Kirev's Door by JC Andrijeski Read Free Book Online Page B

left…ominously so.
    Kirev felt nerves shooting through him as his mind fought with implications.
    When he reached the bottom of that staircase leading into the main room overlooking the ocean and the dimming lights of the Cliff House and the darker structure of the Sutro Baths, Kirev saw that most of the guests he remembered were asleep on the floor by the balcony. The only person standing there now was the female seer in the revealing dress with that strangely colored, dark red hair.
    She smiled at him when she saw him.
    Then she frowned when she saw the blood staining his jacket where he held his arm. By then it had seeped through the brown material enough that she could likely smell it, too.
    “Brother,” she said, walking towards them. “What happened, little brother?”
    The warmth in her voice and light caused a slight ripple to go through Kirev’s own aleimi. He fought to suppress that reaction, even as one of the male seers behind him chuckled.
    “Be nice to him, Venai,” the seer said in a friendly voice. “I think he’s crushing on you…although brother Wreg will be annoyed if you encourage him, I suppose.”
    Kirev gave the male an annoyed look, but when he looked back at the red-haired seer, she only smiled.
    “Brother,” she said to Kirev, taking his good arm. “We will patch you up in the car.”
    Kirev saw Wreg motion to the other two male seers to go ahead, probably to get the car so they wouldn’t be waiting visibly outside. Kirev watched them jog towards the front door, even as he fought not to remember what he’d seen upstairs.
    Both of the female seers from upstairs were with them, too, the one who had been Bilford’s prisoner now wearing the robe her human owner had been wearing. Wreg had left the host’s body on the heart next to Dan’s, only with a hole blown in the middle of his forehead, something he hadn’t done to Dan himself. Wreg had offered to activate Dan’s key explosive while they were there…or even to shoot him…or let Kirev shoot him himself…but Kirev’s lust for the human’s blood had waned by then.
    He’d only shaken his head, telling him he didn’t need to see it.
    He knew his refusal would not save Dan’s life, of course.
    He understood the reasons for that, but still, he did not wish to see it.
    “You’ve got the charges set?” Wreg asked the female, Venai, his voice low.
    She gave him a seer’s nod, affirming it also with a slash of her hand. “It is done. The place will be wiped clean, brother. Food for the gods…” she ended in quote.
    “Did you get all of them?”
    She frowned, clicking softly as she folded her arms. “No. That davos ridvak Marcous got away…he had his own security here, as you suspected. I could not stop them. I thought they would stay to fight, but instead they only left the other worms to die and escaped out the balcony…” She motioned towards the darkness of the forest with one pale hand, clicking under her breath. “I should have expected that, I suppose. No loyalty even to his own.”
    Wreg followed her gaze, frowning briefly. Then he shrugged, seer-fashion.
    “It does not matter,” he said, gruff.
    She gave him a disbelieving look. “Easy for you to say, brother.”
    “It does not matter,” he repeated. “We will find him.”
    She snorted, folding her arms tighter. “I will find him, you mean,” she grumbled. “But by all means, brother…you can pretend you will do this thing with me, if it flatters you.”
    Wreg smiled, his teeth showing in the dark.
    Then he startled Kirev, wrapping an arm around the red-haired seer and pulling her roughly against him. She unfolded her arms, but didn’t push him away, softening her body against his when he kissed her passionately on the mouth.
    Kirev tensed a little, then flushed, stepping away from the two of them and fighting discomfort when they didn’t stop right away. When Wreg finally raised his head, ending the kiss, a coil of separation pain left his