Page 42 of Good Vampires Go to Heaven

“Asleep,” Trond said, “but better.”

“We’ll give him an hour or so, another shot at fanging, then we hit the road. Time to blow this Coke stand,” Cnut said. “Is everyone ready?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be.”

“I still can’t believe he had barbed wire around his cock . . . I mean, penis,” Trond said for about the hundredth time. “Wish I coulda seen that.”

“Me, too.” Cnut put a hand reflexively over his groin.

“It was awesome,” Beau contributed. “Ah knew a guy one time who pierced his cock with an industrial bolt, said it enhanced his lady’s pleasure. Gave new meanin’ ta screwing, that’s fer sure.”

Trond and Cnut bent over laughing.

“I don’t imagine Zeb’s wiring would have pleased a woman, though,” Trond speculated, once he wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes. “Too sharp.”

“Ouch!” Cnut concurred.

Really, that’s all the men wanted to talk about regarding Zeb. Forget about all his other tortures, they were fixated over wires poking manparts. How it felt. Was it unbearable? Did he see stars? Was there blood? How many stitches did he have? Who sewed up his penile wounds? Did he think it would impair his sex life in the future? How about erections? Could they watch when the stitches came out?

Men!

Regina had something more important on her mind, like herself, but she didn’t dare ask what her fate would be when they returned home. So, instead, she homed in on other subjects. “The castle will be crowded, I assume, with all the vangels being called in.”

“Yep. Almost five hundred, but I expect we’ll be going out on missions almost immediately. In and out. Probably no more than a hundred in residence at one time. I should be there now, helping to plan.” Cnut was known as a great battle strategist. She could see why he would resent time wasted here, not to mention the fact that she was responsible for this whole debacle to begin with, by initiating an unauthorized rescue of Zeb.

Regina couldn’t feel guilty about that, though. She just couldn’t.

“And I need to get back to Coronado,” Trond interjected, coming from the kitchen where he’d nabbed a carrot which he was chomping on. “Gotta come up with a way to involve the SEALs without telling them exactly what’s going on. A bit of force multiplication on the home front.”

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Trond could be so annoying sometimes, and Regina’s nerves were already on edge.

“Do you think Vikar will send me out to fight on one of these missions?” Regina asked.

Cnut and Trond looked dubious.

“It’s the brig for you, babe,” Trond said. Chomp, chomp, chomp. “That would be my guess.”

He was probably joking.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

If she had some barbed wire handy, she would wrap it around something, probably Trond’s tongue.

“How about me?” They all turned to see Zeb standing in the hallway. It was the first time he’d gotten up on his own, and he was looking better than he had hours ago. Not back to normal by any means, but surprisingly better. In fact, he’d even put on a sweatshirt and jeans and had flip-flops on his sore feet.

Without thinking, she glanced toward his crotch. The denim material might irritate the stitches.

Catching her glance, Zeb grinned and said, “I put a sock on it.”

He was probably teasing. Still, she hated the heat that filled her cheeks, probably his intent. After all the intimate parts of his body she’d come to know, it was a miracle that she could still blush.

Apparently, she was the only one who’d heard Zeb’s remark, and he had already turned his attention back to Cnut and Trond, repeating, “What about me?”

“What do you mean?” Cnut asked.

“Will Vikar use me? Surely, my insider information could help.”