Exsanguinate (25 page)

K
haldon held me close
. He smelled freshly showered. “Do you realize you just killed a man who tried to capture you, by the looks of it?”

“Where have you been? Why are you making me become a crazy
Fatal Attraction
bitch? I’ve never had to ask you where you’ve been. You’ve always shown up on time when we gamed in the simulators. You’ve never been late to a date.” My voice tenuous, I pitched up a couple of decibels.

“I know, I know … I’m sorry about that. That is what I came here to discuss with you. I think we have a bigger problem than we thought.”

It was hard even trying to stay mad at him with his arms wrapped around me. He rocked me back and forth in a calming motion. It was as if we were in the surf at the beach with his gentle swaying. I was still so tired, I almost fell asleep.

I belched. “Oh, excuse me. That surely wasn’t very ladylike either, now was it?” I think that guy might have been a bit intoxicated, because I feel funny. D’yaknowhatimeanlike?”

“What do you mean by funny? Funny like ha ha or funny like – you thinkn’ it might be the Montezuma’s Revenge coming upon you now?” Khaldon, still holding me, took a cautious step backwards.

“More like I’m fawin’ aboot, phised as a fart, ya know? I’m pretty sure this fella here was full of the falling down juice. I’m hammered!” My body felt like Jell-O as I sank into the couch.

“Ah – I see now, you had a bloody elevenses then have you? Come on now, let’s get you a bit more comfortable.” And with that Khaldon picked up the blanket from the back of the couch and covered both Beano and me. I wrapped my arms around his neck feeling the muscles under his shirt as he tucked us in.

I could get used to this.

He stood and propped his hands on his hips staring down at me. I tugged at his pant leg to indicate I wanted him to down here and have a snogfest, but he wasn’t havin’ anything of it. “You sound just like Torchy when you’re drunk.“

I scrunched my face, not understanding. “Torchy? Your friend who took care of the puppies, or your dragon inside the game?” The firewater in flower delivery guy’s blood hit me like a lead brick. “Did you say I sound like a dragon?”

“Well, Chey, kinda yeah – I suppose. Torchy is from Scotland, though, and your heritage is Irish.”

“Are you calling me a skenker? How dare you call me a Scot?”

“No, m’lady, of course not, but I don’t believe Torch will be all that happy with you if you refer to him as skenker. All right?”

“Whoever this Torchy fella is – whateveryoucallhim - I need to meet him.” My words began to slur with every passing syllable. I was fading fast.

“Torchy is my best chap. You’ll meet him soon.” He continued to look down on me and pulled his mouth over to one side. “I think the best thing you need is to get some rest. You really need a shower.”

I shot him a dirty look, but I knew he was right. There was just no way in hell I was going to be able to take a shower and support myself.

I’m not getting naked with him in the vicinity no matter how much I want to.

The cuts in my feet healed as I watched. His hands caressed my feet as he pulled them onto the couch atop of him. Khaldon rubbed my feet, and I didn’t even have to ask.

Oh glory Mother of the Goddess – I have a guy who likes to give foot rubs?

“Check!” I said in a singing voice.

“Check?”

“I probably will regret telling you this when I can think straight. But every time you say or do something that really softens my core, I give you a check mark. I have to tell ya, you’re filling up my card.”

His strong hands kneaded deep into the healing flesh of my foot. It felt heavenly.

“So… Ima trying to get this … you have a pet dragon? How come you never mentioned him before?”

My eyelids were heavier than my Aunt Maisie’s combat boots.

“You know the dragon I carry around my shoulders?” he said.

“Oh yeah - I remember now. The cute little red one who blows smoke rings out his nostrils. He’s sooo cute.” Clarity was the farthest thing from my mind. “And how is he your best friend? Do you speak dragon?”

“No, Chey. You’re really mallard. Torch lives here in Orlando. In fact, he’s in the same condo complex as me, a couple of buildings over.”

I nodded. “So when
do
I get to meet the elusive dragon?”

“Perhaps after you sleep, cause you really need the rest. That dhampir’s blood has you in a bad way.”

Beano close to my side, actually got up and lay back down on Khaldon’s foot. “You’ve been accepted.” I smiled. “You still haven’t told me where … you’ve … been.”

K
haldon sat on the couch
, rubbing Cheyenne’s feet. Even though she was sound asleep and even snoring a bit, he didn’t seem to mind. Any amount of time with her was better than what he went through the previous night.

How in the hell am I ever going to be able to tell her about Amicula? I love Cheyenne – she is the most amazing woman I have ever known and now that she is vampire, I believe my life won’t be complete until I make her my own. Look at her – she’s beautiful, and these feet – they’re so damn cute.

Khaldon looked up around the house and saw his avatar Roxas reflected in much of her home, similar to what he’d done with her avatar. She had a beautiful watercolor painting she’d commissioned of their avatars kissing in front of a waterfall. It was her favorite picture. Now it lay lopsided in broken shards against the wall. Hopefully the impact hadn’t damaged the painting, but it would have to be re-framed.

Khaldon gently pushed Cheyenne’s legs off of him and tucked them back under the blanket when he stood up. He admired her for a moment and hoped she could get a little rest sleeping off this drunk.

He picked up the painting to examine it for damage. Beano looked up at him curiously. “Well, Beano, I don’t see any holes in the canvas. I think we can get this fixed up at the Super Market. Now what do you think we should do with this flower delivery guy?”

Beano growled and licked at his cut paw.

Khaldon called Lord Stovall to arrange for the abstergers to come get the delivery guy. He swiped off his phone and set it on the table. There was glass everywhere. He didn’t want to wake up Cheyenne, but it wasn’t safe for Beano and Stormy to keep walking around.

