He didn’t deny it.
Ray glanced at me as I came up alongside, drawn by the wonderful smell. His hands were dusted with little black flecks, like he’d been at the firing range all day. “It’s about time you showed up. I was starting to think you were dead.”
“No, just starved.” I peered over Claire’s shoulder and my stomach growled agreement. “How long till we eat?”
“Not long,” she said, giving me the once-over. I guess I must have passed muster because all she said was: “I’m thinking maybe add some peas?”
“Peas are good.” Right now anything sounded good. I might actually eat almost as much as a fey.
I walked over to the sink to wash up, even though I didn’t need it, because Claire was a stickler for that, too. “Your father asked you to call him when you woke up,” she told me. “You know, if you survived.” A bag of frozen peas hit the counter, a little harder than necessary.
“Here we go again,” Ray said with a sigh.
“He’s a dick,” Claire said forcefully.
“He’s a senator.” Ray shrugged. “They’re all dicks. It’s a job requirement.”
“Well, he should have job security, then!”
“I didn’t notice you throwing him out of the house like the other one,” Ray said archly.
“What other one?” I asked.
“Marlowe,” Claire said, spinning around. “He’s not getting back in here, Dory. I’ve had enough. I mean it. That man is—” She muttered something that I must have misheard because Claire didn’t talk that way.
I blinked. “What did he do now?”
“Oh, nothing! He just wanted to put you back in!”
“Back in?”
“Back inside your memory! After they almost lost you and you were so exhausted you couldn’t even sit up, he wanted to put you back!”
“Why didn’t they?” I asked, because last night had gone a bit fuzzy again, but I knew I hadn’t gotten a look at anyone’s face. Not even the guy who had stepped on mine. That damned searchlight had ensured as much, or whatever they had been using. Probably some new kind of spell that I was going to have to look out for because it might be—
“What?” I asked, because Claire was glaring at me.
“Why not?”
“Claire, we need to know—”
“The dick wouldn’t let him,” Ray broke in. “I guess it’s why he just got escorted to the door instead of thrown out.”
I stopped, my hands all soapy. “Mircea…got escorted to the door?” I repeated, not sure I’d heard right.
“I should have thrown them all out when they showed up!” Claire said severely.
Damn. I would have paid money to see that, I thought in awe. Like, a lot of money.
“You need to stay away from those vampires, Dory,” she told me, scowling. Because obviously I wasn’t taking this seriously enough. “You need to stay away from all of them.”
“That’s a little hard when I’m working for them,” I pointed out.
“Maybe it’s about to get easier.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” She turned back to the stove. “Just…something your father said.”