Page 69 of On A Rift's Edge
“So many family issues.” Kat let out a small groan. “At least Remi doesn’t have to worry about his parents. Giana and Ari are gone.”
Lyall pulled Kat a little closer. “If you made a deal with Giana and promised her a chance to talk to Remi, she’ll hold you to it. And assuming Lyric didn’t fry Zale, Remi’s going to have cousin problems as well.”
Kat was silent for a while, long enough for Lyall to get a little worried. Then the young human’s face broke out into a beautiful smile. “I have another great idea. It might end up as a total disaster, or it might be awesome.”
“I’m here for all your wild ideas.” Lyall dipped his head down and gave Kat another kiss.
25
Kat urged Pogo into a full gallop, determined to beat Lyall back to the monstertown. Both of them had wanted to blow off steam before the big event. Pogo was far from the fastest horse at Moon Star Ranch, but he had become comfortable riding next to a hellhound. So Kat had saddled his mount, and Lyall had changed into his Riftworld form.
Lyall set a blistering pace, his huge jaws opened into a wide grin as he raced along on four legs. Pogo, who hadn’t been given a chance to reach a full gallop since Lyall and Kat had outrun a pack of phantoms trying to eat them, took to the task with enthusiasm. Lyall was still in the lead though, and Kat urged Pogo to go faster.
They had set the finish line as the monstertown’s horse pasture shelter, or as Remi called it, the pony parking garage.
As fast as Lyall was, Pogo had stamina and apparently something to prove. The spotted gelding put on a last-second burst of speed and ran neck-and-neck with a panting Lyall.
And then passed over the imaginary boundary, winning by a nose.
Kat let out a loud whoop and slowed Pogo to a trot, then circled back to Lyall, who sat, chest heaving, near the shelter. As Kat swung off Pogo and did a few victory fist pumps, Lyall dunked his huge head into the horse water trough and gulped down his fill.
He prowled over to Kat and shook himself like an Earth dog, sending water from his sodden fur all over him.
“You are such a sore loser.” Kat wiped off his face with sleeve, laughing. “This means you give me a blowjob.”
Lyall stiffened, his ears going back, and stared. Kat was going to say he was happy to also go down on his lover as a consolation prize, when he realized Lyall was looking past him, toward the entrance to the monstertown.
Kat whirled around. The two of them hadn’t paid much attention to their surroundings as they finished their race, but it was still amazing they had missed the huge horse-drawn bus that was parked near the front gates.
The double-decker carriage pushed the limits of Earth-Riftworld technology. It had modern springs and axles, with a graceful, curved staircase leading to open-air seating above. The sides were made of gleaming wood set off with wrought iron, and wide glass windows allowed the passengers seated underneath a full view of the scenery. A team of draft horses was harnessed to the front, and the bus’s four passengers had disembarked and were gaping at Lyall and Kat.
Kat’s mom and dad, along with Naomi and Jenny, had arrived a lot sooner to the monstertown than planned.
They had also seen Lyall charging after Kat in his hellhound form, and maybe had overhead the whole blowjob bet thing, too.
Lyall shifted back to his human form, this time speeding up his living leathers so he didn’t flash Kat’s family. He gave them a tentative wave, and the tension broke. They all came over, and Kat spent a few minutes being hugged by everyone like he had been away for months.
He had seen everyone at Sunday dinner three days ago and had long since come clean about his risky mission to save Lyall. Granted, he downplayed the worst parts, but he felt better getting it all off his chest. This week he had asked his family to visit Cactus Flower Estates and meet his friends—both from Earth and the Riftworld.
“I thought you were arriving around noon.” Kat was relieved to see his father come up and shake Lyall’s hand. “The two of us decided to come out this morning to help with the party preparations, and we thought we’d get a little exercise on the way here.”
“Dad made us get to the ranch three hours early,” Jenny said with a long-suffering sigh. She was not a morning person. “Javier scrambled and got the horse bus ready for us.”
“Quite comfortable.” Winkie waved at the carriage. She had come out to the monstertown on Fluffy, her robot wheelchair, which could handle off-road terrain. “And safe. Not like you two, racing along like wild beasts.”
“Hellhounds can run as fast as horses, I guess.” Naomi had hung back a little, but she was the first to include Lyall in the conversation. “That was awfully impressive.”
“Considering that I lost the race, I’d say Pogo was the impressive one.” Lyall gave the horse a pat on the neck, and the appaloosa sniffed meaningfully at his living leathers. Lyall, who had learned a thing or two about horses, produced a treat, which Pogo accepted with the pride of a derby winner getting a rose garland. “It’s nice to see you all under less stressful circumstances.”
“Well, we did come here to be introduced to monsters.” Kat’s mother had never been diplomatic. “Might as well start with one of the scariest. Show us where we’re going, and we’ll help set up the party.”
They all walked off together into the monstertown. Kat had been so nervous about his family’s second meeting with his boyfriend. Now Lyall was asking his father about the mischievous cats who had blown his cover, and the two of them were laughing.
Next up was introducing his family to more of the “monsters” they had been fearful of for years.
After a round of introductions to the two komainu guardians—who impressed Kat’s parents by being both made of stone and fluent in Japanese—they proceeded to the town park.
It was a Wednesday, farmers’ market day, so most of the stalls were already set up. Kat was hoping his family would be distracted enough by the Riftworld products and people around them that he could talk to Lyall about their plan.
