He nodded, his eyes shining with admiration. “I have married a tigress.”
I turned back to her. “Listen, I know you’re hell-bent on this course. And I met a sort of prophet on the street outside your house yesterday who told me you
are
destined to change the world. But
without
Vayl’s help.”
Her expression asked me why she should believe me. “What was his name?” she inquired.
“Asha Vasta.”
I’d never seen such an emotional quick-change in my life. Zarsa went from a cynicism heavily dosed with agitation to absolute awe. “You have met the Amanha Szeya?”
I cleared my throat, let my eyes roam the room. Amazon Grace still hid her gun behind her back. David scratched his neck, probably sending a video straight to the Wizard. Cam rolled his toothpick back and forth like it tasted of chocolate. Everyone else looked riveted. Except the mahghul, which began to file out of the room.
“Um. Yeah.” I didn’t realize the dude was so famous.
“There are legends, but we had thought them just that. No one has seen or spoken to him since the time of my great-great-grandfather. Can you take me to him?” she asked eagerly.
Whoops
. I suddenly felt like Pandora and, unable to close the box up tight again, wanted only to backpedal until nobody could tell I’d been the one whose hands had been on the latch. “He’s uh, well, hah.” How could I tell her he’d probably been standing right outside until a couple of minutes ago, but that he was only going to disappoint her?
“Do you know where he lives?” Vayl asked me.
I tried not to squirm under that cool blue gaze. “Maybe.”
Again with the eyebrows. Well, hey, I told myself, if he hadn’t been such a jerk none of this would’ve happened. “You have been inside his house?” Vayl asked, his voice only slightly less frigid than an ice cave.
“No. Only his garage. He lent me his car so I could get away from those four, uh,
guys
I told you about.”
“Where is this vehicle? I thought you drove some sort of truck back. No, it was a —”
“Um, can we talk about this later? When we don’t have company?”
Vayl nodded shortly and turned to Soheil. “I deeply regret anything I have done to offend you or injure your relationship with your wife. I was momentarily blinded by the hope that I might be reunited with my sons, whom I have been too long without. Obviously you and Zarsa have much to discuss. If, at the end of that time, you wish to visit Asha Vasta, my colleague here will be happy to guide you to his door.”
Vayl shot me a look over his shoulder that warned me not to say a word. I’d already done enough. My nonvocal reply said,
You too, Mr. Obsessive
.
Soheil threw the AK-47 over his back by its sling and helped Zarsa to her feet. He looked around the room, trying to formulate the right apology for taking a bunch of people hostage on the mistaken assumption that they could somehow stop their vampire associate from turning his wife into a blood-sucking immortal. “I have not the right words,” he finally muttered. “I am so very sorry.” They left quietly.
Chapter Twenty- Five
R
aoul met me in my restroom again, minus the bubble bath dream. This time I was standing fully dressed in the tub, armed with Grief and a wickedly curved blade that I might gut myself with if I wasn’t careful.
“What took you so long?” he demanded, his accent very Antonio Banderas in the extremity of his irritation.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I said shortly, remembering that last few minutes before Vayl had turned in with a grim, plodding-through-a-parade-of-blow-dart-shooting-pygmies sort of feeling.
Somehow our good moments were always so fleeting. The two times he’d taken my blood. That kiss. Spectacular. And yet the job had intervened, as usual. And in the end we’d said our good nights with the distant friendliness we reserved for airline attendants and taxi drivers. I don’t think he minded so much about the stalk — uh, tailing — I’d been doing. But keeping my knowledge of Asha from him had been a mistake he wouldn’t instantly forgive. Plus, I think he was still reeling from the idea that if he met his sons now, they’d all die.
And on my end, I felt like he’d cheated on me by taking Zarsa’s blood. Not that we’d had the exclusive talk yet. And if we did, shouldn’t it be about who we dated, not whose veins he drained? See, it was still just too confusing for me to relax into another kiss.
So when he said he had to turn in, he didn’t give me the walk-me-to-the-tent look I’d have anticipated pre- Soheil. For my part, I barely glanced up from the card game Dave’s team had begun. Cam had snagged a box of poker chips from the Hotel Sraosa before they’d left. Apparently the big spenders spent a lot of time in the “meeting room” playing no-limit Hold ’Em. Anyway, he was teaching me how the pros shuffle their chips while they decide what to bet. I couldn’t do it without making a huge mess, but Cam kept encouraging me. He made it look easy too. Halve the stack, lift, combine, and blend. Oh man, I loved the sound too. Yeah, I was hooked. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore, he let me take a handful of ones to practice with. Gotta love that guy.
