Chapter 31

Gabriel shook his head, watching Lucien walk away, and Pandora leaned against him, quiet and thoughtful.

"That was ... utterly and completely unexpected," Gabriel said.

Pandora nodded, her expression thoughtful and maybe containing a bit of lingering shock. She finally just shook her head in bemusement, not finding anything else to say, and pressed tight against him, leaning her head against his shoulder and looking across the dance floor, towards the stage where the band was starting a low, sensual number. He couldn't tell if she was looking at the stage or at the dancers in between, but her wistful sigh was full of longing.

"You want to be up there, don't you?" he said.

She ducked her head, hiding her face against him and shrugged. "Or out there. Something. Anything but just ... watching," she said sadly.

Gabriel looked thoughtful. "You want me to go see if I can find Lucien and see if there's some way to make it possible, at least for tonight?"

He could feel her tense against him as she thought about it, but eventually she shook her head. "No. I don't want to owe him anything. It's okay, Gabriel. It's not like it's anything new."

Gabriel smiled. "Actually, it would be in his best interest to do it, love. Think about it-- a free sample. Let me go find him."

She held tightly to his arm. "No! I ... I mean it's okay. It really is. I don't want any favors from him, even if I do decide it's worthwile to help his bosses."

"Why not, love?" he asked.

She shifted uncomfortably. "I just don't like him. He's ... creepy. Maybe it's the demon thing, though I really didn't see anything inhuman about him, but whatever it is, it just ... sets me on edge."

Gabriel looked thoughtful. "I can understand that. Easily. But ... if we can trust him at all, we could trust him in this, I think."

"It's not trust, it's that I just don't want it bad enough to let him be the one who gives it to me," she said. "I can wait, really. It's no big deal."

Gabriel pursed his lips. "Okay. I think I have an idea. You wait here, love."

Her hand trailed over his arm, reluctant to release him as he got up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to the bartender."

She frowned, but didn't try to stop him.

Gabriel walked over to ther bar, waiting for the bartender to have a free moment before saying anything. "Hey, I need a favor, if you can help me."

The bartender looked up from where he was polishing the shiny black bar, and nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Name's Jay, by the way."

"Pandora would really like to dance, but she can't. Not without causing ... problems, big ones," Gabriel said.

He cocked his head. "Oh? What sort of problems?"

"Problems like ... well, imagine my ... whatever it is that attracts people, only stronger, and covering the entire room," Gabriel said.

"Ah. Gotcha. And she really thinks she's human, does she?" Jay asked, shaking his head.

"Not ... anymore. Anyway, the reason I was wondering ... do you know of any way to stop that? I know the effect is related to her aura..."

Jay leaned on the bar, looking thoughtful. "Hmm." He turned a corkscrew over and over in his hands for a bit, then said, "Maybe. Is there any warning that it's going to happen, or is it just sudden and unstoppable?"

"It's more of a slow build-up, not a sudden impact sort of thing..." Gabriel said.

"Okay. That's better. There might be someone here who could throw a hard shield on her, give her a chance," Jay said. "But she'd have to stop if it wasn't going to work."

Gabriel nodded. "She could do that. Just the chance..." He shook his head. "The last time she tried to dance in public, it got pretty ugly. And music is her life. I don't think it would be likely anyone could make it safe for her to perform, though."

"Well ... we might can at least let her dance. Hold on a minute." Jay stepped back and spoke with the other bartender, a small red-headed woman. She nodded and pointed towards the back. Jay slipped out the gate and disappeared into the dark recesses of the club, returning after a while with the dark-haired, non-human woman he'd seen as they came in, the one with the extremely bright aura that glowed black and the bright green reptilian eyes. Up close, she was actually very pretty, with perfect white skin, a curvy little body, and a headful of wild, gleaming black curls. She still didn't look particularly friendly, though, and when she looked at him, it was with a clenched jaw. "Okay," she said brusquely. "Where's the girl you want shielded?"

