Point of No Return by Tara Fox Hall Page A

lions—”
    Racist, I thought but didn’t say.
    “Maybe you’re right,” Devlin said,
reluctantly. “I’ll have to decide next week. Maybe I can divide
them up and sell most of the contracts to some vampires up
there.”
    “We’re going to stay at Hayden, right?” Lash
said, his eyes seeking out Cin as she waited tables. “I don’t want
to have to stay in Canada for more than a night, no matter if
that’s your territory now or not. This is home, here.”
    “How are you going to arrange it?” I asked
hesitantly. “Can you Rule a territory you don’t live in?”
    “Yes,” Devlin said, stroking my hair. “It
might not be possible, save Canada is close by and is very stable,
at least the hierarchy I’ve seen thus far. Most of my travels will
be via demon, per usual After I check on Ebediah’s former
holdings—mine now by law. It should amount to only a few nights a
week, Lash, if that.”
    “Good,” Lash said, moving his eyes from Cin
back to Devlin. “I need a woman I can coil with near me to be
happy, and Cin is my favorite.”
    “Lash, why don’t you tell her to come to
Hayden, live with you?” Devlin said lightly, smirking. “You can
have some little snakelings or whatever—”
    “Shut up!” Lash hissed, smiling out of the
corner of his mouth. “I’m too old for children. Frankly, I don’t
know what you think you are going to do with a child yourself, Dev.
You aren’t the type.”
    “Maybe you just haven’t seen that side of
me,” Devlin said, giving me a tender look.
    “I haven’t seen it because it’s not there!”
Lash said loudly, laughing. “You have always been what you are,
Dev, all the decades I’ve known you. You can’t be anyone else!”
    Devlin didn’t reply, though his irritation
showed.
    “How long have you known each other?” I said
quickly, trying to diffuse the situation. “Lash, you can’t be that
old. I’m bad with guessing ages, but you can’t be older than forty,
right?”
    “I’m a hundred and seven,” Lash hissed
proudly, grabbing a used wineglass off a nearby table and filling
it full. He knocked it back, then poured another, emptying our
bottle. “I take a potion that slows my aging tremendously, but it
can’t stop it altogether, Sar.”
    “What’s in it?” I asked, amazed.
    “Never you mind,” Lash said coldly, fixing me
with his flat eyes. He drank his second glass down, then put it
down on the table with a sharp clack.
    I looked away. “Sorry I asked.”
    “Back to what you said about me, Lash,” Dev
interrupted. “You didn’t know me, back when I was with Annabelle. I
loved her like I love Sar. I would have given anything for her. I
want this chance very much. Don’t think this isn’t serious for me,
because it is.”
    Lash looked over at Devlin, and his
expression didn’t soften so much as it became a little less cold.
“You are different with her,” Lash agreed with a shrug. “We all see
it, Dev. Don’t take offense over what I said before. I was just
teasing.” He turned to the bar. “More wine,” he said.
    Cin brought us my cake, and another bottle,
which Lash quickly opened. He filled our glasses.
    “To friendship,” Lash hissed softly. “And
second chances.”
    The three of us clinked glasses. Lash downed
his in one long swallow, placed it on the table with a clack, and
eyed his snakewoman waiting. “I think it’s time for another break,
Cin.”
    Cin held her hand out to him wordlessly. Lash
took it, and she led him back into the other room.
    “What is it with you two?” I asked Devlin.
“He’s your friend, but he works for you?”
    “Yes,” Devlin said. “I pay him well, but he
could work for anyone, Sar. He’s the best there is, the highest
ranked. He could make a bigger salary if he worked for Perseus, or
Samuel, or even for a less powerful vampire. There are some now in
other countries richer than I. But he likes working for me. We’ve
been together a long time.”
    “Much like Danial and—” I