‘You may.’
I reached forward tentatively. I’d expected him to feel slimy and soft but the opposite was true: Dusty’s skin was moist but it certainly wasn’t slimy, and whatever lay underneath his brown exterior felt like pure muscle. Now that I was closer, I could see his different segments and the tiny hairs that extruded from his body. They doubtless had something to do with the way he moved so smoothly.
‘Move your hand lower,’ Lady Penelope instructed.
As I did so, Dusty grunted. I pulled back but the vampire only laughed. ‘He likes to be scratched on that spot.’
I shot her a wary glance: was she gaslighting me? But her expression appeared honest so I reached out again and rubbed Dusty’s skin. The thin hairs tickled as he huffed his pleasure. Huh. This wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like stroking a cat, and Iwouldn’t be swapping any of my moggies for an earthworm, but he was growing on me. Slightly.
‘Eat her, Dust,’ Thomas wheezed as he heaved himself to his feet. ‘Eat her now while you still can.’
The giant worm swung his head towards him. As my heart skipped a beat, he opened his mouth and appeared to swallow the vampire’s head. I squeaked involuntarily but Lady Penelope laughed again. Dusty pulled back.
‘He will not eat you and he is not eating Thomas,’ she said. ‘More is the pity. The worms are herbivores. This is merely a greeting – I suppose you could call it a kiss.’
My stomach turned. ‘A kiss?’ From aworm?
She shrugged elegantly. ‘Of sorts.’
Dusty’s head turned towards me. ‘He’ll chomp you whole,’ Thomas crowed.
‘He will not,’ Lady Penelope snapped. ‘Stand still, Ms McCafferty, and you’ll be absolutely fine.’
I wondered if Captain Montgomery had bothered to negotiate a guarantee of my safety whilst negotiating my presence here in the Understream.
Dusty’s huge mouth opened and smothered my face for a few seconds. I stayed where I was and managed not to recoil, though it wasn’t easy. Worm breath wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated but it certainly wasn’t roses and minty mouthwash.
‘There,’ Lady Penelope said as he withdrew. ‘Now he’s your friend, too.’
I could have happily gone an entire lifetime without invertebrate friends but here we were. I tried to smile. ‘Okay. Great. Fantastic.’
‘Serves you right,’ Thomas muttered.
I glanced at him, expecting to see hostility to match his tone of voice, but there was a twinkle in his eye. He splayed out his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘You gotme. But only because I’ve not had breakfast yet and I’m feeling sluggish.’ He gestured to my neck. ‘Perhaps if you…’
‘No.’
He shrugged. ‘Can’t blame a guy for trying.’ He grinned as he loped towards Dusty’s midsection and unravelled a small rope ladder that he used to climb up to the seats. So vampirescouldsmile on occasion – even after a minor assault.
‘I apologise for Thomas,’ Lady Penelope said. ‘He is new and still has a lot to learn.’
‘I’ve been a vampire for eighty years, Penny!’ he called over his shoulder.
She sniffed. ‘As I said, he is new.’ She pointed to the ladder. ‘Shall we?’
I followed her lead, went to the ladder and pulled myself up. Neither she nor Thomas offered to help me up, which gladdened me. I sat on a narrow wooden bench that formed part of the contraption strapped to Dusty’s back.
I wasn’t often out of my depth, but right here, right now, I felt the same frisson that had troubled me when I was a baby assassin. I didn’t belong here and I didn’t know what I was doing: imposter syndrome on steroids.
‘Don’t worry,’ Thomas reassured me. ‘Everyone feels like this the first time they come to the Understream.’
Damn. My expression must have given away more than I’d intended.
‘It is not her first time,’ Penelope informed him.
His brow creased then he gave me a longer, more assessing look. ‘I know who you are,’ he breathed. ‘You’re Kit McCafferty. You’re the one who killed Brassick.’ He gave a low whistle.
It was time for some damage limitation. ‘I didn’t mean to kill him,’ I said. ‘Not exactly. He was attacking my friend and me. I broke one of the shutters in his house. It was the middle of the day and the sun got in and…’ I made a moue of helplessness tosuggest it had been nothing more than luck that had turned the murderous vampire to ash inside his own home.
