“What subject?” I asked, confused.
“Whether or not it would be possible to take two people and a horse through the portal at the center of the Zauberwald.”
“I suppose. What did you have in mind to wager? I wouldn’t have minded one of those da Vinci drawings, but I suppose those are long gone.”
“Whoever wins the wager will seduce the other person.”
I burst into laughter, but a quick glance at his face made it absolutely clear that he was quite serious. “Right, so if I lose the bet, you get to seduce me, and if I win the bet, I’m the one doing the seducing? I may be a bit thick in the head what with all those falls I took yesterday, but I don’t see any motivation in this wager for ensuring a win. I mean, we both benefit whether we win or lose.”
He flashed a roguish, very wolflike smile back at me, and was about to reply when we suddenly stopped. Sunlight shone ahead, signaling the end of the forested area. Nikola had been forced to make a circuitous path through the trees to stay in the shade, and when we reached the ragged edge of the tree line, he paused, looking out at the road.
It was paved.
I cracked my knuckles, and smiled as I drawled, “Excellent. I believe I shall introduce some fun things into the next seduction. Have you ever heard of massage oil that heats when you blow on it?”
“What is that?” he asked, pointing toward the road. “It looks too smooth to be cobblestones.”
“It’s called blacktop, or asphalt. It does have stones in it, actually, just all ground up and blended with some other things, and then heated up to a really high temperature, which makes it viscous. It’s poured on roads while it’s hot, and then kind of smoothed out, so cars can drive on it.”
He took a deep breath as he pulled out his notebook. “I cannot believe I miscalculated so greatly with regards to that portal. It looked depleted. I’m going to need a second journal if this keeps up.”
“There’s bound to be a learning curve, but that’s to be expected. After all, I had to have someone explain to me how to use the closet stool thing that’s really a camping toilet.”
“Closestool.”
“Yeah, yeah, my point is that it’s your turn to not know how everything works, but don’t worry, I’ll be happy to explain stuff as we come upon it. Let’s go down to town, and I’ll find a phone and call my cousin to pick us up.”
He took a deep breath, his fingers twitching a little.
I smiled. “How much of that sentence did you understand?”
“Everything to the point where you mentioned a phone.”
I leaned down and patted his arm. “It’ll make sense in a while. Town’s that way, to the left.”
He gave the road a considering look, then turned the horse to the right, staying in the shadow of the trees as he led Thor uphill, rather than down. “No. I refuse to accept that the portal was anything but depleted. Therefore, we will go home, and then I will show you that despite the miracle of the smooth cobblestoned road, we have not done the impossible and used a spent portal.”
“Your castle isn’t there any longer, Nikola. I’m sorry, I know it’s going to be upsetting to realize that neither of your kids maintained it after you were killed, but I’m afraid that’s the truth. The castle is a ruin now, some of it having been destroyed in a war during the nineteen hundreds, according to what my cousin told me, and the rest of it falling into decay afterward.”
Nikola said nothing, just set his jaw, and grimly led Thor and me up the winding road. Hidden as we were by the stand of forest that covered the slopes of the mountain, it wasn’t until we came to the end of the tree line that Nikola stopped and stared, his head tilted back.
The ruins of a castle were clearly visible atop the mountainside.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, sliding off the horse to put my hand on Nikola’s arm. His face wore a stricken look, as if some vital part of his being had been severed. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“For the fact that my home is destroyed,” he asked, his eyes still on the remains of the castle, “or for the disillusionment I feel in realizing that I don’t after all know how the world functions?”
“For your castle,” I said, giving in to the urge that had been tormenting me. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him. His scent teased me until I buried my face in his neck, breathing deeply, and fighting the almost desperate need I had to bite him.
It still shocked me, this sudden urge to bite him, but since it didn’t seem to discombobulate Nikola, I was willing to cope with it without becoming obnoxiously paranoid that I was going to turn into a vampire, too.
His arms came around me, pulling me tight against his body. My inner bits gave a cheer of happiness.
I told you that Dark Ones do not work that way.
