Chapter 28

Lucien turned as if he sensed their approach and watched them with his strange silvery eyes. He stood up as they got near, those eyes flashing red-gold to Gabriel's Sight, and smiled lazily, radiating easy, confident sensuality. Then he casually held out his hand to Gabriel. "Lucien. Lucien Drake." His voice was like warm honey, or the caress of silk, or a lion purring in the sun; deep, smooth, and seductive.

Pandora shivered, then frowned.

Gabriel took his hand. "Gabriel Ramirez."

His grip was just tight enough to be firm, without being painful, and his skin was disturbingly soft and rather slick, textureless, though the muscles underneath it were hard as steel. He shook Gabriel's hand for a moment, then released it, and bowed slightly, offering his hand, palm-up, to Pandora, a coaxing smile on his lips.

Pandora's frown grew more pronounced, but social niceties had been drummed into her since birth. She literally could not leave him there with his hand sticking out, whether or not she wanted to, so reluctantly she lay just the tips of her fingers in his hand. He closed his big fingers around her small hand and bowed further, raising it to brush his lips across the backs of her fingers. While he was doing so, his eyes rolled up to look not at her, but at Gabriel, a gold light dancing in the silver. Gabriel knew... knew that some kind of test was taking place. Knew it with every fiber of his being, but the instinctive reaction was too strong to deny, too strong to obey rational thought.

Pandora froze ... confused, irritated, and a bit shocked ... long enough for him to actually manage to touch her skin with his lips. His eyes turned the color of molten gold with the contact, and he inhaled sharply just as the glass in Gabriel's hand imploded with a sharp crack of sound, the scotch splashing into the floor as silver blood welled up and started to drip around the shards of glass that he'd driven into his hand.

Pandora snatched her hand back like she'd touched a hot stove, reaching for Gabriel immediately, her eyes wide and horrified. "Gabriel! Oh my god..."

Gabriel gritted his teeth, trying not to say anything.

Lucien looked down, nodding to one of the teenagers still seated at his table, then jerking his head towards the back. The boy scrambled up immediately and headed that way at a jog. The others, when the demon snapped his fingers, obeyed in various ways. The girl who'd been seated closest to Lucien pulled out two chairs then turned and expertly snatched a towel off the arm of a passing waitress who didn't even notice it was gone. Others moved around, changing seats to provide a bit of a screen from the general crowd. One handed over a glass full of almost clear liquid. One girl took off her belt and handed it to the demon, another opened her purse and pulled out a pair of tweezers, sliding them across the table by the glass.

Lucian took the towel and wrapped it around Gabriel's hand, then put a hand between the elf's shoulders and guided him towards the chair beside his. "Sit," he said quietly. "We'll take care of it. No one will see a thing. She'll be safely on the other side of you."

Gabriel blinked. "I ... dammit, I hate that." He allowed Lucian to guide him to the chair, looking at Pandora. "I'm sorry, love. I just ... react. I don't intend to."

Her eyes were glassy, and as he watched, the first tear ran down her cheek. "Gabriel," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Oh my love..." She looked down at his hand, and her shoulders shook with a suppressed sob, but she took his towel wrapped wrist and cradled it gently in her hands, then carefully unwrapped it. The blood soaking the towel wasn't even faintly red. It was as silver as mercury, maybe even shinier. It seemed to shimmer and glow in the dim, flickering lights.

"He cannot help it," Lucien said quietly.

Pandora's head came up, and she glared at him. "I'm not mad at him!" she snapped.

"I don't mean to," Gabriel repeated.

"I know," she said, looking up into his eyes. "Oh Gabriel..." She shuddered, then carefully started removing the larger shards of glass, looking sick and pale and like she wanted to burst into tears at every tug, every fresh drop of blood. "Oh god, my poor love ... I'm so sorry, oh god I'm so sorry."

Gabriel frowned. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything."

"Yes I did! I made you hurt yourself ... god, you're hurt, you're hurt! Bleeding!" She bit her lip to stop her voice from rising hysterically. "It w ... won't happen again. I don't care what people expect, or how I was raised. It doesn't matter. I won't touch another man. Ever. Unless you specifically order it. They can all go straight to hell, I won't hurt you again!"

"No, love. It's okay. I've got to learn to control this," he said.

"That's up to you," she said. "But until you do, I should be helping you, not ... not hurting you." She lay the last large piece on the table and reached for the tweezers to start on the smaller pieces. "God ... should your blood be this color? I mean, is that normal? It looks ... painful."

