Cape Storm

I sniffled. “No.”

“Good, don’t even. You’re a Warden. You don’t let anythingstand in the way of what you think is right. You have the most lustworthy guy I’ve ever seen madly in love with you. You have fabulous hair. You’re strong and beautiful and smart and evil pees itself when it sees you coming. So don’t you fold up on me, Jo.” Cherise’s mask slipped, just a little. “Because if you do, I don’t think I can keep it together on my own.”

“Bullshit,” I said. “You’re way tougher than me.” I hugged her. “I’m just so tired. I just want to rest.”

“Then rest,” she said, and let go. I settled back on the bed. “But don’t you dare think you’re not up to this. You’re a hero, babe. Heroes don’t wuss.”

“Do they whine?”

“Only to their bosom sidekicks.” She flashed me her bosom to prove she had the cred. Cherise, motivational speaker to the stars.

I managed a weak laugh. I didn’t feel like a hero, not at all. I didn’t think Ve

I took some deep breaths. Then I took some more, and let myself drift away from the pain and fear. I imagined myself floating in water, in a sparkling blue pool, with calm clouds whispering by overhead. The sun was warm and soft and kind, and I had on the perfect blue bikini that David liked so much.

The Grand Paradise’s rocking motion lulled me into a mindless calm, and as I hung there, suspended, I felt my body reaching for relief. It healed itself, bit by bit, cell by cell, using power drawn from the energy around me. The temperature of the cabin lowered in response, and I heard Cherise get up and check the thermostat, then break out the blankets. One settled over me, thick and soft.

“You okay?” Cherise whispered. I didn’t open my eyes.

“Yep,” I murmured. “Check it: Heroes don’t wuss.”

I was hoping that Ve

When David told me that, sitting on the edge of my narrow bed in much the same way Cherise had earlier, I could tell that he was trying not to give away how much it disturbed him. He had on his just-the-facts-ma’amface, and he’d damped down the link between us to a low hum, suggestions of emotion, nothing more.

That was as close to cutting himself off from me as he could manage, since our wedding ceremony had joined us together on that powerful level.

I didn’t like it.

“She’s all right,” David told me. He was looking at me, but not—eyes unfocused, and miles away. “Physically . . . aetherically . . . she’s all right, she’s just . . . less than she was. As if pieces of her had been burned away.”

“Or eaten,” I said.

“You’re thinking of an Ifrit,” he said, and the focus sharpened in his eyes. “That wasn’t an Ifrit.” No, it definitely had notbeen an Ifrit. Those were Dji

This thing . . . not so much.

“What if it was part Ifrit?” I said slowly. I struggled up to a reclining position, with my pillow bracing my aching back. “Part Demon, too? Some kind of hybrid?”

“That would be bad,” David said, very softly.

“Yeah, it’d suck like an industrial-strength Hoover. Demons are hard to kill; Ifrits can consume pieces of other Dji

Marry that to a Demon, and you’ve got a truly terrifying weapon against the Dji

In a word, one of Ve

“Can she recover?” I asked, thinking again of Ve

“I don’t know. I’m not her Conduit.”

“Cop-out.”

“Hey!”

“You know. You may not be able to help her, but you know whether or not Ashancan help her.”

“Ashan isn’t saying much,” David said. “You know how he is.”

Oh, I knew. We’d hit the same brick wall when trying to help another of Ashan’s Old Dji

Ashan had refused to talk about that incident, too. He wasn’t, in general, the chattiest of all my many enemies. He’d read the guidelines for villainy, the first one being Don’t monologue.

“Is she staying?” I asked. Because Ve

“Of course she’s staying,” David said, and smiled just a little. “Ve

“Apart from being cuter.”

“Debatable.”

“I don’t have any HELLO KITTY shoes.”

“Could be remedied.” He lifted my hand to his lips, and I shivered at the gentle touch, not to mention the look in his eyes. “I’m sorry about earlier. I realized I wasn’t helping you recover. It’s hard to remember how much we share now. I don’t want to add to your problems.”

“You were worried,” I said. “Hell, join the club. We have T-shirts and free-drink coupons. Open bar every Wednesday.”

“Come here.” He folded me in his arms, and I let out a long sigh. Most of my remaining tension went with it. “You did very well back there.”

“What, getting myself backed into a corner to be chopped up by the walking meat slicer? Yeah, spectacular job. Mom would be proud.”

“I don’t think many humans could have stood against it at all,” he said. “Fewer still would have tried. I talked with Ve

“Vibrated—” Of course. Crystalline structure in its bones and claws and teeth. Strong, but hit it with the right oscillated frequency, and you could hurt it, maybe destroy it. “I’d need to experiment to get it right. I don’t suppose you have any remains . . . ?”

For answer, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a single crystal tooth, about the size of a small switch-blade. He held it in his palm for a moment, weighing it, and then handed it to me. “Careful,” he said. “Sharp.”

He was right; it still held a wicked edge. I wrapped it in handfuls of tissue paper from the box on the night-stand and put it in my own pocket for later study.

“Do we know if there are more on board?” I asked. “Because we really don’t need another ugly surprise.”

David got up and opened the cabin door. In walked another Dji

He looked around the sparse cabin with an expression like he’d bitten a bug in half, then dragged over the small side chair. Cherise wasn’t in at the moment, for which I was grateful; she’d gone off in search of medicinal ice cream. I could imagine her ru