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Edward came to stand in front of me. He asked, “The vampire I killed in there wasn’t the dragon, was it?”
I shook my head. Deimos didn’t seem to be policing body movements as much as words.
“He made you lie to me.”
I nodded again.
“I’m going to take your weapons until we get the bite cleansed, okay?”
I gave him another nod.
“Will you trust Olaf to hold some of your gear?”
I hesitated, then nodded.
Edward started to take off the weapons that I’d just put back on, but it had to be done. I was too dangerous armed, and Deimos was too loud in my head. Olaf had so many more MOLLE straps on his vest and so much more body that my weapons disappeared amonghis with room for him to carry more. I don’t usually mind being small, but in that moment I had some serious body real estate envy. Edward took my main gun and the knives he knew I carried most, but he was right; it was easier dividing them up between them.
“The dragon is in the room with the closed door that you stopped us from searching, isn’t he?”
I nodded.
“Are there other vampires in the room?”
I nodded. Ru told him the number.
“Why can you talk, and she can’t?” Olaf asked.
“Rodrigo bit me trying to persuade me to join them, but he is not as powerful as Deimos.”
“Your brother died in Ireland,” Edward said.
“It’s a different kind of vampirism that lets a wereanimal rise as the undead,” I said.
“Even with his chest blown open by a shotgun?”
“Rodrigo did the dainty bite on my right, so yeah, trust me, he’s a vampire and still a wereleopard.”
I watched Edward file that away for later. “Richard, can you tell me something about Deimos?”
“We’ve seen him in dragon form.”
“How big was he?”
Richard tried to say it but couldn’t. “I’m not free to speak.”
“The wererats are waiting down with the ambulances, they’re the ones that found your location. They could take you and the twins to a safe place until we kill this bastard,” Edward said.
“I want to stay and help,” Richard said.
“You said it earlier, Richard, you don’t have the training for this.” In my head I thought that if the worst happened Jean-Claude might survive losing one of us, but not both.
“I heard what you just thought,” Richard said. He put his hand against my face, then looked at Olaf. “I’m going to kiss her, if you can give us a little room.”
Olaf just let me go and stepped back without a word. Brownie point for him.
Richard cupped my face in his hands, so that the eye contact was intimate and inescapable. It made me want to pull away from that serious gaze, but with my hands cuffed behind my back my options were limited. I fought off the urge to tell him to let me go.
“If you really want me to let you go, I will,” he said.