“I know, but how else do you explain the fact that I want to bite you? I’ve never bitten any other sexual partner. It’s totally unlike me. And don’t tell me that I also said I don’t sleep with guys I haven’t known for a long time, because I’m well aware that I’ve totally gone out of character on that front, as well.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything about that.” He donned a noble expression.
I shook my finger at the expression, and bit his chin. “Maybe not, but you were thinking it.”
“Perhaps.” His hands slid down from my waist to my behind. What you feel is not your desire to bite me, but my need to feed on you, sweetling.
I giggled at the endearment, and wriggled against him. A bit peckish, are you?
I begin to suspect that I shall always be so around you. Cease squirming in that distracting manner; I am attempting to conduct a thorough scientific study of the area.
You are? I pushed back from where I had, in fact, been brazenly rubbing myself on him. “How are you doing that?”
“I am examining my surroundings in a comprehensive manner.”
I watched him for a minute or two. He stood with one arm still around me, his eyes slowly scanning across the area in front of us.
“You’re just looking,” I said, a bit confused (it was becoming an all too familiar state).
“Yes. It is the scientific way. I shall be happy to explain it to you at a later time.”
“But that’s hardly a thorough scientific study. I mean, if you wanted to do that, you should make a grid of the area, and then examine each square of the grid for clues or evidence or whatever it is you do when you want to know every little thing about that spot. You’ll probably need those little number cards to mark stuff of interest, and of course latex gloves and those bootie things that keep you from leaving footprints. I wonder if it would be possible to get an infrared camera? I’ve always wanted one of those. Hmm.”
He stopped scanning and frowned at me. “What are you babbling about?”
“A thorough scientific study.” I shook my head. “Those cameras are probably too expensive, and besides, I heard they’re best used at night, and who in their right mind is going to try to examine the ground at night?”
He started to reach for his notebook, gave me an odd look, and let his hand drop. “I refuse to be a slave to your determination to make me insane with curiosity. I do not care what bootie things are, or why an infrared camera is too expensive, let alone what it is, and why you would need gloves made of latacks.”
“Latex, and that’s fine, punkin,” I said, patting his arm in a supportive manner. “You have plenty of time to learn about the twenty-first century; you don’t have to do it all at once.”
“No, but I wish to learn as much as I can so that when we return home, I will have ample notes to study at leisure.”
I stared at him, little goose bumps crawling up my arms. “When we return home?”
“Yes. Once we have explored what there is here, of course. I will not rush you, although I hesitate to leave Imogen alone for more than a few weeks.”
“But…uh… Nikola, we are home.”
He turned to face me, a frown pulling down his brows. “We are in the future.”
“Which is my home, yes.”
“It is not, however, mine.”
“But it’s the future! It’s better than what you left!” I said, frustration building inside me. “The technology alone is going to blow your mind.”
“I do not wish for my mind to be blown,” he said, his frown growing. “Are you saying that you do not wish to return with me to my home?”
I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times before I could finally put words into action. “No, I’m not saying that, but, Nikola, we don’t even know that it’s possible to return back to your time. You said yourself that the portal looked like it was almost wiped out.”
“And with time, it may strengthen. It might not, but that will be an issue we can address should that happen. Until then, I intend to explore your world, and when the portal is once again usable, return home.” His gaze pinned me back. “I had assumed you would return with me.”
“I… I think that you need to give the present a chance before you make plans to return to the past,” I said carefully.
He studied me. “You did not like my home and my time.”
“I didn’t say that. I just said that I think you need to try out my time before you—before we make a decision. OK?”
He was silent a few minutes. “Very well. You were at my home for a few days; I can do the same for you.”
I bit back the comment that such a short time wasn’t going to be nearly enough to show him what the present was like, knowing full well that the same could be said to me of the past. This wasn’t an argument that was going to be settled quickly or easily.
I changed the subject. “Exactly how hungry are you? Should I give in to my biteyness so that you can fill up, or can it wait until we can find somewhere more private than the side of the road next to a haunted forest?”