The Deadliest Bite (31 page)

I stomped up to her, tore the tobacco from her hands, ignoring her angry, “Hey!” since it just made me want to slam her against the wal even harder.

I handed the foul item to Cole, who proceeded to flush it down the toilet, and said, “If you ever smoke around me or mine again I wil choke you to death. Do we understand each other?” She started to laugh. Then she looked around the room and realized nobody else was amused.

“What the hel ?” she asked.

Cole answered her. “That explosion that just nearly blew you to bits? Demon-laid. Because, guess what? You’re a flaming jerkoff and the world is tired of your crap. But I wouldn’t feel relieved to have escaped the firestorm just yet. Because you’ve been rescued by two of the baddest assassins on earth. And one of them”—he pointed to me—“is highly pissed. Which means she’d feel so much better if she could kil something.” He pointed to her. “If I were you, I’d spend the next few hours making sure that something wasn’t me.”

She showed at least some of her father’s bril iance by settling back into her chair. So I turned to check on my dog. “Raoul?” I asked as I moved to stand between him and Vayl. They’d covered the wound with rags torn from one of Vayl’s shirts. “How is he?”

Raoul said, “He feels very sick to me. I think we need to get him some help, quickly.” He turned to Bergman. “You have access to al kinds of technology, right?” Bergman nodded, pul ing his personal computer out of his shirt pocket expectantly. “Find us a veterinarian and get him here as quickly as possible.” He glanced at me and then back at Miles. “I know this sounds strange, but this may be the most important thing you have ever done for Jasmine in your life.” I felt tears begin to rol down my face as Miles said, “I’m on it,” and wheeled out of the room. I leaned over Jack, rubbing my face against the fur of his cheek, listening to him pant and, every fifteen seconds or so, moan softly into my ear.

“It’l be al right, buddy. I’m right here. I’l be right here.”

“But, Jaz,” Raoul said, as he knelt beside me. “You can’t stay. You have to go now. You gave me your word.”

I turned to look at my Spirit Guide, his face blurring in and out of focus as the tears continued to rol down my cheeks. And in that moment, I didn’t hate him. Because I’d made my choice long ago.

But I knew, now, that I needed to turn another corner. That I couldn’t keep leaving people I loved like this. Jack was the final straw. He didn’t understand, wouldn’t know why his Jaz was deserting him when he needed her gentle touch and loving voice the most. But the rest of them, they’d known.

When Bergman had been bleeding onto the bricks in Marrakech, tel ing me to go and kil werewolves, he’d understood. He hadn’t complained, and yet he should’ve. When Evie had been nearly ready to give birth, and she needed me there because our mom and Granny were dead, she’d understood that I had a job to do. She hadn’t complained about al my traveling. But she should’ve. Because family, friends, the people I adored who’d pul ed me through the nightmare days and nights of my life… they mattered more even than the monsters I’d destroyed to protect them.

And it was time to show them that. The shit of it was, I could never do that, I’d die before I had the chance, if I didn’t leave my poor Jack one last time.

Raoul said, “Jaz? What is it?”

“This is the end,” I whispered. “I’m done fighting after Brude is vanquished. Do you understand?” He nodded gravely. “Yes. I do.”

Cole came forward, tapping Raoul frantical y on the shoulder. “Wil she die, then? Like, there are no instant dropsies in the contract, are there?”

“No. She’s earned her right to live in peace.”

Vayl ran his hand down my arm and pul ed me to my feet. “Then it is time. Come, Raoul. Before we change our minds. Let us gather our weapons and chal enge the gates of hel .” CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Sunday, June 17, 7:30 p.m
.

Suiting up for hel took less time than expected. Holy water on the right wrist. Gauntlet to protect against biting creatures on the left. Raoul’s special y crafted sword in its sheath on my back. Bolo in the right pocket. Grief in its shoulder holster despite the fact that I only carried it for reassurance.

Bul ets wouldn’t do harm in the netherworld.

Vayl paid a visit to Miles to recover his cane and check on his progress. He’d found a good veterinarian twenty miles away and had already left to pick him up. There was no question in my mind that he would be coming back with him.

