Bite Marks (12 page)

Okay, well, if this is it
, I glanced down at the cat,
let’s do it up right.

I said, “Astral, as soon as I shoot, launch a grenade in the same direction. Let’s think airtime this go-around, okay? Imagine it’s burrito night at Crindertab’s.” She responded with her accordion dance. I gave her to the count of three and shot at the gnome farthest from me. A beat later she raised her butt and heaved. This toss reminded me of a second-grader’s softball pitch. One that bounces before it hits the plate.

“Really?” I spared her a disgusted glance. “I’m about to get wasted and you shit out another dud?” She looked up at me, her eyes crossed slightly as if somewhere in her circuits the ghost of a Siamese kitten lurked. Her tail twitched. And the grenade began to smoke. Bright blue. In the shape of a fist with the middle finger raised.

“Oh, Bergman,” I chuckled, “you didn’t.”

His voice came back to me, breathless from running. “You like the effect?” he asked. “I think I got the same shade as Ufran’s nose. At least, that’s what I was going for.” The smoke, thick as yogurt, allowed me to back down the tunnel to where it turned before one of the gnomes caught up to me. We shot at nearly the same time. Only I didn’t jump when the adrenaline surged. Or tighten my major muscles and forget to breathe.

I won the showdown. Later I might puke in reaction to the close call. Now I said, “Come on, Astral.” I turned and rammed full into Vayl. “Ow! Geez, you could’ve warned me!” He’d wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. Now he pulled me in closer. “You are the most spectacular woman I have ever met.”

My toes literally curled inside my boots as he dropped a light kiss on my lips. A breathless moment later he’d disappeared into the square, swallowed by the smoke. I heard a strangled scream.
Well, that takes
care of my prob—

Another cry. And another. It sounded like reinforcements had arrived. And not one of them had counted on confronting a vampire in the full rush of his power. We’d created exactly the kind of havoc a shaman couldn’t just shrug off. But we had to survive to make it work. We needed to get our asses out of here.

NOW!

I knew Vayl could feel my urgency. He’d come. But would it be too late?

I transformed Grief back into gun mode, hoping whoever built these caverns had shored them up California style. I went back into the cavern, stood with my back to the tunnel entrance, and stared hard into the smoke, straining to see my
sverhamin
. It was a role he took seriously if the next groan I heard was any clue. Well, he could protect me until cows crapped coal, I also had a part to play in this relationship. And as his
avhar
it was my duty not only to watch his back in the fight he was waging, but to get him out in as good a shape as he was when he went in.

There! A face swimming out of the mist. Long, knobby-ended nose. Skin the shade of stale marshmallows. A moment of recognition as we both realized we’d met the enemy. Blur of movement as he raised his gun. But I’d beat him before he knew we were competing. I blew him back into the smoke.

“Jasmine!”

“Vayl, stop playing! We gotta go!”

Rush of cold air as he came to my side. “I do not play,” he said as he wiped a droplet of blood from his lips.

“You were
eating
? A religious fanatic? Damn, don’t you have any taste?” Together we turned and ran down the tunnel. Moments later we heard the tromp of boots coming after us.

Still Vayl had the breath to say, “Your dinner before made me hungry. You should be thanking that little Ufranite. If not for him I might be asking you for a donation.”

“On second thought, snack on all the gnomes you like.” I didn’t mean it. I’d just begun sharing sheets with the guy and already I’d have given him anything he asked for. God forbid he ever figured it out. I also wouldn’t tell him that when he took my hand and his power jumped through me, giving me speed no human should master, I wanted to giggle like I had the first time I’d ridden the Rock-O-Plane at the county fair. I’d already embarrassed myself enough for one lifetime.

Vayl handed me my bolo. “I believe you dropped this.”

I hadn’t even realized how much I hated leaving it until my fingers tightened around the hilt.

“You cleaned it and everything! Vayl, this is… wow! Thanks!” For once I could tell exactly what was going on behind those amber eyes. So strange to have found another man who’d do anything to see me smile. I vowed never to take this one for granted.

We burst out of the illusionary door so quickly I’d have cracked my skull on the opposite wall if Vayl hadn’t pulled us to a sudden stop. Bergman, who’d been standing in the corner by the other door, moved forward. He held a bulging white sack whose writing I couldn’t read. But as soon as he threw the contents at the doorway I smelled the powdery grit of quick-drying concrete.

