"I think she likes you." Tobias's deep voice held humor.
The last thing Dante wanted was to be teased by his bloodsucking friend. "What's not to like?" he responded, keeping his tone flippant.
Tobias's snort came across the line loud and clear. "One of these days that devil-may-care attitude of yours is going to be knocked for a loop."
Dante forced a laugh. "Maybe, chief. Maybe." He glanced at his watch. "How soon do you need me on this?"
"We're still keeping it off the radar, so there's no need for you to go racing over to her place, even though I know you want to," he added on a dry note. "But I'd like you two to hook up in the next couple of days."
So in spite of his trying to play it cool, Dante obviously hadn't fooled his friend. He cleared his throat. "No problem. I'll just wait for Tori to give me the word."
"That'll work. Oh, and I still haven't told her where I got the thing. I'd like to keep it that way."
"You don't trust her?"
"Eventually, just not right now." Tobias sighed. "He's so close. The fewer people who know Natchook is behind this rift thing, the better chance I have of finally catching him. Okay?"
"Yeah, fine."
Tobias started to ring off but Dante stopped him. "How's Nix?" Dante asked.
There was a slight hesitation, then the vampire said, "She's adjusting. Slowly." He paused. "I appreciate your giving her some space. It's been only a few months since her turning. She definitely needs to take it easy for a while, so she's not seeing any visitors. I know her-she'd feel like she had to put on a brave face, especially with a former colleague, even though you two are friends," he added. "It would make things worse."
"I understand." Dante blew out a breath. "Let me know if there's anything I can do, okay?"
"You got it." Tobias cleared his throat. "Listen, maybe give her a buzz in a week or two."
After Tobias ended the call, Dante slipped his phone back into its holder on his belt a on his and returned to the table. He picked up his plate and cup and carried them into the house. In the kitchen, he rinsed the plate off and put it in the dishwasher.
"You are going to make some lucky woman a wonderful wife," Lily quipped from behind him.
He twisted to face her. "I thought you were gonna lie down for a while."
"I'm going. I'm going." She stifled a yawn. "Come get me if I'm not up in an hour."
"All right." Dante pasted an agreeable expression on his face. If she was still sleeping in an hour, there was no way he was going to wake her.
"I mean it." Lily wagged her finger at him. "If I nap the afternoon away I'll have trouble sleeping tonight."
"Okay. I got it," he said when she stood there looking at him. "If you're not up in an hour I'll come get you."
"You'd better." She sent him one last warning glare. Then her face softened and she walked over and gave him a tight hug. "I love you."
He put his arms around her and held her until she pulled away. He lightly flicked the tip of her nose, grinning at her exaggerated scowl, then watched as she walked back to her bedroom and closed the door behind her.
Dante went into the dining room and stared down at the computer parts on the table. He really should get this mess cleared up. The circuitry on the motherboard directed his thoughts toward the rift device again. And Tori.
Just the fact that she had the device put her in danger. Right now only four people on the planet knew she had it, but secrets had a way of getting out. The sooner they knew what it did and how it worked, the sooner they could get it back to Tobias and let him deal with disposing of it.
Tori was a werewolf and therefore probably more capable of protecting herself than Dante was, but that didn't stop him from worrying.
Tori dropped the last two bags of groceries on the kitchen counter. She'd had her five-mile run earlier this morning, while it was still relatively cool, then ran a multitude of errands, including shopping for food. The local neighborhood market had been a madhouse. Everyone who worked during the week tried to do all their shopping on Saturday, parking their carts in the middle of every freaking aisle. It made her crazy, how many times she'd had to say "Excuse me" while subduing the urge to run her cart into people when they'd had the chutzpah to look at her like she was the rude one because she'd politely asked them to move out of the way.
She'd also dropped by council headquarters to see how Barry was faring. He'd been calm but resigned, not looking forward to the upcoming full moon but knowing there was nothing he could do at this point except get through the ordeal as best he could.
