Yummy laughed. “I can get her outside. Watch and learn,Country Hick Chick.” With that, Yummy strode into the dark, looking a lot more like a warrior than I ever would. And I’d never hear the end of that newest nickname.
“You’re’un gonna need all this,” Mud said from behind me. “Shoes, jacket, weapon harness, and car fob is in the pocket.”
I had felt Mud wake and walk across the porch, down the steps, and across the raised bed, jump off the low wall, and join me on the grass. Every step. When I married Occam, I needed to be very careful where my cat-man and I got physical, because it was possible that Mud would one day be as aware as I was.
I swiveled around to my not-so-little sister, who was bundled up against the cold and laden with my gear and boots. I accepted the socks she held out. I dropped to my backside and pulled them on over my frozen feet, yanked on my boots, and laced them. I slid into the shoulder harness, checked the weaponto make sure it was loaded with silver-lead rounds, and grabbed the jacket, which was warm from the house. It felt like heaven on my cold body.
As I dressed she said to FireWind, “It’s commercial. Fastest protein I can think of.” She was holding out a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, which he took.
“Thank you.”
“You understand you have to stay up here, safe, right?” I asked both of them. FireWind nodded and said, “Mmm-hmm,” his mouth full of sticky peanut butter. I glanced at Mud. “With the boss-boss and whatever werecats show up…after?”
“Gross. Yes. I get it. But I’ll be with you in the land.” She sat on the ground and placed her hands flat on the earth. “Better hurry. Yummy’s already there.”
“She would be,” I grouched. “Be safe, sister mine.” I beeped my car to start and took off for Esther’s, hoping I wasn’t already too late.
* * *
I pulled up, my headlights illuminating the house. Esther’s Tulip Tree House had gone into full protective mode, and had grown thorns like spikes, the size of Yummy’s smallsword.
Yummy herself stood at the edge of the yard, near the closest vampire sapling, her eyes on the weird house. She shook her head slowly. I had a feeling she was remembering the time tree vines had suddenly gotten protective and attacked her.
Occam, in human form, and wearing only a light shirt, pants, and thin cloth sneakers, came around the back of the house and up to my car. I cut off the engine and Occam opened the door, sliding into the passenger seat. He sat tall, watching Yummy, and he didn’t look cold at all, when my feet were still aching from contact with the ground.
Without looking at me, clearly knowing what I was thinking, he said, “I’m good, Nell, sugar. What’s Yummy getting ready to do?”
“Get Ming out of Esther’s house. Yummy confirmed Ming was bitten by an arcenciel a long time ago. She might have been bitten again.” I shrugged slightly. “I have her permission to pull her under and try to heal her.”
“Looks like I’m behind on the latest,” he drawled.
“I’ll catch you up when I can.” I handed him a stake. “Your job is to stake Ming.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
My breathy laughter whispered through the car. “That’s the spirit. Sure. Very easy. I’ll be unhappy if you miss our wedding, so don’t get your head torn off.”
“Not planning on it, Nell, sugar.”
Yummy stepped into my car’s headlights, which I had left on. She shouted, “Ming of Glass! Attend me!”
The door flew open. Ming stood on my sister’s porch, thorns growing up toward her feet. She was dressed in fighting leathers like Yummy’s, but scarlet. She was wearing swords and knives. And she looked really,reallymad.
“You dare to demand of me?” Ming said. “I am the Master of this City. You are the blood clan leader of a few weak Mithrans.”
As Ming spoke, Yummy sniffed, scenting the air. She glanced back at the car and nodded once, officially confirming what she had said: Ming had been bitten, and bitten again recently.
Ming sneered. “You are nothing.”
“Noooothing?” Yummy said slowly, separating the syllables in a way that somehow implied derision, shrugging slightly, deliberately provocative. Holding Ming’s total attention and giving Occam and me time to get out and onto the ground, which we did, sliding out of the car, pushing the doors almost closed. Occam crawled around the car, stealthy as a hunting cat, and knelt beside me at the front wheel.
The words slithering like snakes, Yummy hissed, “Ming of Glasssss. My lair still stands, and my primo wasn’t taken from me and…murdered. Unavenged.”
Ming froze, unmoving as a block of ice.
“Oops,” Occam whispered.
Yummy had just questioned Ming’s right to be the master of a city and of a blood clan. Using Cai.
