Checking something out? I wondered if that meant dealing with a creature, but I would find out. Thankful to have someone—even if it was my poor wife—to dump Jennifer and Johnny off on, I headed off to check on Bryce with Cam.
Cam looked over to the human duo. “They’re not watching. You can make it to the forest.” I thanked him and rushed into the woods.
Sike spotted me twenty yards in. He was crouched down by the corpse of a creature. Judging from the trail of blood, he and the others had dragged it here from the clearing so that they could examine it. Based on the smell, it was decaying fast. Arlonne and a new vampire greeted me.
"Hi, I’m Chandry," the newcomer said cheerfully. "You must be the famous Dorian we've been waiting for." I shot a curious look at Sike, who lifted his hands in defensive protest.
"I said only good things," he argued. Well, I guessed they’d had plenty of time to talk.
Arlonne grunted. "I smell more humans on you," she said. "What's going on? I sensed darkness balances that I don’t recognize, that’s why we dragged the body out here."
I briefed all three of them on what was happening, including that Jennifer appeared to be oddly curious and pointed with her questions.
"I can hear her grilling Lyra from here," Sike said with a sympathetic wince. "That's what that flowery smell was. Chandry thought it might be rotting vegetation somewhere."
Arlonne crossed her arms. It was glorious to see her. It meant they'd come through a gate, and I needed all the information on that. Quickly, she explained how they’d met up with Lyra and how they found the gate.
"We would be safer in the Immortal Plane," Arlonne added sternly. "Our wildling allies could get the humans some food. They'll know what's safe for them… but it sounds like your new guests are complicating matters." She curled her lips with distaste at the extra trouble but said nothing more. She still had understandable reservations about humans, given her history with the Bureau and the world’s current treatment of vampires.
I shrugged. Our mission was to seek survivors, and, apparently, these two had survived. "We'll have to proceed with caution." I strained to listen to what Lyra was telling Jennifer. My wife's tone sounded tight and frustrated. "I just hope we don't have to postpone the mission until we remove these two…"
Sike sighed. "What a waste of time. We haven't seen the creature, either, so it might still be out there." His brow furrowed curiously as he turned back to me. "Wait… you're named Lance now? Do we all have to do silly names?"
"I was with Lyra in some of the papers," I reminded him. "You were at the press conference, but I can't remember if you said your name. Maybe tell them Sike is a nickname. She didn't seem to recognize me. You'll have to use the Leftovers camouflage excuse like I did." It was wild, but we had to work with it for the time being.
“Camouflage?” Arlonne echoed, with a pitying shake of her head. “They might be suspicious when they see my muscles tearing apart monsters.”
“We have to hide our abilities if we want to escape the suspicions of those two and keep Callanish in good standing,” I insisted. Chandry and Sike let out groans of protest. “There’s nothing we can do. Your muscles are fine, Arlonne.”
“Well, I suppose there are human female weightlifters,” Sike offered helpfully.
"She asked about Lyra's paramour," Chandry said. "I'm not familiar with that human term… what is it?”
"Me," I admitted. Arlonne chuckled, and I sighed. "We're going to have to roll with it as best we can. I'm sure Cam has mentioned something about our camouflage experiment already. He's good at slipping things in."
Arlonne nodded. "Bryce's nephew?"
"Yes," I said. "Speaking of Bryce, how did he get hurt?"
Chandry stifled a giggle behind Arlonne’s glare. Oh, there's a story here.
"It was the curse," Arlonne explained stiffly. She lifted her chin despite the embarrassed emotion flickering underneath her brave exterior. "I thought… I thought I had a lock on the feelings between us, but I guess something changed recently. I'm frustrated that it's created a hassle." She dipped her head in apology. "I will try to work around it as much as possible. I don't want to impede the mission."
I shook my head, knowing full well that my own experiences had once hurt missions. "We can work around it," I promised. "Maybe when we get to the Immortal Plane, we can ask Reshi about reverse engineering the necklaces for both of you. It's an obstacle that we can get around for the moment, but I'd rather take care of it sooner than later." I understood the struggle well.
Sike averted his gaze. "Nobody's made it work but you and Lyra." His words echoed with a certain hollowness. "Maybe it's better to just stick with vampire lovers." He must have been thinking about how his relationship with Louise had gone up in smoke. We hadn't heard from her in some time, but she’d made it clear that she wanted distance from Sike when their own feelings had initiated the curse.
It was times like these that I truly cursed the arbiters for placing such a ridiculous constraint on vampires.
Arlonne thumped a hand against her chest. "I'm strong," she said. It was all she needed for an argument. We all knew it was the truth. Sike was just upset. He gave a meek nod, and Chandry studied him curiously beneath her lashes.
"Whatever our personal feelings are on relationships," I told them, "I don't want these humans finding out what we are."
20
Lyra
“Is it an animal?” Sike asked as he tilted his head to the side. “I’m guessing an animal.”
At sundown, we gathered around our makeshift camp for a second night out in the Leftovers. Sike was playing a drawing guessing game with Cam in the dirt while I rolled out the tarps for the tents.
