Page 23 of Up in Smoke

The door, made of good solid steel, had taken a few hits over the years, but it worked. Taking out one of the flashlights Ryleigh had given us, I checked the inside. Like the good cellars in Tulsa, the cellar door led to a staircase descending some thirty feet into the ground.

An open door waited beyond.

“Howdy below,” I called out, pricking my ears forward to better catch the sounds from within the cellar.

Nothing.

“Well, let’s go see what’s down here, shall we? Check how the cellar door locks, would you?” I headed down the steps, which had been cleaned of debris. “We tidy the cellar up before we leave, too. It’s courteous to try to leave it as we found it.”

“Sounds good. It secures with a bar,” he informed me after a few moments. “Do you want me to lock it?”

“May as well in case we get a twister. Are there any air panels?”

“Yes. There are two sliding panels.”

“Crack one open. This goes down deep enough even a twister doing a dance on the door won’t bother us, and having fresh air is a good thing.”

Metal slid on metal, and there was a heavy thunk before Sandro came down the steps to join me. “I’m coming to the general conclusion I’m lucky I didn’t run into any twisters while outside of Tulsa.”

“Or the time you did, you were with me, and I knew what to do.”

“You would have had an easier time if you had been paying less attention to me and more attention to the sky,” he teased.

While true, I turned an ear back and sighed. “To give me a little credit, I had no idea why you were chasing me. If you’d just said you were hopelessly smitten because I’m a most beautiful vixen, I might have cooperated a little more. Honestly, I would have been so confused I would have stopped running, allowing you an opportunity to prove you were actually smitten. My prospects, at that point in time, had been that bad. Then again, I might have run like a bat out of hell, because what sort of madman would actually be smitten with me?”

Sandro snickered, closed the door, locked it, and opened the air vents. “While how hybrids have been treated is no laughing matter, I was smitten with your skills long before I saw your face. Then I saw your face. I’m man enough to admit it. I’ve seen other fox hybrids before, but most of them aren’t as attractive as you. Honestly, some of them were downright scary. You also differ from a lot of fox hybrids. You make sure to take care of your fur, and you are proud of who and what you are.”

I twisted an ear back. “What do you mean by downright scary?”

“Let’s just say they had no interest in taking care of their tail or ears, and they hated themselves almost as much as the prejudiced idiots do. You’re one of the first vixens who wasn’t already cultivated into the courtesan system who wasn’t an emotional disaster area. And while I do try to help the emotional disaster areas, I don’t think I could enter a healthy marriage with an emotional disaster area. I wander too much, and when I am home, I have responsibilities to the family. I wouldn’t be able to give a fragile woman the time she needs—and the dependence would annoy me. I like that you’re so independent but also able to ask for help when you really need it. I’m the same way.” Sandro sighed, dropped his pack onto the ground, and sat before untying the rolled up sleeping mat Ryleigh had given us. When unrolled and inflated, it would fit us both, and it would make waiting out the storm a great deal more comfortable.

While it only inflated to be an inch or so thick, it beat sitting on hard concrete for several hours.

“It amuses me that Ryleigh went out of her way to make sure we share everything,” Sandro admitted. “And then she made me carry the mat and the bag. At least I won the argument over the pillows. They take up way too much space when we can make use of our packs and clothes.”

I bobbed my head in agreement, trying to figure out what sort of sorcery made the mat inflate itself. “I wish I’d known about these things the first time I came into the Alley. It would have become my prized possession, second only to Peace after the first night.”

“I knew about them, but I’m spoiled enough I tried to make sure I landed in some form of civilization before night fell.”

“A smart policy when you’re in the Alley,” I replied. “I’ve spent many a night crammed into half-collapsed cellars scavenging while here. The other quadrants are easy—if you have money.”

“Which you rarely had, if my guess is right.”

“Sometimes I got lucky. Once, I scavenged a decent jewelry box out of some boundary ruins and headed to the South. That gave me enough money for a few months.” When the money ran out, I’d roamed, landing in New Orleans and falling under Ryleigh’s thumb, one of my better moments of good fortune.

“I have a burning need to know how you managed to charm all of the Voodoo queens, though. They’re the type of women to chew rocks and spit nails once they’re done. I thought that old granny was going to eat you when you got snappy with her.”

I grinned at the memory of having held my own against one of the other queens. “You can either blame or thank Ryleigh for that. She taught me how the magic works in New Orleans, and outside of a few mishaps involving some spirits and a pulse, I generally just went with the flow unless something really pissed me off. At that point, my fox would be involved and she has opinions. She doesn’t get involved often, but when she does, she thinks it’s important for some reason. I don’t usually fight her much on those things. We tend to have most of our disputes during the winter.”

“Different tastes in men?” Sandro guessed.

“She’s randy, and any man will do to scratch her itch. I’m pickier.”

Sandro chuckled. “And I appeal to the woman and the fox?”

“Well, you certainly look good when wet and wearing a white shirt. I’d send you outside, but only an idiot tests the boundaries during a storm. Who knows what the clouds will kick up?”

“Magic surges are no laughing matter,” Sandro agreed. “Hopefully, we won’t be stuck here for too long.”