Gabriel gave a short laugh. "I have no idea."

Lucien said, "It is. They have no iron in their blood, of course, so it has little resemblance to a human's, and the element that replaces it gives it the glow."

Gabriel looked up at Lucien. "Why?"

"Because it's magical in nature. It's the source of most of your new physical benefits, and the cause of the most pain during your transformation as it came out of hiding and destroyed and replaced the iron that was there. Were you High Court, that part wouldn't have been quite as bad. High Court blood isn't transformed, merely very well disguised, though there are a very few blood tests that can spot it," Lucien said, his head cocked as he watched Pandora remove the splintered glass.

Gabriel shook his head. "No. Why the test? That's what it was, wasn't it?"

Again the lazy, sensual smile. "I like to know what I'm dealing with. Your reaction told me much that simple questions could not."

Pandora came halfway out of her chair, tweezers clenched in her hand like a weapon ... In fact, she looked rather like she'd like to drive them through Lucien's throat. "You utter ... how dare you!"

Gabriel took a deep breath, visibly controlling himself. "I think he was making sure I was safe to be around. It was a rather asinine way to go about it, but I guess it was effective."

"I don't care what he was doing! He had no right to use me to hurt you!"

Lucien shrugged. "Rights are amorphous things, dear girl. I base my actions more on what is necessary. But, because it pains me to have such a lovely lady so wroth with me, I will say that I expected a verbal reaction, not an act of self-injury."

"I'm not used to being this strong," Gabriel said.

Pandora sat back down, still angry, and resumed tending Gabriel's hand. "It was a disgusting, manipulative, selfish thing to do. I'd say you should be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt you have any shame."

Gabriel's lips curved slightly. "I love you, you know," he said to Pandora.

She smiled up at him, and then bent her head and kissed his hand, very gently. "I know. I love you, too. And you don't have any reason to worry, not about anyone, and certainly not about him."

Lucien grinned, flashing golden fangs. "Only because your bond grants you immunity to my charms, precious. He'd have very good reason to be jealous if it did not. You're right, you see ... I have no shame at all."

"You have no charm, either," she snapped. "And I'd shoot myself before I'd become one of your brainless followers. And don't address me like that. I'm not your precious or your dear anything."

He sighed. "Judging much by appearances, aren't you? David, beside you, was just offered a scholarship to MIT. Julia is working as a nurse while she works on her degree in genetics. And Jason ... ah, here's Jason," he smiled, looking at the boy who was hurrying back with bandages, surgical tape, and sutures, "Is somewhat of a prodigy. He started med-school at fourteen, graduated with honors, and just finished his residency last year. Just because they choose to serve doesn't make them brainless." His silver gaze turned icy as he glanced at her collar, them met her eyes. "Anymore than it does you."

He smiled again, his expression warming instantly. "And you have not chosen to give me your name, so how could I address you by it?"

She flushed and looked down, but Gabriel could feel that her anger didn't leave her. "My name is... " She hesitated a moment before finishing, "Tai, you can call me Tai." She pronounced it like 'tie'.

He raised an eyebrow, smiling knowingly. "What? No last name? I know you'd prefer that formality, it's rather obvious. Or do you have some muddled belief that giving a demon your name gives him power over you?"

She glared, then said tightly, "I no longer care to accept the only last name I can legally claim right now."

Gabriel said, softly, "Love, as far as I'm concerned, you're entitled to mine."

She smiled up at him, her eyes soft. "Thank you. But that could cause trouble for you right now. But soon. Soon."

Gabriel nodded. "Soon."

The boy Lucien had identified as the young doctor knelt down beside them. "May I?" he asked in a quiet, shy voice, motioning at Gabriel's hand. Pandora bit her lip, then looked up at Gabriel, making it his decision.

Gabriel nodded.

The boy, Jason, took his hand gently, nodded to himself, then used a bit of gauze and the glass of alcohol to clean the clotting silver blood from the wounds before picking out the last small slivers of glass. Pandora watched, grimacing, and looking like she'd really prefer to hide her face but can't turn away. Once the last of the glass is removed, the doctor looked at Lucien. "It's not as bad as it could have been, Lord. No veins were cut. I could stitch it, but since he's elven, it may heal faster without foreign material present."

Lucien looked thoughtful. "Can you heal it, pet?"

"I ... I don't know, Lord. I've never attempted to heal one of the sidhe," the boy said nervously. "They can trap you if you touch their energy."

Gabriel said, softly, "I wouldn't do that."

Pandora lay a hand on his arm and whispered, "Angel."

