"Gavin, I know you love me," I put my hands on either side of his face, keeping him from talking for just a moment. "I love you too, in case you haven't heard those words from me for a while. More than I can say. Let it go for now, all right? Just let this moment be good. As perfect as we can make it. You know by now that this is what I am. If vampires could have exploding aneurysms, you would have had one long ago."
"Cara, I only do this because the idea of losing you is so frightening to me. Perhaps that is why I took so long to remember you—I think they had to give me an extra dose of forgetfulness to begin with."
"It would take an extra dose for you, honey."
"Yes, it most certainly would." He finished cleaning me up and then took me straight to bed.
* * *
"Our baby took care of business." Drake gave Drew a high five as they watched the vid screen in the bar. They'd been hunting down and clearing out the Ra'Ak-enhanced as quickly as they could, but they'd stopped to eat at a local pub and watched as three Ra'Ak exploded, one right after the other, surrounded by a burning city that the Ra'Ak had done all they could to demolish.
"You know something about that?" The bartender pointed to the screen.
"Not a lot," Drew hedged. He couldn't lie, and that wasn't a lie. They just knew Lissa had done the deed, that's all they knew.
"Hell of a thing," the bartended said, placing a fresh beer in front of the twins. "The Alliance troops are still trying to figure out how they died. Nothing else was getting through to those things. The city was on fire because the troops started throwing everything they had against those snakes."
"They're pretty nasty," Drake agreed and went back to his food and beer.
* * *
"Father, I think I upset the Raona."
"How did you do that, child?" Flavio studied Roff, who seemed distressed. Roff's wings rustled in agitation; Flavio had no hope of controlling Roff's emotions in that way. He'd never turned a winged vampire.
"I took her to New Fangled to get a bottle of blood substitute, but I had to ignore her after a while, to keep my body under control." Roff's golden-brown eyes begged for Flavio's help.
"What did she do?"
"Father, she left the table to play the piano you brought in and she sang, too. It was lovely. But then she came back, said she was leaving and disappeared right in front of me."
"Child, I have erred and not taught you the proper way to date a woman," Flavio sighed. "You must never ignore your date. And if you had told Lissa the truth, I think she would have made you happy. Very happy."
* * *
"Lissa, wake up, avilepha."
"Hmmm?" It was three hours before I was scheduled to rise; I could feel it. Yet here Kifirin was, waking me up in the middle of, well, it was always night on this part of Le-Ath Veronis.
"Shhh, do not wake Gavin. You must come with me, m'hala. Now." I opened my eyes and looked into Kifirin's angel face. He was so beautiful.
"Avilepha, it pleases me greatly that you find me appealing. But come. There are things you must do, my love and quickly, before the universes are torn asunder."
"What's wrong?" I was coming off the bed in a fraction of a second.
"I was hoping you would search out the source for the Ra'Ak-enhanced before the Ra'Ak themselves began to appear. Too many other difficulties have distracted you instead. I will visit one of those distractions shortly. Meanwhile, you must rise, dress, have a cup of tea with me and reason this out swiftly. Time is very short."
I was flinging clothes on as I walked down the hall leading away from my suite. Gavin continued to sleep peacefully in my bed—Kifirin must have muted the noise I made. The guards posted outside my suite nodded to Kifirin and me as we walked away from them. Comesuli were already in the kitchen, preparing dough to rise and getting things ready for the day. A cup of tea was handed to me with a smile. I kissed Cheedas on the cheek and he grinned at me.
"Now, avilepha, think. Where are these things coming from? And bear in mind that many of the worlds that have already been cleared are now infected again." Somehow, Kifirin couldn't help me with this. I didn't know why, but I knew things had suddenly gone critical. Kifirin and I wandered down the lengthy main hall through my palace as we talked.
"This started with the Khos'Mirai, I think," I told him. "Dragon said he was involved. He must have said or done something to make the Ra'Ak aware that they could combine their DNA with the Dark Elemaiya." Kifirin nodded enthusiastically at my assessment. Yeah, I wasn't at my best, trying to think this early. I hoped the tea was helping. "And," I went on, "The Bright Elemaiya sure wanted to get their hands on the Ka-Mirai, because they wanted to change something awfully bad. But we never found out what that was, did we?" I drank more tea, begging my brain to wake.
"Who would know?" he asked.
"Let's go back to the kitchen," I glanced at Kifirin. His dark eyes looked as if they held stars in their depths, at times. I pulled myself away from that and headed to the kitchen almost at a run.
"Cheedas, can you pack a basket of goodies, like for a picnic?"
"I can, Raona, but it is raining outside. Not the best of times for something like that," he informed me as he packed food into a hand basket pulled hastily from the pantry.
"We're not staying here for the picnic," I said, patting Cheedas on the shoulder. I grabbed the basket and folded Kifirin to Evensun.
* * *
"Grandmother, I brought food for you if you will answer my questions," I told her. Narissa's hair was matted and she was filthy. She smelled, too. My murderous grandmother sat outside a poorly constructed lean-to, covered in limbs and wide leaves. It probably leaked like a sieve when it rained. She hadn't done much to help herself—that was evident. The Bright Elemaiya, once so pristine, had fallen completely. They were all as filthy and unkempt as Narissa. She glared angrily at me and if she hadn't been hungry, I would never have gotten anything from her.
"What do you want, hateful child?" She spat at me.
"Why did the Bright Elemaiya want the Ka-Mirai so badly?" I asked. "If you tell me, this food is yours. Refuse and I take it with me."
"Stupid girl," Narissa wasn't finished hurling insults. She cursed me in the Elemaiyan language, calling me names I would never use against even the worst offenders. Well, she didn't have much room to talk—as far as her insults went. Kifirin stood nearby, blowing smoke. I didn't know whether Narissa realized how much danger Kifirin presented. I swung the basket a little, enticing her. She knew she would never be faster than I was—she was mortal and I had vampire speed. "We all voted, after the proposal was made," Narissa grumbled. "We were offered money and an entire city was taken by the Ra'Ak for us in which to spend the winter. They killed all the humans, leaving everything they owned behind. We had food, warm beds, stores of goods and fuel and it was warmer there than where we've been forced to winter, most times."