Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) (15 page)

I
grabbed two handfuls of the hem of the t-shirt and knotted it at my hip, then
sat in the chair across from him. The cabin was comprised of four separate
seating areas, each with four big, overstuffed chairs facing each other two by
two around low tables. “Oh man. Now you
really
look like a male
stripper,” I said with a grin. He’d put the jacket on over his bare chest, and
he rolled his eyes and took it off again, tossing it onto a nearby chair. “And
now you’re naked from the waist up, and dressed in black leather from the waist
down. Guess what
that
makes you look like.”

He
smiled at me and leaned back in his chair, crossing an ankle over his knee.
“Well, you know, I
am
out of a job now. And I’ll bet there are plenty of
strip clubs in Las Vegas. It’s probably lucky I’m headed there.”

The
engine roared to life then, and I wondered if that was a good sign or a very,
very bad one. “Seriously, what
are
you going to do now that you’ve left
the Order?”

He
shrugged his broad, bare shoulders. “Just try to stay alive as long as I can.
It won’t take long for the Order to track me down. I signed my own death
warrant when I took off with you.”

“I
still don’t really understand why you did that, why you left with us.”

“It
really wasn’t all part of some grand scheme, I assure you.”

“I
know that. But why? I know you said it was because I saved your life, but there
has to be more to it than that.”

“You
made me care about you within the first second of meeting you, Luna. Drugging
you and holding you hostage was already almost unbearable. And then after you
spared my life, I couldn’t let you and Bryn go off in the woods alone, any more
than you could have let me die.”

“The
first second…oh.” I felt color rising in my cheeks.

“I’m
so sorry about what your mother did to you. And I’m sorry I eavesdropped on all
of that. It was really none of my business.”

“It’s
ok. I mean, I thought I was blurting all of that to a driver I’d met just an
hour before. So, it’s not like it was a secret or anything.”

“Do
you want to talk about what happened with your mother?”

“No.
Besides, you already heard all of it.” I looked down at my hands, where I was
once again absently tugging at the rough edge of one of my nails.

“Ok.”

I
glanced up at Athos. “Are you tagging along to Vegas because you think you’re
keeping me safe from Alastair and Joey?”

He
uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, and his
expression was solemn as he said, “I know you trust them, Luna. But I wish you
wouldn’t.”

“You
can’t lump all vampires together, Athos. You just can’t. These two are
different.”

“I
was told about Alastair’s history when I joined the Order. He may be a kinder,
gentler vampire since his memories got wiped. But that’s not really who he is.
He’s done truly unspeakable things in the past. Do you want me to tell you what
I know?”

“Look,
when Alastair gets his memories back, I’ll hear about his past from him. And in
the mean time, I really don’t want to hear a bunch of folk tales passed around
by a group of zealots that wanted to destroy him.”

He
watched me for a moment before leaning back in his seat and murmuring, “Fair
enough.”

Bryn’s
voice came over the loud speaker then. In an extremely nasal and exaggeratedly
American accent, he said, “This is your co-pilot speaking. We’ll be taxiing to
the runway momentarily. Please find your seat. This means you, Joey Adams.”

Joey
stomped into the cabin and flung himself into a chair. Then he noticed that
Athos was half-dressed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, Order boy, we all see your
pecs.”

“I
needed a shirt,” I told him.

The
plane began to taxi, and Bryn came back on the loud speaker, the nasal fake
accent even thicker this time. “Lady and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you to
Brynair Flight 1A. Please fasten your seat belts, and pay close attention to
the following safety announcement. There are several
emergency exits
on this aircraft,
but jumping out of them while the plane is in transit is not advised. An
oxygen
mask
may drop from the ceiling. This
means it’s all gone pear shaped and we’re probably going to die. In the event
of a water landing, your seat cushion can be used as a floatation device. If I
advise you of a water landing, this means I’m yanking your chain, because Las
Vegas is in the middle of a bloody desert. We will be cruising at an altitude
of well over one hundred feet at an air speed of pretty damn fast. The weather
looks good and we are expecting to land in Las Vegas…eventually. Current
conditions in Las Vegas are festive, with chances of inebriation at one hundred
percent.”

I
grinned at the announcement, but when I glanced at Athos, he looked worried.
“It’ll be fine,” I told him. “Even if Bryn can’t fly this plane properly, I’m
sure he can use magic to get us there safely.”

“You
really think he’s powerful enough to stop a plane crash?”

“Yup.
He might even be competent enough not to cause one in the first place.”

Take-off
from SFO was remarkably smooth. And when the plane had been in the air for
about twenty minutes, Bryn came strolling into the cabin. “Can I offer anyone a
beverage? Magazine? Nuts?”

“Oh,
you’re definitely nuts,” Joey said. “Did you seriously just leave a person
who’s afraid of flying alone in the cockpit to
fly the plane
?”

“I
did. I even blindfolded him. Soon as I did that, he started acting on instinct
and then it all clicked into place for him. Allie’s a brilliant pilot, he’s
been flying almost as long as there have been planes.” Bryn looked very pleased
with himself, and Joey jumped up and rushed into the cockpit to check on
Alastair.

Joey
was back two minutes later. “He’s doing fine. He took the blindfold off so he
could read the gauges.” He took his seat and picked up a copy of Sports
Illustrated, but instead of reading it, he glared at Athos over the top of it.

I
got up and went to the cockpit, where I found Alastair perfectly tranquil
behind the controls. He pulled the headphones off and hung them around his neck
when he saw me and smiled as he said, “Turns out I can fly a plane.”

“It’s
bizarre that you can do this without your memory,” I said as I gingerly slipped
into the co-pilot’s chair, being careful not to touch anything.

“It’s
just like Bryn said, I can do it if I don’t really think about it. I must have
flown a lot, because it really is second nature to me.”

