The Deadliest Bite (9 page)

And then he turned to Raoul.

“Okay, dude. Take me back to my so-cal ed life. I’ve got work to do.” CHAPTER SEVEN

Wednesday, June 13, 3:15 a.m
.

Raoul dropped us into our bodies so fast it felt like faling from a plane without a parachute. And the pain of reuniting sum and substance—wel , my brother, Dave, wrestled in high school. One Saturday morning, somewhat miraculously, I didn’t have to work. So I went to his tournament, where I saw one of his teammates throw a guy onto the mat. Happens al the time, but this snowy day in January the kid tried to catch himself—and failed. His arm broke so severely that I could see the bone shove the skin out of place. His shocked scream reminded me of the sounds Cole and I made now as every one of our nerve endings fused back to the source of their existence.

“I wish you would stop doing that,” Vayl said as he helped me to my feet. His lips pressed into a straight line as he continued, so quietly I thought only I could hear. “Every time you leave I am more certain than ever that you wil not be returning.”

I realized I was wrong about how the sound carried into the velvety black countryside when Aaron said, “Roldan told me you were a badass.” He stood on the gravel drive with his fists stuck deep in the pockets of his bleach-stained jeans, most likely so we couldn’t see his hands shaking. When he realized he had Vayl’s attention he went on. “He warned me to kil you quick, otherwise you’d shred me like grass clippings. But there you are, kissing up to some chick who’s been impersonating a blackout drunk for the past half hour. How am I supposed to believe you’re going to save my skin when you’re just another whipped—” He gasped, stopped in mid-sentence by the whirlwind of movement and coiled violence that ended with Vayl dangling him in the air by the throat.

My
sverhamin
’s voice seemed to rise from a place guarded by iron bars and rusted chains as he said, “You are stil the same sharptongued coward who let your brother take the blame for every foolhardy escapade you ever attempted, including the theft of the wagon that led to your deaths over two hundred and fifty years ago. But
I
have changed. I wil no longer countenance disrespect from you.” He set Aaron back on his feet. Dropped his hand and watched him rub the red spots away from his neck. I couldn’t find a single speck of regret on Vayl’s hard-lined face. Just twin flares of rage flying out of his deep black pupils as he said, “I have had a great deal of time to think of how I might put right what went wrong during our lives together. Do not tempt me to turn you so that I might have eternity to teach you how to behave like a decent man. Because my first lesson wil be to teach you that only the strongest can truly, deeply love. And if you have no woman in your life, you wil understand the reason why.” Vayl was at least kind enough to turn away, so the stark and sudden pain in Aaron’s eyes was an emotion he didn’t have to hide or, later, be ashamed of.

But if the son had been stricken, the father was pained as wel . I could detect a note of longing in his voice, the kind I’d heard before when he’d suggested we could be a great Vampere couple. I’d refused then, and now I saw the same terrified denial on Junior’s face. But suddenly it was like I’d stepped up on a platform where I could observe Vayl from a total y new angle. And I realized how lonely he’d been al those years with no family to get him through the empty days or share the laughter with. Not that he’d found much to cal humorous, much less entertaining, in his early years as a Rogue. Even less so when he’d entered into a Vampere Trust. In fact, when we’d first started working together I’d become convinced pretty quickly that the dude had completely forgotten how to have fun.

I stepped up and slipped my hand into his. When his eyes dropped to mine I put al the love I felt for him in my smile. The black bled from his pupils like a healing bruise, replaced almost instantly by honey gold with flecks of the warmest amber. “I’m so proud of you,” I whispered.

“Way to represent,” agreed Cole. He stil sat at Raoul’s knee, his hands flopped between his legs like he didn’t even have the strength to cross them. He winked at Vayl. “We attached guys gotta stick together.”

Vayl’s eyebrows practical y shot off his forehead. “What happened up there?” He took a threatening step forward.

Suddenly Cole found the energy to raise his arms in protest. “I promise you, I am over your girl forever. Although she’s awesome, I’ve got my eye on the prize now.” He nodded so definitely that Vayl instantly checked himself. Cole’s eyes danced. “Hey, Jaz. I just realized. Someday, if it al works out, I’m gonna be your nephew. You know what that means, right? Magicians at my birthday parties, and trips to the zoo, and—”

“Stop!”
Holy crap! He’s back—and here I am without my beat-themoff umbrella!
I thought fast and then said, “You might jinx it.”

