Cybermancy (31 page)

“Let’s.”

It did indeed, a huge room on the level above. Instead of marble, the bedroom was carpeted with living moss.
Likewise the room’s twin balconies, one of which overlooked the bay, while the other faced the mountains.
It was full dark now, and there was not a light to be seen anywhere on the slopes or beach. For all we could tell, there wasn’t another living intelligence anywhere beyond the bounds of Raven House. Stars sprinkled the sky like salt spilled on black velvet, and the Milky Way made a great pale stripe from horizon to horizon.

“This is gorgeous,” said Cerice, from the edge of the bay-side balcony.

I put an arm around her waist. “So are you.”

She laughed lightly and kissed the side of my neck. “That’s very sweet, my dear. But I’m a complete mess at the moment. I saw what looked like a world-class bath through the door over there.” She pointed with her chin. “Want to clean up before we get dirty again? I could really use someone to scrub my back.”

“If you insist.”

I needed a good scrubbing, too. It had been a long time between baths, and I’d been scared silly, shot at, and dropped in a spirea bush since the last one. Cerice led the way into what turned out to be a truly magnificent bathroom. Apparently my subconscious, or whatever part of my psyche had led us to this place, liked its comforts.

A marble tub almost big enough to swim laps in was partially sunk into the floor in the corner, and someone or something had filled it to the brim with steaming water. Three wide steps led up to its edge, and there was another inside to allow you to ease into the depths. A couple of sinks occupied a countertop opposite. A big glass booth in the corner held
a half
dozen showerheads. The toilet sat in its own smaller room beyond, out of sight of the bathing amenities.

Cerice dipped a hand in the tub. “Perfect!” She started to strip off her clothes.

When she caught me watching, she grinned and started moving slower on the buttons of her red silk blouse, making a show of it. I felt myself hardening in response. Once she had her shirt fully open, she coyly turned away from me and let it fall to the floor, exposing the white skin of her back. Cerice is as tall as I am and very slender, with a runner’s lines, and her back is a work of art. So was her chest, clearly visible in several of the mirrors. Her breasts are small and high, with pale nipples and clearly visible veins running through them, and you can count her ribs from fifteen feet.

Cerice found my eyes in the mirror and grinned. “You like what you see?”

“I always have.”

“I’m glad.”

With one smooth move she slipped her tights and the panties underneath over her hips and down to the floor, then stepped clear. Her long legs are hard with muscle, her buttocks likewise, an athlete’s figure despite the hours spent sitting in front of a computer. She turned to face me again, crossing the distance between us in a few quick steps.

“Aren’t you going to join me?” she asked, her lips inches from mine.

“Of course.”
I put my hands on her hips and pulled her closer still.

“Well then.” For a moment she pressed her whole body against mine, catching my lower lip ever so gently in her teeth. “Why don’t you get a move on?” She pulled away and skipped up the steps to the tub, dipping a foot in. “Still perfect.” She gently lowered herself into the water, then flipped over so that her chin was resting on the lip and gave me a flatly appraising look.
“Your turn.”

I was very conscious of her eyes as I pulled my T-shirt over my head and took off my boots, actually blushing as I unzipped the fly of my leathers. Being watched felt even sexier than watching Cerice had.

As I stepped up onto the edge of the bath, Cerice rolled onto her back, looking up the length of my body from a point almost between my feet.

“Also perfect,” she said, with a wink. “Or close enough for my tastes at any rate.”

As I slid in beside her, Cerice ran a hand from my ankle to my shoulder. Then she turned her back and handed the soap over her shoulder.

I washed her slowly and thoroughly. Then she washed me in like manner. We just sat for a little while after that, letting the hot water soothe away our aches and completing the process of bringing my knee back to as good as it was ever likely to be again. Then we made gentle love on the edge of the bath, getting water and soap everywhere. Once we’d cleaned up again, we headed out onto the bay-side balcony, where clouds had eaten most of the stars. There was no one else around, and the night air was still warm, so we hadn’t bothered to dress.

“I wish this could last forever,” said Cerice, leaning forward against the railing.

“Me too.”
I stood behind her, my arms around her waist, my chin resting on her shoulder. “But it can’t.”

“No, it can’t.”

Something about her tone made me reach up and run a finger along her cheek. It came away wet.

“You’re crying.”

“I’m happy.
And sad.
And frightened.
I don’t want to let this moment go, because I don’t know what will happen next. But I know I have to.”

“I
have
to find Persephone and try to save the mweb and Shara,” I said, wanting to make it better somehow.

Cerice sighed. “Better make that,
we
have to find Persephone. After all, Shara’s my familiar.”

I smiled and squeezed her tighter. “All right,
we
have to find Persephone.”

“Better. But we don’t have to do it right this instant, do we? It can wait till morning?” She pressed her hips back against me.

“It can wait till morning,” I agreed.

“Good.” She reached back between us, guiding me.

As I entered her, it began to rain gently. The storm matched its tempo to ours, rising slowly to a wild pitch and ripping the darkness with lightning as we orgasmed. The air had cooled, but we had not, and we took our pleasure a third time there on the moss that carpeted the balcony in the pounding rain. Finally, exhausted, we toweled off and fell into bed.

If my illusions about a benevolent Fate hadn’t been erased long ago, they would have crashed to ruin with my awakening. Instead of the Haemun-served breakfast in bed I’d been hoping for, the first thing to meet my bleary eyes was Melchior’s sour expression. He was sitting cross-legged on the blankets between me and Cerice.

“About damn time,” he said, grumpily. Then he hopped to his feet and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Shara, they’re up!”

“No, we’re not,” said Cerice, from somewhere under the pillows. “Go away. We don’t want any.”

