I ripped off a chunk of bread, wrapped it around on of the sausages and a bit of cheese. He was still looking at me when I took a bite of my slap-dash sandwich.
“You aren't offended?”
I knitted my brows. “I just got a glimpse of your really vivid fantasy of being a human sandwich between you and Wei. That is, in my opinion, the coolest fantasy ever and I am pretty much the exact opposite of offended.”
It had been seriously vivid. I hadn't known that a dude would be okay with that kind of pairing, but I had seen it with...well...not my own two eyes, but it was pretty close.
The blush on his cheeks was so dark it was nearly purple. “You are blunt.”
I shrugged and took another bite. I could almost feel my body breaking down the food. “Let's be honest here. Blunt gets things said. Some people are super polite, beat around the bush types, I don't have time for that. I liked what you thought, I've said so. What more do you want?”
He paused. “Connie...does not like to be touched.”
Okay, while I did appreciate the honesty, that was probably way more about my half-sister than I ever needed to know. Even so, I felt sympathetic. “I'm sorry.” I thought of Reikah. “Is she asexual? Sex repulsed?”
He gave me a look like he didn't understand my phrases.
“There are some people who are really adverse to sex. There is a whole spectrum of it, but some of them are sex repulsed. They aren't just neutral about sex, they are turned off. It's no big deal.” I shrugged. I was of the opinion that everyone needed to find out who and what they were. I had recently found out that I liked being a vampire snack and was totally cool with being a buffet for two. Neat.
He thought it over. “I don't know what she is. We don't talk about it.”
I finished off my food. “What do you talk about?”
“Her quest, the order.”
“Sounds like she likes to dominate the conversation.” I couldn't help but feel a little petty about that. If Connie wasn't down for naughty time, that was cool, but only talking about the things that interested you wasn't what I would call a nice thing.
“She is driven.”
I nodded and laid down on the bed. “Yeah, I know.”
He went quiet and I closed my eyes. I seriously needed a nap.
“If I go to sleep you won’t kill me, will you?”
I was surprised when I felt him lay down in front of me. It took me a moment to realize he had put himself between me and the door, the only way into the little hut.
“No,” he said, “I won’t kill you.”
I believed him. Shock and amazement.
CHAPTER TEN
By the time I woke up, the other witch was free. I was a little disappointed that I hadn't gotten to see the ritual, but I think that Dora the swamp witch was playing things smart. She had not only freed Marco, as he introduced himself, but she had made herself scarce. All I had of hers was a note scrawled onto paper so old it cracked beneath my fingers and a small clay pot filled with a dark green substance. The note said that by using the substance to draw a symbol of awakening on the crystal I could wake up all the witches, and since she had fulfilled more than her part of the bargain I now owed her.
“A lie never passes her lips, my right foot,” I growled as I shoved my feet into my boots.
Zane had left the bed as soon as I started to wake. I knew, thanks to our connection, that he hadn't slept the entire time that I was asleep. I also knew that he had a lot of time to think about things while I had been zonked out. Considering the dreams that I had while I was zonked out...I was pretty sure he was thinking about me, about Wei, and his own feelings. The dreams had not been all bad. Private, yes, but not bad.
I shoved my feet into my boots and stepped out of the hut. Marco and Zane were sharing a quiet conversation.
Marco, who Dora had called The Frenchman, was a very tall man. He stood somewhere around six foot three and had broad shoulders and worn hands. His dull ash hair had been brushed, and carefully styled. It said something to me that he had also washed the clothes that he wore while I had slept.
He turned to me and bowed his head. “It seems that I have you to thank for my return to living.”
I had heard a native French accent before. Alan and Genevieve were both born in the French countryside. Marco's had a tinge of something else. I think he was born in Louisiana, not France.
“I'd accept your gratitude, but I have to be honest, I was a little selfish about it.” I offered my hand. He took it and pressed his lips to the knuckles. I smirked. Yeah, there was definitely something French about him. It wasn't a flirtatious kiss, but it was romantic. I'm not sure I can explain the difference. “I'm a necromancer too.”
He nodded, releasing my hand. “So, Zane has told me. I am impressed with what you have done despite your minimal training.”
“You are?” I asked, a small bit of hope kindling in my chest.
“You have learned how to bind the unliving, how to offer them your essence. You have a ghostly familiar who protects you. It took me years of practice to do the same.”
I blushed. I couldn't remember the last time someone said I had done something well. It brought a relief I hadn't expected. “Thanks.”
He nodded. “When we have more time, I would be happy to teach you more, but I am told that there is a prophecy, and that your intended has been taken from you.”
I gave Zane a look. He had been chatty. He gave me an unrepentant shrug. “You were asleep, and I assumed you would tell him when you woke.”
