I watched the two moitie betes tuck their vampire masters in, in very different ways. Damian buckled himself in and started lowering the seat back. I guess if he died at dawn, it would be less disturbing than watching his body slump sitting up. Fortune and Echo were each other's primaries, but Magda didn't seem to have a serious lover outside of us, and none of us were very serious with her. Did she want to be serious with someone?
Nathaniel got up to see if Damian wanted him to hold his hand the way that Fortune was doing for Echo. I remembered Jean-Claude asking me years ago to be with him at dawn. Watching him "die" as the sun rose outside the hotel room had been my first confirmation that vampires really did die at dawn. I'd heard his breath rattle out and felt his energy change from alive to not. I knew from medical write-ups that vampires' brain activity didn't go dead like true death and in fact didn't even go as low as most coma patients', but when you were just watching it happen without monitors to tell you different, it looked the same as anyone else dying in front of you. I'd seen people die for real and I'd seen vampires die at dawn, and I'd killed vampires for good. It all looked pretty much the same.
Nathaniel came back to his seat. "Damian's afraid that if he holds my hand he won't die at dawn."
"Why would he want to die at dawn?" Socrates asked from across the aisle.
"When he sleeps like a regular person he has nightmares," I said.
"I can understand wanting to skip that," he said.
I felt the sun rise on the other side of the closed windows, and I felt Damian die. Nathaniel grabbed my hand tight. He'd felt it, too. I heard the curtain close behind us and didn't blame whoever had done it because one window wasn't perfectly set and there was a thinnest of golden lines that slid along the inside of the plane. Domino was closest and he tried to force it down that last fraction. "It's not square in the window. It won't close more."
We got napkins from the bar and wedged them in the crack of the "closed" window. "Good thing none of the vampires stayed up here," he said.
We all agreed. "Someone make a note to get this window fixed. Blackout shades aren't a luxury for us."
"Done," Nicky said, and he was making a note in his smartphone.
We all sat back in our seats, though Dev moved up to sit across from Nathaniel where Damian had been. There was barely room for his shoulders next to Nicky's even in the comfy swivel seats. I wasn't sure they would have fit next to each other in coach seats on a regular airplane.
"What do you guys do on commercial airlines? I mean, how do you fit into the seats?"
They looked at each other and then Nicky answered, "I ride first class."
Dev grinned. "Not fit."
I smiled back. I couldn't help it. "Okay, ask a silly question."
Nathaniel put an arm across my shoulders and said, "We should tell Dev about Asher."
The smile faded on Dev's face. "I don't need to know anything about him."
"This, you actually do," I said.
We told him, and Nicky, and anyone else on the plane who wanted to hear. It wasn't big enough to really keep secrets, especially not when the people in question had super-hearing. It was like trying to keep secrets around Superman: just not happening.
Dev was frowning and rubbing his temples by the time we were finished.
"I'm sorry," I said.
He opened his eyes and looked at me. "You didn't break my heart. Why are you sorry?"
"I guess I'm sorry Asher is such a shit."
"He was a shit to you, too."
"But I didn't want to marry him, so it didn't break my heart as much," I said.
Dev smiled, more chagrined than happy. "Yeah, well, I'm not twenty-five yet, so I get to make stupid choices."
"At least he didn't say yes," Nicky said.
Dev looked at him and it was not a friendly look. "I wanted him to say yes, or I wouldn't have asked him."
"If he'd said yes, then you would just be fucking Asher and no one else; is that really what you want?"
"He was never monogamous for you, but he expected you to be for him," I said.
"Cousin," Pride said, leaning in between Dev's and Nicky's seats, "Asher is one of the most selfish people I've ever met. I don't know how you dated him as long as you did."
"He's the most beautiful man I've ever met," Dev said.
"No one is beautiful enough to make up for being that much of a selfish bastard."
"The sex was amazing."
Pride shrugged, his hands making a push-away gesture. "We'll all stay with the crazy ones longer than we should for the sex."
