Page 3

CHAPTER 3

One good thing to come out of the news was that if Syros was in San Francisco actively spreading bad news about us, then he wasn’t in Florida. We had some breathing space.

As the sun set, Victor—now regrettably wearing clothes—gathered some drinks from the minibar and we sat out on the dusk-lit deck, with the ocean stretched along the horizon and palms swaying on either side of the house. Stars sparkled in the great expanse of black above, interrupted by just a few sweeping clouds. Crickets chirped in nearby grasses. It truly was magical.

After telling Zee all about our Toby suspicions, and him agreeing it was peculiar, it didn’t change much. We still had to wait for Toby to show so we could borrow a phone.

I sipped my whiskey and watched Victor teaching Zee how to fold a piece of paper into a swan. Victor was back in his tired suit, and Zee had thrown on some kind of threadbare half top that showed his middle, and slim black pants. Getting Zee to sit still for any length of time was a miracle in itself, so he had to be really into the origami making. He dutifully folded each crease just like Victor beside him, but somehow, when they both produced their swans...

“Eh, voila!” Zee announced, then screwed up his face. “Why the fuck does mine look a demented duck?”

“It requires some practice, that is all. Your... attempt is an... ambitious first try.” Of course, Victor’s swan was paper perfection.

“You’re just sayin’ that because you’re in a good mood from fuckin’ Adam earlier.”

Victor’s lips ticked and his gaze skipped to me. “I’ll not deny it.”

Zee picked up his paper swan and flicked it into the air. It spun, then flopped into the pool and sank like a rock. “You gonna tell me, then?” he asked with a smirk, sharp demon teeth catching starlight.

“Tell you what?” Victor asked. He did look good in the evening light, reclined in the chair, all smooth sophistication and masculine elegance. Red hues from the dying sunlight touched his pale face, igniting a spark of heat in his cool eyes.

“You’re sitting there glowing with post-sex smugness, an’ you ain’t gonna tell me what superpower you got from fuckin’ Adam without me?”

I’d forgotten about our power-up situation. Back in Minnesota, Zee had gotten a massive boost when he and I had been intimate. Something about my dragon abilities enhanced Zee’s natural incubus skills, turning him into a sex god—much to his delight—but only when we were alone. We’d wondered if Victor would get the same. But Victor wasn’t an incubus, and none of this was an exact science.

“I admit to feeling refreshed, but I cannot say either way whether I’ve gained any additional abilities.”

Zee narrowed his eyes. “I knew it. You got extra boring powers.”

I chuckled and even Victor made a strange, deep rumbling sound that was almost like laughter.

“Maybe fantastic Adam sex makes you less grumpy?” Zee grinned.

“It certainly did that.”

“You know that thing Adam does, when he’s getting all fired up—” Zee leaned closer to Victor. “Starts to mumble, then gets all growly, right?”

“I do indeed.” Victor smiled.

Oh, okay, we were doing this. Heat touched my face. “Guys, I’m sitting right here.”

“Then scoot off.” Zee fluttered his fingers with a smile. “Me an’ Sexy Fangs gonna compare notes.”

“I’m going to get a refill.” I grabbed my empty whiskey glass and returned to the living room, chuckling while they discussed the noises I made during sex.

The clock on the wall read nine p.m. Toby would have to be back soon. Hopefully. He’d let us use his phone, and then Leomaris would know all about me, my brother, and the danger he posed. I should have told the SSD agent long before now, but I’d been afraid Leomaris, like the others, would try to stop Syros... and fail. Nobody else should die because of my mistakes.

Zee had Victor openly laughing, and I stopped at the kitchen counter and watched them through the glass doors. We might have been in a sticky situation, but there was nobody else I’d want to be on the run with.

Something small, cool, and hard pressed against the base of my skull. “Easy now,” Toby whispered. “I hear dragons can heal almost anything, but a gunshot to the back of the head is gonna ruin your night.”

I slowly raised my hands, my gaze fixed on Zee and Victor. If they looked this way, they’d see Toby.

“Not a wo?—”

“You don’t want to do this,” I spoke over him. “You see those two out there? They don’t look like much, but they will tear you in half for this, without stopping to ask questions.”

“That’s why I brought backup.”

I saw them then, shadows moving along the walls. Victor and Zee were distracted by each other. They’d see the movement too late.

I opened my mouth to yell a warning. Toby swung the gun, smacking the back of my head. Pain bolted down my neck. “Gah.” I stumbled against the kitchen counter, more irritated than hurt.

Glass shattered. I heard it explode, saw its shards tinkle against the floor. Victor had moved . But I didn’t get to see the result. I spun, grabbed Toby by the neck. His gun fired. A punch to my gut. Didn’t matter. I pinned him to the wall. “You should not have done that.” My voice was no longer that of the nice human, Adam, but something darker, deeper, and far more deadly.

“STOP!” The command hit like a physical blow. Its intent washed over me, but Toby, in my grip, turned stone-still. Only his eyes moved, blinking furiously. The rest of him was frozen in place.

I set him down on wobbly, uneven legs, and rested his rigid body against the kitchen countertop. His eyes darted about in panic.

“Holy frozen frog’s balls,” Zee gasped.

Stepping back so I could keep Toby in the corner of my eye, I turned to find we had at least six new guests. All of them trolls, all armed, and all frozen in various poses of attack. They’d used the shadows to hide themselves, but they were out in the open now.

