The Dark at the End

Gia zeroed in on the gauze as soon as Jack pulled off his T-shirt.

"What's this?"

He pulled off the dressing and saw it had further healed to the point where it had stopped oozing. He'd forgotten about it because the pain was gone. This was scary.

"Just a scratch." At least it was now.

Slim, with short blond hair and sky-blue eyes, Gia sat next to him on her bed. Vicky was asleep and they were enjoying a little private time.

"When? I don't remember this yesterday."

She removed her top and unfastened her bra as he gave her a quick rundown of the incident in Central Park. Her pink-tipped breasts weren't large and weren't small. A handful each ... just right.

Her blue eyes were wide. "That shoot-out in the park? That was you?"

"I was just walking by - "

"How do you manage to get involved in these things?"

"I was minding my own business."

He was reaching for one of her breasts but she pushed his hand away and leaned close, studying the wound.

"The news said a man was killed. That could have been you." She frowned. "This looks almost healed."

"Told you it was just a scratch. Doc Hargus said it hardly needed the butterflies." To prove his point, Jack pulled them off. "There."

He stared at the wound. No way the healing should be this far gone.

"You do heal fast."

Jack opened his mouth to tell her, but closed it again. Why try to explain what he didn't know for sure, what he only suspected? He'd talk to Glaeken first and see what he thought.

She ran a finger lightly along the line of the wound. "That other bullet scar is round."

"That was a direct hit. This was a graze."

"Looks like something a knife might make." He'd expected her to be repulsed, and maybe if the wound looked fresher, she would be. But she seemed fascinated. "Or a sword."

"Sword?" He laughed. "Where'd that come from?"

"I guess I have swords on my mind," she said as she slipped out of her jeans. "I mean, since Vicky asked if I thought you'd mind if she brought your katana into school for show and tell."

"The Gaijin Masamune?"

"Whatever."

"How does she know about that?"

"Well, it's visible on the top shelf of your front closet. Every time we hang up our coats - "

"Okay, okay. But how does she even know what a katana is?"

"A combination of things. They're studying Japan in school, and today she happened to catch some of The Seven Samurai on TV."

"But she hates black-and-white films."

He remembered how he'd had to bribe her to watch the original King Kong.

"Well, she didn't watch for long, and I'm pretty sure she would have flipped right past if they hadn't been studying Japan. But she lasted long enough to recognize the swords in the samurais' belts as just like the one in your closet."

"And she wants to bring it to class?"

She slipped out of her panties.

"Don't worry. I've already told her it's not going to happen. Not with the schools' zero-tolerance policy."

He couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Right. They get freaked about toy light sabers. Imagine something that can really lop off limbs and heads. Besides, it's pretty messed up."

Gia kissed his wound. "Not like your other sword."

"What other sword?"

She kissed his chest. "The pretty one. The one that only I see."

"Oh ... that one." His skin tingled at her touch.

"Yes, that one. How's it doing?"

"Ready for battle."

She pushed him back and trailed her lips down along his abdomen.

"I sure hope so..."