Page 28 of Rifted Hearts
“What the hell happened?” Remi asked.
“I played a little feint on José to end the fight. You freaked out and showed everyone your cute little chinchilla ass, so I translocated us a few blocks over.”
Remi opened his mouth then shut it, swallowing a few times before he could speak again. “You can translocate? I thought only mothcats and hellhound pack leaders could do that.”
“I’mnota cat.” Lyall let out a growl, even though he was in his full human manifestation. “And yes, I can translocate. For obvious reasons, I chose not to share all of my abilities with your father after he tricked me into being his slave.”
Remi didn’t have a comeback for that, so he lifted his arms up in helpless confusion and came out with, “Where are my clothes?”
“Back at the soccer field, along with the tattered remains of all the lies you’ve told since you got here.” Lyall reached a hand into his living leathers, which opened into a pocket. He first pulled out the servant collar he had convinced Remi to take off him, swore, then retrieved his original living leather necklace. “Put this on. I’ve got a new one anyway, and it might be a good idea for you to have some protection, since we’re about to run for our lives.”
Remi took the rawhide cord and fang necklace with a grimace of distaste and shuddered as the dormant Riftworld creature inside it came to life and began encasing his body in a brown version of the BDSM getup Lyall was wearing.
“We’re not running anywhere.” Remi tugged at his groin, wishing the living leathers weren’t so damn tight in the crotch. “Kaveh’s coming back soon, and I need to come up with a story to explain everything. Plus figure out who the Matchmaker picked for him.”
“Everyone saw you in your alter form.” Lyall rounded on him, only a little less threatening now than when he had been in all his awful hellhound glory. “They know you’re ratkind, and it’s not much of a leap from that to guess the Colony sent you. We did fly in from Boston, after all.”
“I can’t leave now.” Remi wouldn’t see Kaveh again if he did that—and why was that the first thought that came to his mind? “I screwed up the Salem job, and I can’t mess up this one. I’ll think of something.”
“No.” Lyall folded his arms, his tone final. “Your security is my responsibility, and I’m making the call to pull out. We’re inside a drakone riftland right now, and you’re not thinking straight. Something about Kaveh has you messed up. If I didn’t know there wasn’t a romantic bone in your body, I’d think you were falling for him.”
“I’m not leaving, and you have to do what I say.” Remigave that statement his best “I’m in charge here” energy, and it came out sounding like a kid demanding ice cream.
“Make me.” Lyall didn’t budge. Remi had no idea what to do. Arimanius held the ultimate control over the hellhound, not Remi, and he had a sinking feeling that taking the indenture collar off Lyall had been a big mistake.
“Remi?” Jessie’s voice rang out through the swirling fog that still encircled them. “José says he can smell you and Lyall. Are the two of you okay?”
Lyall cursed again, this time in a language Remi didn’t recognize, and traced one of his lava-red sigils in the air.
He was going to pull them both through another mini-rift.
“Stop,” Remi gasped out then lurched forward with both hands around his throat. “Can’t. Breathe.”
Lyall paused, the half-formed sigil quivering, as if in anticipation. “Come on, Remi. I didn’t hit you that hard when I stopped you from running.”
Remi fell forward, and Lyall had to grab him to prevent him from falling.
“What’s wrong?” Actual fear filled Lyall’s voice. Remi clung to him, his fingers sliding down the hellhound’s leather armor. He had learned basic pickpocketing skills at his mother’s fishnet-covered knee, and he had the indenture collar out of Lyall’s pocket and around the hellhound’s neck in a matter of seconds.
Lyall’s body jerked, and Remi danced backward out of reach as the hellhound reformed, snarling, as a Scottish terrier.
“I’m over here,” Remi called out to Jessie as the fog dissipated. She and her cadejo husband, back in his human form, whirled around at the sound of his voice and ran toward him.
“How did the two of you translocate?” Jessie’s eyes were bright with curiosity. “And you didn’t tell us you were one of the ratkind.”
“Lyall’s part mothcat.” Remi needed to start lying, and he started with that whopper.
The hellhound snapped at his ankle, but the living leathers blocked the bite. Lyall was right, the living leathers did provide excellent protection.
“Also, I’m only half ratkind,” Remi said. “As you saw, I can only transform into a petting zoo attraction.”
“I thought you smelled tasty when I first met you.” José grimaced as his wife elbowed him in the ribs. “What? I’m not saying Iwouldeat him when he’s a chinchilla. Well, it might be hard to resist chasing him.”
“I thought the ratkind transformed into giant rodents.” Jessie, despite her party-girl attitude, was far too quick a study for Remi’s tastes. Kaveh had told him the cadejo’s human wife was a lawyer, specializing in legal representation of Riftworld individuals. “Don’t they have their own mafia, as well?”
“So many questions.” Remi raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’ll answer all of them, I promise, but let’s get a drink first.”
As Remi had expected, José greeted that suggestion with enthusiasm. “Let’s go to the saloon. I’m buying.” He beamed down at Lyall. “Hey, nice trick back there. Maybe Remi will take that collar off and you can have a drink too.”
