Twenty-Three

Marie

Kissing Joe was wonderful. The feel of his lips moving over hers, the slide of his tongue against hers. She could keep kissing him for as long as he'd let her. As he deepened their kiss, her senses overloaded.

She was standing on the banks of a river. Lush vegetation grew along either side, tall reeds growing in stands and leaning out over the water. They were a shape she'd never seen in person before, a triangular shape, topped with thin leaves spreading out like starbursts. Somehow she knew she was looking at papyrus. She knew how to use the reeds to make paper, to build mats or boats or even shelter. She knew how to press the flowers and what essential oils drawn from the flowers smelled like.

Then she was looking into the water next to the land, aware of how the roots of a particular plant dug deep into the mud. She watched as the blue lotus rose up above the surface of the water and bloomed with the rising of the sun and closed with the sunset. She knew its pleasant smell and how it could change the state of the mind and enhance sexual vigor. She knew how it had been consumed over the centuries, how its scent had been inhaled, how it had been soaked in wine, brewed in tea, or even smoked, how it had been absorbed through the skin as an oil. She saw depictions on the walls of Egyptian tombs of rituals and moments from the past in which people used the blue lotus. Her mind was filled with the ways it had been used as medicine, in magic and rituals, and in celebrations of life, death, and life again.

Far in the distance, on the horizon, she saw a shooting star, a meteor, fall to earth. She heard the unimaginable sound of impact, felt the deadly searing heat as it literally melted the desert sands around it. She felt the sand cool and reform in ways it never would again in this world.

There was more. She knew if she looked up to the sky, she would learn more. She would see past the blue of day and clouds to the stars and universe beyond. All she needed to do was hold on and look.

She hesitated. She had promised, hadn't she? Not to look up at the sky.

She sifted through all of the new information, held on to the vivid images and tucked them carefully away. She thought back to the conversations that had brought her here. Her magic pulsed as she did. She hadn't promised. But she had listened as someone had warned her. The sky and land and people faded, and she became aware of hot tears running down her cheeks, of a mouth pressed desperately against hers. She resisted the temptation to swallow as a burning sensation was pulled up from deep inside her. Then Joe was whispering her name against her lips. She pressed a kiss of her own against his, and he gasped.

He pulled back then, and both his and Kuro's faces came into her view. She felt so, so tired. Drained. And she guessed she had been.

Moving even her lips felt like a huge effort, but she smiled for them anyway. "Hi."

Joe buried his face in the curve of her neck and shuddered. He was crying, she realized. She summoned more energy from nowhere and curved her arm so she could pat his hair.

Kuro leaned close and kissed away the tears Joe had cried on her cheek. "You cut it close."

"Ah." She knew. But she had the information she wanted, and if she could understand what she had seen and heard and felt, the knowledge she needed, too. "I didn't look at the sky, though."

"We're glad you didn't," Kuro said softly.

She nuzzled against him. She could sleep for a while. But she should probably eat first.

"Let him take care of you tonight," Kuro whispered. "I'm about to change, and I'll be here, but ask him for the things you need so he can care for you."

"All right," Marie whispered.

Kuro kissed her then. His kiss was firm and she gave him full credit for taking the lead between them. It was like he called sparks from some previously untapped reservoir inside her, and she thought maybe she had just enough energy to do something about the heat he was awakening inside her. But then he was backing away, the small smile playing across his lips saying he totally knew what he'd done to her. Then he was changing, and where he'd been kneeling on the bed was his fox self. He crossed the bottom of the bed and swept his nine tails over Joe's back.

Joe pushed himself up and scrubbed his face with his hands. He took a ragged breath and shook himself all over, as if he was still in fox form. Then he gave her a shaky smile. "How about some ramen?"

"Yes." She gave him her best saucy look. "And also yes the other way it could be interpreted."

His eyes widened slightly as he stared at her and then he threw back his head and laughed. "Luckily for you I can actually manage to cook packaged ramen. It won't look as nice as the stuff that you put together, but I bet it'll taste good. I'll even make the chicken flavor if you like."

