armpits. “Wow.
He is so weird.”
“Yes.” Vayl patted him on the head. “I am final y beginning to see why you like him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
With only an hour until dawn and Kyphas an entire printed map ahead of us, we couldn’t waste a second babying our wounded, morphine-dazed comrade. That’s what I told myself, using Albert’s stern, no-arguments bark to make my point as I watched Vayl carry him upstairs to his equipment-packed room. But as soon as Bergman sat back in the orange cushioned chair he’d drawn up to the desk he’d transformed into computer central in the seating area of his suite, I checked his bandages. No blood had seeped through, so I felt sure the stitches had held.
“You’re the best friend a guy ever had, you know that, Jaz?” Miles said, beaming up at me.
“Yup. You want some water or something?”
“Not around al these electronics. How about a root beer?”
I turned away so he wouldn’t see me smile. “I’l see what I can do. Astral? Get your butt up on the desk. Bergman needs to do some work on you.”
The cat leaped up as ordered, landing lightly between two monitors, and then ruining the effect by sitting squarely on a keyboard, making Bergman say something like,
“Gah!”
I moved to grab her but Vayl was quicker. He murmured, “Raoul needs to speak to you.”
My Spirit Guide hadn’t ever ful y come into the room. He stood outside the door, a party guest who’d realized he couldn’t stay after al . I joined him in the hal .
“I have to go,” he said.
“But… this is
“But… this is
“I understand. However, you don’t need me for it. And I’ve been cal ed away.”
I realized I might be dangerously close to pouting and pul ed my face as close to neutral as I could manage. “Oh.” Raoul reached out, like he meant to lay his hand on my shoulder. But he wasn’t that type. If I’d been feeling nasty I’d have told him Nia probably sensed that and that’s why she’d preferred the cat to him. Then he said, “Others like you are in this fight as wel . They rarely use your colorful language when they cal , but they do occasional y ask for my assistance.”
His smile reminded me that one of those was my twin, so maybe it would be good if I stepped back, took a look at the big picture, and stopped being so damn selfish every once in a while. “Oh! Wel , yeah, then you have to go.”
“Wait!” Bergman tried to get up, winced in pain, and let Vayl haul him to his feet. “Raoul. Before you leave, I have to ask you something.” He hobbled to the door, holding his side like he thought the support might help him move a little faster. When he got there, he looked at me for a ful five seconds before I got the message that I wasn’t welcome in the conversation.
I said, “Uh, yeah, wel , see you later, Raoul. Uh, Sterling’s probably got questions about this whole mission that I stil haven’t had time to answer.” Just before I could turn away Raoul grabbed me and gave me a lung-squishing hug. “Good luck,” he whispered.
“If anyone can crush Brude forever, I know it’s you.” When he let me go I staggered a little, not so much because I was off balance, but because he’d known, probably al along, that I’d been fighting the Domytr’s possession. And he’d let me deal with it the way I wanted.
He hadn’t pushed, ordered, or manipulated. He’d just…
been there. I swal owed.
“Thanks.” I nodded, blinking so the damn tears that kept surfacing when I least wanted them to would get the hel out of my way. Then I went to talk to the warlock. And by God, if he made me want to cry, I was going to grab his wand and wave it around until I was surrounded by toads and lizards.
Because that’s one thing you can count on with reptiles.
They’re just not into tender moments.
Bergman found just enough lucid brain cels to connect Astral to a computer, access her latest entry, and print the map. While he typed short phrases into the computer and poked green and yel ow buttons on his multi-machine, which, at the moment, was acting as a printer, we took turns making sure he stayed conscious and ducking out to arm ourselves for demon fighting. Hopeful y we’d beat Kyphas to the Rocenz and be long gone before she ever showed up. But we hadn’t survived this long crossing our fingers and scrunching our eyes shut.
When we’d first encountered the demon in Australia, only Cassandra had been carrying the kind of double-bladed weapon that can easily slice hel spawn’s hide. And none of us owned anything that could cause permanent damage. Raoul had raided his own supply to provide us with swords that had been forged by demon-fighters from way back. These are the folks you want smithing your steel when regular weapons take twice as long to cause even a minor injury. Raoul had built himself up quite a col ection, and I stil couldn’t quite believe he’d shared it with us, tel ing us we could keep the blades until our deal with Kyphas was done. Wel , she might be finished with us, but we weren’t sure we felt the same.
So each of us took a run to our rooms and belted on the gear Raoul had loaned us. Cole’s blade, long and heavy as a shovel, stil sparkled like raindrops on a lake when he swung it. His strangely flexible shield fit snugly over one shoulder until he needed to bring it into action.
Vayl’s cane-sword had evidently been crafted by a true master, because it damaged demon and wielder alike.
My blade, which rode in a sheath at my back, felt like it had been custom-made for me, it carried so light and swung so smooth. That didn’t make it any less lethal.
Maybe I’d have the chance to prove that tonight.
