Truth Behind the Mask Read online

  Pagan signed quickly. My heart.

  Erith nodded. “I love that most of all. I have to be honest, I love your voice.”

  “I don’t remember what I sounded like before the accident.”

  “You have this marvelous clipped tone, very precise in some words, very husky and low in tone.” Erith’s eyes sparkled. “I love how you say my name. You don’t say it quite like everyone else. You add a little accent to it that makes me shiver inside.”

  “You purse your lips very distinctly when you say my name,” Pagan said. “It looks like a tiny kiss forming on your lips, kissing my name out of your mouth.”

  “Who would have thought lip reading could be so sexy?” Erith said.

  Pagan edged forward slightly. “I can read your lips better if I get nearer,” she said with all seriousness and Erith leaned forward in reaction.

  “How close?” Erith asked, watching Pagan’s eyes fix firmly on her lips.

  “Maybe this close.” Pagan leaned forward and took Erith’s lips under her own. She savored the gasp she felt as she took Erith’s lower lip and sucked on it. She let her tongue explore, tentatively running it along lush fullness. She tasted Erith, thrilling to her unique taste, almost as sweet as she was in spirit, as intoxicating as any wine. Erith’s arms wrapped about Pagan’s shoulders as Pagan deepened their kiss. Pagan shuddered as Erith’s tongue tangled with her own, then moved across Pagan’s slightly swollen lips. Pagan shook almost violently in Erith’s arms. Erith looked up at her.

  “Are you all right?” she asked softly, her lips moving to explore Pagan’s heated cheeks and around to kiss at her earlobe. When Erith sucked it into her mouth, Pagan hissed at the force of arousal that flamed across her skin.

  “Oh, you’re sensitive there! How appropriate,” Erith crowed softly and spread kisses across Pagan’s brow to search out her other ear.

  “You’re an excellent kisser,” Pagan said as she writhed under Erith’s soft ministrations.

  “You’re marvelous to kiss.” She started a path down Pagan’s neck, seeking out sensitive areas, releasing Pagan’s gasps and groans as she sought out responsive regions. Erith nuzzled at the V that showed off Pagan’s neck but revealed nothing beyond that. “Have you ever…?” Erith’s voice was shaky with arousal.

  “You’re the first woman I’ve even kissed,” she said. “I just never seemed to find time between leaving school and taking to the skies.”

  “I’ve never found anyone I wanted to give myself to,” Erith said. “Never found the woman I knew would be the one for me.” She lifted her head to look Pagan directly in the eyes. “Until now. I want you.”

  “I want you too,” Pagan replied, her voice so gruff it was little more than a whisper. She reached out a shaky hand to trace a line down Erith’s small nose, running along her cheeks, touching the freckles that were scattered in a wild array across her skin. “I want to follow the trail these freckles take.”

  “I hated them,” Erith said as she shifted under Pagan’s touch, nudging closer under the gentle fingertips caressing her face.

  “No, they’re lovely. They are kisses left by the gods who found you beautiful.”

  “You sweet talker, you.” Erith blushed.

  Pagan leaned closer and ran her lips along Erith’s cheek, then down her neck, nipping at the pulse point that pounded there. She nuzzled Erith’s ear, then kissed her way further down, breathing in Erith’s warm scent. She pushed aside the baggy neck of Erith’s requisite black T-shirt. She found she could push it low over one shoulder, and her lips followed a particular trail of freckles decorating Erith’s soft skin there. Erith’s hands came up to spear through Pagan’s hair, holding her head still in some places, pushing her past others in search of sweeter flesh. Pagan managed to nudge Erith’s T-shirt lower still and followed a darker line of freckles across Erith’s collarbone. The freckles disappeared into Erith’s cleavage. Pagan stopped herself when she realized how far she was going.

  “Maybe we should stop,” she said, drawing back from the tempting flesh before her. Her eyes were drawn to the soft curves outlined more clearly through the unintentional tightening of Erith’s shirt across her chest.

