Sons of Entropy by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder

Author:Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Chapter 10

THE PHONE RANG. ANGEL PICKED it up and said, “Hello. Hello?”

He shook his head at Joyce and shrugged. “Just static.” He punched *69. “Caller ID blocked. Well, their loss.”

His tone was casual, but Joyce detected an edge to his voice.

She sat across from Angel in the large parlor of his extraordinary home. He sat in the shadows, and she couldn’t really see him. He had offered her every comfort, shown her a room where she might sleep if she desired. Given her tea and scones and the run of the kitchen. Of course, she’d have to go out to buy anything more substantial, since the cupboard was pretty much bare. Angel didn’t have to eat. When he did, it was usually to be social, or to enjoy the flavors he had once coveted.

All of that he’d explained to her in friendly conversation.

Friendly conversation during which they both pretended it wasn’t awkward for them to be together. She knew everything, now, about Buffy and Angel. Or, at least, as much of everything as she could bring herself to hear. But none of that was the primary reason for the awkwardness of their situation.

No, the real reason was sleeping in a room not far away. The real reason was an eleven-year-old boy sound asleep, chest rising and falling with each breath. Joyce was exhausted, yes. And she didn’t relish the idea of running off with Buffy before she’d had a chance to shower and rest and, well, recover a bit.

But she wasn’t about to do any of that. Not just now. Because the real reason she was there, the reason nobody wanted to talk about, particularly not Angel, was that none of them had been comfortable with the idea of leaving that boy asleep in a bed in that mansion with only a vampire for company.

Buffy’s faith in Angel notwithstanding, it was something that went unspoken. Someone else would stay with Jacques. Someone human. And since Ethan Rayne had, Joyce was told, disappeared for the moment, and was at any rate even lower on the trustworthiness scale than Angel, Micaela was much needed to help Buffy and Giles with the current crisis. That left Joyce.

“Do you need to sleep?” she asked Angel.

“I’m all right,” he replied.

Which wasn’t really an answer. But it would have to do. Joyce, on the other hand, needed desperately to sleep. But to sleep in the presence of a vampire, even Angel . . . she just couldn’t bring herself to entertain the thought.

She watched Angel’s face. He met her gaze, smiled gently, understanding. Joyce looked away. After a moment she rose.

“I’m going to look in on the boy,” she said.

“Call if you need me,” Angel replied, also rising. “I have some things to attend to around the house.”

He disappeared into the shadowy reaches of the unlit corridor, and Joyce shivered. Outside, the sun shone down. But here, it was black as night.

She opened the door to the room where Jacques lay sleeping soundly. The boy slumbered on, and Joyce felt a moment of envy.

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