Romani Armada (58 page)

Deonne resisted the pressure of his arm around her waist. “I can’t eat. Not when he’s lying here like this.” She made herself look at Adán’s face, which was pallid. Fear cascaded through her veins, chilling her.

“You can’t help,” Nayara said, her voice firm. “And you might hinder his chances if you’re underfoot. Go, Deonne.”

Reluctantly, Deonne let Justin walk her toward the door, listening to Christian, Marley and Fahmido murmur among themselves as they worked over Adán.

Then her gaze fell on Pritti. Demyan was bowed over her once more, his hand in her hair, and his gaze on her face. Deonne drew in a shuddering breath and gripped Justin’s hand firmly and let him take her away.

Chapter Forty-Six

Chronometric Conservation Agency Headquarters, Villa Fontani, Rome, 2264 A.D. —two days later.:
With the Agency open once more for tours, the offices and administrative areas were humming with activity. As they walked through the big, airy rooms toward the arrival chambers, though, the rooms fell silent and eyes followed their progress. News about Pritti and the aftermath of Prague had clearly filtered across the agency.

Demyan failed to notice the stares. He walked steadily and slowly, his head down, watching his feet. The sack hanging over his shoulder slapped his back with each pace.

Kieren picked up the threads of their conversation once more. “Her last thoughts were of you.”

Demyan lifted his head long enough to smile. The expression was more like a grimace in his gaunt and drawn face. Even his eyes looked tired. “I know,” he said. “She spoke to me before she left.”

“She saved my life. All our lives.”

Demyan nodded.

“We got Jack back only because of Pritti.”

“So everyone assures me.”

They were nearly at the arrival chambers. There would be people waiting in the lounge to see Demyan before he left, so Kieren gripped the man’s arm, bringing him to a halt and turning him to face him. Demyan’s eyes narrowed.

“You think you know what it was like, but you don’t. And you should.” Kieren picked up Demyan’s hand and gripped it in his. “Let me show you.”

After a long moment of hesitation, Demyan nodded.

Kieren joined their thoughts together, then showed him the events in Prague. Kieren had already debriefed Rhydder, so he passed that information along, too. Demyan’s eyes grew wider as he watched the events unfold in his mind.

Kieren let his hand drop. “She died doing good, Demyan. Everyone wants to think their death will mean something. Hers did.”

Demyan drew in a long, slow breath. “You feel like Pritti. In my mind. You have the same touch.”

Kieren nodded. “She shared…all of herself. I have all her skills, her talents. She gave them to me.” He hesitated, trying to judge how that sat with Demyan. “Do you mind?”

Demyan considered it for a moment, then shook his head. “I have some skills, but only because Pritti spent hours and hours teaching me. You have a natural talent. An uncharted one, Brenden says. She picked you for that reason. You will be able to use her abilities. I wouldn’t.”

He turned and headed for the arrival chamber lounge once more. “It’s…fitting,” he concluded.

It seemed to Kieren that Demyan was walking with a little more energy in his step.

There was a small group of people waiting for them in the lounge. Tally and Rob were among them. Tally had Jack in her arms and her face was glowing with happiness.

Brenden was the first to greet Demyan. “You’re really going through with this madness?” he asked. “It’s dangerous out there.”

“More dangerous than being a recognized member of the agency?” Demyan asked.

“Let him go, Brenden,” Justin said, coming up behind them. “He’s been on active duty for seventy-six years. He’s entitled to a break.”

“He’s not talking about a vacation, though, is he?” Brenden growled.

“The Australian Aborigines call it ‘going walkabout’,” Justin replied. “Think of it as a sabbatical.”

Nayara rested her hand briefly on Demyan’s shoulder. “Try to enjoy yourself,” she said, with a small smile. “You’re welcome back whenever you decide it’s time.”

Demyan nodded. “Thank you.” He looked around the lounge. “My thanks to all of you.”

Brenden unlocked the arrival chamber. “If you leave from here, you’ll know where to come back to,” he told Demyan.

Demyan stepped through and Brenden shut the door behind him. Everyone watched the readout over the door, as it switched from the green that meant ‘occupied’ to the blue, that meant it was empty. Brenden locked the door and the display changed to red.

