“Powdered sugar.” Vicious amusement lit her eyes. “Though I admit I was tempted to replace it with the ant killer in your shed.”
I laughed. “And that, boys and girls, is why you never taste the drugs!”
The cat stalked in and rubbed against Eilahn, then walked across Jill’s lap and onto Zack’s lap to thrust her head into his face. He gave a surprised laugh, then obediently scratched Fuzzykins behind her ears.
Jill smiled and reached over to give her a pet. “What a sweetie kitty!” Bemused, I watched as Fuzzykins bumped her head briefly against Jill’s hand in cursory appreciation of the adoration, then returned to her passion fit on Zack’s lap.
“That’s a bizarre cat,” Ryan muttered.
“Yeah, she hates me and Ryan, but she seems to go nuts for, um,” I stopped myself and quickly fumbled for something to say besides demons. “Um, Zack and Eilahn. Do y’all use the same kind of soap or something?” I forced out a laugh while Zack gave me a Seriously? look.
“Maybe she’s mellowed,” Ryan said. He leaned forward and reached a hand out, then quickly pulled it back as the cat turned on him with a snarl and hiss. “Or not.”
We lapsed into silence, broken only by the cat’s insane purring. My thoughts continued to rampage madly. Too much I needed to be doing. I needed to rebuild my storage diagram and start channeling power back into it. I needed to figure out who the fuck was killing these people and why, so that I could get my job back.
“Perhaps I could make waffles,” Eilahn said. “Is it too late in the day for waffles?”
“It’s never too late for waffles,” I told her, relieved at any excuse for a distraction. She smiled in satisfaction and headed to the kitchen.
“Your computer and the map are out in my car,” Ryan told me. “I’ll go and get them now.”
Zack gently removed Fuzzykins from his lap. “I’ll help,” he said.
The two men left. I looked over at Jill. She had a smile on her face, but it seemed strained and I could see lines of worry around her eyes. I gave myself a mental kick. I’d been so preoccupied with my own crap that I hadn’t even paid attention to how she was doing.
“How are things with Zack?” I watched her face as I asked. I didn’t like it, but I had a horrible sneaking hope the two of them would break up. Not because I wished ether of them ill, but more because I really didn’t like that Zack wasn’t being honest with her. Or was he? Had he finally come clean to her?
“Well,” she said, spreading her hands. “Things are great.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
She shrugged and smiled, but it was unsteady. “I like him. Hell, I’m crazy about him. He treats me like a goddamn queen, we have a lot of fun together, the sex is great, we seem to be really compatible…”
“But?” I prompted, biting back the urge to say “But he’s a demon.” Let her say it, I thought, relieved. Zack had finally told her. At least that was one stress off me.
She took a deep breath. “But things are suddenly moving really…fast.”
I waited.
“I’m pregnant.”
I had no doubt that the expression on my face was a combination of shock, horror, disbelief, and nothing else that could make her think I was possibly happy for her. I fought to put a smile on my face, but it wasn’t happening.
“It’s Zack’s?” I asked, somehow keeping my voice in a mostly normal register.
A scowl flashed across her face. “No, it’s Pellini’s! We’ve been doing the nasty in the back of the van after every crime scene. Of course it’s Zack’s.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Um, are you okay with this?” Don’t you know he’s a demon? I wanted to shriek. “And does he know?”
She was silent for several seconds. “Yeah, he knows, and yeah…I think I’m okay with this. It was a shock, to be sure. I use protection, but nothing’s foolproof, I guess. But if I have to get knocked up by accident, at least it’s with a guy who’s pretty damn awesome.”
I reached out and squeezed her hand, since it seemed like the right thing to do. “That’s great, then.” And because I couldn’t hold the question in any longer, I blurted, “How much do you know about Zack?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it and gave me a penetrating frown. “Why? You have that look on your face.”
“What look on my face?”
“The one that you get when you’re—” She broke off as the door opened and the two men entered, laden with my stuff. We both leaped up to help them, and the next several minutes were occupied with getting my computer hooked back up, and the map on which I’d marked the portal locations up in the hallway by the kitchen.