The door shimmered, twisted, and turned a putrid shade of yellow as the crete interacted with it. “What did you just do?” I asked.

“It’s a temporary blockade,” Bergman said.

“But… how did you know what to do?”

“I’d have been able to figure it out myself if I’d had the time. And RAFS. I mean, Astral,” he said defensively.

“Okay. I just wondered how—”

“I called the Agency’s warlock,” he finally admitted. “It was Vayl’s idea.” He frowned as he handed my boss his phone. “By the way, he doesn’t appreciate being called at seven a.m. when he didn’t get to bed until three. I thought he might frogify me through the receiver there for a minute.” Vayl shrugged. “As far as I know Sterling is not on assignment, which means his band probably had a gig last night. Do not worry.He is a decent sort, if somewhat moody.”

“Oh.” Bergman nodded, like that made sense. “Well, Sterling told me to get something that the wall would really be made of and throw it at the fake door while I said—huh. I can’t remember the words now. Anyway, he says it’s only a temporary stopper, but it’ll hold them long enough for us to get away.” Which was when we heard a series of thumps on the other side of the wall. Followed by shouts and cursing. Followed by prayers to Ufran for forgiveness for the cursing.

“Shouldn’t we go?” It was Tabitha, checking her watch and pacing at the top of the steps while Laal and Pajo showered big love on Jack, who withstood the hugs and tugs with his usual good humor.

I started to nod; then I noticed the celebration was missing a partier. “Where’s Cassandra?” As if I didn’t know.

My
sverhamin
came so close to me that I could feel his breath on my cheeks as he murmured, “I must confess I lied to you earlier. That second tunnel led to the basement of a church. She has taken refuge there until we return for her.”

“WHAT?”

Granny May grinned.
Nice acting, Jazzy. Brude is totally convinced.

Vayl kept his voice level, calm, and low enough that only Bergman, he, and I could hear. “She thought it best. And I agreed.”

I shrugged. “Sounds like a plan.” When I felt Brude step back from the conversation I smiled and nodded, said, “Guess we’ll have some good stories to trade next time we get together.”

“Indeed.” Vayl glanced at the door, still blocked despite the loud and continuous onslaught on its opposite side. “We should go.”

“Fine.” I took the stairs two at a time, Astral keeping up nicely despite having passed a couple of grenades recently. I decided I just might get to like the little robot. Jack obviously felt the same. And he’d chosen this moment to bond.

I couldn’t fault his timing. Tabitha had begun to herd the kids toward the Wheezer. The rest of us raced after, leaving him free to demonstrate his affection for the newest member of the family. I caught it all in a single over-the-shoulder glance.

She might’ve had a chance if he’d barked. But he’d remembered their last encounter and decided to approach with wolflike stealth.

Under no orders to do otherwise, Astral sat down in the crackling brown grass and proceeded to groom the gray dust off her exterior, becoming so immersed in the job that he took her completely by surprise.

His jump brought him over the top of her, giving him position to lick her right between the ears before he gently cuffed her with a big front paw. Despite the fact that he was careful, his boot sent her spinning. His this-rocks! grin, an expression I’ve yet to see on another dog, dropped off his muzzle when Astral flipped sideways, snarled in a metallic, my-gears-have-stuck sort of way…

And her head blew off.

It hurtled straight toward Bergman. Vayl dove for him, barely shoving him clear before it rocketed into the side of the building, ricocheted into the fence, and bounced onto the lawn like a renegade croquet ball.

“Holy sh—!” I stopped myself just in time to spare the kids, who’d turned to witness the carnage.

“Cool!” said Laal. “It’s a robot!”

“And it blew up!” yelled Pajo. He tugged on his mother’s skirt. “Do it again! Do it again!” Moment of stunned silence while we watched Astral’s legs jerk and Vayl made a coughing-up-chicken-bones noise that only I knew was his version of barely repressed mirth. I didn’t dare look at him for fear I’d start laughing, and then Bergman, standing beside Vayl, holding on to the crown of his hat with both hands, would never forgive me.

I checked Jack to make sure his yelp had purely been one of surprise. He seemed to know he’d done something bad, because his tail remained between his legs even after I’d reassured him he was okay.

I picked up the body, which stayed stiff as one of those lifelike planters with the hole drilled in the belly for a bunch of geraniums. I risked a glance at Bergman. I couldn’t tell if the deep furrow between his eyes meant he was holding back tears or he wanted to kick some kittybot-killing ass.