"I hate the idea that only the crazy ones are great in bed, because it's not true," I said.
They all looked at me.
"What? I'm having great sex and I'm not dating crazy."
They looked at each other now, and then Nicky said, "Anita, I'm a sociopath who tried to kill you and almost everyone you loved when we first met. How is that not the most crazy boyfriend ever?"
"Okay, I'll give you that one," I said, smiling and patting his knee.
Nathaniel said, "I was the crazy boyfriend for years, but I went to therapy and worked through my issues."
"But you still do sex like you're the crazy boyfriend," Dev said, leaning forward and kissing Nathaniel. He parted from the kiss, his hand playing with the thick braid of Nathaniel's hair.
Nathaniel ran his hand along the other man's thigh as he said, "You fuck pretty good for not being the crazy one."
It made Dev laugh and lean in for another kiss. This one lasted a little longer, and I watched sort of fascinated. I'd been with them together more than once and knew they were doing more just the two of them, but that just made them better together and I was good with that.
Dev drew back and said, "I'm so vanilla compared to you."
"Everyone is vanilla compared to Nathaniel," Pride said.
We all shook our heads. Ethan spoke up from across the aisle. "Not anyone else sitting over there with you."
"What do you mean?" Pride asked.
"It's one of the reasons that Anita and I didn't work out as regular lovers. I am vanilla and she isn't, and she's not attracted to straight vanilla men."
"I won't apologize for what I like," I said.
"I'm not asking you to, but I'm trying to explain to Pride that he doesn't understand that Nathaniel isn't the only nonvanilla here."
"Me, too," Domino said. "I'm too vanilla to be part of Anita's harem. I'll do group sex if there are enough women involved, but other than that I'm not oriented the same way that the rest of Anita's men are."
"I thought Nathaniel was the only . . . I don't want to be insulting," Pride said.
"I'm the biggest pain slut of anyone in Anita's life, if that's what you mean."
Pride looked relieved. "Yes, that's what I mean."
"Nathaniel isn't the only one of us who likes pain; he just goes further than the rest of us," I said.
"I guess I consider Dev vanilla except for being bisexual," Pride said.
"I do group sex and you know I'm an exhibitionist," Dev said.
"I guess I was just counting bondage as not vanilla."
"Sorry, Pride, but vanilla sex is narrower than just not doing bondage," I said.
Dev said, "The first time I was with Asher was with Nathaniel, Micah, and Anita. A four-way doesn't count as vanilla."
"Okay, I get that I'm wrong on my definition of vanilla, and if you were as into bondage as Anita, or Nathaniel, I could see you missing Asher. Apparently, he's a talented top in the dungeon, but you and he never did the dominant-submissive thing together."
"No." All the smiles were gone from Dev now. He'd sat back in his seat, not trying to touch anyone.
"If you don't like pain, then a vampire can't go down on you that well, because of the fangs, so was the sex really that good, or was it just the being-in-love-with-him part?" Pride asked.
"He really is good at sex. Anita can back me up on that," Dev said.
They looked at me,
even Pride.
"Yeah, he's good in bed, but he's not better than Jean-Claude, or Nathaniel, and you're getting to sleep with both of them," I said.
"You're getting to fuck women again, and that's worth getting rid of Asher right there," Nicky said.
"I love women, but I was willing to give them up for him," Dev said.
"I don't see how you agreed to give up women," Pride said.
"You don't like men at all, cousin. Of course you wouldn't understand it. I saw it as the same as being monogamous for marriage."
"But most monogamous people are just into the sex of the person they married, so they give up everyone else, but if they like men they still have a man to sleep with, and same if they love women. You agreed to give up half the human race that you loved having sex with, and Asher was still getting to sleep with Anita, so only you gave up women. It was totally shitty of him to ask you to do that," Pride said.
"I didn't realize you disliked him that much," Dev said.
"He treated my cousin like shit. He's hurt my friends. He's injured people I'm supposed to be protecting as my job. Why wouldn't I dislike him?"
