“That is so not fair,” I said.
Laughing in a half purr, he walked to the front door and into the dark.
* * *
Sunday morning usually meant taking Mud to church (or making sure she got there), as per the custody agreement. Insteadthis Sunday I was awakened before dawn by the arrival of Yummy in Occam’s car. I felt my cat-man on the property, racing in to confront her, and figured I better get to her first.
Wrapping a robe around me, I walked out to the front porch, Cherry darting out between my legs as the door closed. “Don’t you get skunked,” I ordered her.
“I beg your pardon,” Yummy said, which was Southern for “I’m insulted. I suggest you rephrase.”
“Not you. The dog. Though it’s too cold for skunks to be out and about. Did you tear up Occam’s car when you stole it and tore outta here like a bat outta heck?”
“Hell. It’s ‘bat out of hell,’ ” Yummy said distinctly, as she climbed the stairs to the front porch. “No. I didn’t tear up his car. And on the way here, I filled it with gas and checked the tires. I also left a fifty-dollar bill on the passenger seat for theloanof his car.” She reached the porch and dangled Occam’s keys, one finger through the key ring.
I spotted Occam at the edge of the property, near the road, and knew he had heard her words. Cat ears were far superior to my own. I nodded at him to stay outside, accepted the key fob from the vampire, and went inside, hanging his fob and keys on the hook by the door.
Yummy followed me in and stopped at the door. Mud was standing in the kitchen, yawning, filling the teakettle—water thudding into the bottom—and adding another log to the stove with heavy wood-to-metalthunks. She was wearing pajamas, pink, with little white and black goats on them, clothing outlawed for women in the church, who had to wear nightgowns. On her feet were fuzzy bunny slippers, pink rabbit ears curling up to her ankles. She looked up at me, scratched her scalp, and mumbled something that might have been, “Morning.” Or not.
“Yummy is here,” I told my sister, “to get her things from the guest room. You okay with her coming in?”
Mud looked up at that and her eyes spotted the vampire at the door. “Long as she ain’t gonna drink my blood or nothing.”
Yummy laughed, an odd sound coming from her. So human. So…vulnerable. “I promise.”
“Shut the door,” Mud demanded. “Whatchu think we’re doin’? Heating the entire farm?
“Tea or coffee?” Mud finished.
Yummy stepped inside the door and closed it, not quite certain how to act with this grown-up, grumpy, challenging Mud in the room. “Tea. Please. With a splash of lemon if you have it.”
“Nothing fresh,” my sister said, “but we have candied lemon.”
“That might be…interesting,” Yummy said, the tone in the last word barely hiding disgust. She added, “Thank you.”
As Mud prepared tea and started Occam’s coffee, I said to Yummy, “There were nine guards left before you took off last night, ten bad guys left, counting Tomás. Update on what happened?”
Yummy moved into the room and took a place at the table. She stank of fire and burned hair. Her blond hair, one section cut by a swordsman, was now also singed in spots and black with smoke. Her clothes showed signs of smoke damage, and there was blood all along one sleeve and down one side of her shirt. Vampires were very flammable, so whatever she had been doing had put her in danger, probably a lot of danger, but she moved fine, not as if she had been stabbed or burned badly enough to cause pain.
“Ming killed four,” she said. “That leaves five guards, and Tomás.”
“Your boyfriend still among the undead?” I asked.
“Yes. Thank God,” she added, sounding wry, very tired, and maybe a little mocking, since her boyfriend was a vampire, a priest, a torturer, and she was thanking God he was still alive.
“Did Ming kidnap Soul?” I asked, hoping for honesty or at least a shocked reaction I could interpret.
Yummy’s brow creased, her expression visible in the dim light. “The assistant director of PsyLED is missing?”
“Might be. We think so.”
“If she was taken, Tomás has her. Not Ming. Her clan home isn’t—wasn’t—big enough to hide a secret like that, and her scions have been overly chatty since we got our souls back. I’d know.”
“Nothing’s ever easy.” I looked to the east, where the sun would rise around seven. “Where are you sleeping today?”
“In my new place.” She smiled, looking happier than I ever remembered seeing her. “I haven’t had my own place since I was first turned. My people worked all day yesterday and allnight to prepare my underground lair. And nine blood-servants left Ming after the fire to sign on with me, so feeding my family should be no problem.”
“Where is Ming staying?”
