‘You were sleeping,’ he said. ‘You did not wake when we arrived. I did not want them to wake you. I have stayed with you.’
Fair enough. Straight to the point. Kira rubbed the sides of her mouth, fingers finding wetness. Great. She’d been drooling. Probably farted too; champagne made her do that. Poor bastard.
‘What’s with the death bouquet?’ It was dark out, not full-on night-time, but getting damn close.
‘Leona asked me to hold this, as I wished to remain with you.’
First-name-basis buddies now. Sweet.
‘She did, huh? Any particular reason? ’Cause I can tell you now that if you’re going to ask me on a date, it’s really not the time.’
Azrael’s confused look returned. The guy managed to look hot as all hell even when he frowned. ‘It is to hide my brightness. I believe she may be able to understand who I am.’
‘Oh fuck, the witchy stuff again.’ Kira sighed. Any hope this was all a part of her bad dreams flew out the window. ‘Tell me there are no frogs’ legs in that pile of crap.’
Maybe decaying frogs’ legs smelled like badly burnt cinnamon buns.
‘No frogs’ legs.’
The voice at the open window made her jerk in her seat. ‘Holy shit, Vail. Don’t sneak up on people unless you want to make them crap themselves.’
It still pissed her off, how her heart didn’t so much as flutter when she got shit-scared or, on the incredibly rare occasion, ran somewhere. Even when waking from the car-crash nightmares, the chunk of metal in her chest just did its silent thing. No beat. No thump. Pumping the blood through her a little faster if need be. But always quiet as death.
‘Sorry. We saw you were awake. Leona sent me out.’ Vail ducked his head, and his heavy blunt fringe fell into his eyes. ‘It’s probably best you come in now.’
Kira’s guts rumbled, punctuating the point. And it was pee-break time again. Jesus, was her bladder the size of a pea? Fucking felt like it. The last stop, at a fast-food joint, had been at least a couple of hours ago. The kid had packed away three double bacon cheeseburgers, fries, and a thick shake. He was a hollow reed, apparently. Kira climbed out of the car, her butt aching and her neck muscles so pissed off it wasn’t funny.
‘How are you feeling?’ Vail asked, puppy-dog eyeing her. Giving a shit about her day, despite the catastrophic way his had turned out. He was either completely fucked up or a goddamn angel.
‘Great. It’s been a great day.’ Probably wanted for murder about now, too. There was that to deal with. Great day. Christ. ‘You? How you doing?’
Did she give a toss? Kinda yeah, which was incredibly annoying. Too much crap going on to care about a kid who looked as though he were out of some cutesy anime. Complete with impossibly sad eyes and a forlorn air of lostness.
‘I’ve had better.’ His voice cracked on the ‘better’, but he offered her a smile. Fake as all hell, but ten points for effort.
‘Yeah, I hear you, kid.’
She needed to get Az back to the Facility. Let Blake deal with this fallout. Dumbest fucking idea ever to let Kira play with her toys.
‘Lead the way.’ She put on a too-bright smile. Surely this house had a land-line. Carrier pigeon, smoke signals. Something. ‘Take us to your leader.’
Inside, the house was almost as cluttered as the car. She edged sideways down the hall to get past piles of random junk; everything from a baby bath to an old vacuum cleaner made the pathway an obstacle course. And the house didn’t smell much better than the car. Wait. No. Correct that. The house smelled far more disgusting. They walked into the kitchen, and the waft of cabbage hit her square in the face.
‘Christ almighty.’ She pressed her sleeve over her mouth and nose. ‘What’s that supposed to do? Ward off anyone with sinuses?’
‘It protects us, you ungrateful girl.’ Leona wiped her hands on a lace-trimmed apron that was yellow as Big Bird. ‘Vera Melsy is pretty OCD with warding her house, but I think we are going to need even more than she has on offer.’
‘Who the hell is Vera?’
‘The woman whose house this is.’ Spoken like Kira was a dickhead for not knowing already.
‘We broke into a house?’
‘Of course not. Stupid girl.’
‘Fuck you.’
‘No thank you,’ Leona replied nonchalantly, as though Kira had just offered her a cup of tea. ‘Vera is a friend, from a long time ago. We were part of the same Rudiment once. She’s also in Mongolia and has left her spare key in the same place for about the last ten years.’
‘Good old Vera.’ Kira slumped into a chair at the dining table in the centre of the room. Both the table and the chair were rickety. ‘Does Vera have a phone?’
‘Who would you call if she did? Your sister?’ Leona opened the pantry, rummaging through its contents and stepping back with a cask of red wine in hand. Kira sent up a silent prayer to the god of grape and grain that it was for her. ‘For years I’ve been telling all the Rudiments the Facility wasn’t right. I’ve been telling people for years. Now, perhaps they will pay attention. I don’t know how you got out of that place, but it might well be the most useful thing you’ve ever done, Kira Beckworth.’
Okay. Forget the red. Kira stood up. They knew who she was, where she and Azrael were from. They had followed her to the Wheel and Barrow, then somehow followed her to the casino. She had gotten in a car with them and driven to god knows where. It suddenly all felt like a really, really fucking stupid idea.
‘Thank you for the compliment,’ Kira said. ‘That means so much coming from a crazy fucking witch.’
Leona actually tut-tutted. ‘We descend from the Wiccan, but I am not a witch.
