of course, protecting you from the Kingsblack as well.”
“I’m not as worried about that.” Jones caught Shasta’s look and held up a hand. “I’m not going to try and get myself killed. I’m just more concerned with taking care of Aloria first. If she gets away, she’s not going to give us a chance to try and trap her again. But if she does kill me, or the Kingsblack does, you and Kaede will look after Emily and Andy, right?”
“Of course,” Shiki said, echoed by Shasta. “But don’t plan on dying.”
“I’ll be there to watch your back,” Shasta said. Jones saw the look Shiki shot him but Shasta ignored it. “You didn’t think you’d do it alone, did you?”
“I was thinking more of Shiki.”
“Hey! The between places are mine. I love you, Shiki, but even you have to admit that.” Shasta turned an angry, slightly pleading look on Shiki.
Shiki held up both hands in a placating gesture. “There’s no reason we can’t both go.”
“Shasta’s too tempting a target,” Jones said, pushing his plate away and getting up to refill his coffee mug. “The Kingsblack’s already gone after him alone when it would’ve been easier for it to go after someone else, like me. It seems overly aggressive towards him.” He glanced at Shasta, who had narrowed his eyes.
“Hey, Shik, excuse us for a sec.” Shasta got up and grabbed Jones’s wrist, pulling him out into the empty living room. “All right, spill it. You know something I don’t. Picked up something when we went there last night.” His voice dropped on the last few words and he glanced cautiously at the entrance to the kitchen then at the empty stairs.
“It did attack you instead of me. And I was closer.” Jones reached out without thinking to stroke Shasta’s cheek. “I don’t want it targeting you.”
“You mean you don’t want me distracting it from Aloria.”
“That too.” Jones dropped his hand. “This is too important for you to fuck up.”
“For me to fuck up? You do a pretty good job of fucking things up all on your own. Hell, you’ve been fucking things up from day one. Good job, Jonesy, gold star for you.” Shasta started to clap sarcastically but Jones caught his hands and stopped him.
“Knock it off. You’re just making me more certain that you need to stay here. Look after the kids for me, Emily likes you. Stay out of the way and stay safe.”
“No. You can try to order me around but you can’t make me do anything. So you can stop treating me like a child and include me, or you can go fuck yourself.”
“Grow up, Shasta.” Jones dropped his hands. “Don’t you dare sabotage any of this just because you’re sulking.”
“I’m not—” Shasta stopped himself and took a deep breath, visibly fighting for control. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m just not going to let you push me aside for a stupid reason. You pulled this same crap on Drae.”
“And he’s dead,” Jones snapped, “so obviously I didn’t protect him well enough. Do whatever you want, I won’t be responsible for it.” He turned and headed for the stairs, ignoring Shasta calling his name.
Emily met him at the top of the stairs, almost as though she had been waiting for him. She took his hand and led him into her bedroom without speaking; her manner was so reserved that he thought something might be wrong with Andy, but Andy was playing quietly with a handful of toy soldiers he’d found somewhere. Jones sat down on the bed and pulled Emily up onto his lap, stroking her hair when she buried her face against his chest. She didn’t cry but he could feel how tense her narrow shoulders were, and the stiffness in the way she huddled against him.
He tried asking her what was wrong but she refused to answer him, shaking her head back and forth when he asked her to do so. Sighing, he just continued to stroke her hair, opening up his arm to Andy when the boy came over and climbed onto the bed beside him. They sat in silence for long moments, until Emily sighed and raised her head, studying Jones’s face intently.
“What’s up, Em?” he asked again.
“I’m scared you won’t come back,” she said finally.
“Of course I’ll be coming back,” Jones said, trying not to think of how she would even know he was planning to leave again.
“You might not want to come back.”
“I’ll always want to come back to you. I promise.”
She narrowed her eyes and searched his face, then reluctantly nodded. “You have to pinky swear me.” She held out her hand, pinky finger extended. Smiling a little, Jones hooked his own pinky finger around hers and gently shook their joined hands.
He spent the rest of the morning playing quietly with Emily and Andy, once he had convinced them to stop clinging to him. At lunch he got them seated in front of the television with sandwiches and chips, then joined Shiki and Shasta in the kitchen. They ate their own sandwiches in silence, each of them caught up in their own thoughts.
“Here’s the plan,” Jones said when they were done. “If Shasta’s going to insist on coming, then we are going to the between places. Shiki, I need you to go find her. Find her and send her to us. Think you can?”
“I’ll do my best.” Shiki pushed his chair back and got up. “You ready?”
Jones exchanged a glance with Shasta and they both nodded. Taking a breath, Shiki gave them each a brief hug, startling Jones, then he disappeared. An instant later Shasta grabbed Jones’s hand and pulled him through into the fog of the between places, closing the gate behind them. Jones kept hold of him as they stood and waited, looking around cautiously for any sign of the Kingsblack or Aloria.
