Shadow Rising (38 page)

“As you will. Thank you.” Smoky was always careful to be polite around her. He looked so much like his father that Hanna still had moments where she cringed when he got irritable.

“What about tonight, then?” Camille yawned as she folded up the board game and put it away. She looked tired.
Everybody looked tired. Even I felt weary. The ritual hadn’t been all that easy on me, and I still hadn’t told them what had gone down.

“I have something to tell you all.”

“Oh fuck, what now?” Delilah slumped in her chair, looking so forlorn I started to laugh.

“No, it’s not bad. At least I don’t think so. But it is going to affect me, and so you’d better know what’s going down.” And so I told them about the ritual and Roman, and breaking the bond with Morio, and the fact that Roman was now essentially my sire. When I was finished, the room was silent.

“Well, don’t all talk at once.” I let out a snort. “Nothing’s really that different.”

“Oh, really?” Camille turned. “You’ve bound yourself to him, you know? You were free of Dredge, and now you take on a sire that you didn’t have to.” She looked angry, but I could hear the edge of fear beneath her words.

“I had to do it—for your sake, for Morio’s sake, and for mine.” I turned to Morio. “Truthfully, tell me, do you feel pulled to me now?”

He shrugged. “No, and the difference was apparent the minute you walked in. It’s a relief, actually. There was this pressure…I couldn’t be around you and not keep noticing you. You were a distraction.”

Camille lowered her eyes. “You know that I understood.”

“He does, and so did I, but eventually things would come to a head. Morio, Roman said that having vampire blood injected into you like that will bring out your feral nature more. You’ve probably already experienced that.”

“Yes, I have, but it’s not so bad that I can’t control it.”

“Well, then…I did the right thing. And meeting Blood Wyne and finding out the origin of the vampires was interesting, to say the least. And informative.” Roman’s mother still freaked me out, but I had a feeling she and I would be interacting more as the years wore on.

“There’s nothing to be done about it now,” Smoky said. “She’s made the choice and been through the ritual and there’s no going back. But Menolly, next time, you might think about informing us before you decide to do something so drastic.”

Iris wouldn’t speak to me—she looked mad as hell, and I had the feeling that, as I had with contacting Ivana Krask, I’d royally pissed her off. She silently helped Hanna finish up the dishes and said her good nights, and she and Bruce went out to their trailer. The guys had worked up an alarm system so that if anything bothered them, we’d hear it loud and clear. Hanna began putting away the last of the dishes and making our evening tea.

I turned to the others. “Maybe you should turn in early. Get sleep. You’ll need rest tomorrow night.” I leaned against the counter.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Delilah gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and then she and Shade took off upstairs, taking their tea with them. Camille and her men sprawled out around the table but stared quietly at their cups.

Nerissa turned to me. “Come with me, love. As long as I’m staying here tonight again, let’s take advantage of the situation. I have some things I want to talk to you about.”

That didn’t sound good. The words
I want to talk to you
had never prefaced a comfortable conversation as long as I’d been alive.

We said good night to the others and trailed into the parlor. Nerissa pulled off her shoes and changed into her nightgown. I pulled off my boots, relieved to have an evening where I wasn’t out chasing monsters.

She curled up with the magazine and handed it to me, opening it to a Post-it-marked page. “What do you think?”

I stared at the arrangement. White roses and purple lilies, surrounded by fern fronds. “This is beautiful. I love it. Is this what you want? Because I’d be quite happy carrying that down the aisle.”

I racked my brain, trying to think of just what aisle we’d be walking down. We could get married here at the house, if necessary, but I didn’t want that and I knew that wouldn’t be enough for Nerissa. She deserved something special and I wanted her to have it.

“Why is Iris mad at me?” I put the magazine down and leaned back, watching the second hand on the clock circle round. There were so many things in this house I never
usually thought about. For instance, the clock—it had been an antique, bought from Rina’s store before the demons killed her.

How long ago it seemed that we’d first faced Bad Ass Luke, but in reality, only a year and a half had passed. But right now, it felt like a lifetime since we first discovered the demons were here, working for Shadow Wing. So much had happened since then.

“Can’t you figure it out?” Nerissa pulled her legs up into a lotus position on the sofa. She draped the blanket around her shoulders. “Iris and you have a special relationship—a special friendship. She’s terrified you’re going to be so reckless you’ll get yourself killed. And Iris doesn’t want to lose you.”

I stared at my feet, holding them out and wiggling my toes. “I didn’t think of it that way. I know what I’m doing—”

“Bullshit. Most of the time none of us know what we’re doing. We just stumble through the day, doing our best to get by without making fools of ourselves…without getting hurt. Or in our case—killed. So don’t give me any crap about
you know what you’re doing
. You’re no different than the rest of us, even if you do sink your fangs into people now and then.” She snickered, yawning so wide I could practically see her tonsils.

I stuck my tongue out at her, but after a minute conceded the argument. “I hate to lose, and you know it, but you’re right. I guess I’m just feeling my way through, doing what I think is best, but we can’t ever know until it’s over.”

“Now I have a question for you.” She paused, looking almost embarrassed.

“What is it? You can ask me anything and I’ll give you the most honest answer I can.”

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Now that you’re connected to Roman, do you think…will he use that to come between us?”

I ducked my head. “I talked to him about us. I asked him why he left during…well, our tryst. He told me that he thought he could handle it, but when he saw the way I looked at you, it reminded him too much of the one time he was truly in love. And that ended badly.”

“In other words, he wants you to look at him that way. And by being your sire…”

“No.”
I wasn’t sure why I was trying to protect Roman, but everybody expected the worst from him and so far, he’d been a great help to us. “He didn’t have to help us—none of the times he has. He’s under no obligation to us.”

