Bitten in Two (21 page)

Bergman had already begun to move east. I caught up to him within a minute, and I asked, “Cole, can you give us a landmark for Vayl’s location?”

He said, “Make for the twelve green patio umbrel as.” Suddenly I felt Cirilai go dead on my finger. Eerie.

Scary. Like standing in the middle of the woods when even the crickets stop singing. I wanted to turn around. Go back to the riad and lock myself in my room until Bergman invented a reliable time machine. Or better yet, cal Kyphas from her place by Sterling’s side. Snatch up her offer like it was a half-legal land deal. But the reason I survive is deeper than whim, and it reminded me now.
Keep moving
, deeper than whim, and it reminded me now.
Keep moving
, it whispered, and I obeyed.

I only knew we’d reached the rendezvous point when Bergman’s hand, firm on my wrist, brought my eyes up to his. He pushed me onto a bench at yet another fil -your-face place, and said, “Madame B.”

“Yeah?”

He sank down beside me. “You keep forgetting to breathe.”

I forced myself to inhale. “Better?”

He searched my face. “Jesus, how bad do you have it for this guy?” I shrugged, shook my head. Even if I had eloquence, I stil wouldn’t have been able to put the words together. He nodded. “Al right. I’m sorry to do this to you, but it’s for the best.” He leaned back, the table hitting him halfway up the spine as he said harshly, “Remember after Matt died?”

I felt my eyes widen.
You son of a bitch! You bring up
the worst moment of my life
now
? At the worst moment of
my life? How dare you!
Gluing my lips together, wil ing the tears back, I jerked my head forward.

He said, “Wal off your heart like you did then. You can’t save Vayl if you can’t
think
.” He pul ed a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at my nose. Showed me the blood he’d mopped up. “Whatever’s doing this to you isn’t helping either.”

I took another breath. Pul ed off my Party Line and nodded for him to do the same. No reason for Kyphas to get an extra thril off my misfortune. “It’s Brude. I don’t want Sterling to know. But it’s getting—physical—now.”

“I’m not going to let that fucker take you down.” I let out a chuckle. Couldn’t help it. The image of bony little Bergman spinning Brude over his head before throwing him out of a WWE ring cheered me. “You are the best friend I could ever hope for.”

He leaned back. “You’re not going to hug me or anything?”

“Nope.”

“Good. Now come on, show me that cold bitch who makes bad guys want to push her off the sides of mountains.”

I took another breath, this one not nearly as forced.

“Okay, let’s go.”

He helped me up. Not that he thought I needed it. Just that he wanted to preserve that moment, when I’d inevitably look up into his eyes, so he could show me the love he’d always be too shy or stuck in his own gears to be able to voice. I slapped him on the back, letting my own feelings shine right back at him. And, strengthened by my best, most loyal buddy at my side, I strode toward the vampire I did not want to survive without.

When I saw Vayl, whole and vital, leaning so casualy against one of the carts whose owner sold ginseng and cinnamon tea along with big hunks of spice cake I felt…

nothing. I’d been certain as tornadoes and prostate cancer that he was already gone. Because I had no il usions about myself. Somebody like me, a hired kil er whose best legacy was a niece she saw mostly in pictures, didn’t deserve the love of a man who could shatter bone in his fist and transform blood to ice. Wraiths like him were the legends of their kind.
I
didn’t even know my neighbors. So, logical y, I should’ve found his remains. But I hadn’t. And that made me…

I put my hand over my heart. Felt it beating, leaping almost, against my palm. But the void was stil there inside me. As if I couldn’t decode my own internal messages anymore.

Anytime you want to stop this bullshit you go right
ahead.
Granny May was sitting in her lawn chair, French-braiding Teen Me’s hair. She spoke from around the comb she stuck in her mouth when she needed both hands for plaiting.

I don’t know what you mean.

Admit it. You hate loving Vayl this much. Wearing his
ring. Walking in his past—he’s becoming a part of you
now. You can say all the pretty, noble things you want to,
but this closeness terrifies you. Because you know what it
is to lose. To be alone.