"Why wouldn't you hate him?" Nicky asked.
"He's not worth that much emotion," Pride said.
"If you liked men, you'd understand."
"No, Dev, I wouldn't. I don't have any crazy exes. I don't do the bad girl or boy. I like nice, kind, and the sex can be just as hot."
"How do you know that nice sex is as hot as bad-girl sex if you've never had bad-girl sex?" Nicky asked.
Pride opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, looked puzzled, and finally laughed. "Okay, okay, I guess I don't, but I have great sex and she's not crazy."
"Who are you having sex with?" Dev asked.
Pride shook his head. "None of your business."
"Hey, you brought it up."
"I did not bring it up. In fact, I'm sorry I said anything."
"Are you dating someone and I didn't know about it?" Dev asked.
"We're not eight anymore, Dev. We all have grown-up secrets."
"If Pride is dating someone, then no one knows about it," Nicky said.
I shook my head. "News to me."
"Who is it?" Nicky asked.
"Why do you care?" he asked.
Nicky grinned. "Because you want to keep it a secret."
"That's Dev's kind of reasoning," Pride said.
"I'm actually with Nicky on this one, because I'm reviewing every interaction with any woman I've seen you with, trying to figure out who it is," I said.
"And why you'd want to keep it a secret," Dev said.
"Married?" Nicky asked.
"No, I would never help anyone cheat on their vows."
"So if she's not married, then why the deep, dark secret?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No, I'm done, because if I keep answering questions you may figure it out and she would be pissed at me. I'm not screwing this up."
I narrowed my eyes at him as if I were trying to bring him into better focus. It would bug me, but more because most shapeshifters are incredibly open about sex and relationships to other people they consider part of their community. There just wasn't the taboo among them that some normal humans had.
"Is she human, like mundane human?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No, I am done talking about this. She's too important to me for me to mess up because I'm trapped on a plane and we have nothing better to do than talk."
The plane swayed in the air, as if it had heard him talk about it. I clutched the armrest and Nathaniel's hand. "Talking about something would be good," I said, my voice a little strained.
"I'm sorry, Anita, but even to distract you while you're being all brave about your fears, I'm not blowing this relationship. It's too important."
Dev looked at his cousin. "You're serious about whoever it is."
Pride nodded.
He stared at the other man and finally clasped his shoulder, so that Pride looked at him. "Would you marry her?"
Pride shook his head, then said, "I mean, yes, if she'd have me, but right now she doesn't want to marry anyone."
"How long are you willing to wait?" I asked, because getting all up in Pride's personal business was better than worrying about how aerodynamics worked.
"As long as it takes," he said.
"Depending on who or what she is, that could be a really long time," I said.
"She's worth it."
"Wow," Dev said, "I haven't heard you this serious since we were thirteen and you wanted to marry the little girl next door."
"I was thirteen, and you and your sister both broke my heart with the little girl next door."
"We played 'show me yours and I'll show you mine' with her. You could have come and played with us."
"I was as serious as a thirteen-year-old boy could be about her. I didn't want to play with her. I wanted to profess my first true love." Pride laughed at himself, I think.
"She grew up way too kinky for you, Pride."
Pride looked at the other man. "How do you know?"
Dev grinned. "Angel went to the same college."
"Do I want to know?"
Dev grinned wider. "Probably not."
Pride shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I'll keep my illusions about my first serious crush, thank you."
"If Angel decides to bring her home to visit, I'll warn you first."
"Wait. What?" Pride asked.
"Could we really get to meet the little girl you guys first played house with?" I asked.
Dev grinned at me. "Angel and she kept in touch after college. They're both bi, so they got a place together with some other recent graduates trying to make it in the big city."
"We don't bring roommates home," Pride said.
"When Angel came home this last time, she said they were dating and have been for most of the time she's been out on her own. She's pretty pissed that she got called to the bosom of her family after establishing a successful life outside the clan."
