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I slipped over to Camil e’s side. “I think some side effect happened when she gave him my blood.”
“What?”
“I think . . . it feels like there’s some connection that’s established itself between Morio and me. I don’t know what it is, if it wil last, or anything about it, though.” I decided I’d better warn her so she wouldn’t be taken by surprise.
She nodded, pensive. “I suppose we won’t know how it’s going to play out until he regains consciousness, and then you two have to sort it out.”
Not sure how she felt, I put a light hand on her arm. “I didn’t mean for it to happen—”
Camil e let out a smal laugh. “Menol y, you saved his life. That’s worth any price. Don’t apologize. I hope that whatever it is, it’s temporary and easy to live with. But we’l find out, I guess.”
I paused, then drew her outside the room. “Listen . . . I know about Vanzir. And I won’t say anything until you feel you need to. But you can come to me if things get out of hand. Because I guarantee you, Smoky’s going to figure it out. That husband of yours is bril iant, but the temper . . .”
Her mouth formed into an O and she backed up. “I didn’t want anybody to know.” She paused, looking haunted. “It was bad, Menol y. When you took Morio topside, the ghost attacked us again.
Vanzir tried to drain it by feeding on it, and I shot an energy burst. The ghost backed off, but the residue of my magic triggered Vanzir. He . . . he yel ed at me to run and I tried to climb up but couldn’t find the gloves. My hands—the iron rungs . . .”
Shit. I could see it al too easily. In the darkness, with the ghosts and the worry, no gloves to protect her hands . . . Camil e was caught between Vanzir’s hunger and the ghost’s anger. “What happened?” I knew Vanzir couldn’t lie to me but wanted to verify what I’d heard.
“Vanzir was caught in a feeding frenzy. I was hunting for the gloves but then felt something enter my mind. Vanzir started to drink from me—it was like having tentacles hooked into my thoughts, like being drained off a spark at a time. I remembered what he’d said about the magic being like an aphrodisiac and tried to snap him out of it.”
“Did he stop?”
“He tried. He looked so tortured, begging me to run. But there was no place for me to go. I’d have to either run back into the tunnels or burn myself on the iron rungs. So I pul ed up my skirts and grabbed his hands . . . pressed them to my waist. If I could get him out of my head, I could handle anything else. I mean . . . it’s just sex. But feeding on my magic—that was so horrible.” She squeezed her eyes shut, and hung her head.
“So . . . he realized what you were offering . . .”
“Yes. Vanzir pushed me against the wal and . . . the minute he touched my body, he withdrew from my mind. It was far easier to have sex with him than let him feed off me.”
I nodded, understanding how she could think so. For Camil e, sex was sex—but her magic, her spirit was something she shared with very few.
“But while we were . . . the Moon Mother came through. Did he tel you . . . ?”
“Yes. About his powers to feed vanishing?”
“That wasn’t me who did it. No, the Moon Mother punished him for attacking me.”
“What happened afterward?”
“We just stared at each other. I could have kil ed him, right there, but I understood him too wel to do it. I know what I’m like when I’m caught up in the Hunt. Or you—with your bloodlust, and Delilah when she’s under the ful moon. This was no different. He was trying to save my life by attacking the ghost, and I was trying to save his.”
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
“Yeah. What’s he going to do now that he doesn’t have his power? He may have said he didn’t like being a dream-chaser demon, but I think he was lying. And now . . . now he’s bare and open like a raw wound. Circumstances fucked us both over.”
I nodded. “That’s pretty much what he said. I ordered him to tel me, by the way. It wasn’t his fault he spil ed the beans. I just wanted to . . .”
“To protect me? I can’t say that it didn’t affect me, but damn it, we were backed into a corner.
I’m just afraid that Smoky’s not going to understand. And I have to tel him, and Tril ian and Morio, because somebody . . . sometime is going to sense that I’ve been with an outsider. And I’m terrified they’l kil Vanzir.”
She shuddered, and a tear streaked down her face. “Things are so bad. This just is . . . so bad .
. .”
“I’l help keep the peace. Maybe you should tel Smoky away from the house, and we’l send Vanzir away for a few days to get him out of the way. Tril ian might be able to calm the dragon down, too.” I hesitated, then whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry it had to be that way.”
She flashed me a wan smile. “You know, the irony is—if I weren’t happily married, I’d probably jump at the chance to sleep with Vanzir. He’s hot. I can’t help but admit: I liked it. On one level, I wanted him. But I never would have acted on it, because I’m in love with Morio, with Tril ian and Smoky.”
