Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
After thinking hard for over a minute, it finally came to him—he was going to make First Meal. Then his mate and friend could eat together with him and all would be good.
Forgetting that he had intended to put on some new trousers, Ravik wandered from the fresher to the Food Prep area. Once he got there, he stood—naked and staring—at the contents of the cupboards for a while.
Why was he here? Why was he in the kitchen?
Again, he couldn’t remember. His head was feeling foggier and foggier and his eyes seemed to be getting foggy too. But he knew there was a reason he’d come in here and he wasn’t going to give up until he remembered what it was.
At last, after staring in the cupboard for almost ten minutes, he remembered. Food! He was going to make some!
But how?
Ravik couldn’t remember. Then he had a dim flash of someone stirring something in a pot. Oh, right—that was how to cook.
Blindly, he reached into the cupboard and grabbed the first thing his hand touched. It was a jar with a lid which he stared at for some time before he remembered he had to twist it to get it open.
He managed this and then stood staring vacantly for a long time at the pots hanging from the far wall before he remembered he was supposed to use one. The longer he was away from his mate, the cloudier both his thoughts and his vision became. He had a vague impulse to go sniff her again…but he didn’t want to wake her up before…before…before what?
Frowning, he looked down at the pot in his hand and then at the jar. Oh, right—he must make food for his Mate. This was almost more instinct than thought—a Kindred warrior had to feed and proved for his beloved bride.
Ravik dumped the contents of the jar into the pot and then had another long moment where he couldn’t remember what he was doing. Slowly, a murky image of someone standing at the stove with a pot surfaced in his mind. Right—he needed to use heat.
Mate can not eat cold food. Must heat, he thought.
He put the pot on the heat circle and jabbed at the buttons. He wasn’t sure which one made the heat work, but he was glad to find that something he did must have worked because the circle under the pot began to get hot and glow red.
Ravik looked down into the pot dully, wondering what to do next.
Stir…pot? asked an uncertain voice in his head.
But what was stirring? Ravik no longer remembered.
He stared into the pot, waiting for something to happen—something his cloudy brain could no longer predict.
After a moment, one of the things in the pot jumped—then it jumped again and exploded!
Ravik backed away from the pot with a grunt of surprise. His brain was too cloudy now to understand what was happening, but he knew vaguely that it wasn’t good.
Pop! Pop-pop-pop-pop!
Now many of the things in the pot were exploding. Also, there was a bad smell coming from the pot. What was happening?
Ravik didn’t know and he couldn’t make his brain tell him what to do about it. He stood there staring mutely until one of the things in the pot exploded out at just the wrong angle—and hit him in the groin.
A sound of agony was torn from his throat and he doubled over. What was this place and why was he here? What were the things hurting him?
He didn’t know…he didn’t know anything at all anymore except for pain.
22
CASSIE
“What’s that smell?” Cassie mumbled, not opening her eyes. “Smells like…burning popcorn. Ugh.”
“Hmm?” a deep voice answered her. “What’s popcorn?”
Cassie frowned. Her husband, Sskarth, didn’t have a deep voice at all. It was high and dry and hissing—like a snake’s voice would be if it could talk, she’d always thought.
So then, who was she in bed with if it wasn’t Sskarth?
Mitch?
No—she rejected that idea. She’d divorced her first husband years ago and she was never going back to him. Plus, he knew what popcorn was—it had been his favorite snack. So then who was in bed beside her? And what was that burning smell?
These questions cut through her drowsiness enough to wake her more thoroughly. She opened her eyes a crack and saw a huge Kindred warrior with blond hair looking back at her. At first she couldn’t place him and panicked. Had she gone out and gotten drunk last night and cheated on Sskarth? But how—there were nothing but Visskous males in Crystal City.
“Cassandra, are you all right?” the warrior said and then she remembered everything. Being kicked out of the city by her cheating husband, bitten by an Infected, then thrown over Ravik’s shoulder…wait a minute. Where was Ravik? He wasn’t in bed with them and the burning smell was getting stronger.