Demyan had left.

* * * * *

Chronometric Conservation Agency Headquarters, Villa Fontani, Rome, 2264 A.D.:
Adán shifted with slow awkwardness on the elevated mattress, his breath whistling out of him as pain etched his brow.

Justin reached to help him, but Adán shook his head. “No, I can do it.” He settled himself and picked up Deonne’s hand once more, cradling it in both of his. “I can’t rely on help for much longer.”

Justin stared at Adán, with a stunned expression. Then he turned away from the bed with a swift movement and walked over to the leadlight window. He stayed with his back turned to them, looking out through the distorting glass.

“You can take as long as you need,” Deonne told Adán, and glanced at Justin’s back once more. “Am I … missing something?” she asked warily.

Justin turned his head and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Then he went back to staring at the window.

She looked at Adán. “What’s going on?”

Adán gave her a smile. “They’re taking me back to my time. So I can heal.”

Her heart squeezed hurtfully. “I don’t want you to leave, but if it will heal you…of course it will heal you. As soon as you return to your natural state, the symbiot will repair everything, back to the way it was.” She bit her lip. “But that will only take a moment or two, won’t it? You’ll jump straight back to the moment after you left….” Adán’s expression brought her to a stumbling halt. Cold dread locked her chest and slowed her breathing.

“He’s not coming back,” Justin said, from the window. His voice was remote. Strained.

She struggled to take it in. “I don’t understand,” she confessed, bewildered.

Adán pulled her closer to him. Then even closer, forcing her to sit on the bed, her hip next to his. He cupped her face with his hand. “I won’t jump back,” he told her. “Not with Christian and Marley. But that doesn’t mean I won’t return at all.”

“Unless something in the next two hundred years does manage to get you,” Justin interjected.

Adán shot him a glance. “I thought you would understand this. I thought you would understand why.”

Justin turned and propped himself on the window ledge. His hands were thrust into his pockets. “I know why you
think
you’re doing it. You want to be vampire in this time. You don’t like being vulnerable.”

“I don’t want
this
to happen to me again,” Adán said. He patted his stomach lightly, where the dressings covered him from the middle of his chest down to his hips.

Deonne clutched at Adán as understanding flared inside her. “You’re going to live through the last two hundred years, instead of skipping them.”

Adán nodded. “I want to be a member of the agency in full, Deonne. I want to be a fully-contributing part of it all, and I can’t do that if I’m human and constantly worrying about my own hide. And…I want to be with you. Both of you. I can’t do that if I’m human, and have to go back to my time over and over.”

“You’ll be alone,” Justin said, his voice harsh. “You will have to live through two hundred and ten years without us.”

Adán squeezed Deonne’s hand. “But it will be only a few days for you,” he assured her. He looked at Justin. “I lived alone and without you for much longer than that, before I found you again. This time, I will know you are both waiting for me. That will make it much easier to bear.”

Justin drew in a breath that shuddered. Deonne could hear it from across the room. “And what if you die?”

“I will do my best not to die,” Adán told him gravely.

“That’s no bloody guarantee,” Justin ground out. “You’ll have to live through Constantine’s Curse, the Revelation, Censure, at least six civil wars before that…”

“There are no guarantees,” Deonne told him gently. “The last few days have taught us that much. No one knows everything that time can do, Justin. Look at us – we were considered the most unlikely couple in the agency and we defied those expectations. I met Adán despite everything we did to try and change that. We all survived the Liping bomb. And despite being the most closed-mouthed, intimacy-phobic man I’ve ever met, you’ve opened up and showed us your life. Truly, nothing is predictable. Nothing is guaranteed.”

Adán began to laugh, a low sound. He clutched at his stomach as his mirth irritated his wounds, but kept laughing.

Justin scowled. “It’s not funny,” he said.

Adán shook his head. “No, it’s not. But it’s
true
.”

Justin sighed and stood up, pushing a hand through his hair and ruffling the dirty blond locks. “Okay. It’s true. And you’re an idiot. And I love you both. So much, it hurts when I think about you. So you have to promise you’ll do everything you can to make it through. And then, maybe, I’ll let you go.”

