She did it, whether willingly or not, because their friendship meant something deep, something she cherished far more than she’d ever let on. “Would you do this OOPS thing if it wasn’t for Marty and Wanda?”
Nina paused for a long moment as she looked off into the depths of the forest before she said, low and husky. “I dunno. We’ve come really close to losing each other, and even a client or two. That fucking sucks some harsh ass—to always be so damn freaked about the safety of the people you love. Not that I’d take any of it back, because we found some awesome shit and some awesome people along the way. And that’s not to say if somebody needed help, I wouldn’t help. Because nine times outta ten, I would. Injustice pisses me off. And it’s unjust to land in a place called vampire or werewolf or whatever with no one to hold your goddamn hand and help you through it. But sometimes I wonder…”
“Wonder what?” Toni asked softly, placing a hand on the vampire’s arm.
There was turmoil in Nina’s tone, in her body language. It was almost as though she was at a fork in the road of her pending eternity despite what Brenda had said about her happiness. Something was troubling her, and right now, it was far easier to try to figure out Nina than it was to delve into her own problems.
But then she clammed up and the old crusty Nina returned, front and center. “Nothing, Designer Duds. Just breathe and it’ll all be fine. We’ll get Mick and Tess to show you how to control your fire breathing when we get back to Jersey.”
Mick and Tess were the parents of the baby dragon they’d spoken about with such love, something she was still digesting along with everything else.
Sighing, Toni looked down at her gleaming shoes, unmarred from the day’s events. “Jersey seems pretty far away right now. I feel like I’ll never get back there.”
“You won’t if you freeze your sissy ass off. Now breathe and stop yammering with the girl talk. I suck at squishy feelings.”
Inhaling deeply, Toni closed her eyes and blew, the heat rising in her throat as she expelled a long breath and coughed from the burnt taste filling the interior of her mouth and settling on her tongue. An acrid puff of air fell from between her lips and then voila.
Fire.
Holy Hannah, she was really breathing fire.
Nina slapped her on the back with approval. “Good job, Puff.”
For some reason, maybe because she suspected it was likely hard to win, Nina’s approval made Toni grin.
“And then, the big bad wolf ate the Three Little Bears’ porridge. All of it. Nom-nom,” she said as she rubbed her stomach for Carl, who leaned against her. “But then Papa Bear comes home and he sees the wolf has eaten all his porridge and he says, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!”
Carl stomped his hoof on the ground in gleeful approval.
Nina’s sigh rasped in the air. “Southey would fuck you up if he could hear you trashing his shit. It’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears, knucklehead. No wolf. No huffing and puffing. Yer killin me, Smalls.” She quoted The Sandlot with a roll of her eyes. “I’m outtie for guard duty. Try not to hack up any more fairytales, huh?”
Reaching down, she rubbed Carl’s antlers with a smile. “Okay, so maybe it was Goldilocks. But seriously, who wanders into someone’s house and eats their porridge right off their table? It’s rude.”
“Milady, you shouldn’t be out here without escort. The hour is late and many creatures roam the forest.”
Toni’s eyes flew upward to Jon’s, who’d just finished his patrol of the perimeter of their makeshift camp, with Nina taking over so he could rest before they headed out again at dawn. His hulking figure cast shadows against the forest walls with the fire as his backdrop.
He stepped forward toward her, and the usual happened. Prisms of light shone on his head and that infernal harp twanged its usual introduction of his arrival.
She let her eyes rise skyward and lifted her hands. “Seriously?”
“Milady?”
Toni sighed with a slump of her shoulders. “Sorry. It got a little cold in the tent. Plus, Marty snores something fierce and I couldn’t sleep.”
Jon chuckled, sitting beside her on the log in front of the fire, their thighs just touching. “She has hearty lungs, that lass.”
Toni nodded, twisting the ends of her hair to avoid looking at Jon. Suddenly she felt awkward, as if she were at her first high school dance, sitting on the bleachers while the Backstreet Boys played and everyone had coupled up, instead of the grown-ass woman she was today.
“She does.” Carl stirred at her feet, and she reached down to stroke his head, settling him back in.
Jon poked the fire with a stray branch, making a rush of embers soar upward. “These maidens, have you known them long?”
“Just over a day now.” But it seemed like much longer. So much had happened in just a day.
“They’re fierce, these women who assist you. I admire that.”
“You’re not at all afraid of them, are you?”