I looked at him from under my lashes. Noted him chewing the inside of his cheek, the way he did when deeply stressed.
Finally he said, “You know, when I was in that place, it wasn’t all bad. I found out I liked not having to think or be responsible. Not caring.” Dave stole a look at me, his face paling, as if he’d just confessed to murdering his best friend. “And when I came back. When you saved me, my pain-in-the-ass life sort of crashed on me, avalanche style. But I knew I shouldn’t feel that way. Not for a second. And at the same time I was shit-eating humiliated that I’d basically become a terrorist’s slave. Me, Dave Parks, American stud. Special Ops commander. Hero to men. Red-hot lover to women. At least,” he said, before I could make some snide remark, “that’s how I liked to think of myself.”
We stood there in silence for maybe a minute before I said, “Wow, you are fucked up.”
He punched me, soft enough to let me know he got it, his half grin backing up the gesture. “Thanks for the support.”
I shrugged. “Nobody’s ever survived what you’ve been through.
He nodded. “Duly noted.”
“And since we’re talking about fighting, what do you say we figure out a way to even up the odds between ourselves and Samos’s crew?”
“Only if you promise to shower first.”
“That’s a given.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I took half an hour to scrape off the skank I’d sprayed on myself while the guys discussed strategies and Ziel raced around the suite sniffing everything like it smelled of dog chow. My sundress had found new life as a doggy bed, so I didn’t even bother slipping it into a plastic bag after my shower. I just left it on the floor beside the door and dressed in a much comfier outfit. A pair of hunter green jeans and a moss-colored sweater that didn’t feel clingy until Vayl gave me a look that made me double-check to assure myself his hands were safe in his lap and not roving my curves like it suddenly felt they were. I turned back to the bedroom. “I think I’m going to change,” I said.
“No!” the men replied in unison. Dave’s tone made it clear he was sick of waiting. Vayl—well, when my brother gave him the thumbs-up for voting with the team, he must’ve finally realized what was up. Because he stared at my boss, then he looked back at me until I started playing with my hair. At which point he said, “Dad’s gonna kick your ass.”
To which I replied brilliantly, “Nuh-uh.”
“What, you’re not going to tell him you’re romancing a vampire?”
“To be fair, it has largely been the other way around,” Vayl said.
“We’re just friends,” I said, sounding as defensive as a nun who’s been caught flirting with the neighborhood rabbi. I held my hands up to fend off Vayl’s glare. “Okay, hardly that. And a lot more than that. Like many things in my life lately, I’ve come at this whole relationship backward. We’re trying to be friends so we can be a really great couple that Albert doesn’t have to know anything about yet. Please?” I asked them both. Okay—begged.
Dave and Vayl spent some time in silent conversation. It was a guy thing, so I had no idea what flew back and forth between them, though my nerves were strung so tight they could’ve played a twangy sort of clang-ring-bang accompaniment to the communion. Finally both men nodded and looked back at me.
“Okay,” said Dave. “I won’t tell. But since I probably won’t be there for the big reveal, you have to tape it for me.”
“How am I supposed . . .” He just smiled, which was when I realized he meant for me to make the full confession to Cassandra so she could record it into her Enkyklios. Holy Jam on a Crapcracker, this blowup was going to be fodder for all of freaking history to chew on! I thought about backing out. But the idea of unleashing Albert’s fury any sooner than necessary made me shudder. Not that he scared me much anymore. But I so didn’t want to spend one more second pissed off, depressed, or contemplating patricide than I absolutely had to. I sighed. “Okay. Although how it took you this long to figure out Vayl and I—”
“Hey, I’ve been busy! Former zombie turned semi-alcoholic nutjob, remember?”
“Oh, that.”
“But I’m getting better.”
I smiled. “I noticed.”
“Come and see what else your brother has achieved,” Vayl said as he motioned to the tableau they’d arranged on the library table between them.
“Vayl helped,” Dave protested.
As the two of them explained their tightening of our execute-Samos plan, it began to resemble something out of a military manual. A thing of beauty that belonged on some strategist’s chalkboard. Only Dave had gone one better. He’d picked the lock of one of the display cases upstairs and stolen a couple of handfuls of teeth. Once you got past the yuck factor, they worked great as miniature tombstones. He’d set them up across the table just as we’d mapped them.
As I sat down at the table with them Dave said, “You’ll come in from the south, between this line of molars. So I’ll set up behind this bicuspid. Remember the raised plot with two slabs marked by an angel standing with her wings spread? That’s the one I’m talking about.”
“Where’s Vayl—” I began, but Ziel distracted me. He’d gone to the hall door and begun scratching at it.
“Does he need to go out?” Vayl asked.
I looked at my watch. “We got back at, what, ten forty-five? That was about an hour ago, and he went before we came inside,” I said.