Raoul returned from his room carrying his sword and a shield that covered most of his left arm.

He also carried his dagger, which he offered to the girl, along with an introduction that Cole, David, and Cassandra listened to with rapt attention. “My name is Raoul,” he said, almost shyly. “You are somewhat famous among my kind. Do you stil cal yourself Lotus?”

“Yup,” she answered, giving him as much of a going over as the weapon she took from his hand.

“Why am I so famous?” she asked. “Are your people into stunt shows?”

“You possess immense skil s,” he said.

She snorted. “You could say that.” She spun the dagger in her hand and threw it across the room. It stuck into the head of the portrait Sanji, the innkeeper, had so careful y hung on the wal .

Then she licked her lips, winked at him, and leaned over so far Raoul couldn’t help but notice her boobs practical y springing from her dark blue T-shirt. “I have al kinds of skil s.” Raoul’s expression never changed. “You also hate yourself more than any other woman I have ever known.”

She sat back so fast it was like he’d slapped her. I said, “Where we’re going, you’re gonna want that dagger.” I nodded to the weapon and then looked at her hard, letting her know she’d better get her ass out of the chair before it came to a confrontation.

Lotus tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing a row of silver earrings, including one that looked like a straight pin had been shoved through the ear’s top curve in two separate places. Ugh.

Hey, I’ve got a bel y ring. My best friend has more earrings than a ful y stocked Claire’s. But that one just looked like she’d taken a bad fal into a nest of nail guns. Which was why it was an effort not to shudder with sympathy pains as I studied her eyes. They were such a vivid blue that I hoped they didn’t change the way Vayl’s did. It would be a shame to see that color fade. Her heart-shaped face escaped being described as cute only because of the way her jaw jutted when she talked, like she was warning you ahead of time you’d have to be tough to deal with her.

Her eyes crawled to Raoul’s as she got up and rescued his dagger. On the way back to her chair Lotus said slowly, “This vampire says he’s connected with me. Him and the marshmal ow over there.” She gestured carelessly toward Aaron, who’d backed into a corner and made us al forget he was there. Quite a trick, I suddenly realized. How many times had he done that when I wasn’t looking? I didn’t have time to ponder because she’d gone on. “What’s that about? I’ve never met them before.”

“But you have,” Vayl said, unable to hold himself back any longer. “We are your family, from the time you were born to me as a baby boy named Hanzi in a beautiful wooded area where we had camped just outside of Bucharest.” He pointed to Aaron. “This man was your little brother then. We cal ed him Badu.” Aaron nodded awkwardly. His expression said,
Hello, sister who used to be my
brother. You are one scary dudette. Do not approach without warning me at least five minutes in
advance
.

Lotus laughed. “Wel , I’l be damned. Talk about the weirdest family reunion ever.” She looked up at Vayl. “You do realize I don’t believe a word of this shit, right? I mean, I’m a stunt driver. I spend most of my time traveling around the world doing motorcycle tricks. And when that gets boring, I find… other ways… to fil my time. Most of them il egal. Or, at least, immoral. It’s how I rol .” Vayl shook his head. “We were always so different, you and I. Never understanding one another, never able to come to a meeting of the minds. Now I believe I see why. And I wish it were not so.” He crouched before her, his expression ful of the earnest desire of a daddy trying to figure out what his little girl real y wants for Christmas. “I wish to know you better. Is that al right?” She sat back, her cheeks hol owing like she’d just discovered a lemon seed stuck in her molar.

Then she said, “Nope. I’m outta here.” She lunged to her feet only to find Raoul’s blade at her throat.

“No, you aren’t,” he said, his voice rimmed with the thunder that had often brought me to the edge of consciousness. “Your destiny has lost patience with you, and selfish pride is now a choice with consequences you must face. You wil join us. Now.”

Final y, something other than sarcastic prickishness crossed that lovely face. Was it bad that I enjoyed seeing real fear? I glanced at Vayl and was reassured that he felt the same. Sometimes that’s the sign—that inside the actor there’s stil a real soul that can be saved. We had to hope it was true for Vayl’s firstborn.

She whispered, “Join you? Where?”