  “I loved what you were doing,” Erith said, but tugged her T-shirt back into place, once again effectively covering up her body.

  “Why do you wear such baggy clothes?”

  “Because it detracts the eye from me, dear Pagan,” Erith said fondly. “People only see the black clothes with the lurid pictures. I am invisible inside them. I have wanted to be invisible for so long it’s second nature now.”

  “You don’t need to hide from me.”

  “I know I don’t. Besides, I have to admit, I kind of like the baggy shorts and big boots combination. I’m butch and femme all at the same time with my long hair. It’s a very fashionable look.”

  “I think you look great. And I like that sometimes, when you’re stretching, I get to see something of what is usually concealed beneath all that black.” Pagan grinned at Erith’s scandalized look.

  “Why, Pagan Osborne, have you been ogling me?”

  “I’ve noticed everything about you.” She sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “And as much as I would love to explore further”—she ran a finger around the collar of Erith’s T-shirt—“I am due for duty in about an hour and need to get ready for that.”

  Erith looked over at the clock on the bedside table. “We’ve been signing for some time.”

  “Among other things,” Pagan teased her. She got off the bed and out of temptation’s way.

  “I liked the other things too. You’re going to make it very hard for me to lie in bed tonight and not dream about the fire you’ve started.” Erith touched her lips as if still feeling the kisses Pagan had left there.

  Pagan smiled at her dreamy look, feeling rather proud that she had been the one to put it there. “Melina said that you could stay up a little with her and watch what happens in the lighthouse when we’re out in the city. That is, if you’d like to?”

  Erith bounced off the bed and grabbed Pagan’s shoulders. “I would love that. I promise I’ll be very quiet and won’t touch anything or lean on any buttons.”

  “She’d appreciate that.” Pagan pulled Erith close to her. “You are so beautiful. I can’t believe you would choose me.”

  “I chose you because you are the most gorgeous woman I have come across. You have that roguish smile and those gorgeous dark blue eyes, and a voice that does curious things to my insides.”

  “I’d bet you never realized just what you were letting yourself in for, getting involved with me.”

  “I was letting myself in for a world of love. Who could resist such a wonderful thing?” She paused for a moment, then raised serious eyes. “You need to promise me something.”

  “Anything.”

  Erith chuckled at Pagan’s easy capitulation. “You need to promise me that you won’t let your need for revenge against this Phoenix cloud those beautiful eyes of yours and lead you down a path of no return. You have me to think about now. I could be the most important thing in your life, if you want me to be. I want to be all that for you and more. But I heard the stories about the other night, and I also saw your anger at what this Phoenix is doing in his father’s name. I’m not stupid. I’ve lived with someone constantly raging for more years than you’ve had that fury burning in your gut. But racing blindly after the son of the one who masterminded your parents’ deaths without a care for your own life will not bring them back.” She tugged at Pagan’s chin. “I understand the rage, I sympathize with it, but you need to temper it before it consumes you and makes you no better than he is.”

  “You can’t understand how it feels. I watched them die right before my eyes.”

  “Then honor them by being the Sentinel they wanted you to be. One that seeks justice, not claws for revenge. One that uses her might for good, not to destroy. He wrecked your world so long ago. Don’t let him ruin what you have now. You are such a car
ing soul. It’s what drew me to you in the first place. Please, Pagan, care enough about yourself that you see how much we all need you in our lives.” Erith snuggled in close and held Pagan tightly to her. “I need you so much. Melina and Rogue need you too.”

  Pagan wrapped herself about Erith and held on tight. “I’ll be more mindful.”

  “That’s all I ask.”

  *

  Pagan was very conscious of the fact that Erith was watching her get into her Sentinel uniform. She fastened up the jacket and reached for her mask. Erith forestalled her putting it on.

  “Even all this heavy-duty leather couldn’t detract from the fact that Pagan Osborne was inside. Even with that mask hiding your face, I still knew, still recognized your spirit.”

