sat up on the bed. “So Karen isn’t throwing us out?”
Cooper smiled at me; a bit of tea and food had seemed to do him a world of good. “Of course not; my brothers can’t go anywhere right now, and if nothing else, she needs us for diaper duty.”
He closed the door behind him and sat down beside me on the bed, an eyebrow cocked. “I thought the news would cheer you up more than this. What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter?” I was incredulous. “I’m zombifying stuff with my tongue. I taste death. I went DEFCON 1 on poor Ginger for no good reason, and for the briefest second there I was thinking of killing her. For real.”
Cooper scratched his goatee thoughtfully. “But if you killed her, then you could lick her … people would probably pay good money to see that.”
I smacked his arm. “This is serious!”
“Honey, seriously, it’s just garden-variety necromancy blowback. You absorbed a lot of spiritual energy from the Goad, even more from the Virtus, and it’s bound to leak out in all kinds of weird ways. We’ll figure it out, don’t worry. And Ginger will forgive you, once she stops whimpering quietly in the corner, muttering ‘Rosebud …’ ”
I laughed despite my worry. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. Ginger’s cool, she knows you’ve been through a lot and you’re not yourself right now.”
“No, I mean about this being garden-variety stuff. Because …” I trailed off.
“Because what?” He butted my shoulder playfully with his forehead as if he were a big house cat. “C’mon, talk to me.”
I took a deep breath. “I didn’t lose my hand in your hell. I got the diabolic fire, yes—but I lost my hand the night you got sucked through the portal. Your little brother Blue sloughed all his bad emotions off into a soul-shard that turned into a demon when it escaped the hell and came to Earth—”
“Blue generated a Wutganger? Huh. Kid’s got some issues.”
“Gee, you think? Anyway, I took care of the Wutganger, but it bit my hand off and burned out my eye. It put some kind of poison in me. The zombie meat thing—the Wutganger could animate and control dead flesh. I’m a little freaked out that I’m showing some of its powers. I’m worried all this will … get worse. I’m worried that I’m becoming some kind of monster.”
He gave me a hug. “Yes, it’s a legitimate concern, but. Agonizing over this won’t make it any better, will it? You’re made of sterner stuff than … well, me, for instance. I don’t know how you survived your fight with the Virtus. What you did to kill it—that should have killed you, too. I can’t imagine how anyone could have survived absorbing its energy like you did, but here you are.”
I gave him a look. “So basically, you’re saying that I’m some kind of freak of nature? Am I supposed to find this news comforting?”
Cooper made an exasperated noise. “What I’m saying is, you’ll survive this, too. We’ll survive. We just have to stay calm, stay positive.”
He touched my left hand. “Can I take a look at this?”
“Sure.” I pulled off the satin glove and held my flame hand between us.
He held my arm by my elbow and frowned at the fire. “I … wow. This is really different. It’s giving off a vibe like it’s a curse, but not. I thought I could figure out something to do about this, but now that I’m looking at it, I’m kinda stumped. Er. No pun intended, there.”
“Yeah, right.” I gave a snort and slipped the glove back on.
“Hey, what did you do to your other hand?”
I looked down; my knuckles were bruised black and blue. They looked much worse than they felt. “Oh. I, um, hit the Warlock. Kinda lost my temper with him earlier.”
“He does have that effect on people.” He took my flesh hand in his and whispered an ancient word for “heal.”
“Is that better?” he asked, massaging my palm.
“Yes, much. Thanks, sweetie.”
He kissed my knuckles and scooted around behind me on the bed and began to rub my shoulders. “You’re still way too tense. You’ve got more knots back here than a ship’s rigging.”
“Arr,” I replied, pirate style.
He slipped his hands up under the Hello Kitty T-shirt I’d borrowed from one of Karen’s teenagers. His hands were like velvet on my skin. I felt my nipples go hard.
“Permission to come aboard?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. Just … just don’t kiss me. On the mouth,