She shook her head. "How about the shrimp flavor?"

He grinned. "Whatever you want, love."

He backed off the side of the bed then, running his hand down Kuro's back in a quick caress as he did. Then he scooped up Marie with one arm behind her back and another under her knees. Once he straightened, he tossed her into the air just a little to resettle her in his arms and carried her into the living area. "I figure it'll be easier for you to eat out here on your chaise with the side table, and this way I can still see you while I'm cooking."

She caught her lip between her teeth and watched him move around her kitchen. He moved with grace and she suddenly wondered what it would be like to be with him in a club, moving with him to the music.

"Still processing everything?" Joe called from the counter as he opened packages of ramen.

Her head felt full and images kept flashing through her mind. "Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it? Or would it help to let it all run in the background and talk about something else?" Joe sounded unconcerned.

But then, it seemed like he always kept conversation on the light side. It wasn't that he didn't take things seriously. He was always ready to take action when necessary, and he gave accurate feedback in discussions. It was that he kept it all from getting too heavy to bear.

"I think I'd like to talk about something else," Marie answered slowly.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about what she'd learned. It was that she wasn't ready yet. Sometimes, unpacking everything might take hours or days, even weeks. She didn't have that much time, but she could give her mind the amount of time it took to eat something.

"After all this is resolved, will you let me and Kuro take you out on a date?" Joe looked over his shoulder at her with that smile of his that revealed a hint of dimple.

Be still her beating heart. It was almost not fair how charming he was. "What did you have in mind?"

He tipped his head up, thinking. "Our invite to boba tea still stands. We never did make it. But I think for an actual date, Kuro might want to take you out for a more involved meal. Dinner?"

They both looked at Kuro, who was curled up at the foot of the chaise with his nose tucked into his tails. He opened his eyes sleepily, nodded, then snuggled back down. Well, he hadn't been getting much sleep, either.

"Dinner it is," Joe said cheerfully. "I'm betting he'll have a restaurant in mind. I'm the one to ask about delicious street food and quick eats in any city. He's the one who makes it a point to know the fine dining establishments. That way, we always know a place to go that fits whatever our mood is."

"I like it." Marie settled into the chaise, reaching for a throw blanket from the basket nearby.

It took a lot of effort, and she had to admit that it wasn't just Joe's good looks and charm responsible for her elevated heart rate. She leaned on the side arm and nestled into the blanket. Sitting upright was taking a little more energy than she had at the moment. And this was how it felt when Joe hadn't been intentionally feeding on her energy. Wow.

"Joe." Even her voice sounded a little unsteady to her.

He turned to face her, his attention completely focused on her. "What can I do for you?"

So earnest. She did her best to project a reassuring expression. "While the water is boiling for the ramen, could you put on a second pot of water for ginger tea? I need something to chase the cold out of my body. I'll talk you through how to make it."

"Okay." He grabbed a medium-sized saucepan from her cabinets. "This good?"

"Yeah." She took a minute to sort through the mess of thoughts and images in her head. "In the cabinet above the counter, right next to the fridge, there are a couple of sealed bags. Pull out the ones labeled jujube dates and goji berries. We'll just need a few of each."

"Got 'em," Joe said in less time than it had taken her to give the instructions.

She tried not to be irked that he hadn't needed the step stool she had sitting nearby to reach the upper shelves. She was taller than Punch and definitely average height for women in the United States, but top shelves still eluded her.

"There should be a glass canister of brown sugar, too. We only need maybe a tablespoon, but keep it out so you can add more if you want it sweeter."

"Yup."

"In the refrigerator, in the crisper drawer, there should be ginger root. It should be the only thing that looks like a root in that drawer right now."

"This?" Joe waved a tightly wrapped bundle at her and she could see through the plastic wrap.

"Yes."

"Okay, what next?" Joe was unwrapping the ginger and sniffing it.

Of the ingredients, the scent and taste of the ginger were what she wanted most. "Give the ginger a rinse and pat it dry. Then get a knife off the magnetic strip on the backsplash there and cut thin slices off it. Don't worry about peeling."