My throat went hot.
Okay, since it’s just us, I’ll admit I
haven’t felt this vulnerable since Matt died. But I want to
grab life. I want to grab Vayl, preferably by that luscious
ass. But there’s this—fear—worse than anything I’ve
experienced on the job. I could face a hundred Weres
tonight and it wouldn’t shake me the way the thought of
losing Vayl forever does.

You’re in love
, Granny May said.

Why does it have to suck so much?

Because it’s so precious.

What do I do?

Leave him.
I felt my heart stop under my hand.
Or stay,
and celebrate each moment you have with him. Taste the
laughter and drink the kisses and inhale the caresses
because that’s why you’re here.

Oh. So it’s not to make Albert yell until he’s hoarse?

Granny May chuckled.
We’ll talk about your father
another day. Now go on. I believe you have a job to do,
you slacker.

I glared at Teen Me.
Stop teaching the old woman
slang. It’ll go straight to her head and the next thing you
know she’ll want to go buy herself an iPod and a pair of
Jimmy Choos.

We took a second to ponder Gran’s plain brown loafers, then we burst into laughter. It was like emptying a submarine’s bal ast tanks. I felt myself begin to lift, and my whole attitude toward the coming fight and the vampire who had no idea what part we meant to play in it began to transform.

Another quick look to set my bearings. The green umbrel as belonged to a parade of carts sel ing the same kind of tea out of copper pots and the same kind of cake in white flowered bowls that fil ed the wheeled wagon Vayl had chosen. Bergman and I stood at the edge of a crowd near number seven. Vayl’s cart had a line of eight patient snackers being waited on by a white-capped gent whose matching jacket made him look more like a hospital orderly than a food salesman. But what he did, he did wel and with a friendly attitude that al owed for Vayl’s uncamouflaged presence. Then I saw that my
sverhamin
held a glass of tea in his hand and the merchant’s patience made even more sense.

Before I could figure out who was commanding Vayl’s attention, Sterling sauntered up to me. “Chil , you are a long way gone for somebody who’s got work to do right here.” Kyphas’s laugh was meant to snap my last nerve. But I’d final y hit my groove, and nothing was going to fling me out now.

I said, “Don’t worry about me. I’m just thinking a few steps ahead like Vayl would want me to. Which, now that we’ve found him and marked the Weres, I don’t see any point in delaying, do you?”

He spread his hands. “I’m ready for the next step.” Bergman said, “So I guess you’re going to want the lights to go out pretty soon.”

I nodded. “Yeah. As soon as Cole gives the okay, we’re set.”

Cole’s voice came through our earpieces, calmer and more level than usual. “I’m in position. Ready to go when the lights fail.”

“I’ve been talking to Sterling,” Bergman told me.

I turned to him. “And?”

He said, “We have a plan. I could tel you, but I’d rather just show you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve come a long way from the old magic-is-evil days, you know that, Miles?” I said quietly.

He shrugged. “What is it they say? If you’re not growing, you’re rotting? I don’t want to rot.”

“Good. I’d stil love you if you were a zombie, but it’s more fun not having to bury parts of you in the garden.” I gave him the go-ahead gesture and half watched him help Sterling set up. But the rest of my concentration centered on Vayl. You wouldn’t think there’d be much to see. Kinda like viewing one of the time-worn angels hovering over Michelangelo’s grave. But then most people didn’t know what to look for.

Though he stood as stil as one of those lamenting saints, he was so close to losing control I wished I could pul a fire alarm and clear the place before innocent people got burned. His eyes, dark as unforgiven souls, lit with occasional bursts of red like exploding stars. His fingers, resting on the cloth-covered counter, had dug in deep enough to leave permanent indentations the blue material couldn’t quite disguise. And, this was new—or maybe real y, real y old—he was biting the inside of his mouth, his lips, his cheeks, bleeding himself to keep the monster on its leash.

