Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter
Forty-Five
Meg
I hit the ground with a great thud and promptly land
on my ass in the mud. It was a clear night back on Earth, but here it’s day and
we’re in the middle of a storm.
The demon looms over me. “Not the most graceful of landings,
Your Highness, but it will do.” He walks on without offering to lend a hand.
“Good luck.”
I scramble up and look around. I’m in the forest. The door
closes roughly six feet above me. No wonder it’s hard to find. It’s even harder
on this side of the door since there is no handy set of stairs to climb up. I
try to shield my eyes from the rain as I looked up the path. It looks like the
storm is even worse up ahead.
The demon seems to have disappeared again, and I’m alone in
the forest with no sense of direction. I run for the shelter of a thick tree.
It’s less wet beneath the tree’s wide canopy. I need to get in contact with
Dante, and there’s only one way I can do it. I reach into my pack, searching
for the vampire computer. I go through the bag three times before admitting the
truth.
“Bastard.” It’s obvious the human version of Dante helped
himself to a souvenir of my visit. He’s taken the only way I have to
communicate, and my heart constricts. I have to find another way.
I hear rushing water to my left and know I’m in luck. The
village was built to take advantage of the river. I can follow it, and I’ll be
able to see houses and docks when I get close.
I repack my duffel bag and prepare for a potentially long
walk. There’s nothing else to do. I can’t sit here, and Human Dante has taken
away my ability to call his vampire counterpart.
I trudge to the river and realize I have another decision to
make. I have no idea where I am in relation to the village. It could be north
or south of where I stand now. I could walk for days, only to discover I went
the wrong way. What am I supposed to do? Any wasted time could cost my
husbands. I stare through the rain, trying to see if there’s anything familiar.
The only times I spent in the forest, I was either righteously pissed off at
Beck or sleeping peacefully in his arms. I certainly didn’t memorize landmarks.
Ahead in the distance, I spot a beautiful horse standing in
the water, and my decision is made.
“Screw you, you cannibal horse,” I shout at the kelpie and
turn the opposite direction. It was enough of a sign for me. Decision made, I
begin to jog.
Half an hour later, I’m still cursing that damn horse
because I seem to be walking toward the intensifying storm. The rain pelts me.
There isn’t an inch of me that’s dry. I shiver as I hike on.
After a few minutes, I hear a magnificent sound. It starts
like a slight whir, and there’s no mistaking its man-made nature even over the
sounds of the storm. Well, there’s no mistaking its vampire-made nature.
I stop and turn toward that sound. It isn’t more than thirty
seconds before I can see the bike in the distance, getting closer and closer.
It moves fast, hovering over the soaked ground. The rider is outfitted for the
storm in head-to-toe water-repellant gear. Even his eyes are covered with
goggles. He steers the bike right toward me.
Even before he lifts the mask on his helmet, I know who he
is. I wasn’t able to find him, but he’s found me.
“Get on.” Dante shouts over the noise of the storm. “We need
to talk.”
Twenty minutes later, I gratefully accept the towel
Dante hands me. Like everything else about Dante’s little camp, the towel is
high-tech. I rub it over my hair and suddenly, it’s dry. I don’t question it.
I’m simply happy to be warm. The tent is toasty and dry, with soft lanterns
giving the room a nice glow.
“Where the hell have you been?” Dante asks, pouring himself
a Scotch. “Do you have any idea how bad things have gotten while you were doing
whatever it was you were doing?”
“Well, I didn’t go willingly.” I rub my hands together
before shrugging out of my sweater. “Someone paid the Planeswalker to take me
home.”
Dante’s mouth hangs open slightly as he stares at me. “You
went to the Earth plane?”
“And then found my way home. I didn’t even need a demon to
help me, though I did my return trip with one.”
Dante sighs. “You came back.”
“Of course I came back,” I reply. How could he believe I
would abandon them? “I love my husbands. I never wanted to leave them. Now,
tell me everything. Are they alive? Has the hag been able to hurt them? How did
you find me?”
Dante looks slightly amused as I pelt him with questions.
“As far as I know, they’re still protected. I can’t get close. The storm is
horrible. It’s kept the hag away, though she’s closing in. Once that blonde
bitch gets into their hidey-hole, she’ll be able to slit their throats and
there’s nothing they can do about it. As for how I found you, I planted a
locator device on your back that first day we met. Remember, I gave you a big
hug and slapped you on the back? The locator device is small and burrows into
the skin. I had a feeling you would be trouble.”
“You LoJacked me?”