I
looked out the windshield at the black and misty night. It made me shiver a
little, and I pulled my feet up onto the chair and wrapped my arms around
myself.

Seeing
this, Alastair said, “You really don’t like flying either, do you?”

“I
don’t mind flying. It’s the crashing I could do without,” I said with a
half-smile. “This is only the second time I’ve flown. The first was when Joey,
Augustine and I went to L.A. to rescue you. Bryn chartered this same type of
plane then, too. Only, that time he let the pilot stay.”

Joey
appeared in the doorway after a few minutes and handed me a navy blue v-neck
sweater. “The pilot left this behind. If you want to, you could change into it.
Then you could give Studly McSteroid his shirt back.”

“Thanks,”
I said. “And you know, I’m pretty sure half-angels don’t need steroids.” I
unknotted the t-shirt and took it off while both guys looked away to give me
privacy, and pulled on the sweater.

“Whatever,”
Joey said. “He’s a total nug, and the sooner we ditch him the better.”

“I
like him,” I said. “I really think he’s a good guy. You should trust my
judgment on this.”

“Uh,
no. You somehow even tolerate Augustine. Your judgment is clearly
questionable.”

I
ignored that and asked, “How’s Bryn doing? He seems to have perked up quite a
bit.”

“He’s
using this trip to distract himself,” Joey said, “but I know he’s still really
upset. Philippe meant the world to him. Although I kind of think….”

“What?”

“Well,
never tell Bryn I said this, but I kind of think it’s not the worst thing in
the world that those two broke up.”

“What
are you talking about? They were in love!”

“I’m
just saying.” Joey lowered his voice and said, “Philippe wasn’t the most
attentive boyfriend. He’d take off for weeks, sometimes months at a time and
leave Bryn all alone. Then he’d breeze back into town for a week or two, and
Bryn would be so happy. But before you knew it, off he’d go again.”

“Well,
but still.”

 “That’s
not all,” Joey said. “I always thought…well, this is a terrible thing to say,
but it seemed like Philippe was into Bryn’s money a little too much. He
certainly enjoyed jetting around the world and spending it by the bucket load.
I mean, I’m sure he loved Bryn, and I know he was fascinated by his magical abilities.
Just…well, not enough to ever stick around for very long. Bryn would probably
literally kill me if he heard me badmouthing his ex, but I just always thought he
deserved better.”

I
shook my head in disbelief. “But when I saw them together, there was so much
tenderness, so much love between them. And besides, it couldn’t have been for
the money, because Philippe was obviously wealthy. I saw his family’s estate in
France.”

“Bought
for them by Bryn,” Joey said. “Look, like I said, there was love there. I just
didn’t like the fact that he neglected Bryn.”

“You
heard why Philippe left, didn’t you?” I asked Joey.

“Yeah.”

“Why
would he react like that? I mean, I get that he felt betrayed, but what he saw
wasn’t even real. Why was a remembered kiss enough to send him running?”

Joey
sighed and said, “Because of who Bryn was remembering. Philippe always felt
threatened by Augustine. Bryn and Gus go way, way back. I’ve never heard the
whole story, but I know they were deeply involved at some point. And clearly,
there’s still some sort of bond between the two of them.”

“Which
is why Augustine’s been taking care of Bryn these past few days,” I said. “And
I still think he should have come along, by the way. I think Bryn might go a
bit crazy when we get to Vegas, and Augustine could have looked out for him.”

Joey
knit his brows and said, “Gus knew he wasn’t welcome.”

“Not
by
you
, maybe.”

“Seriously
Lu, you’ve got to stop seeing Augustine just from the exterior. Sure, he looks really
innocent, and he’s acting like a saint these days. But don’t lose sight of who
he really is, or what he’s done.”

“I
didn’t mean
I
wanted him along. I meant Bryn probably did.” I looked out
the windshield for a few moments, but the view of hurtling through a black void
was kind of freaking me out. So I turned back toward Joey and asked, “What’s
Bryn doing right now, anyway?”

“When
I came up here, he was engrossed in conversation with Captain Crunches.”

“Huh?”

“You
know. Captain Crunches? Because he obviously does tons of sit-ups?” I rolled my
eyes, and Joey grinned and said, “My sense of humor is wasted on you.”

“
Anyway
,”
I said, “what are they talking about?”

Joey
shrugged. “They were speaking French, so I have no clue. Bryn seems to find him
really interesting for some reason, and not just because he’s a buff guy with
his shirt off.”

“He
called Athos a reader. He seemed surprised. Do you know what that means?”

“Bryn
was obviously surprised that someone that dumb looking knew how to read,” Joey said
with a smile. I sighed dramatically, and he added, “Joking. A reader is someone
who has an unusual sense of and relationship to time. It’s kinda hard to
explain. But like, a reader can look at you and tell you exactly how old you
are, to the minute. They can read histories in objects too, apparently. And
I’ve actually heard they can manipulate time. Nothing  major, just a few
seconds forward or back. I have to wonder about that one, though. Seems kinda
out there.”

“Bryn
was surprised to find that in a nephilim. He seemed to think it was pretty
unusual,” I said. As Joey and I were talking, I glanced at Alastair. He had the
headphones on again and was calm and focused, maybe more so than I’d ever seen
him, monitoring the incredibly complex control panels and occasionally making minute
adjustments to some of the gauges. He was in his element somehow.

“Is
it? I didn’t know that,” Joey said.

“It’s
beyond unusual. It should actually be impossible,” Bryn said from somewhere
behind us. I turned my head to watch him as he leaned against the door to the
cockpit, some sort of strong emotion churning in his dark eyes. “Just like it
should have been impossible for Alastair to survive the vampire transformation,”
he added.