"Flex," Kory instructed. I curled my fingers, then straightened them. Everything worked perfectly. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks as he unwrapped my other hand.
I wasn't going to be crippled or scarred for the rest of my life. I flung my arms about Kory's neck when he finished; he held me, murmuring soft words of love.
Chapter 7
Lexsi
"Take it easy for a day or two," Kory cautioned as I considered what I wanted to cook for dinner.
"All right," I made a face at him. I was so excited to have the use of my hands back that I wanted to do everything at once. "What do you suggest?"
"Soup and bread?" He sounded hopeful. "You know, that seafood stew and homemade bread you make?"
"That's easy enough," I agreed. "You can shell and devein shrimp, then chop tomatoes, celery, peppers and onions. I'll use the mixer to knead the dough. We need to go to the store, though," I said, pulling out my cell phone to make a list. "I'd really like to go to that fish market down by the wharf. They usually have crab claws. I want those for an appetizer."
"You just got a free skip to the fish market," he grinned at me. "Put a jacket on, baby, I'll take you."
Kory stayed close the whole time I picked out locally caught drum, then added crab claws and shrimp. After a quick skip home to put that in the fridge, we went to my favorite supermarket in the city for the other items on my list, including fresh tomatoes, celery and peppers.
"I got the check for my Jeep," he said. "Want to go out tomorrow and pick out something new to replace it?"
"Really? I've never picked out a vehicle before."
"Then you get to help," he pulled me close while I bagged up green and red bell peppers.
"I think I'm more excited about that than cooking dinner," I said, turning to pat his cheek. "And I'm really excited about cooking."
"Did they just not let you out much?" he asked quietly, dark eyes narrowing in concern.
"Dad always said it was dangerous to let me go places unless I had a huge crowd with me, half of which were guards," I sighed. "That carried over while I was in the Advanced Academy on Wyyld II. I never got to shop for groceries by myself until I came here. Yes, I know I'm related to royalty," I held up a hand. "But every once in a while, I just wanted to feel normal."
"I'm about as normal as you can get, for my race," Kory shrugged. He looked good in his zippered fleece jacket, his wide shoulders filling it out completely, while muscles rippled beneath.
"You worked hard, didn't you—while you were in the army?"
"As a Captain of the Guard, it's sort of a requirement," he said.
"Well, Mr. Normal, you've turned my head, that's for sure." I watched his grin as it flashed briefly.
"You turn everybody's head," Kory leaned in to whisper as I placed a bunch of celery into my basket.
"Everybody will have to be disappointed," I teased. "I found what I wanted."
"Stop selling syrup and let somebody else in," the man behind us demanded.
"Oh, is there a problem?" Kory rounded on him.
"I need celery. Like yesterday," the man insisted, although he did back up two steps. Kory was taller, broader and much more imposing.
"Baby, give him the best celery they have," Kory turned back to me. "He's in a hurry. Looks like he works for the guy you interviewed awhile back."
When Kory stepped aside, I saw the hotel restaurant's name on the man's jacket. "Yeah, he needs celery, all right," I grabbed six good bunches and handed them off to him.
"You interviewed Luigi?" the man gaped while clutching the celery to his chest.
"She did. She worked for News Seventy-Four until they shut down," Kory said.
"Are you looking for work?" he asked. "The hotel has an opening in PR."
"No," I shook my head. "I have another job already. But thank you."
"What do you think of Luigi? Honestly?" he asked.
"She'll never say it, so I will," Kory said. "He's an overbearing ass."
"Yeah. I hear that a lot. Look, thanks for picking the celery for me," he said. "I hope I get to see you again."
Kory and I watched Luigi's assistant walk away for several seconds before he pulled a ringing cell phone from a pocket. "I'll be there soon," he said and broke into a trot toward the registers.
"My mother is a hundred times the cook that Luigi is, and she never acted like a tyrant." I shook my head.
"Luigi can't compete with you, onion. Your mom is awesome. I think you're just as awesome."
* * *
I had no idea where Watson caught up with Anita, but they came back to the house together, with Watson's arm linked with hers.
