When we broke, we lingered with our foreheads together. As he sat back, so solemn, so serious, his mouth opened, closed, opened again. “Red, I …” His grip on my hand tightened, but he didn’t finish.
I had a distinct feeling that the “L” word was about to follow. No. No. No. No. No. I gulped, audibly, and tried to be cheerful as I asked, “What?”
The weightiness lifted from him and he shook his head. “Another time.”
Todd and Kirk turned into the driveway behind us in a Chevy Tahoe. Johnny flashed me an enigmatic smile and passed me the keys before he climbed out to go and ride with them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Just inside my front door I was trapped in a bear hug from Nana that I didn’t think was ever going to end. Zhan was in the living room, and came to her feet. “Welcome home, my lady.”
I saw Beverley sneak to the top of the stairs in her pajamas, and I called out to her. Nana released me and Beverley rushed down the steps, throwing herself at me before she’d reached the bottom. With her arms and legs wrapped around me, she buried her face in my neck. “I was so scared,” she whispered.
“Me, too.” I wondered what she’d been told and what she’d overheard while in stealth mode.
Nana gave me a nod that indicated I should take Beverley back to bed. Easy for her to say; she hadn’t gone two rounds with the Rege.
Atop the stairs, winded, I said, “You sure are growing, kiddo. In a month or two I won’t be able to carry you up here.”
She didn’t answer. Instead she sniffled into my hair.
I carried her into her room and lay her in her bed. After rearranging the covers and tucking beside her the teddy bear that wore one of her mother’s sweatshirts, I sat and smoothed her dark hair back.
“I’m trying, Seph. Trying to do what you said, to accept the good and the bad. But this was really bad. Everyone was so scared.”
Several statements crossed my mind. I settled on, “When I said it wouldn’t be easy, I didn’t anticipate days like this.” I gripped her hands. “They knocked me unconscious, but when I woke up, the first thing I thought of was you and I fought with everything I had. I fought to get back home to you.”
She noticed my cheek. “Looks like it hurt.”
“It did. But Johnny took care of it.” I shifted to something more reassuring. “Did you get to see the unicorns this evening?”
A sneaky grin appeared. “Errol let me put ribbons in his mane and tail.”
“Did he?”
She told me about Mountain letting her ride outside the barn, and that the young colt had been very careful with her and didn’t go too fast. On that happy note, though I was exhausted, I asked if it would help her sleep if I read her a story.
“No. I’ll sleep now that you’re home.” She sat up and hugged me, pausing to study my bruised cheek. “You need an ice pack,” she declared as she lay back down, arm encircling her bear.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Love you, kiddo.”
“I love you, too.”
Nana told me Mountain had said only some odds and ends remained to do at the barns. Her room’s roof was finished and the interior was nearly ready for paint. She also informed me he’d called Geoff because Thunderbird was still asleep. They decided that since the griffon was breathing deep and his pulse was strong, that was okay. Geoff promised he’d come out tomorrow after work. I knew Nana was running on nervous adrenaline because only after telling me all that did she offer to feed me.
She dropped some bread in the toaster and started making scrambled eggs. While she cooked with shaky hands, she updated me on some of the decor choices she’d made for the room addition. Evidently Mountain had presented her with paint swatches and her choice of bath and lighting fixtures.
Presenting me the egg sandwich, she said, “That cheek of yours. Everybody’s taking a whack at it this week.”
I snorted. Vilna had slapped it, too.
“You want some ice?”
“Just ibuprofen.”
She got up and retrieved the medicine for me. Nana then listened to the abridged version of my story, after which I headed to my room where I peeled off my jeans, pulled my arms through my T-shirt’s sleeves, and performed a feat of female dexterity that allowed my bra to drop to the floor as my arms were jammed back into my sleeves.
I crawled into bed and tugged the covers up around my ears. Sleep had almost claimed me when the satellite phone rang.
I groaned and answered.
“And how did the world fare under the sun today, dear Persephone?”
Menessos was calling to chitchat? Not likely. “Dandy,” I lied. I didn’t want to tell the tale of the day again. “And yours?”
“I’m feeling rather low.” His pouting tone transformed accusingly. “As if I’m missing the life essence of one of my twice-marked Offerlings.”
Maxine. Anguished, I repeated all their names to myself. Aquula, Xerxadrea, Ig, Ross, Robert, Brian. Countless fairies and elementals. All dead. Now Maxine. In an instant, I recalled everything she’d told me about her life and her mother. No fading.
The growing list of those who’d died as I climbed toward the Lustrata’s destiny hurt my heart. I must not fail.
“Maxine is dead,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Did you kill her?”
I sat up quickly. “No!”
“Then what are you sorry for?”
“For your loss. But it doesn’t sound as if you’re worried about her, just the decline in your life essence.”
“It is something to worry about.”
“How? What does the damn life essence do for you anyway?”
“I meant to concede that the loss of her is something to worry about.”
“Oh.”
“How did she die?”
“Protecting me.”
“Are you all right? What happened?”
“I’m fine.” I didn’t want to demean her death. I also didn’t want to implicate any wærewolves. I did want to flop back on the pillows, but even the softest pillow would put pressure on the goose egg I was still sporting. Instead, I reclined slowly, twisting to the side and letting my weary eyes shut again. “I really don’t want to go through it all again. Can it suffice for now to say she died doing her duty?”
“Yes. If that is your wish, Persephone …”
As if the Sandman had cast his dream dust over me while I was yet awake, the vampire’s voice stirred imagery into the darkness. A warm summer sun shone in a cloudless sky. The bed under me became a blanket upon the ground in a field of wildflowers. He whispered my name again and I could feel his fingertips gliding up my arm like champagne bubbles up the side of a glass.
“I need to see you. Tonight.”
The image fluttered, losing vibrancy as I almost sassed, “Can’t Eva satisfy you?” but I held my tongue. After a moment the scene was restored. Still, I didn’t answer him. I wanted nothing else to happen today. Except dreamless, restful sleep, that is.
Menessos pressed, “To compensate, my master.”
Damn it. “Then you have to come to me,” I grumped.
“As you wish.”
He wasn’t deterred by my demand, but the way he worded it made me feel like I should explain this wasn’t a command from his master. “I’ve had a full day. You just got up.”
“Indeed,” he whispered low and breathy. “I just did.”
Hours later, I awoke to the ward alarming in my head. The clock read eleven-eleven.
The house was silent around me. I left the mental alarm alone, though it aggravated my still-achy head, and rose from my bed. I was expecting Menessos to show up, but he didn’t trip my wards. He carried my hex, and it granted him an all-access pass.
Tiptoeing across the room and jerking my robe on, I opened the door slowly and silently. The house was dark and—if things were normal—Nana and Beverley were in their rooms asleep. From Beverley’s room I heard Ares emit a low growl.