“You’ll
let
me go?” Adán asked, raising a brow.

Justin moved to the side of his bed. “You heard me. I’m still vampire, here and now, don’t forget. You’re not.”

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever admitted there might be an upside to being vampire,” Deonne observed.

“It’s no advantage at all if I can’t stop him leaving.” Justin looked at Adán. “And I can’t.”

“I’m doing it for you. And Deonne. All of us,” Adán pointed out.

“Then you’d better make the time worthwhile,” Justin growled.

Adán grabbed his shirt, gripping the front of it in his fist. “You don’t pout well.”

“I don’t pout. This is a bad idea.”

“Shut up. Kiss me. And take care of Deonne while I’m gone. A week, Justin. I’ll be back in a week’s time, when I want both of you to take me to bed and fuck me until all this is a distant memory.”

Deonne leaned out of the way as Justin was pulled in closer toward Adán by Adán’s grip on his shirt. Adán kissed him and let him go, wincing. He tried to hold back a groan of pain.

Justin licked his lips, staring down at the blinding white dressings, which contrasted strongly against Adán’s olive flesh. He rested his fingers gently against them. “Okay,” he said with a sigh. “I want you well. I want you as you were.”

“I just want you. Both of you,” Deonne admitted. “I’ll take you any way you come.”

Adán lifted a brow and Justin choked back a laugh. “Care to rephrase that, Dee?” he asked gently.

She smiled, seeing the warm merriment in Adán’s eyes. “No,” she assured them as Adán reached for her. “I don’t.”

Then he kissed her and for a while, no one argued about anything.

EL
FINAL DE LA HISTORIA

(The End of the Story)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chronometric Conservation Agency Headquarters, Villa Fontani, Rome, 2264 A.D. —ten days later.:
Ryan’s private chamber at the Agency was a grandly-scaled suite, with a main room that featured twenty-foot high ceilings studded with ancient wood molding and frescos. The wood panels on the bottom half of the walls added more warmth and ambience.

The focus of the main room was an equally grand bed that could easily hold three people, as it was doing now.

Cáel sprawled on the bed naked, eating pieces of fig from Nia’s belly and occasionally leaning down to lick the juices from her flesh. Nayara’s head lay in Ryan’s lap and occasionally, his hand dropped to her forehead to brush her hair gently away from her face and linger for further caresses. Ryan was the only one dressed, if a silk robe could be considered ‘dressed’. The strong Italian sunshine was blazing through the transom windows that arched over the big French doors, letting in an incandescent light that fell just short of the foot of the big bed.

Despite their indolent poses, the conversation was serious – the sort of stuff discussed over a boardroom or the President’s desk.

Cáel found the contrast between their conversation and the idyllic surroundings odd, but delightful. He was mining these moments for their full body of pleasure, for this was only the third time in the last year that the three of them had been together in one place. He was also enjoying the knowledge that the Assembly was in recess and would be so for the next few months at least.

Ryan had paused for a moment while he gathered his thoughts. Now he spoke once more. “Kieren does seem to be working out, although what do you make of these super powers he says he inherited from Pritti? And why him?”

“Because he was already like her. He was simpatico,” Nayara said. “It’s easier to connect with someone who has similar talents.”

“So now he’s a wild talent plus?” Cáel asked. “Someone should take him in hand and train him so he can use them properly.”

“I think Pritti took care of that in one big gestalt,” Nayara said. She sighed. “I miss Demyan. I had no idea how much he talked. He always seemed so quiet.”

“In comparison to the ultra-egos everyone else has, Demyan
was
quiet.” Ryan adjusted his back against the headboard. “He’ll be back,” he added. “He just has to work it out for himself.”

“I heard Adán left, too,” Cáel said. “I spoke to Justin when I arrived. He looked like hell. Deonne is in the past somewhere—”

“Don’t ask me where,” Nayara warned.

“I’m not. I don’t want to know. I don’t want that knowledge in my skull where Gabriel can pluck it out. But to get back to the point: Deonne is gone and so is Adán, and Justin is suffering.”

“Adán will be back. Well, he’ll be here. He’ll turn up, I mean,” Ryan said.