Always the Vampire (40 page)

Triton and I started Wednesday evening’s training by dancing again, just to be sure we had the steps and timing down.

“Whatever song is played, we’ll do one complete circle in the line before we break off. When I squeeze your hand and move, you follow, okay?”

“Got it, but what do we do if Starrack attacks people in the crowd? For that matter, what if he uses powers beyond throwing energy balls?”

“We have spoken of that,” Cosmil said, “and he may use some illusion or even disappear when you close in on him. However, it is our opinion that he expects the Void to do the fighting, and, in fact, feels invincible with the Void at his side.”

“But,” Lia added, “we’ll be there to counter illusions and to keep him visible.”

Saber nodded. “Whatever happens, just remember our goals are simple. Drain the Void’s energy, get Starrack down, and hit them both with the amulets. Any more questions?”

“Just one,” I said. “I need the chant that activates the banish setting on my amulet.”

Cosmil rose and went to the massive kitchen island, waved his hands, and a small piece of paper appeared. He handed it to me, and I scanned the two lines he’d written phonetically. I pronounced the syllables with Cosmil providing corrections. Though the words sounded like the Hawaiian I’d heard on
Magnum, P.I.,
I had no clue what language I spoke.

“What does this mean?” I asked when I’d muttered the phrase twice.

“The short, loose translation is, ‘Light, vanquish the Darkness.’ ”

“That’s it?”

“Magick is not necessarily mumbo-jumbo, Francesca,” Cosmil said with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Does it work if I say the same thing in English? I mean, if I forget these words in the heat of the moment.”

“It is best to speak the language of the amulet, but I suppose the vernacular would suffice. The disk responds to intent, after all.”

“No fears on that score. My intent will be loud and clear.”

A phone call at ten thirty Thursday morning sent Saber and me into a new flurry of activity.

Neil’s sister Jessica had gone into labor at six that morning. His parents, who also lived in Orlando, would still make the wedding, but Jessica’s hubby, John, obviously would not. Under the circumstances, Saber couldn’t say no when Neil asked him to move from usher to groomsman.

I phoned the formal wear shop about the change of plans, and they had a tux they thought would fit Saber, but he had to get there pronto in case it needed alterations.

He took off, and I finished filling the hanging shoe-storage units and plastic boxes with the items from my list, carefully labeling each box and zipper bag. When I took the containers to Maggie’s to stash them in the respective rooms where they’d be needed, Neil was there waiting on the lawn-maintenance crew. I updated them both.

“Saber called. He has a tux, and it just needs one pant hem repaired.”

“He wasn’t offended that Neil asked him to fill in?”

I waved a hand. “Not at all. How is Jessica’s labor coming along?”

“John nearly fainted in the birthing room, but Neil’s mom said the babies should be born anytime. Neil and I are just tidying here and there, making sure there are tissue boxes in every room and extra toilet paper in each bathroom—”

“Packing for the honeymoon?”

Neil rolled his eyes. “She’s packed and repacked a dozen times in the last two weeks.”

“Well, you two relax and wait for the baby news. If Saber doesn’t bring all three tuxes home with him today, we’ll pick them up tomorrow when we get the bridesmaid dresses.”

Saber didn’t bring the tuxes home, so they stayed on my Friday list. At two in the afternoon, with the roar of the lawn crew mowing, edging, and hedge trimming, we decided to load up Snowball and everything else we needed to take to Saber’s place and get that errand done. We also took our now-fresh workout clothes in case we went straight to Cosmil’s later.

Once at Saber’s house, we decided to make it shine. We dusted, vacuumed, and changed the linens on the guest bed. Not that Lia would be using the room, but a freshening couldn’t hurt.

“Are you out of nervous energy yet?” he asked when we took a break to sit on the sofa with glasses of sweet tea. “If you aren’t, we can go clean Triton’s apartment.”

“Nah, I did that with Lia. Once was enough. I don’t think those thugs put his socks under the sofa.”

Snowball dashed out of Saber’s office where he kept her combination cat condo, scratching post, and gym. She looked at us, and then took a flying leap to sit on a wide-ledged windowsill. Yes, the cat was beyond happy to be home, and she did something I hadn’t heard her do at my place. She gazed out the window at the oak tree and chirped at the birds.

Sudden tears clogged my throat. What if I never heard that innocent sound again? What if we didn’t get to come home to Snowball after tomorrow night? Come home to each other?

“Honey?”

I looked up into Saber’s cobalt eyes, and everything I wanted to say spilled through my mind. My jumble of fears and hopes, and the love I felt for him clashed with the grim reality that we might have twenty-some hours left together.

“Saber, hold me.”

“Come here.”

I put my glass on the coffee table and crawled into his arms. He cradled me the way he had one night shortly after we’d met. The night we’d watched a
Monk
marathon on DVD. The same night he’d first kissed me.

“Listen to me.” His deep voice and steady heartbeat soothed my trembling. “We have a six to two advantage against Starrack and the Void, and we have more firepower. Magical and mundane.”

I tilted my head to see him through my sheen of tears. “You’re taking the Glock, aren’t you?”

“Hell, yes. If Starrack shows up, we end this tomorrow night, period. Triton reunites with Lynn, Maggie and Neil have their happily ever after, and we take that vacation.”

He paused to carefully thread his hands in my hair. “I’m serious, Princesca. No matter what happens, we’ll be together. Got that?”

“I do.”

He kissed me then. A long, slow kiss of exquisite tenderness. I ran my hands under his polo shirt, molding each muscle, adoring the texture and tone of his body. My own body caught fire as he returned my exploration. With each piece of clothing we peeled away, each gentle touch, the heat mounted and power flashed like lightning between us.