"How many slices?" Joe asked, pulling the cutting board off a hook.

"About this much." Marie held up her thumb and pointed with her other hand to the first knuckle.

Joe chuckled. "Okay, Asian Auntie."

"Hey, you were just talking about taking me on a date." It was funny, because she'd never minded being called that by some of her old college classmates, way back when. She'd always been a sort of old soul.

Joe finished slicing the ginger and started wrapping up what was left. "You're right. How about noona? I like watching noona romances on streaming video, anyway."

She opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to think of a comeback.

Kuro let out a fox laugh. Marie honestly hadn't ever heard a fox laugh before, but it was a singular sound.

"Water's boiling," Joe called.

"Just drop all of it in and let it boil. It'll be done about the same time as the noodles." Marie sighed. She didn't have the energy to continue to match wits with him. Instead, she pet Kuro's head.

"Got it." Joe put all the items back in their respective spots and returned to cooking the noodles. "So, back to this date. Do you like to go dancing, Marie?"

She thought about that. "There was a time when I liked to dance."

"Seattle is a great dance town," Joe commented.

She nodded, then spoke up when she realized his attention was on the stovetop. "I used to love going to clubs once in a while, not every night, but a couple of times a month for sure."

"What kind?"

"Different kinds." She looked out the window over the city below. "In college, most of my friends liked the dance clubs with hip-hop and R&B and whatever had a fun beat. Later, I got into West Coast Swing, and a few friends introduced me to Blues Fusion. I had a coworker talk me into trying out a few tango classes with her, too. I've been a bridesmaid in a few weddings and I might've been the only person in the bridal party to enjoy the ballroom classes when the bride asked everyone to take them."

"Sounds like you've got a knack for dancing." Joe sounded pleased.

"I'm not amazing, but I definitely enjoy all different kinds of dance." She sighed.

"That's what's important. Why do you talk about it like you don't do it anymore?" Joe's question was posed lightly as ever, but he was more insightful than most people would notice right away.

She gave him a sideways glance and smiled when he met her gaze. He knew he was digging deeper under the surface than she usually let people go. With him and Kuro, she didn't mind. "You might have noticed, but I don't really interact with anyone on a daily basis. The closest friends I have are the members of the Darke Consortium."

Joe was getting out bowls and utensils. "Hard to believe it's only been a few days, but yeah, you don't have many people checking in on you."

"True." Marie huffed out a laugh and maybe it had a bitter note to it. "Not like anyone I used to call friend would have checked in anyway. About a year or so ago, I had a moment of honesty with a few people I used to think of as friends. There were specific situations with each of them, but in general it was all variations of them only coming to me when they needed something from me and not really giving anything to our friendship in return."

"That sucks." Joe brought her a mug. Fragrant steam rose up from it, sweet and spicy.

"Thank you. Yeah." She wrapped her hands around the mug, caught up in the flow of memories. "For example, they would ask me to go clubbing with them on nights that were only convenient for them, regardless of whether I had early meetings the next day. They'd bring me just to attract the attention of people at the club. Which sounds conceited when I listen to myself say it, but that's what would happen. They'd latch on to whoever had caught their eye for the night, and I'd be left to dance alone on the dance floor, fending off the advances of people I wasn't interested in. Those friends would leave with whoever, and it was always the same thing, ‘You're good to get home by yourself, right?' I got tired of it."

"So maybe taking you dancing after dinner is a bad idea." Joe returned with a bowl of noodles, chopsticks balanced across the top.

Marie shook her head. "Actually, I think I'd like going dancing with you and Kuro. Replace those bitter memories with positive experiences."

His lips curved into a slow smirk. "We can do that."

She thought that assurance was a promise of more than just fun at a club. Or maybe it was a lot of fun at a club.

Heat flushed her cheeks. "I look forward to it."

"Eat. Then nap. Then we steal an ancient Egyptian artifact and a whole lot of mystic blue water lilies from a modern corporate research facility. Then date."

Marie gave him a matching smile in return. "Sounds like a plan."