In the kitchen, Khaldon found a broom and dustpan and began to sweep the tile floor. He noticed a small etched figurine. It was their dragon heart he had given her the night they partnered in the game.

Boy, I sure am glad the guy didn’t hit this.

Khaldon looked over at Cheyenne. She took his breath away. A smile danced across his face as he continued to get the mess cleaned up.

After wrapping the body into what looked to be an expensive area rug, Khaldon stashed it in her spare bedroom closet. He looked around to see what else he could do to clean up and decided to work on Beano.

He carried Beano into the utility room and ran warm water in the pet bath. Carefully removing any embedded pieces of glass, he cleaned Beano’s paws and applied doggie Neosporin to them. “Okay now, don’t be licking this stuff off your feet.” He gave him a good scratching all the way down his back and checked his legs for cuts as well. “Ya know, Beano, since we’re here …” Khaldon pulled out the shower handle and rinsed him down while Beano happily wiggled around. Khaldon dried off his new friend and rewarded him with a biscuit. Khaldon picked him up and placed him gently on the floor.

Beano trotted off and Khaldon followed him into Cheyenne’s office. Beano curled up in his doggie bed as Stormy crawled in beside him.

On her desk was an out basket with lots of letters addressed to Roxas, but never sent. This put Khaldon into a precarious situation. He wasn’t snooping, but they were very visible and they were addressed to him. “What would you do, Beano?” Beano looked up at him and wagged his nub of a tail.

“What do you mean, what would Beano do? Who the hell are you? Why is there another vampire in this house?” Harris stood in a defensive posture at the threshold of Cheyenne’s office.

Khaldon sniffed at the air. His fangs almost fell out of his mouth, but he gained enough composure to not attack him. “Don’t get yer pants into a pandemonium. Perhaps I should inquire the same, wolf.” Khaldon gave him a wink.

“Rox? Are you Roxas?” Harris’ face lit up with recognition.

The posture standoff was over just as fast as it had begun. “Damn dude, she wasn’t kidding, you don’t look anything like Rox. This is gonna take some gettin’ use to.”

“This is the real me. So hopefully I can stay this way for awhile.”

Harris walked in and plopped into Cheyenne’s chair. “It’s good she’s asleep – she’s been a basket case, dude.”

“I can’t imagine the pressure she’s under. But I’ve put in a call to the local Lord and hopefully we’ll get some answers,” Khaldon said.

“What happened to Beano?” Harris asked.

“What happened was when I walked in here about thirty minutes ago, Cheyenne was snacking on a flower delivery guy. Come to find out, he’s a dhampir. He had silver cuffs on her and I guess was trying to capture her. But she and Beano totally whipped his ass! I would’ve loved to have seen it.”

Harris nodded. “No shit! So that must be his truck parked downstairs. Where’s the body?”

“I’ve got him rolled up in a carpet until the abstergers can get here. We need to identify this guy, and I don’t have any scanning equipment on me. She drained him like a bathtub. To top it all off – the guy was totally intoxicated. That’s why she’s passed out on the couch.”

“No shit?” Harris repeated.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Briggs is on his way down. He’s driving in from New Orleans.”

“Seriously? That’s righteous. We got the Fed Ex package in the mail. Cheyenne is convinced it’s Dakota’s little toe.”

Harris’ eyes bulged. “That Mother Pus Bucket really did it. Dammit! You heard they have Kiernan now too, right?”

“BLOODY HELL! Are you serious?”

“Yeah, that was the clue he sent to her last night. They nabbed Kiernan and drained his live-in nurse. Cheyenne sent me a text after she got back from his house early this morning.”

“No shite!” Khaldon said.

“Yeah. And then on top of it, Ludovic told her she
had
to be online at eight a.m. for her next clue,” Harris continued. “She said the jerkwad had sent her a message that he wasn’t ready for her. Instead he sent her an Mp3 of Sheridan screaming. He’s jackin’ with her mind and her sleep I think. Making her real tired so she’ll start making mistakes, know what I mean?”

“It’s just one thing after another.” Khaldon sat on another office chair and let a long sigh.

Harris swiped the computer monitor to bring up the gaming portal, hoping there might be some tidbit Ludovic had left for them to discover. Anything to help them get one step closer to rescuing his adopted family. “What exactly did Cheyenne do to make him so angry? I mean, I know she’s got a snark to her, but she would fight to the death to protect her sisters.”

Beano nudged at Khaldon’s hand. Khaldon scratched behind his ears and opened the jar of treats from the desk. Khaldon handed Beano a biscuit and another one for Stormy.

Propped up on his elbows, Khaldon leaned on the desk. “Ludovic promised if she got her pop quiz correct, he would let her talk to one of them for a minute. She got the clue right, but he reneged and told her, ‘I didn’t say
when
you could talk to one of them.’”

Harris nodded and also let out a huge sigh. “Chey and I went through Dakota’s room last night. Cheyenne told me about the GC 89. We figured out it must be a clue to a geo-cache that Dakota had made up, but we couldn’t find any of her logs here. I drove to my house this morning to get the box that had her notebooks she had lent to me. But I can’t find any reference that goes that high.”

Harris grabbed a couple of dog biscuits for himself, as he broke one in half and crunched on it. “Hmmm. Really is new and improved bacon flavor.”

Khaldon looked at him.

“Blimey, dude?” Khaldon walked toward the living room shaking his head. “I can’t believe he really cut off Dakota’s toe. That psychotic pervert is so dead when I get hold of him.”

“Well, I think you’re gonna have to stand in line,” Harris said between bites.

“I should’ve been here for Cheyenne last night.”

“Yeah – you should have. By the way, just where the hell were you anyways?”