They arrived almost together, Aloria from one direction—alone—and the Kingsblack from the other. Jones shoved Shasta back behind him, hands itching for his guns, and faced Aloria, hoping she hadn’t yet noticed the Kingsblack slinking through the thick fog. He saw Aloria smile, just slightly, then something invisible wrapped around his throat and squeezed, neatly cutting off his air. He dug at it with his nails but only scratched his own throat, fighting to draw in even a single breath.
Behind him Shasta was yelling something, his voice high and breathless, but all Jones could think about was the pressure around his neck and the burning sensation building in his lungs.
He looked away from Aloria’s smile to search for the Kingsblack but the creature seemed to have disappeared. Dark spots floated across his vision and he sensed more than saw Aloria walk through the fog towards him. She tangled her fingers in his hair and yanked his head back, exposing the long line of his throat. Briefly he wondered where Shasta was, then he threw a hand up and caught Aloria’s wrist as she brought a slim knife flashing down towards his exposed throat. Weakened by the lack of air he had to struggle against her strength and felt the cold edge of the blade for an instant before he managed to shove her away.
“You just won’t die, will you, Jones?” Aloria said, admiration colouring her voice.
He flipped her the finger, aware that it was a very Shasta thing to do. As if the thought had summoned him, Shasta appeared suddenly in Jones’ rapidly narrowing field of vision, swinging his clasped fists at the back of his aunt’s head with all his strength. Aloria stumbled and went to one knee, and the band around Jones’s throat loosened just enough for him to grab a breath of air. He saw Aloria get up and felt her lash out at Shasta, hitting him so hard he collapsed like a rag doll.
Acting entirely on instinct Jones choked out the word he’d heard Aloria use on Andraeon’s cuffs, hearing it in his mind so clearly it was as though someone were whispering it to him.
A long black tail whipped through the fog and wrapped around Aloria’s calf, yanking her off her feet and dragging her across the flat ground. The Kingsblack’s head reared up into the slate grey sky and it lifted her upside down into the air, turning its head in order to look at her with one starry eye. Jones could hear her panting breaths but she didn’t make any other noise; only hit the creature with a blow that Jones felt deep inside his bones, though it was nothing to what he had felt with Andraeon.
The Kingsblack jerked back a little then its head whipped forward, long teeth bared. Jones squeezed his eyes shut as she started to scream, covering his ears with both hands to try and drown out the sound of crunching bones. He stumbled towards Shasta, opening his eyes just enough to see his way and looking fixedly at the ground, and went down on his knees beside him. Shasta’s eyes were closed and blood ran in twin streams from his nose, but he was still breathing and the pulse under Jones’s fingers was strong and steady.
A shadow fell across them and Jones looked up slowly, automatically reaching a hand down to his hip for a gun that wasn’t there. The Kingsblack lowered its dripping snout towards him and blew out a hot breath of air, spattering him with still-warm blood. He flinched back, grimacing at the sensation, but didn’t move from his protective crouch over Shasta’s limp form, trying to stare the creature down.
“I don’t know what you are or why you’re here,” he said quietly, “but you’re not having Shasta too. Leave him.”
The Kingsblack continued to study him, its expression—if it could be said to have one—almost curious. Then its tail whipped forward and shoved Jones away from Shasta, leaving Shasta unprotected. Jones tried to get up but the tail smacked him down again as it opened its mouth almost delicately above Shasta’s still body.
Desperately Jones grabbed at his hip again, and then time his hand encountered the hard butt of a gun. He didn’t stop to think about how it was there now when he’d lost both weapons along with Andraeon; he just pulled it free and fired at the Kingsblack’s massive head. The bullets slammed into the soft, scale-less area near the night sky of its eye and dark blood dripped down, flinging out in thick droplets as it jerked its head away. As it turned to flee, Jones pulled the trigger again and again, until the gun only clicked, its chambers empty.
The creature wavered only a few feet more before collapsing, shaking the ground so hard Jones, who was trying to get to his feet, lost his balance and fell again, cracking his elbow hard against the ground. His fingers went numb and he dropped the gun; as it hit the fog it faded away and disappeared. Swearing under his breath, Jones looked quickly at the Kingsblack but it lay where it had fallen, an immense black shape in the drifting fog.
Steeling himself, Jones got up again and cautiously approached it, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds to try and keep Shasta in sight. His footsteps slowed as he approached the Kingsblack’s enormous head but it didn’t move even when he carefully walked right up to its half-open mouth. His heart beating so hard he could hear his own pulse inside his ears, he reached out to cautiously press his fingertips against the bloody scales on its snout.
“Hey Jonesy.” For a moment he thought the Kingsblack had spoke to him, and his heart stuttered in its rapid beat. He jerked away and spun when he realized the voice had come from behind him, and wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or not when he saw Elle standing there.
“What do you want?” He stepped away from the Kingsblack’s rapidly cooling head, absently wiping his hand against his jeans. Almost unconsciously he moved so that he was blocking Elle’s view of Shasta.
“I’ve been waiting for you to get rid of this thing for weeks.” Elle stepped up and ran a finger down one of the Kingsblack’s long teeth.
“Why?”
“I need something from it.” She put a foot on a protruding scale and climbed up the Kingsblack’s massive head until she was next to its eye, which was easily twice as big as her head. Taking a long knife from a sheath on her belt, she began to cut around it, causing thick dark blood to shower down into the fog.
