Bite Marks

Yeah, I hear you. I also saw what you did the second she disagreed with you. Tried to hit her, didn’t you?

I may have raised my hand. Even a dog must know who is master.

You son of a bitch! Guys like you are why women across the world are afraid to go home at night!

Once I was sure she really had him hooked, I moved my full attention to the playground and let the roaring and screaming become background noise.

Nothing moved at any of the exits. But Vayl and Cole had finished. Now was the key time. I saw the bodies that had piled up at the main door pulled back into the tunnel. No one else appeared. I needed to concentrate. Not wonder why Brude wanted to save gnomes when more dead should mean more soldiers for his army. I’d have to figure that out later.

“I think Ufranites are waiting to jump you as soon as you clear the building,” I whispered.

“We are nearly ready,” said Vayl.

Somebody stepped out of the basement door. Or seemed to. I trained my scope on the guy. He wasn’t moving right. And his head tilted at a strange angle. Which was when I realized he’d been dangled from a sturdy metal coat rack by the back of his jacket.

dade Barnes rolled his head up so he could blink at the light above the door. He smiled, mouthed the word, “Pretty,” then dropped his head to stare at the round, red object that had rolled out of the wall to his left. He frowned as spikes shot from the ball’s center. One of them emitted a plume of smoke, jumping the ball a foot into the air, where it spun in increasingly blurry circles until all I could see was a fiery sphere that began to spark like a metal-packed microwave. Moments later it exploded, tearing into dade’s body so viciously that huge chunks of him simply disappeared in the aftermath.

I kept my scope trained on the door as Vayl and Cole appeared through the smoke, running so fast I knew my boss must have a hold of Cole’s wrist. They sprinted for the Jeep as I took out the first curious guard to show his head. I heard the pop of Cole’s silenced Beretta as he helped clear their path. Another couple of shots from each of us and the Jeep’s engine roared to life. Seconds later it had pulled around to the side of the building, within feet of my tree.

Cole jumped out, covering me as I shimmied down, jumping the last few feet. Moments later we’d screeched away, leaving behind us the scent of Febreze and a pile of bodies it would take the rest of the night to bury.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

We parked the Jeep behind the house and took Cole’s blood samples to Bergman, who’d set up his mobile lab on the kitchen table. So much for a family-style breakfast in the morning.

In fact, I thought as I watched Bergman retrieve the vials, some of which probably held larvae, forget breakfast altogether.

The guys didn’t seem to have a problem with it though. Vayl leaned against the counter, sipping his favorite beverage from a coffee cup while Cole scoped out the contents of the fridge. “Does Cherry Coke count as fruit?” he asked me.

“Only if you’re in college.” I closed the drawer I was searching through and opened up another. Surely some food gadget inventor out there had created something that would double as a back scratcher!

Aha! Potato masher! Let’s see what Jack thinks.

I ran the rounded tines through his fur a couple of times. When his tail slapped against the floor I decided to call it a thumbs-up and tried it on myself.

Huh. Not bad. Wish it was a little more pointy, but overall—

Raoul stomped into the kitchen, pointed at Cole, and said, “You like women. Go deal with that wounded monster before I drag her into another plane and chop off her head!” Raising his eyebrows at me, Cole grabbed the Cherry Coke, a bowl of chocolate pudding, a large spoon from the wall rack mounted above the stove, and took off to see what all the fuss was about.

“It’s time I left. I have better things to do,” Raoul told me.

“Like what?”

He paused. Shook his head angrily. “All right, I don’t. But Cole gave me the location of his train set and this is the perfect time to retrieve it.”

“You should get Nia to help you set it up.” I hid a grin as he tried to laser burn me with his glare. “I’m serious! Chicks dig being included in hobby stuff.”

“That’s not what Cole said.”

“Do you want to charm her temporarily or wrap her up for good? Of all the humans in the house right now, I’m the only one who’s been engaged.” I gave a mental nod to the dull heartache that accompanied my words. Once it had been a pain so searing I would’ve had to run to the bathroom and shake until it passed. Maybe time had been kind after all.

After giving my comment some thought, Raoul said, “All right. I’ll invite her over. But I’m going to use some of Cole’s moves,” he warned me. “They’re really very good.”

“I have no doubt about that. I just don’t get how a handsome guy like you doesn’t have some of his own.”

Raoul glanced at Vayl, who’d abandoned his drink to help Bergman with a portion of his test that required three hands. Though he knew it wouldn’t make much difference where my sverhamin was concerned, Raoul lowered his voice.

“I’ve never been very comfortable around girls,” he admitted. “I think it’s the lipstick. It makes them look so… unattainable.”

“Ah. So you can talk to me because I don’t usually wear lipstick?” He shrugged. “Saving your life broke that ice.”

“Too bad you didn’t have any sisters. That would’ve…” I stopped. Raoul had gone still and white, his reaction so close to those of many of my former victims that I looked over my shoulder to see if Kyphas had miraculously recovered, slipped past our guard, and buried a knife in his side.