He wasn't wrong. “Yeah, we need to free the other witches. They are locked in pocket dimensions...I'm sure Zane filled you in.”
Marco gave a brisk nod. “That he did. Are you ready?”
I nodded. “As ready as I can be.”
Maahes twirled around my legs as if to tell me that he too was ready. I reached down and gave his ghostly head a scratch.
“Then let us be off.”
I'd like to tell you that waking the other witches was a long and arduous thing. It should have been, but it wasn't. Most of the other pocket dimensions weren't nearly as hazardous as Dora's. In fact, almost all of them were inviting in their own ways. Some were small cottages in the middle of perfect spring time forests. Some were houses by the beach, propped up on large stilts so that the waves could crash around them. Some were mountain cabins, piled with snow. Others weren't even earthly in their splendor. One of them was a fairy tale castle in the clouds, with wispy servants to attend to our every need. I was really hoping that I could craft the best pocket dimension ever when I got powerful enough.
The witches were as varied as the domains they lorded over, or were visiting, depending. Some were old, some were young, they were every gender, race, and affiliation. One was deaf, a few were missing limbs, I had never seen the better part of a hundred people define diversity so well.
Most of the witches were willing to hear us out, some had already heard from Marquessa, some hadn't. But in the end, I had a steadily building army. After all, a lot of them really wanted magic back, and when they had heard that I had bested Dora the Swamp Witch, they were even more willing to join up with me. I was a little vague about the fact that she had gotten away, but that was a truth for another day.
I had all the witches who wanted to join me go down into Marquessa's house. They could eat or rest or whatever they needed. That was all on them. Marco promised to watch over them, organize them. He seemed dependable, if a little aloof.
Jenny, Marquessa, and Reikah were stuck in a pocket dimension that looked like a mansion. Not like the vampire mansion, but a California one, tucked between mountains and an ocean with a big blue pool taking up the backside of it. I expected a Hollywood starlet to own it, and if I was being honest, I wasn't let down.
“There they are!” I said, charging out the sliding glass door towards the pool, and the lounge chairs that were there.
“I'll stay here,” Zane said, waving at me from the doorway. Appare
ntly, the fake California sun was still too real for his vampire skin. I nodded and went to rescue my friends.
Jenny was wearing a golden bathing suit. Her nails had been painted to match. Reikah who was perched on a seat next to her, wore a long red sarong dress, her hair pulled up into a messy bun. If they weren't trapped in crystal they would have looked like an attractive couple enjoying a day at the pool. Marquessa wore pale coral cotton slacks and a sleeveless top, showing off her arms. She was looking up at the sky, her face frozen in consternation.
It was the last woman who I was struck by. She looked like a bombshell, you know, those vixens from the silver screen. Her hair was carefully coiffed, and the one piece she wore managed to look sultry and demure all at once. She had a tiny mole by her nose, and her hands were thrown up in the air as if reaching for the sky.
What was it Dora had said? Marquessa had found a witch who could bring them all together? I didn't know how, but I was sure I was going to get my answer soon.
I took the last of the goop inside the clay pot and smeared it over each surface in the now familiar symbol of awakening.
I don't know if you've ever seen crystal melt, but that's what this looked like. A shimmer swept across the flat surface, and it slipped away like snow in the sunlight. For a moment, the witches all stayed exactly as they were, and then took their first breath in who knew how long.
Marquessa looked at me, confusion knitting her brows. “Lorena? How did you get here?”
“Lorena!” Jenny jumped up and threw her arms around me. She smelled like coconut oil. I hugged her back. “Sweetie, what happened?”
“Oh god, where do I even start?”
“Is this her?” a breathy voice worthy of Marilyn Monroe cut in. “She looks...young.”
I turned my head and took in the Hollywood vixen. Frozen she'd been pin-up worthy, in motion she was glorious. She gave me a red lipped smile and I blushed. I wasn't sure what it was, but I felt my entire face go cherry tomato red. She laughed.
“Oh, she's old enough.” She gave me a wink. I shook my head.
“What?”
“Stop it, Margot.” Marquessa said lightly.
Margot gave a little shrug of her shoulders, which were a shade of peaches and cream despite her sunny residence. “It's habit.”
“Margot is part fae,” Jenny said with a roll of her arms, one dark arm still slung around me. “She has...charms.”
Reikah rolled her eyes, her lips set into a jealous line. Even so she shot me a grin. “I'm happy you are alright. We worried about you.”
“Yeah,” Jenny said, giving me a little shake. “Are you finally ready to join the world of the living? Last time I called you were...well...zombified.”
I must have been pretty bad off since I didn't even remember that. “I'm okay. I'm ready to go get Wei back.”
The women shared a look.
“Back?” Marquessa said. “Lorena...”
