Page 45 of Lost

11

Other Kevin

Rainwater dripped down the curved rock ceiling of the cave and pooled into mud and sludge around Kevin’s feet. He wiped his sleeve across his face and sneezed violently.

“I think I prefer the ice to this drizzly, foggy crap. Much more of this and it’ll be an early Oklahoma spring and the trifecta of natural pains in the ass that go with it: rain-wrapped tornados, ragweed, and ticks,” Kevin muttered to himself.

“Hey, chin up! It could be way worse. Hell, it would be way worse if you hadn’t come along. At least we’re safe, warm, and relatively dry here.”

Kevin smiled wryly at the short but powerfully built vampyre who seemed to materialize suddenly beside him. “Dude, could you be less soundless? Your creeping isn’t good for my nerves.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your nerves, sweet Kevin. But Dragon shouldn’t tease you by creeping around like a sprite.” The lovely woman with the veil of long, silver-streaked blond hair touched Kevin’s shoulder gently, though the warmth of her look was for Dragon and Dragon alone. “Especially with the number of sprites we have around here. They could get jealous.”

Dragon Lankford held up his hands in surrender. “Anastasia, my love, do not let it be said that I disparaged the sprites.” He paused and then asked Kevin, “How are they?”

“The sprites?” Kevin said, wiping more rainwater from his face as he turned from the mouth of the much larger, much improved cave.

“Yes, the sprites. You remember them, right?”

“Oh, Bryan, leave the boy alone. They’rehissprites. Of course he remembers them. We all remember them, and we’re thankful for them.” Anastasia Lankford admonished her mate, though she did so as she slid her arm around his waist intimately and rested her head briefly on his shoulder, which Kevin thought totally took the sting from her words. After all, what guywouldn’ttake a scolding from the beautiful priestess if she were also resting her smooth cheek on his shoulder?

Into the growing silence, Dragon Lankford snapped his fingers a couple of times in front of Kevin’s face, making him blink and jerk back—and realize he’d been sitting there staring at Anastasia like a lovesick schoolboy.

Man, I need a girlfriend.Kevin sighed internally and shook himself.

“Sorry. I was thinking.”

“I could see that,” Dragon gave him a half-amused look.

Kev returned the look with his own grin. “I was actually thinking about more than the beauty of your mate.”

“Why, thank you, sweet Kevin.” The corners of Anastasia’s eyes crinkled endearingly.

Dragon cleared his throat. “What was themoreyou were thinking about?”

“That I really have to go.” Kevin held up his hand as Anastasia started to protest. “No, it’s been three days. The roads are clear. The Red Army hasn’t been back.” Kevin paused and gestured at what used to be the rear of a tiny cave, but was now a smoothly arched entrance to a cave-and-tunnel system that snaked, labyrinthine, well back into the rocky ridge. Even from where he and the Lankfords stood, they could see people—blue fledglings, vampyres, and humans—hurrying around, preparing dinner, mending torn clothing, simmering herbs for tea, and other homey tasks. Cats padded around, getting underfoot, but also keeping the mouse and mole population down. And from somewhere farther down in the cave, the scent of chili lifted, making Kevin’s mouth water. “This setup works. The cave is warm and dry and well ventilated, and the sprites are keeping the ridge fogged in. It’s time for me to leave.”

“I agree.” Grandma Redbird made her way to the entrance of the cave from deeper in its newly completed interior. “It’s so lovely and warm back in there! I do not know how the sprites did it, but the ventilation system is a miracle. There’s next to no smoke—anywhere. Oh, but where was I… Ah, yes. Kevin, I am in agreement with you. If you wait much longer to return to the House of Night, your reappearance is going to create undo suspicion.”

“But won’t it already?” Anastasia said. “According to what Kevin has told us, he and an entire group of Red Army fledglings and soldiersanda red general all disappeared. How are you going to explain where you’ve been? Where they’ve been?”

Kevin blew out a long breath. “I’ve been thinking about that and I have an idea. I’m going to lie.”

Dragon barked a laugh. “Obviously!”

“What do you mean by that, u-we-tsi?”

“Well, if anyone asks me about the rest of my group, I’ll say I don’t know anything about it because my general—the one who is dead back in my sister’s world—sent me on a reconnaissance mission several days ago. And I went. I didn’t find much of anything. But I did get lost.”

“Lost?” Dragon snorted.

“Oh, they’ll believe it. And they won’t question me anymore about the general, either. Think about how most red vampyres act. Even the officers aren’t much more than eating machines. General Dominick was my superior officer, but even he was basically a mean, angry jerk who controlled his soldiers with intimidation and fear. For a red vampyre he was considered smart, but he really didn’t think about much except who we could attack next.” Kevin shook his head in disgust. “Believe me, I know all about this. I’ve been hiding among the Red Army for almost a year, and not one of them ever suspected that I was different.”

“But, Kevin, yousmelldifferent now,” Anastasia pointed out.

“That’s the last part that I’ve been trying to figure out. I’m almost sure no blue vampyre is going to pay enough attention to me to notice that I don’t stink.”

“But almost is not good enough, u-we-tsi.”