Blood Rights

‘Time to get back to the ship and get Doc,’ Mal said.

‘I need my bag too.’ Not to mention the body armor in it. ‘And my Golgotha blade.’

‘I have a few alchemical weapons to prepare as well.’ Dominic nodded. ‘Then I’ll call for a car. We’ll head for the plane as soon as you return.’

‘Good.’ Mal grabbed Chrysabelle’s arm. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Us? The sun’s up.’ Chrysabelle stared at Mal. Tried not to focus on his mouth. ‘How exactly are you going to get from the car to the ship without turning into vampire flambé?’

Mal stayed silent for a moment, then cursed and shook his head. ‘Doc will know what weapons I want.’ He cursed again. ‘Hurry back.’

Chapter Twenty-six

One varcolai, one comarré, one former ghost, two fae, two fringe, a second anathema, and the ever-present host of disembodied voices. All of them, save the comarré at his side, the fringe pilot and copilot, and the voices in his head, huddled around a large table in the conference area of the plane, debating the best way to extract Chrysabelle’s aunt without getting any of them killed. Fortunately, Dominic had left Katsumi in charge of running Seven so Mal didn’t have to deal with her too. He sank lower into his seat. How had his life gotten this freaking crowded? At least his recent feeding meant the voices weren’t thrashing his brain.

Beside him, Chrysabelle sketched what she remembered of the floor plan of Tatiana’s home. Her pencil lifted off the paper, and she paused. ‘Could I ask why you’re growling?’

‘I didn’t growl.’

She erased a line and added a window, nodding the whole time. ‘Yes, you did.’

Maybe he had. Considering the circumstances, growling was the least he should be doing. He stared at one particular member of the group around the conference table. ‘You shouldn’t have let her come.’

Chrysabelle glanced at him, rolling her eyes, darkened by the helioglazing on the plane windows. ‘For the last time, I didn’t let Fi come. She bullied her way here. You of all people should know how Fi is when she wants something. Besides, she actually went shopping for me. She was so thrilled to find out she’s not attached to you anymore, I can’t believe she’d choose to be near you again. I guess she couldn’t bear to be away from Doc.’

‘Have you looked at the clothes yet?’ Chrysabelle still hadn’t changed out of Doc’s borrowed shirt and her original trousers. Both pieces were covered in dirt and blood spatter. He wondered if the items beneath those were still as pristine white as the day she’d sauntered through the gym, taunting him to bite her. The memory caused him to shift uncomfortably.

‘No, but I’ll worry about that after I finish this plan for Mortalis.’

‘You might not be so benevolent after you see what she picked out. Fi’s taste can be a little … extreme. And you still shouldn’t have let her come.’

Her pencil lead broke. She clicked out a new length. ‘You know Doc didn’t do anything to stop her, I might add, but I don’t see you giving him grief.’

‘I will.’

She stabbed her pencil toward the aisle. ‘Want me to let you out so you can start that now?’

‘No.’ He crossed his arms and tried again to get comfortable. Dominic’s private jet was plush, but nothing about this trip made it easy to relax.

‘Don’t you need to sleep, what with the sun being out and all?’

‘I slept earlier.’ Before I kissed you, he wanted to say, just to see if she’d blush again. Other than the coloring of her cheeks, she hadn’t seemed as affected by the second kiss as she had been by the first. Or maybe he’d imagined her initial reactions. Or maybe she was too worried about her aunt to think about anything else. That was probably it. What did he know about anything anymore? The world around him now matched the chaos of his head.

‘Only two hours.’ Her face softened and she laid her hand on his arm. ‘Don’t be a hero, seriously. I have great faith in your ability to smite the bad guys, but you need more sleep than that.’

At her touch a soft whine whispered through his cranium. ‘No, I don’t.’ He’d never needed much sleep. He’d always chalked it up to the residual power he’d siphoned off his sire. Since taking her blood, the hours required had dropped even more.

Her brows cocked along with the side of her mouth in a blatantly incredulous expression. ‘Just because you don’t want to sleep where Dominic’s slept … ’

He shifted in his seat to lean closer and lowered his voice. ‘It’s one of those things. Like what I did at the door of Seven when we first got there.’

‘Oh.’ She nodded slowly. ‘An inherited trait from your sire.’ She grinned, nearly knocking him back with the way her eyes lit up. ‘Or should I say an ingested trait?’

‘What?’ Her smile was amazing. Or more bloody likely it was just such a rare thing to see a smile aimed in his direction. A smile wasn’t anything special. Which was why he was going to stop staring at hers very soon.

‘Never mind.’ She went back to the paper, tracing rooms and doorways. A few strands of hair escaped her braid to fall around her face, the pale silk crisscrossing the whorls of gold on her cheeks and neck. The tip of her tongue peeked out between her lips as she concentrated.

Unable to bear the ache in his soul, he looked away and stared directly into his reflection in the window. It was the first time in a long time he’d seen himself. He kept no mirrors on the ship in the compartments he frequented. Why should he? He couldn’t afford gold-backed ones, and seeing his true reflection – the only reflection silver-backed mirrors showed – was unnecessary torture.