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He pressed his lips together and I recognized the stubborn gesture from both Camille and Father. Yes, Shamas was family, all right.
“And… she is happy. She has three husbands and I doubt if they’d welcome a fourth.” I hesitated to remind him of that fact. For one thing, I really had no clue as to how Smoky, Morio, and Trillian would feel about Shamas horning in. I could place a good bet, but I wasn’t positive. But I also knew how betrayed Camille had felt and I wasn’t going to ever chance that happening again.
“You’re right, of course. And hanging on here, even though I try to help, it’s not good for me to watch her with them. Her pity is worse than her anger.” He inhaled deeply, his chest rising, then let out a sharp, strong breath. “My mind’s made up. I’m going home to Otherworld, and I’m going to offer my services to King Vodox. I’m sure he’ll take me on.”
“My guess is that if Lethesanar herself were still in office, she’d take you back into the fold. Be careful over there, though. She still walks free somewhere, and she has a long memory.” I reached out, took his hand.
“I will. You haven’t seen the last of me yet.” He stood, kissing the top of my hand gently. “Thank you, Menolly. I’ve been wrestling with this for some time. You helped me see what I needed to see. There is no home here for me. At least not right now.”
Feeling both vaguely guilty and unsure I’d done the right thing, I squeezed his fingers, then let go. “When will you leave?”
“I hate to leave Chase on such short notice, but he really doesn’t need me that much. I’ll go now, before I change my mind. Please, tell the others for me. I don’t want any protracted good-byes or scenes. And… if I were to see Camille again… I’d probably change my mind.” And with that, he turned and headed back to the shed we’d converted into a studio for Roz, Vanzir, and Shamas.
I watched him go, thinking maybe I should call him back. Maybe I should stop him. But I kept my mouth shut, and ten minutes later, I watched as he silently emerged from the studio again, a knapsack over his back, and headed down the driveway. He’d be heading to Grandmother Coyote’s portal… and then home.
As Shamas vanished from sight, I realized that I was thoroughly soaked. I didn’t feel the chill as badly as nonvamps, but it wasn’t pleasant either. And the walk had brought me very little in the way of peace of mind.
I turned back to the house, and when I got inside and locked the door, I stripped off my wet clothes and shimmied into a pair of PJs I kept in the laundry room. I had no intention of disrupting Nerissa’s sleep until I had to be in bed and safely away from sunrise. As I padded into the living room, I saw Delilah sitting there, watching TV with the sound turned down low. She flashed me a pale grin and patted the cushion next to her.
“Kitten, what are you doing up?” I headed over to her side and situated myself next to her on the sofa. She was in her Hello Kitty nightshirt, with an afghan wrapped around her legs.
“I couldn’t sleep. Lash told me she’s going home in the morning. That she’s not going to interfere with my relationship with Shade. She said she had a long talk with you. Thanks… I was afraid she might try to break us up.” She was clutching a bowl of Cheetos, staring at the TV.
I glanced at the set. She was watching The House on Haunted Hill. Vincent Price was looming in the foreground, and the music was cueing up for an ominous scene. I leaned against Delilah’s arm, wrapping my own through the crook of her elbow.
“Lash won’t bother you.” I paused, then added, “Speaking of talks… I just saw Shamas outside. He left for Otherworld tonight, Kitten. He’s going to enlist in King Vodox’s army of sorcerers to try and stop the storm.”
She stopped, her hand midair, still clutching a handful of the orange cheese puffs. “Wow. I didn’t expect to hear that.”
Stuffing the snacks in her mouth, she tried to say something else but just showered the afghan with a sputter of crumbs. I snorted and handed her the glass of milk that was on the coffee table and she took a long sip, clearing her throat.
After she’d wiped her mouth, she muted the sound on the TV. “So what do you think Camille will say about him leaving?”
“I don’t think she feels the same way he does. I finally got him to admit that he’s never stopped loving her, and to be honest? I think maybe it’s a good thing he’s going away. I doubt if he’ll ever shake his infatuation with her, but maybe if he’s not around her all the time, he can move on.”
“There’s one little problem with that.” Delilah frowned, shaking the crumbs off the blanket. “Suppose he goes over there and gets himself killed? You know how dangerous it is there. How is Camille going to feel then? If she even so much as suspects that he went there to get away from her, she’ll blame herself.”
It hit me that, at times, Kitten was much more astute than I was. Both of my sisters were. I didn’t see the world in the nuances they did, and for me, life seemed like it should be more straightforward than it really was.
“Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that. I guess then we have to stress that he went home because he wanted to help in the war efforts. Leave her all the way out of this one. Tell her that… well… tell her the truth. He told me he felt like he needed a cause to work for—to believe in.” While that wasn’t quite the truth, it would do for now and it was close enough to what he’d said that I didn’t really feel like I was lying.
Delilah nodded. “Makes sense to me. I know he’s been basically just putting in time with Chase. I don’t know if he really liked the job or not.”
“Okay then, we tell Camille that Shamas felt like his talents could better be utilized back in Otherworld, so he went home to help.”
With that, Delilah turned up the sound again and I sat beside her in comfortable silence, snuggling a little, as we watched Vincent Price and the forces of the dark. As the movie droned on, Delilah fell asleep and I covered her with her afghan and turned off the television. It was still an hour or so till dawn, but I decided to go curl up next to Nerissa and rest my eyes. I wouldn’t be able to sleep until dawn, but as I crawled into bed and felt her gentle pulse next to me, and the warmth of her body, I was able to drift in the comfort of being next to the person I loved most in the world.
The next evening, I awoke to find that Nerissa had left me a little love note on the pillow when she’d headed out for work. I kissed it, then tucked it away in my memento box, and headed upstairs. As I entered the kitchen, the first thing that hit me was that tomorrow night was Samhain Eve—October thirty-first. The second thing that nearly hit me was Hanna.
She was bustling from the fridge to the counter, her arms full of vegetables. A thick pack of steaks sat on the other side of the stove, and I could see Trillian on the back porch. He had fired up the grill and by the Kiss the Cook apron he was wearing, it was my guess he’d been dubbed the grill master for the evening. As he watched over the crackling flames, Bruce was sitting on the counter next to him, and they were talking.
Then I remembered: Our cousin Daniel was coming over for dinner. I glanced at the clock. He was due here around six, and it was a little past five now, so we had an hour.
“Excuse me,” Vanzir darted in front of me, a basket on his arm. It was filled with fresh herbs from Iris’s greenhouse. Camille was chasing after him, waving a trowel.
“You give those back! I was going to bundle them up to hang dry!”
“Only when you say please! I helped you harvest the damned things and then you turned around and squirted me with the plant mister.” Vanzir held the basket over her head, just out of her reach.