She knew what he faced, because she'd been subjected to the punishment of silver binding during a full moon before, nearly a century ago, and it was something she'd reserve only for her very worst enemy. She could only hope that someone as sensitive as Barry would get through this without breaking. There'd be a part of him, the good, decent part, that might not survive the ordeal.
She put everything away and took a deep breath, the silence of the house thundering in her ears. Rand hadn't come home last night, and it worried her. Not that he couldn't look after himself, but as far as she knew he hadn't made friends yet. If he had, he hadn't told her about any of them, which worried her even more.
The kind of friends you didn't tell your big sister about were the kind of friends who got you into trouble.
Tori opened the fridge and leaned on the door, staring inside. She was hungry-she'd bought a lot more than she should have and everything ive everythad looked so good at the store. Now nothing seemed appetizing. But in just a little bit she'd need to get dinner started. She just wished she knew if she should fix dinner for one or two.
With a sigh she pulled out a small can of veggie juice, downing it in three long gulps. After tossing the can into the recycling bin, she scooped her wallet and keys off the counter and headed toward her bedroom. She opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks. "Rand!"
Her brother gave a start and looked up from the small black device he held in one hand. "Uh, hey, Tori."
With deliberate movements and never taking her eyes off her brother, she put her wallet and keys on the dresser. He'd been so quiet she'd had no idea he was home. "What are you doing in here?"
He shrugged but didn't do a very good job of hiding his nervousness. "Just wanted to see why you're always holed up in your room." He glanced at the small device in his hand. "So, what is this?" His voice was matter-of-fact and filled with just enough nonchalance to make her even more suspicious. For him to have found that device where she'd hidden it in the toe of her hiking shoe meant one of two things. Either he'd been spying on her and had seen her hide it, or he'd searched her room, which meant he was sneakier than she remembered. It also meant she needed to find another hiding spot.
She held out her hand and waited until he placed the device on her palm before she said, "It's just a little something I'm trying to fix for a friend." It was her turn to give a nonchalant shrug. "Nothing earth-shattering."
"Maybe I could help?"
Tori stared at him. "I don't think so." She forced a smile. "But thanks, though." She curled her fingers around the cell phone – sized contraption and, as he got up from her bed, asked, "What do you want for dinner?"
Another shrug. "I can just grab a couple of steaks from the fridge."
"I'm talking about a cooked dinner, Rand. One where we sit down and eat together. As a family." She'd missed gathering around the table, eating and talking with her loved ones. She tended to make friends easily, but it wasn't the same as having people who were your flesh and blood. And while technically Rand's "flesh and blood" was that of a stranger, his soul was as familiar to her as her own.
Her brother rolled his eyes. "What is it with you and family meals?" Disdain colored his tones. "It's not like our family meals were all that special before."
They obviously had different memories of those days. "I've missed you," she murmured, wondering what her brother had experienced here on Earth that had made him so aloof. "Tell you what," she said as she slid her hands into her front pockets. "I'll grill up a couple of steaks and we can catch up. What do you say?"
His sigh was less than enthusiastic. "Fine. Just don't expect me to eat salad or anything like that."
She rolled her eyes. "How about a couple of rare steaks and a baked potato?"
"All right." He walked out of her room.
Tori waited until his footsteps faded before she pulled the rift device out of her pocket. Now, to find a better hiding place for this thing, then on to tackle dinner with a brother who didn't seem to want to be anywhere near her.
When she was sure Rand was sulking in his bedroom, the door closed, she went into the kitchen and carefully wrapped the gadget in cellophane, then put it in a baggie and shoved it down into the canister of flour. Rand didn't cook; she had no fear that he'd find it hidden there.
Half an hour later they sat down at the dining room table, both with a rare steak, baked potato, and green peas on their platese wtheir p. Rand ate his eight-ounce steak in about six bites and reached to fork over another steak from the serving platter.