when it should have been clear to him that I was tied up in knots after my conversation with Cole. That I was upset about his choice to talk with Zarsa. I knew that if I stepped up to him right now and said, “Vayl, I need you. Please stay,” he wouldn’t. He’d let me down. Just like my mother had all my life.
Well, I’d had no choice with her. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Vayl get away with it.
Chapter Thirteen
I really didn’t think I could sink any lower than I had the day I’d motored through Corpus Christi on a 1993 moped. Apparently I’d been mistaken. “This is it,” I muttered to myself as I crouched on the roof of Soheil Anvari’s business, the second floor of which was his home. “I am officially a stalker.”
I’d been trying to justify following Vayl to Anvari’s for the past half hour.
He’s treated me like crap
, I told myself.
So the second he’s done with Zarsa I’m grabbing him by the short hairs and shaking till he whimpers for mercy.
But it’s tough to lie to yourself when nothing is happening to distract you from your own insanity. I’d set out behind Cole and Vayl with the idea that, once they were done with the reading, I would intercept them. Initiate a confrontation. Force Jaz-interest back into Vayl’s eyes.
Now I had to admit I might just be nutty-bar jealous. Because my strongest current impulse was to drop through the ceiling and kick Zarsa in the teeth for putting that spark of hope in Vayl’s heart and then leading him into her den so she could crush his hopes and dreams. What made it worse was that I could see her torturing him even now. Because these people had a skylight. It pissed me off, actually. What, did they just trundle off to the Home Depot when they discovered Zarsa didn’t have enough light to break her clients’ hearts by? In Tehran? Gimme a break!
He was taking it well. But he would. Vayl would hardly flinch if you filled him full of lead and accused him of kidnapping the Pope. On the other hand, Cole clearly needed a quick getaway followed by an all-nighter with a bowl full of Bubble Yum. He’d already chewed three toothpicks to shreds and was halfway through his fourth. Zarsa would run her finger along Vayl’s palm, say something, and Cole would practically jump out of his chair before translating.
“Okay, I’ve had enough,” I said for the eighth time. “I’m going in.” But with what excuse? I couldn’t think of one thing that wouldn’t bring the full fury of a psychic-deprived vampire down on my head. I should’ve asked Cassandra for some ideas before I left. She certainly had good insight into his current frame of mind.
As soon Cole and Vayl had departed I’d run up to the girls’ room. Cassandra had practically thrown me in a chair she was so anxious for my attention.
“Listen to me,” she said. “Vayl is in danger.”
I jumped up. “Is it the reavers? Did you have a vision just now?”
“No.” She shoved me back down, which was when I realized how serious the situation had become. She really did know better than to push me around. “Vayl is a sober, reasonable creature except when it comes to his sons. And then he cannot be made to hear anything he doesn’t want to hear. Do you understand?”
“He’s obsessed?”
Cassandra knelt by my knee while Bergman sat on the bed, unpacked his tools, and pretended not to listen. Actually, I hoped he was all ears. He could be just as obtuse as Vayl at times. “Please promise me you will never repeat what I am about to say.”
I thought of what Vayl had said about promises. Looked at Bergman and raised my eyebrows. He nodded. “I promise,” I said.
Cassandra looked over her shoulder.
“Me too,” he said.
She’d been clutching my tunic, almost begging for my word. Now that she had it, she dropped her hands to her lap and began. “Many of my Sisters have sought Vayl’s sons for him over the centuries.”
“So he wasn’t exaggerating?” I asked. “They really have been reincarnated?”
“Yes. Some of us have seen the possibility of the three men meeting, but always our visions end in disaster. Vayl is not ready to reunite with his sons. He has let their deaths immobilize him in some vital way. Until that changes, any encounter between them will lead to all of their deaths.”
“Holy crap.” I knew one thing. Even if everything turned out great, if Vayl transformed his whole world and pulled off a happily-ever-after, this was one particular promise I’d be taking to my grave.
Now I watched Zarsa murmur something that made Cole squirm in his chair as Vayl nodded eagerly. “What if she tells him?” I asked myself for the fifteenth time. “Naw.” Cassandra had already made it clear how particular Seers were when it came to moral issues. Cross the line and you can forget ever working in the field again. Nope, Zarsa would be breaking Vayl’s heart any . . . minute . . . now.
He got up. Gave her some money and that half smile that drives me wild when I let it. Walked out the door. Whistling.
Oh. Shit.
My first instinct was to rush back to the house. Dive right into damage control. Then I remembered Vayl telling me another Seer had predicted he’d meet his sons in America. That’s why he’d emigrated from Romania, or wherever he’d been living at the time. I wasn’t actually sure. Anyway, he certainly wasn’t going to be joining them until we’d finished this mission, so I had some time. And I really needed to use it to calm down.
Because I kinda wanted to kill him.
Never mind the fact that he should be . . . we should be . . . well, it’s about time for fireworks between us and he’s taken off with the lighter. Not to mention we’re planning a major hit in enemy territory and his first choice is to go trotting off to visit a psychic!
I fumed.