  Pagan finished up her last buckle and wrapped the mask around her face, leaving only her eyes visible through the dark covering.

  “Do you know you have eyes the shade of dark denim?” Erith reached up to trace the edges of the mask that rested low on Pagan’s cheeks.

  “Melina says I have my father’s eyes.” Pagan smiled as Erith’s fingers trailed across her cheek and down to trace along her jaw. With some reluctance, Pagan spun Erith around and directed her out to where Melina and Rogue were waiting.

  “So it’s a family trait that blessed the Osbornes with such beautiful eyes?” Erith said loud enough to catch the others’ attention.

  Melina nodded from her seat at her computers. “Dad had such striking eyes, while Mom had a paler blue that I inherited.”

  “And lovelier eyes I have never seen,” Rogue murmured softly, fixing her mask on and coming around to kiss Melina. Melina was smiling when Rogue released her to read something off a message screen. She grunted softly, then gave Melina a more lingering kiss. “We’d better go. The early Sentinels are being pulled back. Time for us night owls to hit the bricks.”

  Melina ran her hand over Rogue’s heavily covered chest. “Come home safe to me.”

  Rogue nodded and kissed Melina’s forehead. “Come on, kid. Shake a tail feather.”

  Pagan automatically checked her pockets again to make sure she had everything and then grinned at Erith. “Play nicely while we’re away. And no touching the button that shoots the lighthouse up in the air like a rocket.”

  Erith’s eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding!” she exclaimed. “Can it really do that?” She craned her neck around, eyeing the walls, clearly trying to work out the logistics of that feat.

  Pagan chuckled. “Sadly, no, but one day Rogue will devise a way. I can almost guarantee it.”

  Erith pouted at Pagan’s teasing. “That was mean,” she said, looking a little let down at the fantasy shattered.

  Pagan kissed her sweetly. “Melina will look after you, and the minute you get tired, go to bed. You don’t have to stay up all night. It’s not obligatory.”

  “I won’t go past what I can’t endure, I promise. I’ll just curl up under a table and nap if I have to.”

  “I’ll see you later.”

  “Just come home safe.”

  “I will.”

  Chapter Twenty

  The clouds hung low in the night sky. The stars barely had a moment to shine through before the wisps of cloud covered them again. Pagan hung almost upside down over a rail, reaching out to grab at a piece of wall. She found her grasp with a practiced ease and stabilized herself, loosening her grip on the rail and stepping down onto a window ledge instead.

  “Little spider, be mindful of the lights,” Rogue warned as Pagan shifted to sidestep a window frame and then aimed her wire gun to traverse down the building in a controlled free fall. Pagan stopped her flight by catching hold of another window ledge, then springing off it to fly across to the building opposite on a newly shot wire. When she came to a halt she could hear Melina chuckling in her ear.

  “Pagan, I was unaware that Erith knew quite so many expletives! I think the fact she could see you through Rogue’s vision was quite a surprise.”

  “Just making my way around the city Sentinel style,” Pagan replied with a grin. She looked up as Rogue joined her, then shot her wire up to carry her to the rooftop. “We’re heading to the top of the city, Sighted.” Pagan shot her own wire up and thrilled at the sensation that sped her through the air. She climbed over the roof edge and saw Rogue already armed with her night vision binoculars surveying the scene below. Pagan climbed up on the ledge and sat dangling her feet over the edge nonchalantly.

  “Another quiet night so far,” Rogue said with some distrust in her tone. “Somehow, I don’t think we put that big a dent in the Phoenix’s plans.”

  “Agreed,” Melina said. “Still, the last few nights have been curiously devoid of the Phoenix’s productions.”

  “It probably didn’t help that we managed to capture a good number of his men at the car lot,” Pagan said.

  “True, but this Phoenix always seems one giant step ahead in his plans.” Rogue put down her binoculars. “Police sources say that Vance Deaver cannot be reached. We have our own Sentinels and Sighteds searching, but he can’t be found.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “For all we know, he’s the next victim on the Phoenix’s to-do list, and he’s nowhere in the city.”