Dante shakes his head, seemingly unconcerned. “I don’t know
what that is. However, I did make sure I could keep tabs on you. Don’t mention
it to Ci, but I LoJacked him a long time ago. I was too scared to try
it with Beck. I do it to the people I care about. I like to know where they
are.”
“So where are Beck and Ci?” I choose to set aside Dante’s
questionable actions for now. Those locators proved fortuitous any way I look
at it.
“About a half a mile north. I don’t know what happened, but
the twins took refuge in a small cabin in the middle of the forest. It’s
covered with vines, and let me tell you, those vines have thorns. I tried to
hack my way in while the hag was sleeping. The plants took exception.”
I pull off my jeans and shirt and run the towel across my
skin, marveling at the way it instantly dries me. “That’s Cian’s doing. He came
into his power shortly before that asshole demon hauled my butt back to Earth.”
“Cian’s a Green Man?” Dante lisps a little around his fangs.
I throw him a dirty look because I know what the fangs coming out mean. “What
do you expect? You’re half-naked. It would be rude not to get horny. Now tell
me about Ci.”
I roll my eyes and accept that Dante is just Dante. I move
to my duffel bag and am pleased to find that everything I own is not soaking
wet. “All that legendary stuff about royal symbiotic twins is true.” I put on
the soft, suede-like pants the village women sewed for me, and my shirt and
vest. “Cian is a Green Man. Beck can control storms.”
“Well, he’s not doing a good job of it, is he?” Dante asks,
referencing the raging storm outside. “It’s been like this since I got here a
week ago. I came when your locator signal went off-line, and I couldn’t get the
computer I gave you to answer me.”
“About that, I’m going to need another one of those,” I
admit. “Your human self stole mine, the little weasel. I have no doubt he is,
even now, plotting something ruthless. He had that look about him.”
“Nice,” Dante says, showing off his fangs. “So you met the
human version of me. How hot was I? I was really rich, but, like, on my own,
right? I see myself as a self-made man.”
“You were sad and sweet and potentially very selfish.” I
strapped my shoulder holster on. “Your life wasn’t as good there as you have it
here. I’m actually worried about what you, the other you, is going to do with
that computer.”
Dante looks vaguely pleased. “Probably something incredibly
evil. I always thought I’d make a good super villain.”
I check the .357. The weight feels good in my hands.
“Speaking of villains, tell me the blonde bitch who’s trying to kill my
husbands is Liadan.”
“Is that the chick Beck’s been banging?” He quickly corrects
himself. “I mean was banging before he met his one true love and started being
completely faithful?”
I should have expected Dante will always back his cousin up.
“You’re a good wingman. And yes, I’m talking about Beck’s ex-honey. Please tell
me I get to kill her.”
Dante takes a long gulp of Scotch. When he looks back, I see
the fear in his clear eyes. “If she doesn’t kill you first. She’s quite
horrible. I saw her face, her real face. I wish I didn’t have to see it again.”
I place the .357 Magnum in the holster and reach for the
jacket the vampire offered me. It’s too big, but it will keep me dry. “You
don’t have to. You point me in the right direction, and I’ll take care of her.
It’s my responsibility, not yours. You’ve done your job.”
Those clear green eyes roll back. “Stuff it, sweetheart.
Don’t give me the lone warrior routine. I’m still a freaking vampire, and I
have my pride. Besides, my cousins would kick my ass if they found out I sent
their wife in to face a hag and her nasty cat while I stayed safe and dry in my
tent. I’m going with you, and that’s that. Now, since we’ve gone ahead and
acknowledged that we’re about to die, how about some end-of-the-world sex? If
we’re going out, we should go out with a bang and a really good orgasm.”
I pointedly zip up the jacket. “You’re worried Beck and Ci
will be upset if you send me in alone, but you think they’ll be okay with a
little infidelity?”
“It’s for a good cause,” Dante explains innocently.
“Besides, if they don’t understand and we happen to survive and they happen to
survive, then the ass-kicking I get will be totally worth it. And if you do
anal, that would make my impending death so much more meaningful.”
“I might shoot you myself,” I promise as I pull the hood up,
covering my head.
“What are you going to shoot me with?” Dante zips up his own
jacket. “And what was that cool-looking toy you hid in your jacket?”
I stop and stare at the vampire, trying to figure out if
he’s joking. “You don’t know what a gun is?”
“No.” Dante pulls the hood of his jacket over his red-gold
hair. “What does it do?”
If the vampires don’t have guns, then there’s no way Liadan
will know what’s coming.
“They kill people, my friend.” A deep satisfaction settles
inside my soul. Finally, I have the upper hand. “And here’s something even