There’s a long pause where I think he might genuinely not let us in, but then the door opens, and he waves us into their place. Inside, it’s decorated the way I imagine a whore’s bedroom would be in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century.
Vani bounces down the stairs, all tumbling curls and curves, and she beams at us. “Hey guys. How’s Ophelia? Do you like what we’ve done with the place? I’ve been decorating with Saint.”
Zane wanders down the stairs behind her and signs something.
“What did he say?” I ask Cain.
“He said he loves it, but I think it was sarcastic.”
“Zane, you will love it,” Vani gushes. “When you get used to it.”
“So, what do you want? Saint asks.
I don’t think he’s ever forgiven us for when we took Vani, not that I blame him, but it does make me wonder about the level oftrust we’ve placed in him recently. I suppose he’s come through for us, but it still gives me pause.
“We’re going to be away for a few days,” I say.
“Oh? Where?”
“None of your business.” Cain smirks. “Need to know basis.”
“Hhmm. So why tell us,cheri?” The way he sayscheriis so sarcastic and condescending, I can taste it.
“Because we want to give you a heads up that the Prophet guy, the fucking cult leader who took Ophelia when she was a child, might still come to the college, even while we’re gone.”
“He’s not after us, so why should we care?” Saint shrugs.
Zane signs again, and Saint sighs and rolls his eyes.
I glance at Cain.
“Zane says not to be a dick,” he offers, “or along those lines.”
Zane takes a small pad out of his pocket, like the ones reporters carry, and a short pencil. He scrawls something quickly, then shows it to Saint and us.
It simply says;They might come for some of the women here and try to take them. We don’t want that, so a heads up is helpful.
“Exactly,” I say. “The guy is a fucking lunatic, and I don’t want him taking any of the women or posing a threat to them or the college.”
“We’ll keep an eye out, won’t we?” Vani says.
“Where’s Lex?” I look around.
“Working on his car.” Vani sighs. “Sometimes I think he loves that car more than me.”
“Which one?” Saint asks. “I can’t truly judge the veracity of this statement if I don’t know which car you mean.”
She just laughs and slaps him softly upside the back of the head. He grabs her and pulls her into him, so she’s facing us, with her back to him, Saint watching us as he kisses her neck lazily.
His hands wander over her stomach and her waist, splayed possessively, and I see what he’s doing. He’s claiming her in front of us because we touched what was his.
“One day, I’ll show you the painting I did of you, Cain,” he drawls lazily. “I think you’ll like it.”
“Christ,” Cain mutters. “We’ve got to go, but just be aware, shit might kick off. Keep her close.” He points to Vani.
“Of course.” Saint nods seriously. “It would be dreadful if someone took our precious girl here and did weird, freaky, black magic shit to her.”
Zane steps closer to Saint and nudges him, shaking his head. Zane’s way of sayingknock it off.
