My throat was raw and the taste in my mouth was beyond vile. Hades’s shredded finery had disappeared and, somehow, I was dressed in the jeans, shirts, and socks I’d left home in. I had aches like you wouldn’t believe. But I was vertical, sitting at the big dining room table because my kitchen looked like a tornado had been through it. It was a mess—salt, candle wax, goddess knew what else was still strewn about. I didn’t care. I was home.
Hunter sat across from me suffering a bad case of the yawns. Vilna was slumped next to her, trying to recover from a bout of sleep deprivation.
Nana sat in another chair, icing her knee. She’d re-aggravated her arthritis. Lydia, looking like she’d come back from the dead herself, leaned against the counter with a bruised hip and a wounded ego.
“What happened to you?” I asked Johnny, who had lifted his shirt to examine his side.
“Vilna kicked me.”
After snorting a laugh I popped a couple of ibuprofen tabs into my mouth and washed them down with several swallows of milk. I remembered everything about my nightmarish evening—that was why I chose milk. I may never drink water again.
“Deserved it, too,” Vilna grumbled.
She’d explained what Johnny had done to rescue me. Her tone was 100 percent complaint, but somehow she also conveyed a sense of admiration for his “damnably foolish, dangerous” actions.
I was not going to think about any of it right now. There was plenty to ponder from the experience, but I wasn’t ready to analyze anything yet—including what my next move as Lustrata would be. I’d already dealt with the devil—or close enough—and suffered for it. As for the deal I’d made with Hades, I had no idea if it still held, but I was far too wobbly right now to think about it—or much of anything else. Other than my bumps and bruises, staying so long in a meditative state had weakened me physically and mentally. And the time I’d spent with Hades seemed much longer than the few hours I’d been “gone” from my physical body. I guess in the underworld human time was irrelevant.
I was just happy to be home, happier still to know the vampires had found Beverley and that she was safe. Goliath’s phone call had been brief—maybe too brief to be completely reassuring—but positive. I knew there was more to it, but I was told not to worry about the kiddo, she was in good hands and they’d bring her home soon.
I slugged down the last of my milk. Without a word, Johnny took the glass from my hand and sat it on the countertop. Looking at me with all the hurt and affection I could stand, he lifted me and carried me upstairs.
The entryway to my house was wrecked worse than the kitchen! “What the hell happened to my banister? To my floor?”
“Later. It’s all fixable.” He carried me up the steps easily.
When he tenderly placed me on my bed, I was more grateful than I could express. He turned to the door and exited the bedroom. I heard the water running. When he returned to the bedroom, he picked me up again, carried me across the hall to the bathroom, and sat me gently on the edge of the tub. The thick scent of lavender bubble bath enveloped me as Johnny crouched before me and peeled the filthy socks from my feet, massaging as he did. Tartarus had been hell on my socks.
It felt so good, I mmmm-ed.
“I’ll rub the rest of you all night long if that helps.”
“The rest of me might be too sore to touch right now.”
He nodded. “Stand up?”
I stood. He unfastened the button on my jeans. Reached for the zipper. I put my hands on his and he stopped. He met my gaze with a look I couldn’t read, but which evoked my pity.
“I love you,” he whispered.
I stared. He said the “L” word.
For a moment, the world was quiet and still.
Then Johnny jerked into motion again. “I know you’ve been through a crap ton of heavy emotional shit in the last few weeks, not to mention physical and mental duress.” He worked my jeans down as he spoke. This time I was too stunned to protest or resist. “I don’t expect you to say it back, I just . . . I wanted you to know.” He’d dropped into a squat and held the ankles of the jeans as I stepped out. Unsteady, I nearly lost my balance, but he rose and caught me before I could put my hand to the wall for support.
Having just demonstrated my inability to do this alone, he finished undressing me without my resistance. He even deftly twisted my hair up and clipped it before giving me his arm to steady me as I stepped into the hot, bubbly tub. I eased down into the wonderful water, letting its fragrant warmth surround me up to my neck. Glorious. I might never drink it again, but immersion was a different matter.
I lay back and relaxed while he excused himself. He hummed in my bedroom, a sweet melody, and I heard drawers opening, shutting as he gathered my pajamas.
Love.
• • •
A half hour later, I exited the tub. After wrapping up in my terry-cloth robe I staggered across the hall to lean in the doorway of my bedroom. Johnny had changed the sheets on my bed, turned the covers down, and fluffed my pillows. He helped me across the room—those ibuprofen had done little more than dull the pain.
I’d just sat down when I heard a knock downstairs on my front door. I heard people moving around, heard voices rise from the quiet tones they had been using.
Then a full-out commotion broke out.
Johnny went to investigate, shutting the door behind him.
I lay down on the bed. Now what? There were too many familiar voices talking all at once, and my head hurt too much to try to sort through them. I was so tired.
Johnny will take care of it.
Footsteps were soft on the stairs, then people passed my door. It seemed they went into Beverley’s room. Beverley? I wanted to rush to my foster daughter’s room, but doubted if I was physically capable of even crawling from my room. That’s why Johnny had gone.
They brought her back to me. The thought filled my weary heart with encouragement. I smiled to myself knowing I’d see her in the morning.
Long moments later, the footsteps returned to the upper hall and my door opened.
Menessos!
I sat up as he entered. Johnny followed right behind him and shut the door.
“Beverley’s here?”
Johnny nodded and came to sit on the edge of the bed. The vampire lingered just a few steps inside my room, however.
“She is here because I am here. When I leave, she must come with me.”
I nodded, grateful just for her being in my home. I smiled at Johnny. Something was worrying him. There were tense lines at the corners of his eyes. He has a son. There were so many questions in my mind, but now wasn’t the time. All I knew was that even though Beverley was not my flesh and blood, I cared for her. I was responsible for her. It put me at ease just knowing she was here.
He must be elated about being a father, yet fearful. A child of the Domn Lup would be in danger, just as Beverley had been because of me.
I vowed to myself that whatever the story was with his son, I would handle it.
Fate had put children into our lives. As I looked into his eyes, I knew that no matter what, we would keep fighting this fight to achieve our destiny. We both had so much to fight for.
But what about Menessos? He’s lost so much. For thousands of years, he’s lost so many loved ones, so much of himself . . .
I patted the other side of the bed. “Come and sit with us.”
Menessos obeyed. I reached for his hand, and he scooted nearer on the bed so we could touch. He’d saved Beverley’s life tonight. And Johnny had saved mine. I grasped Johnny’s hand also.
We three were alone.
The silence was, for once, a comfort and not full of tension.
Menessos and I had been through a great deal tonight that Johnny knew nothing about. And Johnny and I had endured another round of danger that Menessos had not yet been told of. As I spent a moment studying each of them, I was sure they had also suffered situations this night that I was oblivious to.
I understood their weariness. I understood the invisible weight pressing endlessly on their shoulders. I understood the pain in their eyes, pain that had nothing to do with physical aches. I understood because I bore it, too.
We were all here together. We didn’t need to speak.
I squeezed their hands.