Bitten in Two

weeping. “Yousef says he must stay until al the birds of Morocco have sung your name. Please do not shoot him, lady. He is not a bad man. He is just a little crazy.”

I took aim. Squeezed the trigger. Ping! The cobblestones in front of Yousef’s feet flew apart as the bul et impacted them.

Kamal screamed and jumped out from behind the bushes. Yousef laughed and did a little soft-shoe.

What the hell?

Kamal grabbed his friend’s arm and tried to pul him away. They argued vehemently for about thirty seconds.

Final y the boy’s head dropped and he yel ed up to me,

“Yousef says he wil only leave if you give him your name. I apologize, but it was the only way I could secure his agreement.”

I shrugged. “It’s Madame Berggia.”

Kamal sighed as Yousef talked some more. Then he said, “Yousef wishes me to say these words: ‘Al right, I leave, my wondrous one. But while we are apart my heart wil beat with the sound of your name. Until we meet in our dreams!’” The tanners walked away, leaving me free to go back into my room, dropping the window and the curtain.

“Ow!” I picked up the pebble I’d stepped on. “You know what, Astral?” The cat looked up inquiringly. “No matter how I look at it lately, love hurts.”

“Love is a battlefield,” she sang softly, making me wonder how many of Pat Benatar’s hits Bergman had downloaded into her memory.

I flopped back down into bed, so tired that I didn’t have a single conscious thought before the dreams began. And they made no sense. It was like one of my inner girls had commandeered the remote and decided to channel flip her way through the night. I relived the poker game I’d played with Dave’s unit, after which Cam, his right-hand man, had given me my precious chips. Stel a screamed at me again as the dogs dragged her back into hel . And just as I turned away, the blizzard-swept cairn dissolved into a Hawaiian pier, and Matt stood before me, his hands outstretched.

“Dance with me, Jazzy.”

Every fear lifted. Al my worries dissolved as I felt his arms close around me. I laid my head against his shoulder and took a deep breath. The scent of cedar and freshly mown grass that was uniquely Matt fil ed my lungs, and for one moment I felt whole again. I smiled against the rough cloth of his jacket. And then realized.

“You should be wearing a cotton shirt. One of those ridiculous Hawaiian numbers with huge pink flowers.”

“Jasmine. It’s me.”

I shoved him away. My blue-eyed Navy Seal had been replaced by a uniformed Ranger with a soft Spanish accent. “Raoul? What the—I mean, real y? Here? Now?” When I was finally feeling good? I’d shove you again, but that’s probably a major sin and I am so stocked on those.

that’s probably a major sin and I am so stocked on those.

He ran his hand through his dark brown crew cut. “I am sorry, but jumping into your dreams is like parachuting into an active volcano. Do you realize how unpredictable they are? I’m lucky not to hit when you’re under a barrage of gunfire!”

“Are they that real?”

Raoul led me to the table at the end of the pier. It was stil set for two. Hel , even the candles were stil burning. He said, “Not until I arrive. And then they become something more… that makes me want to avoid blades and bul ets.”

“Wel , couldn’t you time your drops a little better? What if I’d been having a real y hot dream about Vayl? That would’ve ended our relationship right then and there!”

“I would never—”

“Good!”

We sat down and I grabbed a breadstick from the woven basket. “Do you want some?” I held the basket out so he could reach it easier.

“No, thank you.”

I put it down. Started breaking little pieces off my breadstick and tossing them into the water. We sat there until Raoul decided I’d calmed down enough for us to talk like reasonable human—uh—Eldhayr. I jacked my arm back and threw the rest of the breadstick into the ocean.

“Are you al right?” he asked.

What kind of question is that for somebody whose broken neck you once repaired as easily as if it was pieced together with buttercream icing? I mean, Raoul, every time you and I meet I have to face the fact that we have our own classification. You could at least avoid reminding me that I was the only one who agreed to come back to fight. That Matt preferred paradise—or whatever—

to me.

I said, “I’l be okay.” I badly wanted to shuffle through my poker chips. When I found them in my dream pocket I nearly cheered, but since Raoul knew what that was al about I satisfied myself with grabbing one and holding it tight between my fingers while I faked a relaxed expression. “It’s so great that you showed. I wanted to ask you about—”

“I need a favor.”