“You have made me a gloriously happy man today, my
“But you do it so wel .” He ran his lips down the side of my neck and I shivered. But I’d learned a few tricks since our first encounter, and when I slid the tip of my tongue down the edge of his ear he grabbed me with both hands, pul ing me forward until I was straddling his lap.
“I do other things wel too,” I pointed out, just in case he hadn’t noticed, as I feathered a dozen kisses down the line of his jaw.
“Ung.”
Oh baby, what can be better for the ego than rendering your mega-experienced Vampere lover speechless? I felt like I’d just gained a bra size and learned how to walk in stilettos without appearing bowlegged al in one swoop! And then? Just because I wanted a little icing on the cake, I said, “We should go. I’m sure they’re waiting on us. Vayl!”
He’d wrapped both arms around me and swung me to the floor, managing to land on top without bruising either of us. I kinda wanted to see the instant replay, but he already had his lips buried between my breasts, who I guess he thought should hear the news first. “Our crew can wait. You just gave me the best gift I have ever received in my
Like this.”
He did something with his lips that made me giggle uncontrol ably. “Vayl! What did you—okay, you can total y do that again.”
Which, thankful y, he did.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
We met the rest of our crew in Raoul’s room an hour after sundown. I don’t know if it was kindness to us or reluctance to start the last leg of the mission that had kept them from pounding on our door, but they’d left us alone, al owing us to join them when we final y decided we were ready to go.
We were pretty crowded in there, with Bergman and Cole sitting crosslegged on one bed while Raoul took up most of the other, though Astral had sprawled out beside him with her legs stretched in either direction as if she’d suddenly gone boneless. Aaron took up the single chair by the rickety old table. Each crew member held a double- edged blade that he was buffing to a shine that would send arcs of pain through your eyebal s similar to a camera flash if you looked at it just wrong.
Astral peered at us from her perch for a moment, then she said, “The devil’s in the detailsssss,” drawing the S out so that she sounded like a hissing snake.
Bergman looked up apologetical y. “She’s stopped running random videos, but I can’t figure out yet where the funky audio links are coming from. The wiring’s pretty intricate, and my best diagnostics equipment is in my lab.”
I nodded. “It’s okay. We should let her talk.” Especial y since I suspected she was trying to help. I sat down beside her and patted my lap. She took my meaning and hopped on, putting her paws on my chest so she could whisper into my ear, “Hel o.”
“You’ve got the hel right,” I murmured back to her.
Vayl had moved over to stand by Aaron. “What is this, a cleanser?” he asked, pointing to the goop that wetted his son’s rag.
Aaron glanced up. “Raoul says it has powerful properties of its own. Here it just looks like albino Turtle Wax. Down there it’l make the weapon feel a little lighter so it’l move through the air—and other things—cleaner. And then there’s the writing.” He pointed to an ancient script that had been carved into the blade. “Raoul says it’s Hebrew.”
Cole said, “Raoul’s right. I’ve only been able to read a few words because I just started learning the language. But it seems to me like these swords are loaded for bear. I wouldn’t be surprised if they grew legs and a tail and carried you down to the gate on their pommels like some sort of sword/horse breed known only to Disney cartoonists and Eldhayr fanatics like Raoul over here.”
“I am not a fanatic!” Raoul replied, pretty quickly and kinda loud for somebody who shouldn’t care what a bunch of Earth-dwel ers thought.
“Wel , you are wearing a uniform,” Aaron said.
Bergman piped up. “And a couple of hours ago you freely admitted to liking Kool-Aid.” I grinned at my little buddy, who was not only developing some pure brass cojones, but a stel ar sense of humor to match. Raoul thundered, “I am not some sort of cultist!” just as Cassandra threw open the door.
“Of course you are, Raoul,” she said cheerful y. “And we love you for it. Everyone should be so passionately committed to one thing that they have no other life whatsoever, at least for a while.” While Raoul tried to figure out exactly what she meant, she came over to me and scratched Astral under the chin. The cat’s eyes closed and she began her mechanical imitation of a purr. Geez, could Bergman pul off the robotics or what?
I said, “I thought you were going to be closeted with the infomercial here al day long.” I nodded to the cat on my shoulder.
Cassandra cocked her head at us. Something seemed different to me. I stepped back to try to figure it out. Was she actual y dancing in place? Yeah, her ruffled yel ow skirt was definitely swaying back and forth in time with some rhythm that also occasional y sent her shoulders bobbing and the beads on her freshly cleaned and patched purse clicking.
“Cassandra? Are you al right?” I asked. Then I saw Dave grinning in the hal behind her and knew it couldn’t be al that bad.
“More than that,” she said. “But real y it’s no thanks to your cat. I think we need to upgrade her databases or something. She had no information about hel ’s prophets anywhere in them.”
“Wel , of course not. I don’t think anybody on Earth has ever even seen one and lived to tel about it. The Great Taker seems to keep them even more secret than Apple does their next-generation gadgets.”
