Dawn came and Roman went... I woke in time for it so that the last thing he felt before dying was the brush of my lips. I slid out of bed and looked out the wide front window of the dressing area attached to the sunproofed bedroom. The Red River crept past in the fall light, clear to our view and framed by a tree line across its breadth. Mist drifted above it as it wandered past as if it trailed by its own hovering ghost. The Red River was not red, of course but now, in tune with its specter, the color of mercury - the element that flowed in rivers on the surface of its planetary namesake.
And I was going there... well not there THERE but it's dimensional version. I wondered if I could portal out if things got - relative to the domain itself, too hot. I would have to ask Sookie's Grandfather Niall. I frowned and then smirked at myself. The prospect of going undercover to what Humans regarded as "Hell", the dimension demons called home, hadn't caused me to change my expression - but the idea of being able to zap myself out of there had.
Life had been simpler when I was just a smart-mouthed vice cop. I'd even dealt really well with finding out there were vampires and other supernaturals... what still stuck in my throat was finding out I was a bit of one myself.
Of course I had off-set some of that by staying mostly in the company of vampires - no mind-reading possible and popping in and out of places still seemed a tad ridiculous to me. I had probably seen one too many episodes of "Star Trek" and could still hear Dr McCoy's fear of having his molecules scrambled in the back of my mind. If something ever went awry with the portaling business then I would have scrambled my own. I would have to leave everyone to settle for a memorial service and not a funeral. Okay... that way madness lay.... I stopped myself and got in the shower built for two, with black marble and waterproof padded benches the sight of which turned the smirk into a smile.
Being a supe was one thing... being with one was another. That part of life was just fine. I dressed and headed downstairs, waving at the non-vampire staff (a little part of me still disbelieving I had, at home, ... staff) and headed to the private den to check emails and hope that Artemis Eurynome had sent over the attachment promised. I clicked on the anticipated link and pressed my finger to the device attached to the laptop, letting it scan my fingerprint to open the file.
Well, here it was - the basics I needed to know to get around in "Hell". Only I would pretend NOT to have a clue. The part of my mind not absorbing details on the local customs, flora, fauna, and politics was staring at the rest of my brain in amazement. I was absorbing the facts of getting around in another dimension but what bothered me was maybe being able to get out... damn I needed to get over myself.
I looked up and nodded a "thank you" as Tyler Weir came in with an egg white, spinach, and red pepper omelet and a two-cup size cup of coffee in an insulated mug... and a new stack of briefings that he'd already filtered. Well, at least in Hell someone else would be doing the paperwork. I grinned this time... I might be going on the wildest, weirdest, farthest undercover of my career and maybe anyone else's... ever but the fact that Roman was letting me... in fact... sending me gave me more confidence I could pull it off than any amount of training or experience that I'd gained so far.
When I finally took him home to meet Mom - we'd just leave the happening of this little mission out. When vampires came out and I'd been able to tell her that I was only alive because of one... first because of three shots to the chest not mattering ten minutes after I'd taken them and then to NOT being stunned to come home and seeing my ex, mid-coitus with his pack, changing back into a human, Mom had gotten on with vampires being around just fine. The fact that I'd ended up in love and in trust and entrusted with the safety of one of the most powerful ones had left her reassured of her crazy daughter's safety and happiness. Well, we would skip the first one and she didn't have to know. And the truth of it was - being safe had never been a priority - being able to handle NOT being safe was.
I went back to the documents with my full attention as that last thought drifted through my head. Lets see ... higher body temperatures, obviously faster metabolisms. short tempers, high libido - okay now I had a human perspective on this - I was going to Carnivale. Hell was like Rio but you got a lot more frequent flier miles. And maybe this year we could all make it to Mardi Gras. I imagine they gave Vice Cops the week off at that point - how do you arrest a city?
The ghost of a smile slipped across my lips at the thought and I dove back into the report of the second time - then sent it off to a classified file at Authority Headquarters to be reviewed and verified as much as was possible, our first check on Artemis's validity as a source. Of course... plenty of sources gave you good up front information to lure you in... once I was there, I'd have to figure things out for myself and that part of things - that was what I was actually looking forward to....
