Exhausted and dripping with sweat, the two of us finally slumped to the floor amidst the scattered parts. I didn't think even Inigo could put the machines back together again so thoroughly had we damage them.
"Well," Kabita said leaning her head against the wall. "That felt good."
"Almost as good as chopping a vamp's head off," I agreed.
She gave me a look. "Sometimes I worry about you."
"Sometimes I worry about myself." Not about vampires, of course. Killing them was what I did. But there was enough going on with me to cause me plenty of stress. Like all those damn freaking powers. What the hell was going on? What was I? I could only hope I'd find out before something really went wrong.
Kabita heaved a sigh. "I guess we should probably clean this stuff up."
"And do what with it? It's not like we can just send it to the dump. If somebody got their hands on this…"
She pondered that thought for a moment. "I have an idea."
I didn't like her tone. "Uh-huh."
"We sweep it at all up, take it out somewhere nobody can see us, and then you use your Fire on it. Melt it down to nothing. No one will ever be able to use it again."
It wasn't a bad idea except for the whole thing where my powers decided to do whatever the hell they wanted, whenever they wanted. I didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere and have another one of those power burns.
"I have a better idea," I said. "Why don't we do this like normal people for once? Dump a can of gasoline on it and light it on fire."
"Sounds good to me." Kabita got to her feet, dusting off the seat of her pants. "You happen to have a broom handy?"
"Oh, sure. I keep one in my back pocket at all times," I said dryly.
Kabita snorted. "Smartass. You stay here and guard this stuff. I'll go get a broom."
Chapter Twenty-six
"Morgan, we need to talk."
For a split second, everything froze. I was sure I wasn't the only one who likened those three little words 'we need to talk' to the onset of the Apocalypse. I glanced at Inigo out of the corner of my eye as I took a sip of coffee. We were seated across from each other at my kitchen table with all the awkwardness of two people on their first date.
It had been a little over a week since we'd captured Alister, destroyed the soul vamp technology, and very nearly burned my house down. Alister was in a temporary holding cell somewhere outside Los Angeles while they got his permanent residence at Area 51 set up. I guessed he was a "special case" and needed a sturdier cage than most. The tech for making soul vamps was in a melted puddle of plastic and metal not far from Tommy's place. And Kabita, Eddie, Inigo, and I had worked around the clock putting my house to rights. You couldn't even tell there'd been a fire. I wished Inigo's and my relationship was as easy to put back together.
I set my coffee cup down very gently. "Okay," I said, bracing for what was to come. "Go ahead. Talk."
He didn't look at me. He stared down at the coffee mug in his hands as though it held the mysteries of the universe. "I know things haven't been the same," he said finally. "Between us, I mean."
"No. They haven't." What else was there to say?
"I know I've been an ass to you. And I'm sorry." He glanced up then, quickly, and then back down at his mug. "It's not right, me treating you this way. It's not your fault what happened. I know that, but I can't seem to get my head on straight."
I cleared my throat. "Tanith says it will just take time." It sounded lame even to my ears.
"Yeah. She told me that too. She didn't tell me how much time." He shook his head. "I'd hoped coming home would move the process along, but it hasn't. I just feel…I don't know. Out of place? Sort of…distant. Like nothing's quite real. I'm not sure how to explain it."
"It's okay, Inigo. I get it." And I did. Trust me, dying at the hands of a vampire was enough to send anyone into a feeling of displacement. It had taken a long time for me to come around. To recover the person I'd once been. Scratch that. I'd never recovered the person I'd once been. That innocence was gone forever, but at least I'd gained back some of her joy, her strength, her wonder. Maybe, in time, Inigo would get back his.
"I know you do," he said. "And that's what makes this so hard. I should be able to turn to you. But I can't. I feel like… I feel like I need to discover who I really am now. I don't feel the same anymore. And I need to know what's different and how I can deal with that."
I nodded slowly. "I understand. So, what does that mean?" It felt like a thousand knives where jammed into my ribcage. I couldn't believe how much this hurt.