Tempest of Vengeance (10 page)

Lash came down later, and paused in the
doorway, studying me. After so much time apart from him, it was odd
to feel him watching me again.

“What is it?” I asked, looking up at him from
my sewing. “Were the fish okay? I wasn’t sure what kind you liked
best, so I got trout—”

“They were good, Sar,” Lash said in a raspy
voice. “Thanks for getting them for me. I had to change badly. It
was a relief to be snake again.”

“How often do you need to change?” It was
hard for me to believe I’d known him so long, and never asked him
that. But how much did I know about him really? For all we’d
talked, he’d rarely talked about himself. I knew a lot about his
tastes in movies and books, but not too much else. Killer,
assassin, weresnake, part Spanish, had once eaten people, was born
back around 1900-something in Florida, had once—well, now
twice—been in jail, worked construction in his youth, loved
sex/good in bed, and liked to hide his emotions. That about summed
it up. Oh, and seemed to still want to get in my pants, maybe.

“I like to do it every week or so,” Lash
said, looking at me with interest. “I can’t do it too much more
than that, because I can’t guard Dev as well as a snake as I can as
human.”

I got up and went over to him, touching his
arm gently. “Would you like me to make you something to eat? Eggs?
Bacon? Pasta?”

Lash reached out for me in a deft movement,
pulling me close and embracing me tightly.

“Lash—” I began hesitantly.

“Shh,” he hissed. “Don’t talk. Let me hold
you, and breathe in the scent of you, Sar.”

I hugged him to me, going silent. He held me
for about ten minutes, breathing deeply, his arms tight around me.
But it wasn’t a sexual hug. It was a hug of recovering something
that he’d been apart from for a long time that he cared for,
something that had been lost but was now found.

I realized abruptly why he seemed to look so
rough to me. Something was pricking my cheek, where it rested
against his face. I looked up in shock to see Lash’s lower face was
dark with stubble, around his chin, and his upper lip. I gaped at
him.

“Has it really been that long since you’ve
seen a man close up?” he said, grinning widely. “I have something
else to show you then, little girl.”

“Why didn’t you have stubble, those days we
were together?” I asked, unable to restrain my smile.

“I shaved,” Lash said, quietly giving me a
faint smile, mirth in his eyes. “Surely you’ve seen a man shave
before?”

“But Theo never had any—”

“I can’t say why he didn’t,” Lash said
flatly, his expression turning angry almost immediately. “It might
be that he wasn’t born were. But it’s true that for most weres, no
matter which animal, that our human hair grows very slowly, almost
like an animal’s. I only need to cut my hair every three months or
so. It grows only an inch in about that time. It’s the only thing
that doesn’t regenerate on us easily. And my facial hair grows just
as slow.”

That hadn’t been true for Theo. His hair grew
as fast as mine did.

“But I’ve never seen any of the foxes with
beards, or anything,” I said, disbelief still strong in my voice.
“Everyone’s always been clean-shaven, always. Frankly, I didn’t
think weres could grow facial hair for some reason.”

Lash seemed to shake himself a little, and
his next words were missing an angry tone. “It’s true that most
weres don’t like facial hair,” he said thoughtfully. “Vince once
said it like this: if you can be covered with fur as an animal,
when you are human, you want to feel human. That means smooth, bare
skin.”

“Why are you suddenly growing a...beard, a
guess?” I didn’t see sideburns, but maybe they would take
longer?

“Just a goatee,” Lash said, laughing. “And a
short moustache. I’m not going for the mountain man look.”

I just looked at him, still trying to get my
mind around the concept. This was going to take some getting used
to.

“For a change,” Lash said, laughing a little
at my expression. “Devlin said he was going to do it, too, though
he can easily go back and forth, when he renews his body with
blood. And it seemed like a good idea, in jail. I didn’t want to be
too pretty in there.”

“
It’ll take some getting used to,” I
teased. “But it suits you.”

“I’m also tired of looking so young,” Lash
said, and his face broke into a grin. “God, I’d never have thought
I’d hear myself say those words again! But it’s true. Some of the
clients I met when I first got back from Florida didn’t believe I
was the ‘real’ Lash. This might help add a few years onto my
face.”