The smell and taste of his skin, the feel of his hands, every caress intoxicated me until I barely remembered to breathe. And when he settled over me, when he slid inside me, our powers flared so brightly, an aura of light burst around us.

“See?” he whispered, the aurora shimmering as he moved in me. “This is us, love. This is what we create together.”

I cupped his face in my palms. “And we always will. I love you, Deke.”

 

 

We napped late in the afternoon, even me, and it was gloriously lazy. I’d forgotten how good a siesta could be.

At seven thirty, we were back at Cosmil’s shanty, and Triton was already there. None of us mentioned it, but we were all eager to have the battle behind us. Even Cosmil and Lia looked weary.

Tonight we were staging a dress rehearsal, so we ran through the plan from beginning to end. After Triton and I danced, Cosmil took the role of Starrack, and Pandora played the Void. I began sipping their energies, and we dodged everything Cosmil threw at us, drawing nearer as we pressed our attack. Finally Pandora played dead. That was the signal to jump Cosmil and hit him with the amulets—the real ones. We even recited the activation code, though it didn’t faze Cosmil. Good to know that there wasn’t any darkness in him to banish.

When we tried to give the amulets back to Cosmil for safekeeping, he refused them.

“I have spelled them both to be invisible,” he said. “Starrack will not know you have them.”

Lia gathered us in the shack before we called it a night.

“Here are the protection charms,” she said as she passed out brightly colored cloth pouches tied closed with twine. “I made one for each of us. Sleep with them tonight so they will bond to you, then keep them in a pocket all day. And, Cesca, here are the drachmas. The spell will last six hours.”

“Thanks, Lia. Saber and I may need to put our pouches and drachmas in the same pocket. Will that be a problem?”

“One won’t cancel the effectiveness of the other, if that’s what you mean.”

“That’s exactly what I needed to know.”

“What about the magical bombs?” Saber asked.

Lia produced a small cardboard tray of twenty marble-sized white balls.

She picked balls from the tray and handed them to me. “You and Triton take five of these, and Saber will get ten.”

“How do we detonate them?” Saber asked as he held out his hand for his allotment.

“The directions are simple,” Lia said. “Throw and go. When the magick strikes anything at all, visible or invisible, it will explode.”

“They won’t explode in our pockets, though, right? I mean, we could get jostled in the crowd or bump into a table.”

“Not to worry. The throwing motion is the activator.”

“Please do remember that Pandora will be invisible,” Cosmil cautioned with a fond glance at the panther. “We don’t want to lose her.”

Cosmil and Lia passed along a few more pieces of advice, but none of us acknowledged that this might be our last night together. Since I didn’t want to be the one to get maudlin, I said good-bye and headed for Saber’s SUV ahead of the guys.

Pandora padded along with me.
Snowball is safe?

“She’s at Saber’s house. You’re awfully fond of her, considering she’s a regular cat and you’re not.”

I did a double take at her half-snarky, half-wistful tone. “Sure you can. In fact, if something happens, can you get Snowball out of Saber’s house?”

With that, Pandora wheeled away. Triton and Saber’s footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me.

“I need a favor,” Triton said firmly. “I need to see Lynn tonight.”

“That’s cool. I should check in with Ken and David anyway.”

“You’re not going to fight me on this?”

“Not at all. Let’s go.”

Yes, I had an ulterior motive, and I broached it as soon as Triton was closeted with Lynn in the bedroom.

“Guys, if you don’t hear from us by about midnight tomorrow, take Lynn home, and get out of town.”

Ken looked from me to Saber. “Tomorrow is the showdown?”

“We believe so,” Saber said. “We appreciate what you’ve done.”

“We could do more,” David offered. “One of us is plenty to guard Lynn.”

“No,” I said. “It sounds inane to say this to combat Marines, but we’ve trained over a week for this.”

“And it’s a Special Forces op,” Ken said with a smile. “Understood. We’ll stand by and be ready to move out.”

“Thanks. We’ll say good-bye to Lynn, and you can kick Triton out in an hour, okay?”

“Will do. Princess, Saber, it’s been an honor.”

“We’ll look forward to meeting again,” David added. “Semper Fi.”

 

 

Always Faithful. I thought about the Marine Corps motto as Saber and I faithfully ran through our Friday errands.

I’d called Maggie before we left the cottage and learned that Jessica delivered twin girls to be named Addison and Emmerson, or Addie and Emmie. Neil’s parents would miss the rehearsal but would be in St. Augustine by noon on Saturday for the wedding. I breathed a sigh of relief because Neil’s parents would be yet two fewer people traipsing to the Greek festival.

Maggie didn’t have any last-minute items to pick up, so Saber and I got the tuxes, dresses, and a restaurant gift card for my drachma “game.” I almost bought another six-pack of Starbloods but decided against it. In spite of waking early for the last week, I’d kept to my nutrition schedule of having just one Starbloods between two and three o’clock each afternoon. When we’d moved the bulk of my supply to Saber’s yesterday, I’d kept three bottles in my fridge. I’d downed one on the sly Friday morning, hiding the bottle so I wouldn’t worry Saber. I’d have a second shot a few hours before the rehearsal to get an extra boost of energy for the long night ahead.

The third bottle I’d drink tomorrow before the wedding. Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, as Jag Queen Millie would say.

By five, Saber and I were dressed for the evening. He wore black slacks and a dark blue shirt that made his cobalt eyes more intense. I chose the same red blouse I’d worn to meet Triton weeks ago, but I paired it with black capri-length cargo pants and rubber-soled loafers. Not typical rehearsal clothing—or battle duds—but the outfit was loose enough to fight in, and I could kick off my shoes if needed. Most important, the protection pouches, the mini-grenades, and the amulet fit in the zippered pants pockets.