Claimed by Shadow Page 0,91
night he suddenly sat up, asking whether we'd won. I hoped Tomas was only in a trance, but there was little I could do for him either way. Vamps healed themselves or they didn't-there weren't a lot of medical or magical remedies that worked on their systems. The problem was to keep him safe long enough for him to have a chance to recover.
I glanced at Pritkin. "Why isn't Marlowe tied up or something?”
"Because we may need him," was the grim reply.
"Do you know who he is?" I demanded.
"Better than you." He tore his eyes away from Billy, who was now rocking back and forth, staring sightlessly at the wall, and turned the full force of his stare on me. He wasn't angry-that, at least, I'd almost come to expect, and it wouldn't have worried me. But this was different. He was pared down somehow, his eyes so intense that they looked like two lasers. It was the face of a predator when its own life is threatened-deadly, serious and completely focused.
"Let me explain the situation," he said, and even his words were faster and more clipped than before, as if every second counted. "We have arrived in Faerie, but not in the unobtrusive way I had planned. Most of our magic will not work, and we have a finite amount of nonmagical weapons. One of our company is gravely ill and two others are mentally suspect. To make matters worse, that dragon was the guardian of the portal, and having failed to defeat us itself, it has gone after reinforcements. If the Fey do not already know we're here, they soon will. And we cannot go back though the portal for obvious reasons.”
"Will the Senate come after us?" I asked, uncertain that I wanted an answer.
Pritkin gave a short bark of a laugh. It didn't sound amused. "Oh, no, at least not until they can appeal for passes. To cross into Faerie without them is to risk a death sentence. As we have done.”
"He means that we're all in this together," Marlowe added. "I, too, am without a pass, and the Fey are famous for not listening to excuses. If I'm caught, I could be killed." He smiled at me. "So I won't be caught, and shall endeavor to see you are not, either.”
Mac snorted. "The fact is, we're all safer together. Nobody would last a day in Faerie alone right now.”
Marlowe shrugged. "That, too. And, as my first comradely gesture, may I suggest that we leave this area as soon as may be? We have very little time to lose.”
Pritkin had pulled Billy up by the wrists and now he slapped him, hard. "He's right. If the Fey find us, they will either kill us on sight or ransom us back to the Circle or Senate." After the second slap, Billy tried to hit him back, but Pritkin blocked his arm, then twisted it cruelly behind his back before pushing him at me. "Gain control of your servant," he said briefly. "I will deal with mine. Then we move.”
I spent the next few minutes getting my ward checked out by Mac while I tried to reassure a very freaked-out Billy Joe. "Why are you so upset?" I asked, when he had calmed down enough to listen. "You have a body," I pinched him lightly on the arm and he flinched, the big baby. "Isn't that what you always wanted?" He certainly seemed to have a good time whenever he was borrowing mine.
Billy still looked stunned, although some color had started to return to his cheeks. Without warning, he leaned over and kissed me hard on the lips. I jerked away and slapped him, and shock made it harder than I'd intended, but he just laughed. His hazel eyes were bright with unshed tears as he gingerly felt his stinging cheek, but his expression was euphoric. "It's true; it's really true," he said in awe; then his eyes grew wide and he abruptly started rooting through Mac's backpack. He came out with one of the beers, clutching it like he'd found a treasure made of pure gold. It was unopened, and he scrabbled at it, trying to get the bottle cap off with his bare hands.
"You don't get it, Cass," he said, his eyes almost feverish. "Sure, I babysit your body from time to time, but nothing's really real, you know? Like there's a film over everything, and I only ever touch that, taste that." He gave a yell