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She smiled. No … she beamed. “Hells, yeah, Warrior. Let’s do it.”
There it was again. She was so game when she’d been dropped right into the middle of a war.
“And Antony—”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I can’t—”
He shook his head. “It’s okay. I can’t, either.”
“So we’re stuck.”
“Yep, but what the hell, let’s fly.”
Her smile broadened.
He closed his eyes. He thought the thought. The distance from his villa to the Mogollon Rim was over a hundred miles. But folding took only seconds.
When his feet touched down and he released her from the circle of his arms, she gasped. The canyon floor lay two thousand feet below.
“This is the Mogollon Rim,” he said. “I don’t know if you ever visited here or not. I know you can take jeep tours from Sedona, Mortal Earth, all the way up.”
The small town of Sedona Two rested below, nestled at the base of the rim, bisected by Oak Creek. From where they stood, the town wasn’t visible. There were too many twists and turns in the various canyon walls. “Both Thorne and Jean-Pierre have homes here. Did you know that?”
“Huh-uh,” she murmured. “But I’m not surprised. Who wouldn’t want to live here? Oh, smell the pine. It’s heavenly. And it’s much cooler than in Phoenix.”
“We’re not quite at seven thousand feet.” He dipped down to look at her again, to once more catch sight of the eager glitter in her eye. “You ready to fly?”
“Oh, Antony, yes. More than anything in the world.”
***
Parisa sucked in the dry mountain air, the resinous pine scent, and the sage that belonged to the man whose arms were still holding her from behind. She wanted to cry, then cry out.
This was where she belonged. Here. This was home. “I want to live here,” she said.
He leaned close to her ear. “Then you should. You’d have two great neighbors.”
“Yes, I would. I love the warriors, Antony. I love them. Does that sound strange?”
“They’re my brothers so I love that you love them. No, it doesn’t sound strange.”
“I will never forget seeing all of them, all of them, in Burma. They were there for me and I want to be there for them, to repay them in whatever way I can.” She turned her head to look at him. She kissed him on the lips. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For not holding on.” She pressed the arms wrapped around her, which seemed ironic. Thanks for not holding on.
He nuzzled her neck. “It’s both of us, Parisa. I never intended to take a wife again. I still don’t.”
She nodded. So they were both inaccessible. She smiled. “There’s only one thing to do.”
He smiled. He understood as though he’d read her mind. He stepped away from her and gave her space.
She closed her eyes and leaned forward just a little bit. She took in a deep breath. She felt the apertures all down her back dampen with moisture. Hormones flooded her veins, and the muscle and tissues of her back swelled. The feathers and attending mesh-like superstructure came next in an elegant erotic seamless flow from her body until they emerged in a powerful thrust into the air. She still didn’t understand how her body could create such magnificence, but then how could she dematerialize or send her thoughts into someone else’s mind or open her voyeur’s window?
Ascended life, her new life as a vampire, was a mystery, complex, incomprehensible at times, and yes, like now, wondrous.
Her ni**les were hard now and smashed against the inside of the leather vest. She couldn’t help it and she hated to admit it, but desire swirled very deep. Why was mounting her wings so much like sex?
Whatever.
Just as she opened her eyes, a breeze blew from behind her, catching her wings before she could think to draw them into the close-mount position. Without warning, she was airborne.
She panicked but Antony was just there, his wings at full-mount and already in flight. He caught her hand and gave her a moment to assess and adjust. Her wings shifted, rippled, and played with the wind so that she grew steady in the air, confident. Yes, she’d been practicing, but there was also a part of her, a very instinctive part, that simply knew what to do.
We’ll fly down, he sent. Each intersection of canyon or narrowing of gorge will bring a shift in wind. Can you handle it?
Parisa cupped the top of her wings, which kept her floating in place, not descending. He matched her with the ease of someone who’d flown for centuries. That knowledge added to her confidence.
Antony’s wings were spread out above her and to her right. He hovered just as she did, making infinitesimal adjustments with each erratic current of air. She caught his gaze and nodded.
He smiled. Oh, how she loved that smile. Something around her heart began to peel away like paper touched by fire. What was left exposed was raw and yet hopeful, something she hadn’t experienced … ever. Could she have a life with this man? How strange to be asking the question when just a couple of hours ago she’d all but shoved him out of her life.
Well, one thing she did know—she wouldn’t have the answer right this minute.
She took a deep breath and let go, she let go of all that had happened; her captivity of the past three months, the struggle to understand the first mounting of her wings and the discovery of the world of vampires, of her recent ascension, of fending Rith off twice now, and her terrible fear of the breh-hedden.
She let go and savored this moment in time, as she lowered her wings and began the descent into the twists and turns and elegant beauty of Sedona’s red rock canyon. She dipped and turned, adjusting for each punch of wind, each stream, each swirl of breeze. Sometimes she spread her arms to match the movements of the wings; sometimes she kept them close at her sides.
She forgot about Antony for a good long while. She saw only the green pines, the manzanita, the ancient junipers, the smooth-edged expanses of red boulders and small treeless mesas, the water in the creek as it made its way down and down, the startled deer jumping below as her predator wings and Antony’s created shadows across the landscape.
She took in the fresh air, warm and dry. Very dry.
Antony was suddenly laying thoughts over her mind. Your wings are beautiful. In the sunlight, they dance with unexpected color, almost like flames.
She sent, We have the same wings. Fly in front of me for a moment and let me see yours.