Anita looked as if she'd been kissed a few times.
I hoped Watson could sort out his priorities well enough, so that neither suffered through the process. My guess was that Watson was also very worried about rebuilding the local Pack, and that wouldn't be an easy thing.
"Fish stew?" Watson begged me to say yes.
"With crab claw appetizers," Kory grinned. "It'll be ready, soon."
"That bread smells like heaven," Anita sniffed.
"I don't know where you learned to cook, but you must have passed with flying colors," Jamie observed as he walked into the kitchen. I smiled—the scent of good food cooking or baking always brought people together.
"I learned at my mother's and my uncle's restaurants. In Targis," I said.
"Targis?" Jamie asked.
"The capital city on Tulgalan," I said.
"Another place I've never been," Jamie chuckled. "Maybe you should take me there, sometime, so I can eat at both places."
"We'll have to ask," Kory said. He was thinking the same as I—that it was Tulgalan in the future and not now.
Kory's cell phone rang as we were getting dinner on the table.
Tibby was calling, asking him to go a few rounds.
* * *
We all went to Tibby's gym after dinner—Jamie included, because he wanted to watch. "Are you sure?" Kory asked Tibby as Diego placed boxing gloves onto Kory's wrapped hands and tucked the Velcro fastener snugly across the bottom.
"You're the only one who's given me any competition—and ended up beating my tail," Tibby grumbled. "I need to know where I stand, brother."
"Is he serious?" Jamie turned to me to ask.
"It's what Kory and I are," I attempted to explain. "Most humanoids and shifters can't move as fast. Only a vampire would give Kory a hard workout. If the vampire brought his claws into play, that would be the end of it, unless Kory turned. Kory doesn't have claws so long and sharp they can split hairs."
"Are you serious?" Jamie revised his question while looking worried.
"Yes, but we don't have a vampire in this fight. With Tibby, Kory will probably hold back—Tibby needs his full strength and no injuries for the fight in Vegas."
"Lover Boy isn't that tough," Jamie sniffed. "I've seen him fight."
I think I began to suspect something was up then, but I kept it to myself. Tibby and the rest of us would leave for Vegas in three days. I'd tell Kory then, and we'd decide what to do about it. It made me wish Kell had come, or that Klancy had been awake to come to the gym with us; Klancy was a martial artist before he was vampire. Maybe he could give us advice.
Nevertheless, the beginning of an unnamed fear crawled along the base of my spine and I didn't like it at all.
* * *
Kordevik
Tibby was in top shape for his fight in Vegas and I told him so when we were done. In my opinion, the fight with Lover Boy Landon would be a short one, with Tibby's hand raised by the referee over an unconscious opponent.
"I wish I had your speed," Tibby said as Diego removed his gloves. Tibby's brother, León, worked on the borrowed ones I still wore, pulling the Velcro straps up before taking them off my hands. The hand wraps I could remove myself, once the gloves were off.
"Man, you'd have to be born into my race," I shook my head. "As much as you might want that, you cou
ld have second thoughts on some of the drawbacks."
"Perhaps you will explain that to me soon," Tibby nodded. "After the fight."
"Sure. Anytime," I agreed.
"We wondered where you were." Mason, Klancy, Davis and Thomas arrived and came to stand beside us. Klancy, like an old pro, began to unwrap my hands. I held the one he'd started on higher, so he could reach it easier.
"I asked for a short bout, to gauge my strengths and weaknesses," Tibby explained. "Kory says I'm fit."
"You train?" Klancy asked as he unwrapped my left hand in record time and motioned for my right hand.
"The uh, High Demon army has tournaments every year. Rules are almost the same."
"Do you place highly?" Klancy was now finished with my right hand.
"Usually," I admitted. I didn't tell him that High Demons used their fists—no gloves were allowed. High Demons healed easily. Humans and some shifters didn't. Gloves were a good idea, in the long run.
"Good," Klancy nodded. "Perhaps you will agree to spar with me, sometime? I promise to keep my gloves on and claws retracted." Klancy smiled for a brief moment.
"Sure. You'll probably lay me in the dust in no time," I said. "I don't think I've ever taken on a vamp before."
