2 Death Rejoices (80 page)

“Hey, Harry? I'd love to have sex with you,” I assured him, “but the roof of the boathouse isn't the best place for it, huh?”

“Do be serious, love,” he scolded, clucking his tongue, “and turn around.”

“Shy?
You?
” I laughed.

“You shall not enjoy watching this.”

“Seen you naked before.”
Not often enough, though
. “I enjoy it a whole lot.”

“Bezonter me, but you are impossible to surprise. Just do as I say, and press those honey-sweet lips of yours together, please. Your constant chatter is ruining this whole experience for me.”

I let out a long sigh. “Pardon my chattering ass.”

A shrill peep drew my interest, but I behaved and stared resolutely out at Shaw's Fist, the midnight black surface reflecting a wavy, pregnant sister of the harvest moon. I've never claimed to be good at resisting temptation, and when membranous, shifty noises joined the small squeaks, it was nearly impossible not to look behind me. After a minute or so, I was going nearly nutty with curiosity, and then Wesley's small repulsive bat form was a shadow at the side of my left foot, his distinctive waddling gait bringing a wry smile.

“How'd you get up here, Batface?”

“I stowed the vermin in my pocket,” Harry informed me, “where he bloody well
shat
, if you can believe it.”

“Careful,” I warned the wobbly revenant bat. “I don't want to fish you out of the drink.”

Wesley's wee brown head cocked at a painful-seeming angle, nearly all the way around, like he was listening to something behind us.

A flurry of feather exploded from behind my head and I ducked into the protection of my shoulders. A white-faced barn owl thrashed the wind, rising in a screeching swoop past the spotlight of the moon as though the motion were completely natural to him. My hand went to the soft hollow of my throat and I checked for Harry behind me. He was gone, just like that, and with an uncertain wobble of flapping wings, Wes lifted off to join him.

Like a baby following its parent, the tiny brown vampire bat flitted erratically in the wake of the owl, and as I watched Wes beating his awkward little wings to gain altitude and falling down through the climes, I thought:
you wanted family, Harry
. I wondered if he realized just how much Wesley needed him. My hand crept from my throat to cover my mouth, and soon laughter shook my belly, puffing out against my palm in a joyous rush. I dropped my hand, exposing a wide grin to the night.

Shooting one fist into the air, I shouted my brother's name through my laughter.

The little bat circled, wavering from side to side unsteadily, and dove right into my hair.

“No!” I flailed, lost my footing, letting out a surprised
wuu-aaaaah
as I toppled from my perch. I didn't see the barn owl change course, nor did I see him shape-shift in midair, but I felt the arms hit
me: unflinching, solid, and immovably powerful. His timing was almost perfect. Almost.

We hit the ground; Harry took most of the impact in a naked, spinning roll. When we sprawled to a stop, my wail ended in an abrupt squeak. Harry propped himself on one elbow and looked at me dis-approvingly from under one arched brow, piercings twitching.

“Are you quite all right?”

“I fell off a roof,” I said.

“Such a fuss you make. You act as though you didn't know I'd catch you.”

“You were a barn owl!”

“I quite fail to see the relevance of that.”

I opened my mouth to retort when a figure over Harry's shoulder took my breath away. Wesley stood there, covering himself with one hand, rolling one shoulder under the other, a grimace of pain painted across the unscarred side of his face. The other was still angry pink, a dry riverbed of holy water burns, but better than the last time I'd seen it. His left eye was still puffed shut; Harry had been sure Wes would lose it, and I wondered what the future would hold for the eye.

I tapped Harry's shoulder and pointed.

Harry rolled off of me, making no attempt to cover his nakedness; he took in Wesley's face with a considering murmur. “Not bad.”

“Not bad? Dude, I did that shift mid-flight and landed on my goddamned feet.”

I elbowed Harry, who frowned at me and then said politely, “Ah, yes. Huzzah.”

“That's it?” Wes smirked at me. “That's all I get?”

“Hey, I've never gotten a ‘huzzah’ before, I'd take it,” I advised. “I could give you a hip-hip hooray if you promise not to uncover your junk; no one needs to see that.”

“If you two chinwaggers are quite finished,” Harry said crisply.

I mouthed at Wesley's grinning face,
Chinwaggers?
“Don't know about you, but I'm not nearly done. I plan on wagging my chin all night.”

Harry let out a long-suffering sigh. “As I was saying, each successful transformation should see a bit more fur on that side, and
then flesh upon changing back, and more fur in future, and, given time…”

Wesley's lips quirked into a warped smile. “Kid'll clean up all right?”

“Indeed. You shall continue to improve, my lad,” Harry said, standing and offering me a hand. “As for your sister, well, one can hope irrationally against the odds, but those odds are perfectly bleak.”

“Hey!” I hauled myself up using Harry's iron grip. “You know, you're awfully cheeky for a hungry, naked, dead guy.”

“Speaking of hungry,” Wes said, cupping his nudity with both hands and hurrying ahead of us through the dark yard to the mudroom. “Let's get a pizza.”

“No!”
Harry and I chorused.

“I meant for Marnie,” he corrected “I don't even care what toppings she gets, I'll just smell it. From across the room. Guys?” He stopped, glancing back at us.

Harry stood behind me, wrapped his arms around my body possessively, and tucked his chin on my shoulder. The faint smell of his 4711 cologne swam on the purl of otherworldly chill around him. Through the Bond, I felt his hunger stir, and my belly quivered with excitement.

Wesley's upper lip curled. “Oh, no. Oh, guys, don't do this to me.”

“Gotta learn how not to read people's minds, Telepath,” I advised my brother.

“I'm out!” Wes yelped, and ran into the mudroom. The screen door squeaked and then banged closed.

Harry nibbled my earlobe, his lips curling away from his extending fangs, until he was sure Wes was gone. “The gentleman would take you inside to his bed, now.”

“Oh?” I said, feeling my pulse kick into high gear.

“But the monster,” he murmured. “Oh, love, the monster would know if you prefer the hunt.”

Even if Harry didn't know exactly how I felt about that, my trembling left no doubt. He said, “Do require a head start, my only one?”

Somewhere to my left, high in the trees, Ajax the debt vulture let out a hoarse, frustrated squawk. Wesley's vulture hiss-cackled in return. The wind rose with a moan through leaf and branch. I turned my head slightly to breathe in Harry's ear.

“Ten seconds?” I whispered.

He growled and swatted my ass like an old time gentry spurring a horse to bolt.

“You have five.”

Squealing, I flew into the darkness, pulling shadows around me and laying on the speed. There was a pale form behind me closing in fast, and it was laughing with delight.

I shivered with anticipation and ran harder.

THE END

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