Lies. All little fibs to keep my mind off the disaster I was making of his throat. The gurgling screams in my ear. The pounding on my back as he tried to release himself from the clench I’d taken on him.
He tasted of thick, sweet metal. Behind it the heavier flavor of stolen vigor, coming straight from that ghost-cape enveloping us both. As his blood gushed down the sides of my mouth, I had less and less of a problem resisting his onslaught.
Finally he appealed to Raoul. “Get her off of me!”
“And what?”
“I will allow you to cross my lands freely for the next fortnight.”
That was good enough for me. I released him, spitting until my mouth cleared, backing until my shoulder blades hit Raoul’s chest.
Wait a second. My Spirit Guide couldn’t stand. I whipped around.
“Vayl, how did you get here?”
He motioned to Cirilai. “You needed me. You called. I came.” When his eyes met mine they were blacker than I’d ever seen them. Angry fountains of red rose and fell from his pupils as he stared at Brude’s throat. His words cut into me like a garrote as he said, “Jasmine, what have you done?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The accusation in Vayl’s tone brought the blood rushing beneath my cheeks. Which was when I realized I probably had quite a bit on top of my skin as well. I pulled out the neck of my shirt and wiped my face with it. Wondered if, when I woke up, I’d still have this taste in my mouth, still want to brush my teeth as badly as I did at this moment.
Neither Vayl nor I felt like looking at each other, so we spent some time watching Brude make a poultice out of dirt, spit, and his own blood. Once he’d packed the entire mess onto his neck, he pointed at me. Kind of satisfying to see that finger trembling.
“Woman, you are a viper,” he said.
I shrugged. “Most of my enemies end up thinking something similar.”
He shook his head, causing his shining black braids to brush back and forth across his sweating shoulders. “You think us adversaries, but in fact we fall on the same side and always will. So the prophets predicted: And Brude shall take unto himself a queen of unsurpassed skill, strength, and beauty, whose astonishing wit will find itself outmatched by the sharpness of her tongue. Mark my words, we will rule this land together, you and I. And all of Lucifer’s demons will tremble at our dominion.”
“Like hell!”
His smile made me shiver. “Now you begin to understand.” He kept his distance, but somehow the intensity in his eyes made me feel as if he’d sidled right up to me. Like his hands had found their way under my clothes, and where they touched my skin burned. “When you need me, call my name and I will come to you. Say it now, my queen. ‘I need you, Brude.’ Let me hear it once before I leave.”
Beside me, Vayl made a noise I’d never heard before. But if I’d caught that sound in the jungle I’d have scampered up the nearest tree. Because I was afraid even touching him would set him off, I just sent calm thoughts in his direction as I gave Brude my coldest stare. “Go away before I shred you like last year’s receipts,” I said.
“I shall. But only for a time. You will beg for my return. And thank me as well.”
“What makes you think I’d ever thank you?”
“Your enemy is mine just as you are mine. I never supposed you would hear my calls at Clava Cairns. But your pet has much sharper ears. And an obedient heart.”
“You . . . you showed Jack where to dig for that harness? Why? What does my enemy want to do with it? Which enemy are we even talking about?”
With a nod of his head and a smile that let me know he loved the fact he’d filled me with questions, he left. Fading to nothing just like his ghostly subjects.
“Well, shit!”
“So how did he taste?” asked Vayl. “I am guessing earthy with a hint of ass.”
I didn’t realize my fists were clenched until I raised one to his face. I unwound a finger, saving the middle one for later, and shook my pointer under his nose. “Where do you get off with the snotty attitude? I was saving my life just now! And working!”
“You were practically rutting with that oaf!”
I held out my arms. Twirled around. “See this? Get a good look, will ya? Fully clothed, yeah? How the hell—”
He widened his eyes in that you-are-the-ultimate-idiot expression of his that made me want to grab a pair of tweezers and start plucking out all his nose hairs. “How could you possibly be more intimate than to take another man’s blood? That should have been me!”
What the f— . . . Ohhhh. “Vayl, I was not trying to pleasure the freak. I was trying to kill him. Ask Raoul.” I gestured to my Spirit Guide, who was looking properly pathetic over by the edge of the path. Unfortunately he didn’t feel making peace between us was his job. Totally ignoring Vayl’s questioning expression, he said, “Jasmine, we have to go. Colonel John has located the source of your father’s problem. We were supposed to meet him at my penthouse—”
“Goddammit, Raoul, this is important to me!” He winced at my obscenity and sighed as he faced Vayl.
“Obviously I couldn’t beat Brude, though I wasted a great deal of effort trying. Jasmine found a way to breach his defenses and used the only weapon that would work for her in this place at this time.”
Vayl nodded stiffly, but when he turned back to me I could tell he wasn’t satisfied. What the hell? He had all the facts. What else could he need?
Raoul struggled to rise, failed, gave me a frustrated look. “I’m coming,” I said, striding past Vayl, avoiding contact I would’ve sought half an hour before. As I helped Raoul to his feet I asked, “How come you can’t just zap your parts back to fine?”
“For the same reason Brude needs to spend the next hour with an excellent needlewoman. We can be injured here. We can even ‘die,’ though the consequences are somewhat more frightening than those we faced as mortals, considering the power of the beings we fight in these planes.”
“Oh.” Without a word, Vayl arrived at Raoul’s other side and together we walked him down the hill, back the way we’d come. Somehow the greens and puÓe gizerples of the meadow I’d begun this dream-hike through didn’t lift my spirits like it had to start with. In fact, if I could get a guarantee that I’d never see this landscape again, I’d be willing to make payments to any of a number of Raoul’s favorite charities. For life.
After a couple of minutes I said, “Um. Aren’t we kind of in my dream?”
“Technically,” said Raoul. “But only in that your dream allowed Brude to pull us into the Thin, where his realm seems to be flourishing like mold on bread.”
His frown didn’t stop me from asking, “So what’re we doing now?” Because I was beginning to seriously worry about my Spirit Guide, who was sweating like a college wrestler in mid workout. The pain must be excruciating.
“We’re looking for a door.”
“You mean like the one I used to visit your place last time?”
He nodded, biting his lip as his toe accidentally hit the path. “They exist in every plane. Remember I told you there was one in Castle Hoppringhill?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the one I’m looking for.”
“But it’s miles from Tearlach!”
“It’s miles from your body. But your mind always keeps one close. Ah, yes, there it is.” He pointed across the meadow to a flaming rectangle framing a black portal whose center could lead us any number of places depending on the words we chanted before we walked through it.
“Explain that,” I demanded. “Why’s the door always close in my mind?”
“I don’t know. It’s something unique to you. I’ve never known anyone else who’s been able to do it.”
Oh great. One more weird spot on the mustard-and-blood-stained T-shirt that was my life.