“Cerice says they’re not hungry! Tell Haemun don’t hold breakfast!” He glared at me. “The faun was going to bring it to you here in bed, but I knew you’d never get up if that happened.”

He looked smug, so I yanked on the blankets, pulling them out from under him and sending him ass-over-end.

“Cancel that!” I yelled to Shara. “Tell him we’ll be down in five.”

“Damn goblins,” said Cerice. But she sat up, too. “Don’t know enough to respect their betters.”

“Betters!” squawked Melchior, getting back onto his feet. “I like that. You two couldn’t figure out how to code an if-then set without the help of the true better half of your cyberpartnerships.”

I held a hand up to measure Melchior’s height.
“Half?
More like ten percent, and I wouldn’t be so quick to declare which end of the partnership carries most of the load if I were you.”

“
Short jokes is
it? From the man who designed me this size? Ha, ha. I’ll get you for that,” he said. “You know that, right?”

“We do,”
said
Cerice, “but not before I get
you
for waking me up.” She yanked the covers again to tip Melchior. Before he could right himself, she flipped them over him and rolled him up into a little blanket burrito. Then in the sweetest tone imaginable she whispered, “See you at breakfast.”

Haemun, or some as-yet-unseen functionary of Raven House, had carried off our clothes and left behind a pair of very nice kimono-style silk robes. Mine was green with a black raven on the back. Cerice’s was red with a golden phoenix. After slipping into them, we headed downstairs.

Breakfast was laid out on the same table where we’d eaten dinner the previous night. The house shaded us from the rising sun, and the view over the bay was even more gorgeous than it had been then. The long, rolling waves practically cried out for surfing, and I wished very much that we could have given it a shot.

This time Haemun had put out four place settings, two with bar chairs to bring the goblins up to the height of the table. The spread was lavish, with cinnamon toast, crepes, sausages, and tons of fresh fruit including papaya, pineapple, slices of cantaloupe and honeydew, and pomegranate. There was also some sort of delightful egg casserole involving bacon, mushrooms, and spinach. For drinks he provided coffee and tea, milk, and three kinds of juice—passion fruit, guava, and orange. I had a bit of everything, as did Cerice and Melchior.

Shara looked tempted right up until he brought out the fruit plate. At that point she let out a small sigh, hopped down from her chair, and unplugged an extension cord from a lamp. Dragging it back to the table, she whistled a short spell that capped two of her claws with copper and stuck them into the plug’s end. I took it from Shara’s actions that this world had also been cut off from the mweb but didn’t ask because I didn’t want to put her on the spot about her behavior.

The food tasted fabulous, and very little conversation occurred while we paid it our proper respects, just polite grunts and requests to pass this or that item. I’d just started in on a second cup of coffee when Melchior caught my eye.

“I hate to end this delightful little idyll in
de land
of denial, but the mweb is dying, and we need to get moving.”

I sighed. “You’re right, Mel. As much as I’d like to stay here, it’s time. Do we want to try to put together a plan, or should we just blunder along like we always do?”

“Why mess with success?” he answered.

Cerice smiled sweetly. “I notice your limp is better this morning.”

“‘A hit, a very palpable hit,’ ” said Shara.

I winced and nodded.
“Point taken.
But I’m not sure that there’s much to plan. We go from here to the shores of the Styx and ask Dave to get us in contact with Persephone, or to take her a message if he can’t do that.”

“What would a message like that say?” asked Shara. “‘Sorry you’ve been condemned to eternal damnation here in scenic Hades, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to mess up everybody else’s life, too. Please call off your virus.’ I’m sure that’ll work. After all, it’s not like she comes from a family willing to call down an unending winter to get her out of there.”

Melchior turned to look at her. “Aren’t you just in a pissy mood this
morning.
”

“I’m
sorry,
maybe it’s having my soul ripped in half that’s put me off my feed.” She closed her eyes for a moment, exposing how dark the purple hollows underneath had grown. “I really am sorry. That was uncalled for. I guess I just feel like shit, and I’m scared none of this will work. Or maybe I’m just scared to be going back to the borderlands of Hades. I didn’t much like being
dead,
and even the half-life I’ve got now is precious. But I don’t know what else to do either, so I guess I’ll be coming along.”

I met Shara’s eyes. “You’re right. Convincing Persephone to give up her scheme to break free of Hades is going to be hard, maybe even impossible. The odds are this will all end badly. We still have to try, or at least I do. Not just because the Fates and two out of three Furies are likely to use this as an excuse for payback. Even if I could stay here safely forever, I’d go.”

I stood up and started to pace. “The mweb is the center of my family’s existence.
My
whole
family, not just the Fates, but all the children of the Titans.
We need it. And on a less noble note, I need it. I’m a hacker, a computer-centered sorcerer, and I’ll do what I have to to keep it going. If that means taking on Persephone, or Cerberus, or even Hades himself, so be it.”

“I could say I was doing it for love,” said Cerice. “But that’s not my only reason. We’re in the same boat on the hacking front, a boat that will soon be up that proverbial creek if we can’t get this fixed.”

“I’m in, too,” said Melchior. “That leaves us back at the question of a plan.”

“Go to the Styx,” I said. “Talk to Cerberus. I can’t see my way past that point.
Too many variables.
Anybody else?”
Cerice shook her head. Melchior shrugged. I looked at Shara.

“Oh, let’s just get it over with.”

That just left getting changed and going. “Haemun,” I called. “Are you around here someplace?”

The faun appeared from deeper within the house. “I am indeed.” This was the first I’d seen of him this morning, and I couldn’t help but notice that today’s aloha shirt was even more garish than yesterday’s.

“Do you know what happened to our clothes?”

“Of course.”
He smiled,
then
looked expectant.

“Would you care to share that information?” I asked, trying not to roll my eyes. Why was everyone in my life born difficult?