Not all of the humans were content to become sheep for the taking.
Her gaze returned to the Atlantean warrior taking up more than his fair share of space in the room, chatting with some of her people. Another ally, although a dangerous and probably unstable one. She could work with that, though. Hell, most of her best friends were dangerous and unstable. By the time she reached him, she was grinning.
“Reisen. Good to see you. How did it go?”
He raised an eyebrow, probably at her uncharacteristic good humor, and then waved at her with the arm that ended in a badly healed, scarred stump just above where his wrist had been before he’d pissed off one of the worst vampires ever to suck blood.
“Only one hand in the grave, so it’s a good day,” he said, grinning back at her.
It was her turn to be surprised. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Reisen smile. He was an Atlantean lord who’d been exiled for daring to touch Poseidon’s trident, or steal it, or something awful. Tried to stage a coup, maybe. The details were murky, and none of the Atlantean warriors she’d met had ever felt the need to enlighten her. Reisen himself had come to her and joined the human rebels with a need for vengeance—or maybe redemption—and a damn near suicidal fervor. He’d insisted on taking any mission that had the absolute least chance of success, and somehow he’d made it out of every single one not only alive but successful.
Usually injured, sometimes near death, but always successful. But never, ever smiling.
Until now.
Which, Quinn being Quinn, made her suspicious.
“Why are you smiling? What kind of deep-shit massive trouble have you brought me that could possibly cause you to move your rusty face muscles like that?”
He laughed, and she almost fell over. Laughed? Reisen?
She stalked to the cavern’s opening and stared out into the sunlight of the beautiful, clear, Arizona morning, as it reflected off the glorious red rock surrounding them. As always, the sight of this tiny pocket of nature’s beauty, unspoiled by death or war or vampires and their evil plots, nearly brought her to her knees in gratitude that there were at least a few of these places left on earth.
“Nope,” she said. “No sign of the apocalypse. And yet Reisen just laughed. Is it some horrible bit of magic gone bad?”
Reisen crossed to stand beside her, still smiling. “You smiled, too,” he pointed out. “Which is almost as rare. So quit being such a smart ass and tell me who the Atlantean woman is that you’re hiding in this cave somewhere. Jack wouldn’t let me go seek her out.”
She suddenly realized just how very, very wrong and bad this could go. “Reisen,” she began slowly, casting around for a way to let him know that the Atlantean woman was with the vampire.
She’d been wrong. The apocalypse was on the way. Nothing good could come of this.
“I haven’t seen one of my people for almost a year now,” Reisen said, looking out at the view, his voice tense with barely suppressed excitement. He clenched and unclenched his hands, probably not even realizing he was doing it. “Did Conlan send her? Is she here to tell me I can go home?”
Quinn turned to her people and gave a hand signal, and they all headed out on patrol, giving her the room so she could talk with Reisen alone. She had no idea where Jack had gone. Probably off pouting somewhere, if tigers could ever be said to pout. Mostly, they just killed and ate whatever annoyed them.
“Reisen, I don’t know if Conlan sent her. I didn’t get the impression she was a royal emissary, but what do I know about Atlantean politics? All I know is she was in rough shape, and she and Daniel went to get some rest before they make with the explanations.”
He whirled around so fast she would have thought he had vampiric speed if she hadn’t seen Atlantean warriors in action before.
“Daniel? What in the name of Poseidon’s balls is that bloodsucker doing anywhere near an Atlantean woman?” He smashed his fist into the nearest wall so hard that chips of rock shattered and fell to the floor. “I’ll kill him. Where are they?”
She held up her hands, palms out, and stepped back so she was standing between the enraged warrior and the entrance to the short corridor that led to the room where Daniel and Serai were resting.
“Unstable and dangerous,” she muttered, sighing. “Why am I always right?”
“What are you talking about? Daniel? The vampire is unstable, too? I’ll kill him if he touches a hair on her head or a single drop of her blood.”
Reisen strode toward Quinn, not even slowing as she moved to block him. In one swift motion, he put his hands on either side of her waist and lifted her up and out of his way. She sighed. She really hated being short.
Luckily, she had other advantages in a fight.
“I’d advise you not to move,” she told him in her most pleasant voice, and he froze, hands still on her waist.
Smart man.
“You may notice my knife is pressing into your nuts, big guy. You might want those, in the future. I’ve noticed most men seem ridiculously fond of theirs,” she continued, smiling angelically up at him as she pressed a little harder with the hand holding the switchblade to his family jewels.
The color drained out of his face, and a look of horror replaced the fury in his eyes.
“I’d do what she says,” a cheerful voice added. “Have you met One-Nut Mikey? He didn’t listen and, well, you can figure out the rest.”
Quinn clenched her jaw shut against the laugh that threatened. Trust Mel to back her up and even embellish the story a little. Reisen turned his head slightly, careful not to jostle Quinn, and his eyes widened. Quinn couldn’t stop the laugh from escaping that time. Mel had that effect on people.
“Having to teach another little object lesson, Quinn?” Mel sang out, dropping her overstuffed backpack on the cavern floor and stretching her curvy body.
Reisen’s eyes widened even farther. Mel stretching was like catnip to men, and apparently Atlantean men were no exception.
“Are you ready to listen to me?” Quinn asked, drawing Reisen’s attention back to her and her pointy object lesson–giver.
He nodded. “Fine. Talk fast.”
“Ooh, this one is feisty.” Mel took off her cap and shook out her short curls, which were blond with blue tips this week. She looked like a maniacal elf princess. The mischievous kind. You’d never guess she was a brilliant computer genius. The cropped shirt and low-rider jeans, combined with the hair and the skull jewelry, certainly wouldn’t give her away. “Can I have him?”
Reisen growled, and Quinn rolled her eyes at both of them. “Down, Melody. Be nice to the Atlantean warrior. You two have to go on a mission for me. Together.”
Melody, hacker extraordinaire and occasional thief, grinned and blew Reisen a kiss. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun.”
“I’m not going anywhere with her,” Reisen said. “I need to have a serious conversation with the Atlantean woman. Now.”
“I’d like to meet the Atlantean woman, too. This place is better than a soap opera sometimes. Where’s Jack?” Mel said, dropping to sit cross-legged on the floor and taking an apple and her laptop out of her backpack. “Speaking of excitement, what is it this time, Quinn? What can I steal for our fearless leader?”
Quinn waited until Mel swallowed the bite of apple, so she didn’t need to do any Heimlich maneuvering. “I want you to steal a bank.”
Serai stirred, swimming back up through the layers of exhaustion to wakefulness. She felt like she hadn’t slept at all, but she had certain needs that were fast becoming urgent. Physical needs she hadn’t felt in so long she hadn’t even remembered how intense they could be. Her stomach also felt like a gaping, empty hole, and she realized she was hungry. Actually hungry.
“I can eat,” she said, bolting upright on the hard pallet.