Bite Marks

a wedgie while he does his adultery confession next to his stunned but supportive wife.”

“How is that beautiful?”

“Things are satisfying in different ways, Jaz. You just gotta go with me on this one. I feel like I got away with something major.”

“Great. Now shut the hell up.”

He clamped his lips together and pulled an imaginary zipper across them. Rolling my eyes, I stepped forward, moving quickly now that I knew Vayl must be in position. When I reached the bridge I slid around the corner.

“Vayl?” I asked.

“I am under the bridge.”

His approach would take him low, through the nameless creek. Mine was a three-foot ledge, possibly man- made, that hugged the rock face as it threaded deeper into the heart of the hill.

“You continue on the main path,” I whispered to Cole. “Scouting only. Report back as soon as you find something. Astral, you’re with Cole. Follow his orders until I tell you otherwise.”

“Be careful,” Cole said, patting my back. I realized I shouldn’t have felt his palm against my left shoulder just as he said, “You’re flaking pretty badly in places.”

Too freaking true.

I stepped forward as he slunk away, robokitty a shadow at his feet.

Within minutes we found the gnomes in a gorge that was blocked at the far end by an old rockfall that had taken several trees with it. Water flowed over the boulders to the creek below, raising a mist, making footing treacherous.

The Ufranites had found excellent cover. They should’ve stayed behind it. But like many newly initiated to violence, they overestimated their abilities and attacked first. The lead gnome’s shot slammed into my right leg, spun me back into the wall. Since I was slicker than the rocks supporting me, I lost my footing before I could even attempt to regain my balance. I took another shot as I fell. A shout of pain let me know I’d hit one before I landed on my hip, teetered on the lip of the ledge, and then rolled off. Ice flew like shattering glass as I swept down the slope, banging into an outcropping before landing at the bottom in a foot of water.

I stared up, estimated that I’d fallen at least a story, and began my inspection. Yup, I’d be bruised worse than a sloppy stuntman, but nothing seemed to be broken. Except the armor, which had taken a helluva pounding. A slick coating still covered my head, arms and legs, but it was cracked so badly I didn’t think it would protect against anything more intense than a friendly tap. My theory gained weight when I felt water trickle through the gaps, soaking my jeans.

“Shit!” I crawled onto the creek bank.

“Jasmine, are you all right?” Vayl crouched over me, shielding me from the steady onslaught of killer steel.

I looked up at him, kneeling like a warrior praying before battle, supremely confident behind his icy coating. And wanted to punch him.

“Your goddamn armor put me on my ass!”

“I hardly think—”

“Stop protecting me, okay? It’s going to get me killed!”

I rolled to one side, squeezed off three shots, hitting three guards who’d chosen that moment to rush us.

Their buddies, who’d peeked above cover to catch the show, ducked when I continued to pull the trigger. Pausing to reload, I noticed that Vayl had disappeared.

I caught sight of him a few seconds later, moving like a mountain goat among obstacles that would’ve broken another man’s legs. “Walking icebergs shouldn’t be that graceful.” I didn’t realize I’d muttered the words out loud until Vayl replied.

“Would you prefer it if I went sprawling?” he asked, his tone as cold as his coating.

“No! I just don’t want anyone else saving my life, that’s all.”

“That is the most ignorant comment I have ever heard you make.” Oh, he sounds mad, said Teen Me, biting her nails. Maybe you’d better back off. What if he breaks up with you?

My Inner Bimbo finished off her Jack and Coke and yelled for another. There’s more where he came from.

Um, not really. But he just refuses to see the big picture! Every time someone pulls me back from the brink I end up farther down the road to Freaksville. Right now, if I was in a game show audience and the host said, “Would all the humans please stand up?” I wouldn’t know what to do!

Luckily the Ufranites didn’t give a crap what I was. Which forced me to swing my mind back to the job.

I took another shot, watched my target drop as Vayl’s sword swung and the chill of his powers filled the air. Realizing our opponents were out of Grief’s range, I crawled forward, sliding across the ground like a sled on snow.

Another swing, the gargling protest of a dying foe. Then Vayl dropped behind a rock the size of a mattress. A grunt. The clash of metal on metal. One last whooshing report from a gnomish gun. And then nothing.

“Vayl?”

No reply.

“Vayl?” Nothing.