"Pandora's over here." He frowned. "Look, have I done something to offend you?"

"Not yet," she said.

Gabriel blinked. "O ... kay. You just seem to dislike me."

Her jaw flexed, then she sighed. "Other elves have never been anything but bad news for us. And you look a lot like one of the worst examples. You can't help it," she admitted, grudgingly, "and, logically, I know that not every sidhe who walks in is either a High Court assassin or a perverted piece of dog shit, but instinct tells me I should rip your fucking head off, just to be safe, and some instincts are harder to deal with than others."

"I'm not. Believe it or not, two days ago I thought I was human, okay?" he said.

She smiled, just a tiny bit. "Oh, I believe it. It happens fairly often, apparently. Human orphanages must be running over with pretty little elf-babies. But you can't tell by looking if you're one of ours, or if you were raised by those fucking psychopaths at Court. And instinct doesn't care. It just wants me to protect what's mine," she ended with a little involuntary snarl, long, sleek, razor-sharp fangs flashing. They definitely had little resemblance to the dainty, almost catlike fangs that Gabriel had.

Gabriel blinked. "Well. I promise, I'm no threat to what's yours." He nodded over at Pandora. "I just want to take care of what's mine."

She nodded. "Pretty thing. Best keep her away from other elves, if no one's already warned you of that."

"I've been warned," Gabriel said. "We're not leaving Dallas unless we're going someplace equally protected."

She nodded. "Good. You have no idea how evil those fucking bastards can be," she said, her voice low, fervent, and sincere. "They'd break her just for the fun of it, and if they knew you cared about her, that'd just make it better. Here, this is close enough, hold on..." They were about ten feet away from the table. She closed her eyes, concentrating.

A bit of the woman's aura swirled up, green and gold and black, and flicked out, wrapping around Pandora and actually seperating from the rest. It flowed, surrounding Pandora like a soap bubble, then seemed to thicken and take on a vibrant glow. What looked like Norse runes flickered across the almost opaque surface, etched in gold light, and then it went totally opaque, reflective, as if Pandora were momentarily surrounded by a mirrored sphere. Gabriel had a very uncomfortable instant where he couldn't see her and more importantly couldn't feel her. He could hear her, though, when she cried out and the chair she was sitting in was shoved back from the table. It was only an instant though ... a horrible, empty, achingly lonely instant ... then the opacity faded, leaving just a glimmering, semi-reflective shell around her, containing her aura.

Pandora darted over to him.

Gabriel wrapped his arms around her, looking at the woman. "What was that?"

"Sorry. Shoulda thought to warn you, but Jay said your bond was new, so it shouldn't have been strong enough for you to notice the split second of seperation." She shook her head. "But you did, and I know that's painful as hell, so I apologize. Anyway, go on and dance. I'll be here until close tonight. But remember ... I'm not sure how strong the shield is compared to her, and a shield someone else puts on you is always weaker than one you do yourself, so watch for any signs that things are leaking out."

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. I doubt you could shield her if she was performing, but just dancing ... well, I hope it works." He smiled down at Pandora. "You can dance now, love. At least with any luck."

She looked up at him, her eyes wide with shocked disbelief. "R ... really?"

Gabriel nodded. "At least, you can dance as long as the shield holds."

"Oh!" Her eyes lit up with a delighted smile, and she leaped up, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

Gabriel caught her, holding her up. "You're welcome, love." He grinned. "And I'm going to enjoy seeing you dance in that."

She pulled back to look up at him. "You're not dancing with me?"

"Do you want me to?" he asked.

Her brow wrinkled. "Well, yeah ... of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Gabriel chuckled. "You haven't seen me dance. I've never been very good at it."

She still looked puzzled. "So?"

"So you might not want me to dance." He shrugged. "That's okay. It would just make it easier for me to watch you dance."

She shook her head. "Sometimes I don't get you at all," she said, bemused. "Who else do you think I'd want to dance with, huh?" she asked with a smile.