Gabriel frowned. "You're right, love. I might not mean to, but..." He sighed. "You're right. I can't promise that."

Lucien nodded. "Honesty is appreciated." Then he looked back to the boy. "Try. If he accidentally entraps you, he will release you." Jason still looked scared, so he added softly, "Or, if he's somehow played us false and tries to take you, I will not allow it. I will protect you, as I have promised."

Gabriel raised his good hand. "Wait. I might not be able to release him."

"If you are willing, then I can remove any hold you might place on him with no damage to either of you. It is only if you were unwilling to let him go that there would be a problem," Lucien said, unconcerned, then nodded to the boy. "Do it."

"Yes, Lord," the young doctor whispered, then closed his eyes and bent over Gabriel's hand. His aura was a clear, bright green with a few gold swirls, and had a clean, crisp look to it. As Gabriel watched, a bit of the green reached out, sliding through his own aura to wrap around the hand, seeming to soak into the wounds. The cuts began to tingle, and Jason gasped, his jaw clenching as if he was in pain just as all the pain suddenly disappeared for Gabriel and the cuts began to slowly pull closed. It took a few minutes, but when the boy released his had, the cuts were merely tender lines on his palm, mostly healed. The healer slumped down on his knees, his head leaning against Gabriel's knee, looking exhausted.

"Thank you," Gabriel said quietly.

Jason turned his head to smile sweetly up at Gabriel and rub his cheek against his knee.

"Jason?" Lucien asked mildly. "Are you simply being affectionate, or do you require assistance?"

The boy blushed, then made an effort to sit up. "No, Lord. I mean, I'm fine, Lord. I can feel it, and ... it's a strong attraction, but it's not like the other time. It's not a compulsion, just a desire."

A flicker of surprise quickly crossed Lucien's face. "Very well," he said. "Julia, David, help Jason to his room to rest."

Gabriel's aura had followed the boy, clinging to his hands and sending exploratory tendrils out from there, and he flushed, pulling his aura back. "Sorry. I'm not used to this yet."

Pandora reached for his hand, turning it over and examining the healed cuts.

"Like my back," she said. "But not quite as much, because that left just scars."

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. I wonder..."

Lucien looked at his other followers. "Leave us," he said quietly. "I will call you if I have need of you." Reluctantly, casting curious looks at all of them, the young people slipped away into the crowded bar.

Gabriel looked at Lucien, raising an eyebrow.

"Unlike my young healer, many of my people are artists. I prefer not to cause them unnecessary distress, so it's best they not be exposed to you," was the rather confusing answer.

"Huh?" Gabriel asked.

Lucien put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. "Is that why you came to me, for information?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yes. Specifically ... Pandora's got some scars on her back that we need to either remove, or hide. I don't know how to do it. I can hide what I am ... well, most of it, anyway ... but I don't know how to hide something on her."

"How extensive is the scarring?" Lucien asked.

Gabriel hesitated. "There's eight lines from shoulder to hip from my claws, a couple of smaller ones, and then a set of fresh punctures." He sighed. "I wasn't used to having claws, and ... honestly, I'm not sure if I was me or her when it happened. Things were ... intense."

He raised an eyebrow, and smiled. "I see. And when, relative to your change and to your bonding, did this take place?"

"About ... um. Maybe an hour after my change? And if I understand what you mean by the bonding, it was ... more or less during, I guess," Gabriel said.

"Ah. I see. And they healed, too, during or immediately afterward, yes?"

"I don't honestly know. We kind of passed out, and they were healed when we woke up, but there was enough time that there was a lot of blood."

"Very well. I know enough to know what happened now," Lucien said cheerfully.

Pandora sat there, blushing bright red, trying to pretend the conversation was not happening, until he said that. Then, she couldn't help but look up curiously.

"Oh?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes. It's fairly obvious, really, given the circumstances. It's also not a very useful piece of information, so the price would be fairly small," Lucien said.

"Okay, define fairly small," Gabriel said.

Lucien smiled. "Usually, people come to me for fairly serious matters, and there the price is simple and firm. Their allegiance to my superiors, sometimes their worship for one or the other of them. It's a price that comes with other rewards, as well. However, for small things, it becomes more complicated. I have to ask myself, what do you have that I want?" His smiled broadened into a wicked grin. "Then I have to rephrase the question to what do you have that I want that you're willing to let me have. That limits things a bit. You have no connections, not yet. Your powers are new, and uncontrolled. She doesn't even know what she is, yet, so no doubt her own abilities are just as limited ... though perhaps quite strong."