I held up a hand. I already knew what she was going to say. On the bright side, I had gotten a lot of practice telling my story to people who were out of the loop. It took the better part of an hour, and somewhere during my tale of woe and misery Margot the part fae had pushed a drink that tasted of ice and fruit into my hand. I sipped it in between stories of mathemagics, vampires, and swamp witches. Oh my, it had been a heck of a few days.
“So in the end, Wei isn't dead, and I am going to go save him,” I finished, taking the last sip of the drink.
“Well, that's some story,” Margot said cheerfully. I wasn't sure that she knew how to be anything but cheerful. Her long legs crossed and uncrossed. “I cannot wait to see how it all turns out.”
Marquessa was quiet. “You have already contacted the others?”
“You guys were in the last room” I said. “Everyone else is awake. Marco is making sure they are prepared.”
Marquessa nodded her approval. “Marco was in the military once, long ago. He'll get them ready. But will you be ready?” she asked.
All of their eyes looked towards me. It wasn't an easy question and it weighed on my shoulders. Was I ready? Well, I mean, I'd prefer a lot more time to level grinding, gear up, get everything together, but the fact was I didn't know what the Order had planned, and I didn't even know if Wei was still alive. I hoped so. The thought of him being gone was enough to make my whole chest ache.
“Let's do this.”
Marquessa and Margot headed out of the pocket dimension to join the others, leaving me with Reikah and Jenny.
“I can draw a map of the temple,” Reikah said.
I nodded. “Take Zane with you. He might know things you don't and visa versa or whatever.”
She gave me a dubious look. “Zane?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know. But he's been...helpful.”
There was a low flutter in my stomach when I remembered how he had protected me at the swamp. I tried to ignore it. I wasn't the kind of girl who gave her affections so easily, right? Crap. Maybe I was. This voyage of self-discovery was filled with way too much truth. I needed a vacation. I kinda wished I could stay by the pool.
“If you say so.” Reikah reached a hand out to Jenny who squeezed it affectionately, and then Reikah left the two of us alone.
“Okay,” Jenny said, plopping down on the lounge. She crossed her long legs and looked up at me. “Be honest, how are you feeling?”
I plopped down next to her. “About what part?”
“Let's start with attacking this temple.”
I took a deep breath. “Honestly? I'm okay with that. I want to do that. I am ready to charge in there Rambo style and go kickboxing rampage on their butts. Jackie Chan style or something.”
Jenny laughed and gave me a bump with her shoulder. “And the prophecy? What are you going to do about that?”
That was a far more difficult question and it took me a long time to think it over. “Zane says I don't love Wei, that I just lust after him. I think he might be right, just a little. I hate that.”
“That you don't love Wei? Or that Zane's right about something?”
“Both,” I admitted, dragging one hand down my face. “This whole time I told myself that I needed to be in love before I would take someone to my bed. I have almost dragged Wei to my bed twice and honestly? If I hadn't been so sure that Zane liked my sister I might have taken him too.”
“So, you like them both?” she asked gently.
“Does that make me a terrible person?” I blurted.
“No, it doesn't. Your heart isn't a pie, Lorena, it's not chopped up and handed out in slices. For some people there is only one perfect person for them, for others? Well, it's not that cut and dry. Some people have a lot of love to give, and can give it to two or more without a problem.”
I gave her a look that was filled with my self-doubt. “Sounds slutty to me.”
“Don't hate,” Jenny said, laying back beneath the perfect sun. “Sluts get to have lots of fun, it's the rest of the world that makes it hard on them. And you know what? If you want my honest opinion.”
“When have you ever given me anything else?” I teased.
She gave me a grin worthy of a magazine. “If you are going to imbue the world with magic? You might need more than one lover to get it done.”
I blushed all the way up to the roots of my hair. Jeez, what was it with these past few days? I was either blushing or crying. It was beginning to make me worry about myself. Not really, but a little bit. “Sure, I'll just tell the vampire boys, 'sorry guys, my decision is to pick these two'.”
She shrugged. “Why not?”
I shook my head, not even willing to go over the why or why nots. “Come on, let's go assault a temple.”
“You always take me to the nicest places.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Before we left I had one final thing to take care of. Marco, Zane, Jenny, Reikah and myself drove up to the mansion. It was just past dusk and the dim lights were burning. The door opened before I could knock. Yasmina stood
there looking like a ferocious, barely tamed animal still in human form.
“You,” she hissed.
“Yup,” I said, “big bad me. The one who kicked your butt, is here.”
“You still can't have him.” Her lips pulled back to show her teeth, already going sharp. Gee-zus, someone needed to get this girl into some anger management therapy. I had never seen her be anything but pissed off, and usually at me.
“Still don't want him.” I said. “But I'm not here for that.”
House Of Vampires 3 (The Lorena Quinn Trilogy) Page 14