Exton

I feel like an old man getting out of the car - or horse - at the Lodge… older than my 165 years. I've started to stiffen up and I can feel some really spectacular bruising in places that don't bear dwelling on. No bedroom games for this vamp tonight… I'll be lucky to sleep through the day. On the plus side - and I really need a plus side after getting my ass handed to me by Rath and Rodan - the bruises and stiffness will be gone by sunset. It could have been much, much worse….

Oh fuck, Gareth, tell me you didn't…!

He did.

Raina and Ky come running to meet me, both faces flickering back and forth between concern and rage. They're talking at once, voices raised in passion.

"Are you okay?"

"It was Rath? And a ghoul?"

"That bastard is dead, I don't give a shit what his brother said - "

"You can have him after I'm done, if there's anything left - "

"The Hel with that. I'm going to gut the bastard, then do a Blood Eagle on his sorry ass - "

"Amateur." Ky smirks. "I can make him last a lot longer than that - "

"Whoa, whoa," Gareth says. "How about some sympathy for the wounded, 'kay?"

With their help, I stagger into the Lodge and collapse into a recliner. Raina moves to lean it back, but I wave her away; I'm already going to need help getting out of the damned thing.

"One at a time." My voice is a croak. "Someone get me some blood, I'm spitting cotton here."

Gareth does one of his all-purpose gestures and a bottle of Type A appears in his hand. I drain about half of it at a draught.

"Okay, here's the scoop. Yes, Rath was one of them. Yes, the other was a ghoul. They caught me in bat form and kicked the living shit out of me. If it hadn't been for Tori… I don't like to think what might have happened."

"That buzzard is gonna be buzzard-bait," Ky says, and Raina nods grimly.

"That's the basics... unless you have more questions, I'd really like to get to bed. It's early, but I'm going to need extra rest to heal this quickly. Another bottle of sangria wouldn't hurt, either."

"There's a bottle in your fridge," Gareth says quietly.

"Then, ladies, gentleman... I bid you good night, unless one of you wants to tuck me in and tell me a bedtime story."

Ky grins savagely. "How about the story of how we staked Rath up the ass and left him for the sun?"

I grin tiredly. "He'll get his, never fear. In the meantime, you'd never find him in time. He has to go to ground soon, too."

"Well, then." Ky shrugs alluring shoulders. "How about 'The Three Bares'?"

I smile. "Oh, I like that story...!"