"Uncle Aurelius taught me a lot about hand fighting." Lexsi made her way to my side. "He's vampire."
Klancy turned to Lexsi, then. "Aurelius? There are stories about an Earth vampire named Aurelius. Dead long ago, of course," Klancy observed.
"Maybe we should discuss Uncle Aurelius sometime," Lexsi smiled up at him. "I think he'd like you a lot."
"What's up?" I turned to Davis and Thomas.
"We have some intel on the Devangi woman. Her high-roller suite in Vegas got a bit more crowded yesterday. We have some photographs, but don't recognize two of the people. Not in any of our databases, either."
"We'll take a look," I said and lifted myself off the stool I sat on. "Can it wait until we get home? Lexsi made enough food for an army earlier, so there's a good meal in it for you if you want it."
* * *
"They both give me the shivers," Lexsi said as we examined the photographs together at the kitchen island. "I don't know why," she added.
The woman looked Hispanic, with honey-colored skin, dark eyes and darker, straight hair that hung nearly to her waist. Pretty enough, but the sour expression she wore made her ugly, in my opinion. The man was taller, with brown hair, green eyes and wore an expensive, dark suit.
"I wish we had video," Lexsi mumbled.
"Why?" Davis looked up from his bowl of fish stew to ask.
"Mannerisms—the way people move—if these have a duplication spell on them, we might be able to tell who they are from another standpoint," I answered for her. I'd learned that from Kell, in the brief time I'd known him.
"I'll see if our agents tailing them can get video," Thomas pulled out his cell phone and tapped out a text.
"Have you seen them during daylight?" Klancy peered over our shoulders at the two individuals.
"Not yet, but I'll ask about that, too," Thomas tapped out a second text. "Damn, why didn't we think of this?" he turned to Davis.
Davis, whose mouth was full of food, merely shrugged.
Tibby, Farin, Diego and León ate with the others, but listened intently as we discussed the happenings in Vegas. I hated that information was being handed to them in this way, but there wasn't any help for it. Charlene Devangi was plotting—although there wasn't anything concrete to accuse her of at this point.
"You know," Lexsi pulled the photograph off the island and held it up for a closer inspection, "Hannah used to hold her mouth that way when she was pissed about something."
"Holy fuck," Davis growled and dialed Opal on his cell phone one-handed. Before the conversation was over, Opal informed Davis that she and Kell were meeting us in Vegas.
* * *
Lexsi
Jamie and I went with Kory in the TinyCar to a Jeep dealership the following morning. Kory was intimidating enough, but Jamie evidently knew everything there was to know about buying a new car. Between them, they had a new Jeep purchased for a reasonable price before an hour had passed.
Jamie drove the TinyCar back to the house while I rode with Kory in his new vehicle. No, it wasn't the top of the line or the fanciest, but it was new and I learned how to negotiate for a vehicle.
Kory took me to lunch, and when we got back to the house, Davis and Thomas had arrived with video of the woman I'd pegged as Hannah. The man, oddly enough, was nowhere to be seen in the early-morning hours in Las Vegas.
Kory and I watched the video several times. Every time, all I could see was Hannah's mannerisms and the way she spoke rudely to a valet as Charlene's car was brought to them at their hotel.
"I just get chills every time I hear her speak or see her move," I shook my head. Sure, somebody else could move and speak like Hannah, but not that much like her.
"We'll keep tabs on both, and have someone track the guy if he leaves the suite," Davis took his tablet back. "We're providing a private jet for your flight to Vegas in two days. I hope Tibby doesn't mind—Opal is concerned about him just as much as she's concerned about the rest of you."
* * *
While the weather was usually chill in San Francisco during late October, it was ideal in Las Vegas. Anita and I surveyed the clothing spread across my bed, attempting to decide what I should take.
"I'd say nice jeans and blouses, with one dress for a night out—have you ever seen a big fight in Vegas?"
"No. Have you?" I turned to her.
"Only on television," she pursed her lips. "But the people who show up for those things can get really dressy. It always amazes me that they want to look as fancy as they can to watch two men beat each other up."