It was true that he looked rougher, even with
just the 1/3 of an inch of growth on his face. But he was still
handsome, and he still looked only about twenty-five, if that.

“Do you not like it?” he said, rubbing his
cheek gently on mine. “Am I too scratchy?”

“It looks good on you,” I said softly,
rubbing him back. “I’m just glad you’re back.”

“I’m glad to be back,” he said, locking his
dark eyes on mine. “And glad to see you.”

He looked into my eyes, and I knew he was
going to kiss me, just as I knew I wasn’t going to stop him.

Chapter
Four

We heard a throat clear. Lash and I looked
over to see Devlin standing in the doorway.

Devlin moved past me to Lash, gripping his
upper arm. “I’m glad you’re b—”

Lash reached out and hugged Devlin close to
him, much as he had hugged me. Devlin hugged him back hard, so hard
that Lash let out a uncomfortable hiss.

Devlin let him go after a minute had passed,
and stepped back. “I’m glad to have you back,” he said, his voice
emotional. “These past few weeks have been hell.”

“I’m sorry about Danial.” There was real
regret in Lash’s voice, and a trace of guilt.

Devlin nodded, his golden eyes serious. “So
am I. But we all warned him, Lash.”

“So we did,” Lash said in a cold tone. He
didn’t look at me, his eyes focused on Devlin.

“We need to talk. Sar, will you excuse us?”
Devlin said, his eyes locked on Lash.

“Sure. Lash, I made you some cookies. They’re
on the counter, help yourself.”

Devlin rolled his eyes, but Lash shot me a
happy look, and then he shut the door behind them.

Leaving them to work out whatever was going
on between them, I went back to my sewing, intending to work for
another hour on my quilt. I’d gotten the rows sewed together, and
was almost done pinning the whole front onto the batting and back
of the quilt. Now for the hard part: sewing each square down to
anchor it. It would’ve been quicker if I’d used batting the sewing
machine could sew through, but I wanted this to be both a
meaningful gift, and also a warm one. It was simply true that a
quilt made with regular batting that a machine could sew wouldn’t
be very warm, unless I used polar fleece squares. But sewing it by
hand one square at a time was going to be a huge undertaking, and I
couldn’t face the daunting task of beginning that this afternoon.
Tomorrow would be soon enough.

I finished up the pinning, and began thinking
to myself as I tidied up my sewing room. It was early afternoon.
Maybe Lash could be convinced to join me for dinner. I should also
go find out where Venus was too, and check on her. I was worried,
if I lost track of her for longer than a few hours, even knowing
Serena, Rip, or Titus was with her twenty-four-seven, and she
wasn’t allowed outside at all.

I checked the ballroom first, and sure
enough, Serena was there playing with Venus.

“She’s winning at ‘Dark Tower’,” Serena said
with a smile, and Venus preened happily. She looked so much like
her father I had to laugh. Seeing how happy she was, I was glad I’d
helped Theoron go through the toys and books that Elle and he no
longer needed back in the late summer. At the time, I’d needed a
diversion from my last days of pregnancy. And I’d thought to save
them for Devon.

But Devon wouldn’t be using any of them now.
Devon was dead.

I wiped away my instant tears, and told
myself to think about the child I still had alive, who needed me. I
went over and sat down beside her. “You want some dinner?” I said,
giving her a kiss. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m not stopping now,” she said loftily.
“I’m winning!”

I cut my eyes to Serena, hiding my smile.

“We ate already,” Serena said gently. “T
brought us some takeout when he saw me earlier, and he got extra
for her. I tried some first, to make sure it was safe for her to
eat.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, knowing
what she was referring to by saying T had come to see her, so I
just gave her a smile, and said thanks. By the looks of the game,
Serena would be here another two hours at least. I kissed Venus
again, and told Serena that I was going to get some dinner, and to
come find me if she needed to take a break.

“I’m okay. Better than okay,” Serena said,
and there was a note in her voice I wasn’t familiar with.
Is she
getting over Nick finally, and falling for T?
I didn’t want to
ask. I just smiled, and went back the way I’d come, past my sewing
room. I stopped when I noticed that a light was still on inside,
then gave a sigh of self-recrimination. As usual, I’d shut off the
overhead light, and forgotten the smaller light by the door. I shut
off the light, and closed the door behind me, and walked to the
kitchen. But no one was there.