Always long on wisdom, Vayl decided to move away from Bergman so he wouldn’t notice the shaking of my boss’s shoulders. He walked toward the Wheezer, and had almost made it to the car when he stopped and said, “The head is over here.”

We joined him, only some of us to gawk. Astral’s head lay on the ground. While smoke still spiraled from the ears and clear fluid leaked from the neck, I didn’t see much in the way of dangling parts.

Jack gave it a sniff and slumped into his I’ve-been-bad position, lying with his tail tucked under his butt, blinking soulfully up at us as if to apologize for our inconvenience.

“Look at him,” I said. “He feels terrible.”

“Aww.” Laal and Pajo knelt by Jack and began rubbing him down, telling him it was okay. Tabitha kept glancing from them to the car and rocking from one foot to the other like she really wanted to make a break for it now that the coast was clear, but she knew it would be rude to run while her rescuers were mourning.

I said, “I’m sorry, Miles. Jack was just playing. He didn’t mean to hurt her.” I retrieved Astral’s head, silently thanking Raoul’s boss that her eyelids had shut.

“I’m really sorry, Miles,” I repeated. Should I try to stick the head back on the body? Would some kind of internal magnet at least pull it back together for the burial? Such wishful thinking. “He was just trying to make friends.”

When my dog started to get up I gave him my don’t-even-go-there glare and he sank back down, dropping his head to his paws. Laal and Pajo began the scratchfest all over again. I said, “I’ll cover the damages, of course.” Though, considering what it must’ve cost to put Astral together, by the time I’d even halved the payment we’d probably both have forgotten about my debt, along with each other’s names and where we’d left our teeth the night before.

“I don’t understand,” said Bergman, shaking his head. “Jack must’ve triggered her self-destruct mechanism. But how? I mean, he didn’t even try to bite her.” He came to stand in front of me, took a pen out of the collection he always kept in his pocket, and started poking around the neck.

“Uh, Bergman?” I said, catching the look on Tabitha’s face. “That’s kinda gross.”

“It’s just a machine,” he said impatiently.

“But it looks like a cat. That you’re doing a primitive autopsy on.” I cleared my throat to get his attention, which I then turned toward the kids. Who were riveted.

“Oh. Sorry.” He frowned at the remains. “This is a mess.”

“You can fix it,” Vayl said.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

He nodded. “It is what you do, and you are superb at your job.” Bergman considered Astral’s innards with new interest as Tabitha rechecked her watch. “Shouldn’t we be going? That door can’t hold forever. And Ruvin will be so worried.” Both true. But watching her futz with her dress and hair, I sensed ulterior motives. Still, we jumped straight into the Wheezer, which now felt like one of those maximum-capacity clothes dryers.

I started the car and said, “Whoever has their foot in the back of my head better not have stepped in anything disgusting recently.”

The offender moved the shoe and I beat it back to the rental house before anything else exploded, fired on us, or (God forbid) needed a ride.

The family reunion began just as you’d expect. Ruvin drove up in that glorious Jeep expecting to spend a few miserable hours driving us around while he pretended not to be freaked about his family. Tabitha and the boys ran out of the house. He’d just walked around to the front of the Patriot when he saw them. The surprise and relief sent him staggering back into the bull bar.

Hugs. Tears. More hugs and kisses. Then Tabitha grabbed Ruvin by the hand and said to me, “Look after the boys for a few, will you?” and dragged him inside.

Uh. What just happened?

I stared at Laal and Pajo, who gazed right back at me. When I looked to Vayl for ideas, he shrugged.

Bergman remained just as silent, his attention still focused on Astral’s repair job.

I said, “I have a niece.”

What, are you trying to impress them with your babysitting qualifications?

“Where did Mummy and Daddy go?” asked Pajo, his lower lip beginning to tremble.

I looked desperately at my teammates. “Does anyone have candy?” Vayl knelt down beside the boys, his demeanor so nonthreatening that a bystander wouldn’t have been surprised to hear he made his living breeding and selling bunnies. “You know parents,” he said. “They just need to have a talk and then they will be right back. I wonder, while we wait for them, should we go into the backyard and play a game? Hide-and-seek might be fun. I believe I saw several places boys your size could tuck into the last time I was there.”