Nerissa bit her lip, and a worried look crossed her face. “Okay, then. Do you think this will affect how you feel about me?”

Realizing that she was feeling insecure and even a little jealous, I slid across the sofa and took her hands. “Listen to me. Like you told me the other night,
I love you. I want to marry you.
I don’t love Roman, even if there is a bond between us now. I don’t want to marry Roman. I trust him on his word that he won’t try to come between us. Please, don’t let your fear push you away from me. Because that’s the only thing that can divide us—fear.” I kissed her fingertips and, as tears slowly trickled down her face, I kissed those, too.

She met my lips and took me in her arms, and we snuggled, silently, for the next half hour. Finally, she yawned again.

“I have to get up early tomorrow. I’d better sleep.”

“Rest, then, and don’t worry. Please, it just tears me up knowing you’re unhappy. I love the bouquets. And I’m working on finding us the perfect spot for our ceremony.” As I opened the door, I paused and looked back. “Nerissa…I’d give up almost everything for you. I’d give my life for you.”

She blew me a kiss, and I quietly slipped down to my lair, where I took a shower and pulled on a pair of the Happy Mo-kito Bat pajamas Delilah had bought me for Yule. A movement startled me and I looked up to see Misty jump on my bed. Unlike most living cats, Misty wasn’t afraid of me, and she came parading up the blankets to crawl on my stomach. I let her lie there, petting the ghostly fur as best as I could.

After a while, with still several hours to go till dawn, I began mulling over places to get married. There were a lot of beautiful parks and mansions around the area, but most mansions were booked well in advance.

As I mused over wedding plans, images from home kept creeping into my mind. And then,
I knew
.

The shores of Lake Y’Leveshan, near Y’Elestrial.
There were parks there that shimmered with dragonflies and flutternuts and singing torries. I could see it now—we could marry at the head of the lake, near the Erulizi Falls, which thundered down over the cliffs above. The splashing drops prismed the sunlight that sparkled through them, mirroring rainbows in a dizzying array across the water. It would be perfect, and Nerissa would love it. We’d have to get married after sunset, but she’d be able to walk the shores during the day, and the moonlight reflecting on the water would be almost as beautiful as the sun.

I grabbed a notebook and began making lists of things we’d have to do, and people we’d have to contact, and the logistics involved. I got so involved in the planning that I didn’t notice how much time was passing.

As a deep tug began to yank me down to sleep, I realized it was almost sunrise. I set the notebook on my nightstand, and, giving Misty one final pat, I slid under my covers and into my dreams. And for once, they were simply that—dreams, filled with sunlight and laughter and images of my beautiful, lovely Nerissa.

Charlotine arrived on time. I didn’t like her any better than I had when I’d first met her. She didn’t offer any pleasantries to the others, but to me, she at least said hello. She seemed more subdued than she had when I’d met her last.

Mallen sure knew how to pick them. I would never again give his taste in friends much credence. Perhaps she wasn’t his friend, though, but just someone he had to call in for work now and then.
That
I could believe.

We’d armed ourselves as best as possible. Because the degas were susceptible to water and to sound, I’d had Camille go out and buy high-pitched dog whistles for everyone going. Vanzir had assured me that would work on them to some degree.

And Vanzir had rigged up some sort of sonic shrieking device. I had no clue what it was, but it was battery-operated and let out an alarm that would outscreech a Bean Sidhe.

Smoky and Shade had spent the day calling in favors and were now the proud owners of several water-based spell scrolls. Neither would let Camille even touch the parchment
they were written on. She’d still been complaining about it when I woke up from the day’s slumber.

Thirty minutes past sunset, we were heading out. Smoky carried Vanzir and me through the Ionyc Seas, and Shade carried Charlotine, who had put up a mild fuss about it until I threatened to stuff her in a duffel bag and let him carry her that way.

We stepped out of the mists to find ourselves standing near the trail leading up to the cave. In this area, the woods were thick enough to get lost in. Thick enough to stash bodies in. Thick enough to hide a cave frequented by demons. The timber was tall and the hiking trails not for amateurs. Boulders dotted the trail, and small rocks, and loose branches that had blown off the trees during recent windstorms.

Charlotine moved closer to me and I readied myself for an assault—just on principle—but she merely crossed her arms, rubbing her forearms as if she were cold. “I find the woodlands over here disconcerting.”

“They can be. The forests are wild and not very friendly. You aren’t elf, are you?” I couldn’t place her. She didn’t look elfin, nor did she look Fae, but she came from Elqaneve.

“Perhaps because I’m not.” She glanced to the side, and when I remained silent, she shrugged. “I was a sorceress from the Southern Wastes. I moved to the north because I grew weary of the constant sand. I was tired of the testosterone wars between the various sorcery guilds. I wanted a better life. So I offered my services to Queen Asteria, and she took me in.”

“How did you become a vampire?” It wasn’t a polite question to ask, but I wanted to know who we were dealing with.

“Come on, let’s get moving.” Shade took the forefront, and Charlotine and I fell in behind him. Smoky and Vanzir guarded the rear.

Charlotine lowered her voice as we moved along, skirting the roots that were growing across the path. “I chose to become one. I asked Raleesha, mother of a nest, to turn me, and she did.”

I had never understood those who chose to be turned. Death wasn’t something I embraced, but being a vampire seemed like stopping in time—I constantly feared stagnation.

“Listen to me, and listen good. You blamed me for killing my sire. And I did. But you chose the turning. I didn’t have a choice. I was tortured and scarred all over my body. I screamed so loud I lost my voice. Dredge raped me to the point of where he ripped my genitals. And then, he forced the turning on me and sent me home to kill my family.
I didn’t have a choice
, so don’t you ever judge me again.”