The rain started as we walked home. It wasn’t a downpour, but Jo-Jo decided to fly ahead to his motel, saying he’d never get the stink out of his leather pants if they got too wet.
Saber and I arrived at my cottage soaked and chilled, but a steamy romp in the shower warmed us. Never mind snuggling in my king-size bed.
At just after four in the morning, Saber fell asleep. I spooned with him, listening to the wind rattle palm fronds and blow sheets of rain at the windows.
Saber had noticed I semi-flew on my own and praised me, but hadn’t quizzed me again about my conversation with Pandora. That was a relief, because, honestly, I didn’t know what to make of it myself.
How were Triton and I supposed to come together—with or without mastering our powers—when he was being all mysterious and stealthy? What powers did he still need to master, and for what purpose should we come together? To defeat whatever bad thing was after Triton? Had to be, because we sure weren’t going to come together in any personal way. That ship had sailed a couple of hundred years ago.
And to pose another question, why was Pandora involved with Triton at all? Or with me? She’d shown up in March, the night Gorman had first threatened me, and had kept popping up when least expected until the night she pinned the French Bride killer to the ground. I hadn’t seen her in the four months since then, and had stopped expecting to see her. Now Jo-Jo had shown up, which was, admittedly, a new turning point in my afterlife. A day later, here came Pandora again. Coincidence? I thought not, but what was our connection? Was Pandora my furry, infuriating guardian angel?
Angel. Right. And Jo-Jo would be a star by the next full moon.
When the phone rang at eight on Tuesday morning, I jack-knifed off the sofa, the mystery novel in my hand sailing across the room.
“Cesca, are you making it through the storm all right?” Maggie asked through the phone line static. I glanced at the dark skies punctuated with jagged lightning.
“I’m snug. How about you?”
“The same, but I’m glad we laid in hurricane supplies. This storm may be upgraded.”
Uh-oh. I’d survived storms before, but most of them from the coffin under Maggie’s house.
“How bad is it supposed to get?”
“A Category One at the strongest. Come on over if you’ll feel more secure here.”
“I will if Saber doesn’t stick around while I sleep.”
“Well, tell him I’m working from home today. I’ll leave the back door unlocked in case you two want to dash over here.”
“Thanks, Maggie. Is Neil there? Do you want company?”
“No and no, but thanks. If I can reach my supplier in Texas, I might be able to nail down the kitchen tile for that Palatka bungalow project before Neil and I go on our vacation.” She paused. “Oh, and Cesca, if you’re on the tour schedule for tonight, you’d better check with them before you go out.”
“I’m off the schedule until Thursday.”
“What? The workaholic is taking two whole days off? What will you do with yourself?”
I laughed. “I don’t know yet.”
“Well, if you’re doing it with Saber, have fun.”
We disconnected just as the power flickered, then failed.
I picked up my book, marked my spot, and tiptoed into the bedroom to curl up with Saber. I awoke at four in the afternoon with the still-gray day looming outside, but the wind and rain seemed to have subsided. When I wandered to the kitchen, Saber was on the phone taking notes and saying “Uh-huh,” a lot. Since he used the cordless house unit instead of his cell, I deduced the power was back on.
Must not have been on for long, though. When I reached in the fridge for a Starbloods, the bottle was cool but not as icy cold as I drink it.
I transferred one bottle to the freezer, set the egg timer so I’d take it out before it froze, and shamelessly listened to Saber’s end of the conversation.
“And no one else from the Atlanta nest has left the area? The GPS implants are accounting for every one of them?”
Aha! He must’ve reached the VPA agent in Atlanta.
He was quiet a moment, then nodded. “All right, thanks. Let me know if you dig up anything else.”
Saber disconnected and reached for me, his warm hands bracketing my hips. A little tug and I stood between his legs.
“Sleep well?” he asked as I leaned in for a kiss.
“Mmmm. How long have you been awake?”
“Long enough to get some intel. First, Kevin Miller is exactly who and what he says he is.”
“Obsessively annoying but harmless?”
“Yes. As for Vlad’s nest, none of Jo-Jo’s nestmates have left Atlanta, but we have other irregularities.”
“Like what?”
He swept his hand along my upper right arm, over the spot where my GPS tracker lay implanted under the skin. “How much do you know about your tracker?”