  “At least nowhere we’ve been able to look,” Melina added. “The football stadium is closed for extensive repairs. Sergeant Cauley is trying to get a search warrant.”

  “Bureaucracy. We can’t afford to wait and watch, not anymore. How about Jackson Menard?”

  “The latest information from our police source is his family reported him missing a day ago, so the police got them all into hiding immediately.” Melina’s voice was clear over the comlink. “Rogue, the Phoenix has had this planned for longer than we could possibly imagine. God bless Tito for filling in the blanks for us, otherwise we’d still be searching for who else the Phoenix wants his revenge on.”

  “Have we got the bank covered?” Rogue asked.

  “The police checked it out the second the family gave their permission. Menard wasn’t anywhere to be found there.”

  Pagan let her feet swing a little, tapping out a rhythm on the wall. She looked down to watch her boots and something caught her eye. “Rogue, can you look here a moment, please?” She silently directed her attention to the road below.

  Rogue followed what Pagan had seen. “Well, well,” she muttered. “I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with B.” Both women trained their sights on the retreating figure of Joe Baylor scurrying down the darkened road.

  “He took a while to make an appearance,” Pagan said.

  “But from the way he’s moving, I’d say he has an appointment to keep,” Rogue replied. She nudged Pagan. “What say we follow him, just to make sure he makes it to his destination without mishap?”

  Pagan nodded and stood on the edge of the roof. Rogue joined her.

  “West side destination,” Rogue said and prepared to fire her wires.

  “See you over there,” Pagan replied, then spoke to Melina. “Mel, prepare your visitor. We’re going flying.” With her gun aimed and the wire attached, she leapt off the building and felt the chill of the overcast night pull at what little of her face was exposed to the night air. She and Rogue traversed the length of the building together, and the silent choreographed dance between the tall towers began.

  Pagan and Rogue followed Baylor halfway across the city for a good half hour.

  “Has this guy never heard of public transportation?” Rogue asked, keeping her voice low as they paused above him while he chose what direction to take next.

  Pagan was situated higher on the building she and Rogue currently hung from. She lifted her head to check out where they were apparently headed. “Sighted, confirm what I can see in the distance, please.”

  “The Savernake Stadium,” Melina supplied. “Home to the Chastilian Cobras, Chastilian’s famed football team. Named for the founder of Chastilian, Bruce Savernake IV. Now owned by one Vance Deaver.”

  “Coul
d the Phoenix really be hiding out in a football stadium?” Pagan asked.

  “I’m getting the schematics now from our City Hall of Records,” Melina said. “Now, that’s intriguing. There are endless miles of sewers beneath this building. If you wanted to hide in plain sight but have a clear route out without ever being seen and have unlimited access to hot dogs and beer, then I would have to say this would be your safest bet. Pardon the wagering pun.”

  “Sewers, eh?” Rogue mused. “Is that how he can suddenly disappear from sight? Leave a sewer grill open and jump down, replace the cover and you’re hidden?” She slapped at her forehead. “Damn! I never even thought to check the drainage covers. This guy is worse than a cockroach!” She watched Baylor continue on his way. “And this fool below has no idea that he is leading us straight to his boss.”

  “But we owe him that, because without us knowing him, you wouldn’t be tailing him now to where he is headed,” Melina said.

  “Point conceded. Sorry, Erith, but your father is stupid. I just have to say it.”

  Erith’s voice came over the comlink. “You don’t have to spare my feelings, Rogue. Believe me. I’ve lived with his stupidity for years. But he’s wicked smart too, so please be careful out there.”

  “Pagan, we’ll need to go ground level soon. There’s not much height around the actual stadium. God forbid people should witness the games held there for free while money can be made by selling tickets.”

  Pagan slipped down the building to reach the pavement once more. She soon caught up with Rogue and they silently stalked after an oblivious Baylor.