I looked in the direction he’d glued to and instantly picked up on a muscle-bound Were with a hiker’s tan and sun-bleached ponytail. He sat at the edge of one of the rooftop eateries that surrounded the Djemaa el Fna, a spot Monique had recommended for its exquisite food and excel ent views of the glittering, smoke-blanketed square.

As I sized up Vayl’s target I decided he had to be the one leading this pack. His size alone would’ve convinced me. But it was also the way his eyes moved across the crowds, measuring, considering, never stopping. No surprise, then, that his Luureken looked more like an imp than a child, with huge ears framing a pockmarked face and orangey-red tufts of hair sticking out from beneath his skul cap.

I jumped when Kyphas spoke.
Why do I keep forgetting
she’s here? I should ask Sterling if she’s toting some sort
of I’m-no-threat sachet.

She said, “Are you real y just going to stand here and watch while the rest of your crew saves the day?” she asked. “Let Bergman and Sterling deal with the lights?

Al ow Cole to pick off the Weres? Watch Vayl make a fool of himself? I didn’t realize you were such a passive little slave.”

I stared into the demon’s eyes. When I smiled she pul ed away from me. “You’re sweating. Why is that when the evening is cool? Don’t you want us to break the curse?” She shrugged. “I don’t care
when
Vayl thinks he is. He’s nothing to me.”

“Sure. But the Rocenz does matter to you. And the fact that we’re about to restore the mind of the one guy who can not only find it, but keep it out of your hands permanently, must be making you nutso.”

“Not at al .”

Nobody can lie like hel spawn. They learn it in the cradle. But, then, so had I.

I started to say something, then I changed my mind.

Instead, “Kyphas, do you ever stop with the manipulating?”

“I have no idea—”

“We’re about to massacre a bunch of werewolves and their riders. Do you think you could manage to cut the bul shit for three seconds?”

Final y, a thread of humor in those hazel eyes. “Yes.”

“I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to answer it fast, without even thinking. Can you at least do that?”

Slight frown at the chal enge. “Of course.” I motioned for her to take a break from the Party Line, and I did the same. Then I asked, “What do you want, just for yourself?”

“Cole.”

I laughed.

Her hands curled into fists. She said, “It’s not funny!”

“I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because, deep down, you are such a girl. I mean, of course you want Cole.

Everybody does. He’s adorable.”

“You don’t.”

“I’m not a girl.”

She stared at me. “No. You’re Eldhayr.”

“Did you have to stoop to name-cal ing?”

She smirked. But the half smile vanished almost instantly as she scanned the rooftop where Cole had settled. “He’l never have me.”

“You mean for good.”

Hurt in those eyes when they came back to mine, which surprised me. I hadn’t realized she felt so deeply for him already. Damn, but he had a way. She said, “Your honesty is no virtue.”

I shrugged. “My dad used to love tel ing us that the biggest obstacle on any course is the one sitting between your shoulders.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Obviously Kyphas’s digs weren’t heavily populated with military men or she’d have total y run with the reference. I said, “You’l never snag Cole because you don’t believe you can.”

“I am hel spawn.”

“Yup.”

“He wants me. Yet he despises me.”

“Oh, yeah.”

She threw up her hands. “What else is there to say?” I shrugged. “I guess nothing. I mean, you and I both agree that you could never, ever become the kind of woman he could love. So just keep on yanking our strings and throwing temptation in our paths. Maybe one of these days you’l have us al in hel with you. And that’l be even better. Right?”

She nodded. Doubtful y.

I turned to Bergman and Sterling just as they were emptying their pockets. They reminded me of a couple of fifth graders comparing treasures. I could almost hear the discussion.

“I’ve beaten this Pokémon game so many times I’m dreaming about it now. I’l trade it to you for that Snickers bar, your free pass to the basketbal game, and the combination to Heidi Neyedmeyer’s locker.”

“Okay, but the Snickers bar’s kinda melty. It’s been in my pocket for, like, three days.”