"I don't want to see Tibby get beaten up," I said. "Farin will faint."
"What would you do?"
"Be pissed enough to go after his opponent."
"Not good," Anita frowned. "We don't want the world at large watching a short blonde beating the hell out of Lover Boy Landon."
"At least you acknowledge that I can do it."
"Hell, I can do it," Anita snorted.
"True. What are you packing?"
"Watson made me pack two dresses," she huffed. "I'm not fond of dresses."
"Since when can Watson make you do anything?"
A slow smile curved her mouth. "Oh. Never mind," I turned away to study my clothes again. Since Watson admitted he sort of cared about Anita, they'd been to bed together every night, while Kory and I, well.
Mason, too, was slowly working his charm on Sandra, so it probably wouldn't be long for them, either.
Everybody got sex except me.
It had to be good, right? Everybody was doing it every chance they got. I wanted to do it; Kory wanted to wait until I wanted the bite that went with it. Honestly, being High Demon and female sucked most of the time.
"Take that red dress." Kory walked in and weighed in on the clothing situation while I silently bemoaned the race of my birth.
"I've never worn it. Red looks good on other people, but I always feel like I'd look like a neon light," I said.
"Nah, take it. I'll take you out for a nice dinner, somewhere, if we can get away." He pulled me against his chest and wrapped arms around me from behind, while breathing on my left ear. Wear it for me, onion, he pleaded.
I'll wear it for you, I promised. You have to dress up, too, you know.
Davis brought me a suit. It'll have to do.
Okay.
"What if that woman really is Hannah? What if she isn't under a duplication spell?" I wondered aloud. "If that's a brain transfer, I'll bet she's pissed they didn't find a body with blonde hair for her to exploit."
"And the body everyone thought was Hannah's was an innocent victim," Anita sighed. "Just as Lexsi thought."
Kory hugged me tighter for a moment.
"I'll take one pair of heels," I said, pulling away fro
m Kory. "Not too high—I hate running in heels."
"Who said you had to?" Kory looked disappointed.
"Just in case. You never know about these things," I said. "I sure as hell don't want to beat the crap out of Hannah while wearing heels."
"Oh, no," Anita chuckled. "Wear those heels. Put some holes in her ass while I watch."
"Take these," Kory lifted the black pair of three-inch heels with the narrow straps that went around my ankles and buckled with tiny, gold buckles. "They'll cause some righteous holes."
"We don't know for sure it's Hannah," I pointed out.
"What does your gut say?" Watson wandered in and put his arms around Anita.
"It's her." I hung my head and sighed.
* * *
Tibby, León and Diego were more than happy to board a private jet with us to fly to Vegas. Farin was so excited she vibrated with joy. Not only was she riding in style with Tibby, but she had a huge, new engagement ring on her finger.
Yeah, if Tibby won, it would add around a hundred million to his bank account. "Maybe we should rethink your employment as a fighter," I teased Kory.
"No." He rubbed his nose against mine and settled into the seat beside me.
"Okay." I wanted to kiss him. Really, really kiss him.
Right. Then.
I sighed and dropped my head against his chest. Perhaps he knew what I was thinking and kissed the top of my head before gently pushing me upright in my seat and checking my seat belt.
"You know, between you, Anita and me, we could get everybody off the plane if it were necessary."
"You'd let it crash with nobody on it?"
"No. I think," I turned to him and blinked. "I think I could turn the whole thing to mist and put it in a safe place while you and Anita got the others off."
"Let's not talk about emergency measures," Anita turned in her seat to look back at me. "Flying makes me queasy enough."
"Sorry." I understood she'd rather fold space than ride in a jet, even for such a short flight.
"We have news," Davis stood beside Kory's seat. "A recon plane flying near Peru's border just got shot down. Word is that it was obliterated before the pilot and crew could eject."
"One of ours?" Watson turned in his seat to ask.
"UN," Davis replied. "Sort of makes it worse—they weren't armed while they investigated one of the passes, where bodies have been piling up."
A Demon's Work Is Never Done: Latter Day Demons, Book 2 Page 10