I was a little hungry, but I didn’t really
want to eat alone. I’d go see if I could find Lash, or even Dev.
Dev wouldn’t eat with me, but he’d kept me company a lot these last
weeks while I ate. And sometimes he’d gotten some more of those
spells from Titus so he could join me for a little nibble of
whatever I was eating.

I walked upstairs, because I heard faint
music. Rip was standing before Lash’s door. I looked at him oddly,
as it looked like he was guarding it.

“Hi, Sarelle,” Rip rumbled.

“Is Lash in there?” I said, and he nodded.
Then he moved aside.

I deduced that Lash must be alone, and not
with a woman, because otherwise he wouldn’t have let me in. I went
in, and was enveloped in smoke. And it wasn’t cigarette smoke.

Lash was in bed, on top of the covers, lying
with a T shirt on, and his jeans, smoking a joint. His weapons were
beside the bed, within reach. I looked over at him, but he took no
notice of me. He must have been stoned; there was enough smoke here
to make my eyes water. Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels”
was playing on a state of the art stereo system. Lash had set it to
repeat, and as I came in the song finished, and started again. Lash
took another drag, and looked over at me.

“What do you want?” he asked tersely, blowing
out a smoke ring.

I wanted to know if he smoked and did drugs
regularly, because I was so shocked to see him like this, but I
didn’t have time to say anything before he read my face.

“The last time I smoked pot was 1969,” Lash
said, his voice ill-tempered, taking another drag. “I just got out
of jail, and my best friend, his lover, and my niece are still
being hunted by the maniac who put me there, who is also now a
powerful vampire. I am having some downtime tonight to relax, and I
don’t want to hear any shit about it, Sar.”

Well, when he put it like that, what could I
say? “Drugs are bad”? I went over and sat next to him on the bed.
“I wanted to see if you’re hungry, if you wanted to eat dinner with
me.”

Lash looked over at me, and his expression
changed to one of mild affection. “In a little,” he said with
detachment. “That would be nice. For a while I want to not feel
anything, for it to be quiet and peaceful.”

I didn’t see how it could be quiet with Petty
singing loud enough to almost drown out our words, but maybe that
was just me.

Lash’s bathroom door opened, and I saw Devlin
come out with some more joints, about ten. He’d been in there
rolling them. To say I couldn’t believe it was too weak. He might
as well have come out with a tutu on. I gave him an appalled look
too, which he took wrongly, of course.

“Sar, I need to smoke a lot to feel even the
least effect,” Devlin said patiently, putting down the tray. “Now
if you would smoke a little, and let me drink your blood, I could
feel the effects much easier—”

I rolled my eyes at him, and he grinned. He
handed a joint to Lash, and Lash lit it off the end of his. Devlin
took a long drag, and lay back beside Lash on the bed, sighing. I
wasn’t sure what to do, so I sat there, watching them smoke.

“Put on ‘It’s Good to Be King’,” Devlin said
absently. “Sar does give a damn, and you know it.”

Lash shot a nasty look at him, but he got up,
and changed the CD track. Soon, the other song was playing and
repeating. I sat there for a moment, and realized I was getting
high just sitting there, from all the smoke.

“Want some?” Devlin offered. “We don’t do
this often, Sar. Like Lash said, every thirty years or so. Or after
being held captive somewhere. Neither of us likes being caged.”

“Fucking-A,” Lash said, taking another
hit.

“I can’t,” I said, looking over at him. “I’ll
cough. But thanks.”

“The age you are, you tried this before,
unless you were a narc,” Lash said, looking at me searchingly. “Are
you going to lie and say you didn’t inhale?”

I laughed a little, and got a rush from the
smoke I was drawing in. But a lot of that was because of the lack
of oxygen in the room, or so I told myself. “I inhaled a little,” I
said, giving him a smile. “But it never did anything for me,
really. I didn’t see the point. I get a better rush from allergy
decongestant, frankly.”

“So you just didn’t like it,” Lash said,
studying me. “Interesting.”

“Uninteresting,” Devlin said languidly,
taking another long drag. “I liked the nineteen-sixties better,
when everyone did drugs, and I could enjoy them easily, with so
many women offering free love—”