Sickened, Jones turned away, trying to block out the gristly sound. He started back towards Shasta then reluctantly turned back when Elle snapped his name, shuddering a little as he reached up to help her bring the eye down. To his surprise it was hard and faceted, like a dark blue diamond filled with stars, and heavy enough that he struggled to hold it up. He gently set it down in the fog, trying not to think about the sticky blood soaking slowly into his shirt.
“Help me with the other one,” Elle ordered, walking around the Kingsblack’s nose to the other side. Reluctantly Jones followed her, not even sure why he didn’t tell her to go to hell. The second one took longer to get out and Elle was red from fingertips to elbows and all over her clothes by the time she handed it down to Jones.
“What the hell are you going to do with these?” Jones asked, carrying the second one around to join the first.
“Don’t let them touch.” Elle waved a hand down herself and the blood disappeared from both her clothes and her skin. “I’m going to keep this one,” she placed a hand on the first, “and I guess you can have the other.”
“I don’t want it,” Jones said, grimacing.
“Sure about that?” Elle went back over to the Kingsblack and leaned into its mouth, making Jones tense painfully as he waited for the teeth to snap shut on her. Nothing happened and after a few minutes Elle straightened up with something in her hand. When she held it out to him, the dog tag slipped through her fingers and dangled on its chain below her hand.
Hesitantly Jones reached out and took it from her, giving it only a cursory glance to see that it was definitely his missing tag. He folded it in his hand and shoved it into his pocket. “Going to bother telling me how this ended up here? Another of your little plants?”
“No, you moron. Humans, honestly.” She picked up one of the starry eyes and tossed it to him as though it weighed nothing.
He reached out to catch it automatically and had a confused moment where it suddenly seemed so much bigger. The weight caught him off-guard and knocked him back, and he tumbled to the ground not with an enormous diamond in his arms but a warm body. For a moment he just sprawled there, feeling solid weight and steady breathing against his chest, then reached with a shaky hand to brush aside thick black hair, gently stroking a line down Andraeon’s cheek. At his touch Andraeon opened his eyes and gave him a sleepy look, one corner of his mouth curving up in a sleepy smile.
Jones caught his face in both hands and kissed him, tasting the slight salty tang of blood on his mouth. Andraeon’s fingers tangled in his hair and he pressed his body up against Jones, only letting him go when they were both out of breath and panting for air. Still cupping his face, Jones studied him intently, trying to see anything different in his features or in his eyes; anything that would prove to him that this was really Andraeon—or wasn’t.
“I’m me, I promise,” Andraeon said, as though he’d read Jones’s mind—and Jones wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t.
“How do I know that?” Jones asked, but he couldn’t stop himself stroking Andraeon’s hair again.
“Trust me?” Andraeon kissed the corner of his mouth. “Take me to Shasta or Shiki, they’d know, right?”
“In a minute.” Jones looked for Elle, meaning to ask her what—or who—was in the other diamond eye, but she had vanished along with it. He hesitated, glancing around, then got to his feet and helped Andraeon up, taking his hand to lead him towards where he’d left Shasta.
Shasta was sitting up when they got there, wiping at his nose with the back of his hand and spitting to clear out his mouth. He glanced up at their approach and his slight smile faded into an expression of astonishment when he saw Andraeon, then became an odd look of wistfulness and something else that Jones couldn’t quite read.
“I’m glad you’re back, Drae,” he said, mustering up another smile.
“Then he’s real?” Jones tightened his grip on Andraeon’s hand. “He’s really Drae?”
“Yeah. Not a copy this time.” Shasta shook his head. “Let’s get the hell out of here and find Shiki.” He opened a gate for them and ducked through after a quick glance at the Kingsblack’s corpse.
Jones followed, tugging Andraeon through with him. They came out in Kaede’s living room, where the children still sat watching TV. Jones glanced out the window and saw it was close to dusk; they’d been gone at least 6 hours. He only let go of Andraeon to kneel down and hug Emily when she came rushing over to him, though she wrinkled her nose at the blood on his clothes and wrinkled it again when she saw Andraeon. He thought for a moment that she might make her displeasure more clearly known, but she looked at his face and just nodded instead, going back to her seat beside Andy.
Shiki appeared suddenly, relief clear on his face when he saw them all; and when he saw Andraeon his face lit up with real pleasure. The whirlwind of swapping stories and all of them trying to talk at once made Jones realize just how tired he was, and he sat down heavily on the couch to let them talk, covering a wide yawn with one hand. He saw Andraeon look over at him, then he excused himself from Shasta and Shiki to come over and take Jones’s hand.
“Want to go to bed?” he asked softly. “We can talk more when you’re rested.”
Jones nodded and got to his feet, lifting his free hand in half a wave to Shasta and Shiki. Shiki nodded back to him but Shasta only looked at him for a long time, his face unreadable, before he smiled slightly and gave him a brief salute. Sliding his hand back into Andraeon’s, Jones headed upstairs to sleep.
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