Raoul said, “The demons who tried to kil you today meant to land you in hel . We do too. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you stay there.”

He nodded to me. I leaned over Jack and whispered in his ear. “Okay buddy, if you ever understood anything I said, now’s the time. I have to go. It’s only so I can come back for good. So rest easy. Miles is getting a doctor to make you better and I’m coming back as soon as I can.” I stroked his head just like he liked it. “Love you, poopmeister.” Then I turned and strode into the bathroom, not looking back because if I did, no way would I be able to take another step away from my family and toward the potential end of my life.

I was leaning on the tub, waiting for the portal to appear, listening to Raoul, Vayl, and Lotus breathe behind me. I knew the rest of my crew was huddled in the doorway, with the exception of Miles—and Astral, of course. She had decided to sit between my feet. I couldn’t speak, not to any of them. The moment was too big, the potential for disaster too real. What do you say to people you wil probably never see again? I had no words.

Then Dave cleared his throat. “We were talking. Remember, before? About Kyphas and her prophets and how they knew you might be coming?”

I nodded as Vayl said, “Yes. Cassandra thought there might be a way to set them onto a false trail.”

“It’s too late,” I muttered.

Cassandra sat on the tub beside me and leaned until she could look into my eyes. “Never,” she said so adamantly that I felt a little shock run through me. “I have lived forever, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been married and widowed and seen my children die before they were born. I’ve been a slave and a priestess and everything in between. And I’l tel you this, girl. It’s only too late when you’re dead. You”—she circled her finger at me like I was three and she was trying to make me giggle—“are stil kicking.”

I stood up, the flames from the portal coming to life like a frame around my body. Hel ’s citizens suddenly appeared in my peripheral vision as they walked their endless hike of pain, and I wondered if the gate stood that close to my original landing zone, or if the portal had only opened that pathway because it was so strong in my memory from the last time I was there. With no answers to that question readily available, I asked one that could be answered: “Cassandra, what the hel does that mean?”

She pul ed a handkerchief out of her pocket and unwrapped it enough to show me that inside sat my engagement ring. Her smile, so delighted, made my lips twitch. “We did it!” she said.

“It’s ready!” Dave echoed her, like he’d been the one toiling over it for the past hour. “My wife is a genius! You should al bow down to her!”

“Or not,” Cassandra said, though her smile hinted that she kind of missed those days. “I’ve imbued Jaz’s ring with a spel that makes al the emotions it’s absorbed over time more vivid. The prophets who are looking for her wil find it first.” She held it up to me. “Al you need to do is get somebody in hel to put it on and wander around with it while you run the other way.”

“Or, more practical y, force them,” said Dave. “I was thinking if we shove it down their throat, we probably have a good twelve hours before the prophets clear their heads.”

“Too risky,” said Cole, leaning against the door frame and shining his clicky vamp teeth against his shirtsleeve like they were covered in jel y stains as he spoke. “Half of you could be dead before you get within ten miles of the gate.” He cocked his head to one side and grinned as he set the teeth on the floor, aiming them toward Aaron, who stood just behind him and jumped satisfactorily as they came trundling toward his feet. Cole said, “I have a better idea.” Before we could stop him he lunged forward, grabbed the ring from Cassandra’s hand, slipped it on his pinky, and waved happily at us as he leaped through the portal, cal ing, “See you on the flip side!”

“Shit!” I reached for him, but Vayl grabbed me before I could step through. “Cole! You son of a bitch! Don’t you dare—!” But he had. And the portal had suddenly gone black.

“Open it up, Raoul,” I said grimly.

He spoke the words that cleared the door. Cole was not on the other side. In fact, the section of hel had changed completely. Now we were viewing the oceanic part that Kyphas had landed in during our fight in Marrakech. “This isn’t helping,” I said, trying to keep my voice level, sticking my hands in my pockets before they punched something.

Raoul inspected the portal’s frame, watching how the flames jumped and what colors they turned when. He said, “Hel does not want us to know where Cole dropped. But I can contact the Eminent.

We have scouts everywhere.”

I looked over my shoulder at Vayl. He said, “Cole made a choice. For you. Do not let it be in vain.”