“Right. You’re absolutely right.” He made the zippy-lippy motion. However, he pointed from me to him and back again a couple of times and then mouthed the word “relatives” before subsiding into happy-grin land.

Oh. Man. Could I deal with Cole at Thanksgiving? Giving Albert shit over the turkey and
making veiled references to the “adventure” we’d shared in Scotland while Evie sat in barely
concealed shock at his impudence, E.J. looking around the table in absolute confusion, while I
tried desperately to think of an appropriate lie to explain how very well I knew him? Or would they
all be so flipped out that I’d brought a vampire to dinner that it wouldn’t matter?

I was suddenly readier than ever to go kil the Rogue Vayl had targeted. Stil under the assumption that we’d only encountered a slight detour in our original plan, I asked Cole to move his car to one side of the drive so I could back mine out.

“Where are you going?” he asked as he grabbed the open door to help himself to his feet. As Raoul fil ed him in, I strode toward the garage, assuming Vayl would fol ow with the rest of the group trotting more or less cooperatively behind. That was usual y how it worked. Except I’d taken half a dozen steps when I realized nobody was fol owing me. Not even Jack. I turned around.

“Jasmine,” Vayl said tiredly. “She is doing it again.”

The four men had gathered in a circle at the front of Cole’s Lumina. Al of them had riveted their attention to the ground at their feet, as if they couldn’t believe Kentucky bluegrass managed to thrive this far north of the state line. Jack trotted around them, occasional y sticking his nose between their legs, but he didn’t like what he saw enough to stay in one place for long. He’d pul his head back, sometimes jumping like he’d been startled, and begin his rounds again.

Dammit. We do not need this right now. And the worst part is, it’s all my fault. Or, more
specifically, Jack’s fault. Which makes it mine. Dammit!

I joined the circle, Vayl and Raoul moving back to give me room. As expected, Astral lay in the middle, flat on her back, waving her feet in the air while she cackled like a drunken hen. “Cluck, cluck, hic-cluck.” From the mini-projector in the back of her throat a startlingly realistic hologram replayed a series of images just like the ones we’d seen the last time she’d pul ed this stunt. I’d come in in the middle, so I missed the skier flying off the cliff and the painter fal ing from the ladder.

But I did make it in time for skateboard-crashing-off-the-garage-roof guy and hang-glider-dumping-into-the-ocean dude.

“Cluck, cluck, hic-cluck,” said Astral.

“Do you think it’s worse?” I asked.

Vayl crouched for a closer look. “It seems about the same to me. But then, this has been going on for two days now. How did she get so much footage?” he asked as six kids went tumbling off a toboggan.

“Wel , she does have access to al the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security databases. Plus she’s an Enkyklios, and who knows what those Sisters of the Second Sight have recorded while they were globetrotting, trying to get al the info they could on the world of
others
. Or, now that I know, I should say the world of the Whence.”

“So that’s what it’s cal ed,” murmured Aaron as he watched a figure skater blow a triple axle.

“But…” Raoul motioned to Astral, whose clucking was so convincing I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d laid an egg. “Why?”

Vayl glanced up. “I think perhaps Bergman missed a wire or two the last time he reattached her head.”

They al looked at me. I raised my hands. “Hey, I feel terrible about that incident. But honestly, Bergman shouldn’t have made her self-destruct button so sensitive.” They gave me the point and went back to Astral watch. Final y Vayl said, “We cannot let this continue. What if she chose to emit some vital intel igence in her video feed instead of some fool slipping off his roof while trying to anchor his Christmas lights?”

“I agree,” said Cole. “You should cal Bergman.”

Al eyes came to me. Again. “Yeah, but he’s…” I sighed. “Fine. But if he cries, I’m handing the phone to one of
you
.”

I left the circle as I dug out my cel and dialed his number. The series of clicks that preceded the ring lasted for at least thirty seconds, signaling the fact that even though he was stil staying in Morocco with his new girlfriend, Bergman’s paranoia hadn’t slipped a notch. Our cal would be encrypted as thoroughly as if the President of the United States were sharing the line.

