Page 89 of Bound

“Sorry,” I apologize and school my expression into somethingless bloodthirsty.

It’s hard readjusting to this plane. I thought I wouldimmediately fall back into patterns of working and watching TV, but somethingintrinsic has changed within me. When I finish with work around the store, Iprepare for the day I will go back to my men. I spend hours and hours makinglists and gathering items I want to take with me.

I have a large duffel bag filled with things that will behelpful. I bought my ten favorite books at a half-priced store, along with fiveDVDs I love. I’m sure Vampire Dante can make them work on the computer. I havea thumb drive filled with music I downloaded. I bought a couple of first aidkits and essentials. My bags are packed. Now I just need my ticket home.

I didn’t completely ignore this plane. I looked up my ownname on the Internet. Pretty sad. There is only a single article on me as amissing person. My mother commented that she believes I ran off with some manand will get in touch when the relationship sours. It’s odd, given that I neverran off before, but if it gives my mother comfort, I’ll go along with it.Besides, my mother wouldn’t recognize me anymore.

I wear my hair down all the time now. I move with an easeand grace that comes with being comfortable in one’s skin. The awkward, shygirl is gone. In her place is a wife who has one job to do—get back to herhusbands.

“That’s it,” Dante says as he pulls into the small parkinglot.

We’re on the outer edges of downtown, and parking spaces aremore plentiful. I stare at the warehouse. It’s dilapidated and hasn’t seenbetter days in years. The door hangs haphazardly from its frame and thestaircase is missing some steps.

Dante opens his door and slides out. “The last two ownerssold it at a loss. It’s had ten owners since it was built twenty years ago. Itwas supposed to be a warehouse for one of the big department store chains. Theyhad so many accidents the company closed it down. I came out here yesterdaymorning and installed a couple of cameras. I thought I would cover some of thebig spaces and see if anything came up.”

There’s something about the building that pulls at me. “Ithink you may be on to something,” I say with the first real enthusiasm I feltin weeks. “Let’s get those cameras.”

Four hours and a half-eaten burger later, I’m sure myeyes are going to burst out of my head if I have to watch one more minute ofnothing.

It’s like watching paint peel. I’m not going through frameby frame, but I can’t speed it up much either for fear of missing something.Dante covered as much of the space as he could with four cameras. So far,there’s nothing but the eerie green glow of the night vision.

“Anything?” Dante walks into the office from the store. Hestrides past the long table cluttered with laptops and desktops, their innerworkings open to the air.

“The place has rats. Other than that, nothing except a fewpigeons that flew by the camera. This is the second camera I’ve sat through.”

“Whoa, what the fuck was that?” There’s real alarm inDante’s eyes. He goes a little pale.

“What?” I move the mouse to back up the feed. And then myheart seizes with joy at the sight of a long, thin man gliding past the camera.His body is swathed in a hooded cape, but there’s the briefest glimpse of hiseyes. I want to jump and shout my happiness to the world but settle forannouncing triumphantly, “That’s a Planeswalker demon.”

Dante slumps into the seat beside me. “You aren’t crazy.”

I slide him a bemused glance. “I thought we settled that afew weeks back.”

“Nope,” he says, shaking his head. “I was still certain youwere either trying to scam me or had some real problems.”

“Then why have you been helping me?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, sweetheart, but you havefabulous tits,” Dante says with a sigh. “I figured once you gave up on thewhole idea of being queen of the faery world, you might consider sleeping withme. Now I see that demons are real. I’m going to church tomorrow.”

I’m not going to talk religion with him. I need toconcentrate on the question at hand. “What was the time? Did you see which wayhe came from?”

Dante backs up the tape and checks the time log. “It wasthree minutes after midnight last night.”

“That makes sense. It’s an in-between time. I read about it.The veil between worlds is thinnest then. That’s when the door opens.” I lookat the clock. It isn’t even ten yet. There’s still time. “We can make it.”

Dante takes a moment and shoves his hair back, running hislong fingers over his scalp. “You’re really leaving.”

I turn to him. He doesn’t have a lot of friends. He seemscontent to spend his free time working on computers or helping me. “I have togo back. On my plane, I’m married to your cousins. I love them very much, andthey need me. I hope you understand.”

He smiles slightly. “And I’m a vampire? What am I likethere, Meggie? Am I lonely?”

I laugh at the thought. “As if. Dante Dellacourt doesn’tlack for anything except tact.”

“Tact is overrated,” Dante points out.

“Spoken like your vampire self.” I let my hand drift overhis. “The Dante Dellacourt I know doesn’t let anything stop him. He once toldme that if he was going to do something, he would do it big. There was no pointin anything less. Of course, he was discussing lying through his fangs at thetime.”

“I sound like a character there.”