Bitten in Two

Cole went on. “He also says the tannery is considered to be the entrance to the world of the dead. And that some of the men who work there, even today, know how to open and close the doorway.”

I looked at my sverhamin. “What do you suppose that means?” I asked.

He arched an eyebrow. “It means our map is genuine.” He stepped forward, pul ing out his wal et. By the way Yousef’s eyes bugged at the handful of euros he pul ed out, it probably amounted to more than he made in six months.

I watched them—a dark, childless Rom who’d taken two centuries to master his craving for blood leaning over the sun-baked tanner with the caterpil ar mustache—and couldn’t imagine more different men. Yet here they stood, bound by their connection to Marrakech and me.

As Vayl said, “We need a guide,” and Yousef pocketed the bil s, I let myself wonder if the tanner could help him in another way. Vayl had been savaged by his sons’ murders, but his grief hadn’t kept him from adopting Helena. And despite his medieval attitudes at the time, he’d stil managed to be a good dad to her. To me, that said he stil wanted the role. Needed it maybe. What if Yousef real y was a fertility guru? What if he—and I—could make Vayl’s dream come true?

I shook my head. Shoved the thoughts into the Miracle Basket at the back of my brain, which, as far as I knew, was directly connected to an incinerator. Because crazy thoughts could not be tolerated inside my skul . Especial y not when they had to share space with a Domytr.

Besides, I had to keep up with Yousef, who’d brought bewildering passion to his new job. In fact, he shot out of the room like the cops were on his tail. Didn’t even look back, just assumed we wanted to get there as bad as he wanted to earn his money.

We ran after him, only barely avoiding an embarrassing body jam at the door because I beat the guys out and Vayl clapped Sterling and Cole’s shoulders together before shoving them forward. Somehow we al kept our feet and raced down the stairs after our guide, hoping his slap-happy sandals didn’t attract Monique. Unfortunately, she was waiting for us at the bottom, cel phone in hand.

“I have many friends,” she cal ed as we swept past her.

“If it’s an earthquake, I need to know who to cal !”

“We think we can stop it from here!” I shouted over my shoulder. “Hunker down and wait for more news. We’l be back soon!” I hope.

“What about Miles?” she cried as Yousef slammed out the front door.

Cole answered for me. “Take care of him for us, wil ya?”

Though I expected Yousef to be three blocks ahead of us, he was beside the Galaxie when we reached the street.

As we piled in, Vayl shoved Yousef to the backseat with Cole and Sterling so he couldn’t cuddle next to me. I grinned

at

my sverhamin,

loving

that

hint

of

possessiveness that I returned with interest. Starting the car felt like loading a gun. I felt my hands begin to shake. I was going to drive my baby to the big showdown!

Vayl put his lips to my ear. “Are you ready to annihilate some demons?”

I thought about Kyphas. And Brude. No more than the grit between my foot and the accelerator. And knew my shiver had as much to do with wasting them as it did Vayl’s hot breath tickling one of my most sensitive spots. When I turned my head his lips hovered next to mine. I stole my smile from his repertoire, just a twitch to show how hard I was working to master my passion as I let my eyelids drop.

“I’m up for it,” I said. Glancing over my shoulder I added,

“Best route, Yousef?”

Cole gave me his reply. “I’l show you. We’l come to the tannery from outside the city, taking the Route Des Remparts to the Bab ed-Debbagh.”

I knew the gate, an arched break in the impressive ochre wal that stretched for miles around the old city, proving that even in the thirteenth century they knew how to turn towns into fortresses.

As I swung the Galaxie into motion I said, “Vayl, do you remember the gate from the last time you were here?” His nod went more up than down. “Helena and I toured the city one day and we saw it then. Legends say that an evil djinn named Malik Gharub is trapped within the gate, so I suggest none of you rub anything that resembles a lamp.”

I glanced over my shoulder, making sure Sterling could see my expression.

“Fine!” he said. “I won’t go after the djinn! Although just a touch could probably fuel me for a year without even sleeping.”

“Why does he want to skip sleep?” Vayl asked me.

“He’s studying to be a Bard,” I said. “Takes time, you know? He’d get there twice as fast if he could skip the Z’s.”

“Ah.”

“Speaking of skipping,” Cole interrupted, “Yousef says there’s a pothole coming up that’s big enough to swal ow