I thought Bergman had probably been born with a suspicious nature, but it had been sharpened to its current razor edge in col ege when a classmate had stolen his research and tried to use it to create a brand-new energy source. The fact that he’d blown himself to smithereens instead hadn’t given Bergman much comfort. After that he’d put five deadbolts on the door to his room and informed the rest of us that if we entered without permission there was every chance that we’d be impaled by a jungle spear.

I wasn’t sure what it said about me that I continued to share an apartment with him until I graduated from col ege, or that he remained one of my closest friends to this day. Except that his mind unfolded before me like a work of art. And his inventions gave me happy tingles right down to my toes. Before Matt, and then again before Vayl, hardly anything else in life had done that for me.

Final y Bergman answered the phone, which was when I thought to check my watch. Had I just woken him? Naw, it was already about nine-thirty in the morning over there. He said, “Jaz! It’s you!”

“Yes. Hel o.”
Oh man, how do you tell an inventor his cat is on the fritz? Is this a good news/bad
news scenario? Wait, I can’t think of any good news. See, this is what Evie means when she tells
me I need to work on my attitude. Something good has to have happened lately. I mean, besides
the mind-blowing sex with Vayl. And all the other fabulous moments in between, which you can’t
really explain to your old buddy. And that’s not
his
good news anyway
.

“Jaz? Are you stil there?”

“Yeah! Hey, Miles, how are you?”

“Great!”

Did that sound fake, or was it just the thousands of miles standing between our cel towers?

“Excel ent! How’s Monique?”

“Great!”

Huh
. “Super. That’s good news.”
Hey! That’s the good news! Now for the bad news
. “Uh, Miles, why I’m cal ing… Astral’s kind of acting up.”

“What’s she doing?” Total professionalism in his tone now, except for that thread of frantic worry he was trying hard to suppress.

I described the problem. He wanted every detail. I had to go watch her some more so I could describe what era I thought the stuntman had been living in when he tried, and failed, to jump a canyon the size of Rhode Island. “What do you think?” I final y asked him.

“Her self-recalibrations may have jogged something loose,” he said. “I’l need to do some tinkering to be sure, but I think I can fix her.”

“So I should, what, shut her down? Box her up and mail her to you?”

“God, no! She’s a member of your team! You can’t function without her!”

“Wel , I wouldn’t—”

“She needs to be repaired immediately, Jaz. I’l be on the next plane out of Marrakech!”

“Bergman! Seriously, I can—”

“I won’t hear of it! I’m booking my ticket online right now.”

“Miles. What’s happening?”

“What do you mean?”

I let a few seconds of silence stretch between us. Then I said, “When Vayl, Cole, and I left Morocco, you and Monique were so lost in Cuddleland you barely said goodbye. Now you can’t wait to leave her?”

“It’s not her, exactly. It’s her kids. They came to visit. And, wel , one of them is only a year younger than me!”

“So?”

I could almost hear Bergman’s gears turning as he considered and rejected reasons he knew I wouldn’t buy in the first place. Final y he said, “I guess I knew it couldn’t last. She’s twenty-three years older than me and—”

“Stop.” This couldn’t be a coincidence. I turned to Aaron. “You’re twenty-three, right?”

“Yeah, how did you guess?”

I didn’t answer him. I was too busy trying to keep up with my racing mind. Raoul had said that E.J. would be twenty-three when she and Cole final y met for the first time. And now Bergman had let slip that Monique was exactly the same number of years older than him. Somebody was trying to send me a message. And considering the sources of the numbers, I had to think that same somebody wanted me to survive this ordeal. I tucked the idea away until I could bounce it off Vayl and went back to my cal .

“Listen, Miles. You’re my best friend. I’l back your play, no matter what you decide. But I’m just saying that’s a pretty ridiculous reason to dump the only woman I’ve ever met who wil cheerful y put up with your bul shit. If it’s something else that you can’t get past, fine. But if al you’re worried about is the age difference, then grab on to this—Vayl is two hundred and sixty-eight years older than me.”