"Is that why she's so cranky all the time?" I asked.
"Partly, but she's always been the less friendly of the two of us. She blames being named Good Angel. Names like that just make you want to rebel against them."
"So, Mephistopheles, why didn't you rebel and become the perfect little angel?" I asked.
He grinned again, and then his eyes filled with a heat that changed the grin to something more primal that made me shiver a little as he stared at me. "I went the other way," he said, in a voice that almost purred. "I decided to be my name."
"Mephistopheles," I said.
"Devil," he said.
The plane lurched again, and I fought not to dig my nails into Nathaniel's hand but just the chair arm. "I try to be on the side of the angels, but I play like I'm for the other team," I said, my voice a little strained.
"You make us all play for the angels, but you recruit from the other side," Nicky said.
"You're not a devil," I said, looking up at him.
"I'm not an angel, either."
"You like reformed sinners, Anita," Fortune said, leaning on the side of Pride's chair.
"You make me sound like the Salvation Army."
"I'm not reformed," Nicky said.
"Me either," Dev said.
"I guess to be reformed you have to be repentant, and neither of you are that," I said.
Fortune laughed. "They are so not that."
"We'll be getting food soon."
"I don't know if I can eat," I said.
"You have to eat, Anita. It helps quiet all the other hungers."
"You have to eat real food, Anita," Nicky said.
"If you don't eat actual food, you'll have to feed the ardeur before we land," Nathaniel said.
"Which could spread to the pilot. Yeah, Jean-Claude explained that," I said. I looked up at Fortune. "So what's for dinner?"
34
I WAS FINE until we started to land, and then having the windows closed became a
problem again. Landing scared me anyway, but apparently being able to see out while it was happening made it less scary for me, because being trapped in a narrow metal tube with the sensation of it hurtling toward the ground, but not being able to see the ground, so I couldn't tell if we were actually landing, or crashing . . . I started to have a panic attack, fought through it, and held on to Nathaniel and Nicky for dear life. Dev reached across and put a hand on the one thigh that didn't have a hand on it already, and said, "It's okay, Anita."
I wanted to say, You can't promise that, but I was afraid if I said anything I'd either start screaming or throw up, so it was better to keep my mouth shut. I felt the bump as the plane landed. I closed my eyes and tried to be relieved, and I was, but I was also almost faint with the desire to get off this fucking metal tube of death!
The door was open and fresh air actually came into the plane. Something tight and unhappy in my chest and stomach loosened. I could breathe again without fighting the urge to scream.
The pilot said, "Everyone needs to show their medical alert cards, and allow customs on board to compare the vampires' faces to their passports, since it is daylight and we cannot bring the vampires to them."
The medical alert cards were the same kind of thing you'd carry if you had severe allergies or other medical conditions that if you happened to be unconscious doctors would need to know about, except that these cards said we had, or carried, lycanthropy. Ireland and most of the rest of the European Union demanded that lycanthropes carry medical alerts. It could be a bracelet, a necklace, a card, an insert in your clothing, but you had to have something. If a lycanthrope tried to simply enter Ireland, England, or much of the EU as a normal human and then got found out, it was cause for automatic deportation with the possibility of jail time. The people who traveled with Micah already had theirs, and he was able to help us rush the paperwork for the rest of us. Apparently, there's a lot of controversy about it, so the powers that be had made it easier and quicker to get the cards, so that they didn't get sued again for civil rights violations and other similar things. England had originally wanted to force lycanthropes to be tattooed, but not all tattoos remained on all shapeshifters' skin. They then suggested forced branding, and lawyers, the press, and people in general began to make comparisons to the Nazis and how the Jews were permanently marked. So we just needed the cards, but if a government official, like a police officer, asked to see our cards and we failed to produce them, it could be grounds for deportation. You were encouraged to have more than one type of card on you at any given time. I felt a little funny with my card, because technically I wasn't a lycanthrope, but my official paperwork said that I carried lycanthropy, so for government work I needed a card.
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