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I glanced back at the photo, resting on my nightstand. Sore back or no, it looked like I had to do a little beachcombing.
I nearly knocked Dante over when he came home that night.
"Succubus," he said, letting me wrap my arms around him. He was careful only to rest his hands on my hips. "Happy to see you too."
My eagerness was twofold. I was excited to see him because I wanted to pick his brain about the medallion and places of power. But also...well, while hanging around today, I'd had a lot of time to think about Seth and what had happened between us. The memory of his body still made mine burn, and I grew breathless recalling that amazing connection and sense of rightness between us.
And yet...whatever rightness had been between us, it had still been wrong. He was with Maddie-my friend. I'd been upset when she and Seth had first slept together. I was no different. In fact, I'd knowingly done it, which made it worse. Now there was Dante to consider. Dante, who despite that dark, scowling nature really did love me and wanted to win my regard as more than just someone I had sex with. This was where my future lay, not with Seth.
I kissed Dante on the lips, lingering several seconds. "I missed you."
His smile turned wry. "Don't look at me like that, or I'm going to have a hard time remembering that you're injured and that I should keep my hands off you."
Those words triggered a pang of guilt. My injuries certainly hadn't been enough to keep Seth off me. I could have told Dante that I was better, that it didn't matter, yet for whatever reason...I didn't.
We broke apart, and I found the medallion picture for him. He stared incredulously as I showed him the phantom notes and explained my story.
"What, you have no idea how they got there or who did it?"
"Nope, but at this point, I'm not going to question it."
He shook his head, face still shocked. "Well. I wish I'd known this before I left. Would have been a lot easier to just wait and have invisible helpers come leave clues."
I recalled how he'd gone out to see what he could find about the medallion. "What'd you turn up?"
He gestured at the picture. "Same thing."
I rested my hand over his. "Sorry. I really appreciate your help. And if your research found the same thing, it means I can probably trust this."
"Maybe," he said, still not sounding happy about the wasted time. "What are you going to do? Something crazy?"
"Look for saltwater beaches, I guess."
Dante let out a low whistle. "There are a lot of those around here. Not to mention you have no way of identifying this vessel anyway."
"I know. But I've got to start somewhere. Can you help me make a list?"
We got an atlas of the Pacific Northwest area from my car and laid it flat on the kitchen table. Scrutinizing every detail, we each marked as many places as we knew. Dante knew a lot more than me, which didn't particularly surprise me. I'd once noted to Erik Lancaster that those who study religion tend to know more about it than those who practice it. Sometimes, I felt the same way about immortal affairs.
We found twelve in all that were easy day trips-and many more beyond that. "Looks like you've got your work cut out for you," Dante mused. "When are you going to look? Too dark now."
I stared at the map with dismay. "Tomorrow, I guess. Can you go with me?" A psychic like him might able to sense something, as Carter had pointed out.
He grimaced. "Not tomorrow. I've actually got a few appointments people have scheduled. Crazy, huh? I probably can go the next day or the day after, if you can wait. I'd feel better if you didn't go alone."
I was glad for his business but sad at the delay. "I don't think I can wait. Don't worry, though. I'll find somebody."
"On the bright side," he said, trying to cheer me. "I'll have money tomorrow. We can go out somewhere nice."
I mustered a smile. "Yeah, that'll be-oh, shit. I can't."
"What's going on?"
"Fuck. I promised the people at the store I'd teach salsa after work."
"Cancel," he said dismissively. My dance lessons didn't hold much importance, as far as he was concerned. "Tell them you're sick."
That wouldn't entirely be a lie...and yet, I hated to go back on my word. Furthermore, I could still see Maddie's radiant face, so excited and happy when I'd agreed. How could I deny her that after what I'd done to her today?
"No...I've got to do it. Let's go eat out now. My treat."
He drove us over to Belltown for some of Seattle's best seafood. Wine and conversation flowed, and I discovered I was healing by leaps and bounds. When we got back to my place later and went to bed, Dante snuggled up to me and kissed my neck.
"Looks like you're on the mend," he noted, moving his lips up to my earlobe. "We could do it...I could be careful..."
All around us were the sheets and blankets where Seth and I had made love earlier. The thought nearly smothered me. God. I really should have washed the bedding. I swallowed and shifted position so that I didn't meet Dante's eyes. "Maybe...but I'd rather wait, so we can not be careful." I hoped there was enough of a seductive growl in my voice to make it believable.
Dante sighed, fortunately unwilling to push me. "Fair enough."
He rolled over and left me to sleep, but it was a long time in coming.
CHAPTER 19
The next day, Dante was off to work, and I called Cody right after breakfast. "Hey," I said. "Are you guys still being beach bunnies?"
"You bet," he said brightly. "One of our neighbors has a sailboat and offered to let us go with him and-"
"That's not quite what I had in mind," I interrupted.
An hour and a half later, Peter echoed my thoughts. "This wasn't what I had in mind."
I'd convinced them to come out with me on my beach hunt. Unfortunately, the day was cold and threatened rain. As we walked along the water at Dash Point, icy wind ripped off the waves and cut across our faces. I snuggled into my jacket, thinking of how many times I'd taken the ability to shape-shift warmer coats for granted.
"Look, I know you guys think you're on spring break, but eventually, we will get another archdemon, and I'd rather it be Jerome."
"Yes, but it's not like this is exactly an airtight plan," Peter argued. "We're pretty much going to beaches at random, in the hopes of finding white sand. Look at this stuff. It's beige...is that close enough to white?"
I cut him a sidelong glance. "You once got in an argument with Carter about the difference between 'Denim Days Blue' and 'Summer Cobalt.' You tell me. Is there a difference between white and beige?"
Peter kicked sand up with the toe of his boot. "It was ' Winter Cobalt,' and Carter was wrong. There's a huge difference between those two."
Cody and I hid our grins as we continued our trek. Dash Point State Park was near Federal Way, down on the south side of Puget Sound. It had seemed reasonable to start there and work our way around the coast, back up toward Seattle. This was our second park of the day, and so far, we'd seen nothing to match the seal's cryptic clues.
On our drive to the third place, Peter was still pessimistic. "You know, this would be a lot easier if we had your dead-beat boyfriend along. We can only go off visual clues at this point. We need someone who can actually sense the power around the vessel."
"Dante's busy at work," I explained.
"Huh," Cody mused. "I never expected to hear 'busy' and 'at work' used together when it came to Dante."
"Be quiet," I said. "Leave the snark to Hugh and Peter."
"What about Erik?" asked Peter. "He's psychic."
"Yeah, I considered that, but he's getting old and his back's been bothering him. I hate to ask him to walk around and around with me...but well, I haven't ruled it out."
"And you don't know any more psychics?"
"Nope. Not that I trust, at least."
"Me either," admitted Peter. "But I bet Hugh does."
"Yeah, you're probably-" I stopped mid-sentence. "I might know one more..." It was crazy idea, one I wasn't sure I should put any real effort toward.
"Who?" asked Cody.
I shook my head and drove through the entrance of our next state park. "It's a long story, one I'm going to have to work on."
Our third stop yielded nothing either, save an inability for Peter to get sand out of his boots. It had started raining by that point, and even my mood was down by then. Sunset was still a couple of hours away, but the overcast sky was effectively killing our light. Glancing at my watch, I saw that the dance lesson was looming, so we turned north and headed back to Seattle. I dropped the vampires off at their apartment and then drove home to get ready.
