Vayl leaned in until his cheek brushed mine and his breath tickled my earlobe. “Then I will have to work to make sure that is your only desire.”
The hall door slammed open, causing Vayl to rear back so fast that his chair’s front legs left the floor and he nearly toppled backward. Our fingers tightened on one another and together we pulled him upright. But we didn’t have time to congratulate each other on the save. Because I had hit my feet and lunged for the entrance. Prevented only from throttling my brother by Vayl’s arm snaking quickly around my waist and his whisper in my ear. “Give him a chance to explain.” Just as quickly he let me go, giving me the freedom to decide.
I stood still, squeezing my fists so tightly that my hands cramped. Dave came toward me, staggering slightly as he tripped on an untied bootlace, spilling some of the liquid from his open bottle of tequila. As he came toward me, I glanced at the bedroom door and kicked myself in the pants for assuming he’d decided to get some shut-eye before our dognapping mission in the morning.
“Get me outta this place,” he demanded, grabbing me by the shoulders, slopping some of his booze down the arm of my jacket.
I tried to shove him aside. “You smell like a roach-infested cantina.”
“You can’t imagine what I’ve seen.”
“How much have you had to drink?” I pushed him into the chair I’d just left.
“Nothing. I wasn’t even planning to. You had me so worked up about losing all that training time that I was in here doing push-ups and sit-ups until I realized what I really needed was a run. So I decided to do a few miles down the lane.” He took one longing look at the tequila, shook his head, and drained it into the fountain.
“What happened?”
Dave touched the gauze at his forehead, the only way he’d ever reveal the fact that his injury was bothering him. “I went. I ran. On the way back in I checked my Monise to see if it was safe to come in. It wasn’t.”
“Why not?”
“The room I wanted to enter by was being used.” His tone told me to quit asking stupid questions and listen, goddammit.
“All right,” I said, sitting beside him. “Give me the rundown.”
“This was the room we passed the first time we came inside, after Disa decided to play ball, remember? Big sitting area with brown sectional couches, thick red throw rugs, and a couple of primitive-looking shields on the wall. And near the door, a pretty well-stocked bar. I think they were going for a comfortable look, but still the ceiling and walls were stained everywhere, like they’d had a bad leak and didn’t have the money to make repairs.”
I nodded.
“Disa and Tarasios were sitting on the couch with a human between them. Admes stood at the entrance to the place like he was on guard. He was almost out of camera range. In fact, all I could really see was part of his leg and that kickass sword of his.”
“Had you seen the human before?”
“Nope.”
“Where do you think he came from?”
“Can I just tell the story my way?”
“All right, all right, you don’t have to snap.”
“Yeah I do. Because I’m—” He held up his hand, showing Vayl and me his fingers spread about an inch apart. “Seriously, I’m this close to staking a couple of these sons of bitches. And I don’t think you two want that.”
Well . . . “Go on.”
“So Disa and her gigolo look like they’ve just settled down with the new man between them. It’s a guy in his early twenties wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and sandals. Looks to me like they just hauled him out of a bar somewhere. He’s shivering a little. I can tell because his scruffy little beard is shaking and every once in a while a crumb or something falls out of it.”
“So he was unwilling?” Come on, say yes. That’s grounds for termination right there.
“I thought so at first. Then Disa kissed him and I changed my mind.”
Crap.
Dave went on. “Pretty soon she’s moved on to his neck, and now she’s really dug in. Tarasios is watching with this eager look on his face, which I can’t quite figure out. Then she pauses to bite her own arm, which Tarasios then begins to suck at like it’s a Popsicle. I’m telling you, it was all I could do not to gag.”
“She must be turning him,” I murmured. “He still scents human, so it’s probably just begun.” We both looked at Vayl.
“I would tend to agree,” he said. “Perhaps that is another reason she has been perusing the library materials. Simply to make sure she turns him correctly.”
Dave grimaced. “Well, he was about as grateful as a kitten with a bowl of milk. I think when she bound you, Tarasios must’ve thought she was going to desert him.”
“Yeah,” I said, my heart clenching as it did every time I thought of the two of them ceremonially linked. There’s got to be a way to break this. Think!
“—listening to me?” Dave demanded.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “Go on.”
“So Disa and Tarasios are both feasting and this other dude is damn excited about the whole situation. If it’s turning into an orgy, I definitely want to make sure my Monise is in record mode. Especially if that Sibley shows up. I’m thinking I’ll send some stills off to the guys and just settle in to being their all-time hero.”
“What’s Admes doing all this time?” I asked.
“Just standing by the door like somebody might show up and need to borrow his keys or something. It was bee-zarre.”
“Okay, so Disa’s bleeding this guy . . .”
“Yeah and he’s getting pale quick, so I can’t decide. If he needs help, do I jump into the room and pull on them? I only have my M9, so all it’s gonna do is slow them down. Which gives me time to grab the dude and run—where? I’m still debating when I see things start crawling out of Disa’s throat.”
He had to take a second, pull himself together. We were brushing painful territory now. Dave rubbed his forefinger against the scar, which still glared an angry red, just an inch or so below his Adam’s apple. Seeing Disa’s appendages emerge from the very spot that tormented him with daily reminders of his former bondage must’ve made him want to do major violence.
At last he went on. “The guy’s eyes were closed, or sure to God he’d have started screaming. But he didn’t see that beak slide out from between the oozing folds of her neck skin. It opened and tentacles like a storm of jellyfish legs slid down the front of his shirt, lifted it up, and nestled against his bare skin. He jumped a little when they attached. I thought sure he’d figure out the score then. Disa and Tarasios rolled their eyes up to watch his face, not even pausing in their snacking to take a decent look. But he sighed and moaned, like somebody had just given him a great back rub, and then he slipped his hand down Disa’s top.”
“So what did you do?”
“What do you think? I took a picture.”
“Show me.”
“Jaz, that’s just gross. Now, if you weren’t my sister—”
“Show me, dammit.” He fished out his Monise and displayed the photo. Yup, there was a pretty good shot of Disa with all her extra specials hanging out. Gross.
I glanced up at Vayl. “Have you seen anything like this before?”
He shook his head. “Never.” His lips tightened. “We need to send this to Pete. Perhaps he or someone else in the department will recognize it.”
I told Dave how to send the shot, along with a research request, back to Ohio. Then I mentioned meeting Aine. He shook his head. “I agree it would be nice to know if there was a way to fight Disa up close and personal without risking your entire identity. But isn’t this where I’m supposed to remind you that you guys didn’t come here to overthrow the leadership of this Trust?”
I glanced at Vayl. “That’s true. But what about the Weres they might drag back to the cage? Not to mention . . . Okay, I’ve got nothing else. But the Weres. That was enough to make you go ballistic!”