“It’s like a fucked-up Snow White and the Seven Dwarves , ’cept Fancy Fangs is a whole lot sexier than that apple-lovin’ pale chick.”

Victor’s silver eyes blazed, fangs bared in a snarl. He was a twitch away from going feral. Had he frozen them with one word?

“You can’t call them dwarves, Zee,” I mumbled, still trying to take in what was going on.

“Oh, excuse moi. Maybe they shouldn’t fuckin’ try an’ ambush us, then.” He cocked a hip, looking sassy in the broken door frame. “Ha, jokes on them. Didn’t know Fancy Fangs could do this, did yah?” Zee strutted to Victor’s side. “This was you, right?”

“It was.” Victor straightened, calming himself. “I can break their necks in a blink. It’s quite the... thrill.” Oh-kay. A bit too calm, maybe?

“Fuck... Daddy Fangs has the scent of blood,” Zee drawled. “I would not wanna be you guys right now.”

“Don’t kill them,” I warned. “We need to know why they’re doing this.”

“Uh, because they’re assholes?” Zee strutted up to the nearest uninvited guest and poked him in the cheek. The troll didn’t move, his cheek just dimpled and sprang back. His eyes revealed his terror, though. “This is some badass superpower shit, Lord Murder Fangs. I like it.”

This was powerful, and a little unnerving. “Victor, can you maybe unlock Toby so we can talk to him?”

Victor switched his glare to Toby, and whatever he did, it freed Toby’s head from the voice spell... but just his head. He gasped and wheezed, but the rest of him remained solid and immobile.

“By the Bridgekeeper, keep me safe. By the Bridgekeeper, keep me safe,” Toby prayed.

“You should have thought of that before holding a gun to my head.” I clamped a hand to my middle and winced at the blood that came away on my fingers. “Another sweater ruined.”

“He fuckin’ shot you?!” Zee poofed to my side, saw the blood. His nostrils flared. “You all gonna fuckin’ die now.”

Victor’s growl rumbled like thunder through the house.

“Wait. Guys. Relax a second.” I sighed at the whimpering Toby. “You brought this on yourself.”

“We helped you, numbnuts,” Zee huffed. “And you shoot Adam? This is very bad for you. Level fuckin’ eleven bad, you feel me?”

“S-s-sorry?” Toby whined. “Please don’t... kill me... Dad will be... so mad.”

“You know who else is mad?” I asked, then pointed to our murder vampire primed and ready to be unleashed. “He’s had a thousand years to perfect his torture, just so you know. So tell me what’s going on and maybe he’ll let you have your body back.”

Zee’s smile turned wicked. “You made the same mistake everyone does, didn’t you? Thought we were weak, huh? Sucks to be you. Vic’s gonna take those small balls of yours and pop ’em like grapes.”

Sweat beads glistened on Toby’s face. “Alright... I... I just know I was supposed to follow your van.”

“Huh?” Zee asked.

“On the highway. But the cops pulled me over. They know my family, know my face, but I saw you drive by and so I bolted to catch up?—”

“Who told you to follow us?” I asked,

“My dad, he’s uh... he’s kinda the boss of the family business, you know?”

“And your family business is...?”

“Uh,” Zee stepped in. “The house, the gun, the suit? It’s drugs, Kitten. It’s always drugs... or vampires, but mostly drugs. You got any in this house?” he asked Toby. “For... evidence. Actually, it’s for me. Don’t judge. This peak incubus got needs.”

“Uh, no, but I can get you some if you let me go?” Hope pitched Toby’s voice higher.

“Yeah, no, I’m good. You can die.”

“So, your dad...” I asked Toby, steering us back on track. “The drug boss?—”

“Drug lord,” Zee corrected. “Troll mafia don, head honcho, bossman.”

“Thank you, Zee. I think I’ve got it.” Facing Toby again, we all tried to ignore Victor’s growling that seemed to suggest our attackers didn’t have long left. “He told you to bring us here, right?” Toby nodded. “Why?”

“No idea.”

Zee snorted. “Liar.”

“No, I don’t know! I just do what he tells me to do, go where he tells me to go. He said to follow you. I was supposed to sabotage the van so I could offer you a lift back here, but then you kinda offered first, so...”

Zee huffed. “You ungrateful dickface.”

“Yes, thank you, Zee. Alright, so Toby... you don’t know why your drug-lord boss dad wants us?”

“No, I don’t know, I’m just a grunt. By the Bridgekeeper, please don’t kill me. You can kill everyone else, but please, not me.”

“How’d you know we were even on that road, huh?” Zee asked. “We never know where we gonna be.”

“You uh... you s-stopped at the cowboy museum,” Toby stuttered. “They uh... posted it on social media. A visit from the famous h-heroes...”

I sighed at Zee. “I told you we shouldn’t have stopped.”

Zee fluttered his lashes. “I needed a cowboy hat, Kitten. It was an emergency.”

I’d begun to wonder if we were just not very good at being on the run. Or hiding. “Why didn’t your dad just ask us to meet him, instead of going to all this trouble?”

“I don’t know...” Toby sobbed. “I don’t know anything!”

“Then you are of no further use to us,” came Victor’s ominous growl.

“Wait.” I raised a hand. “Let’s not get ahead?—”

A boom sounded from outside on the deck and a whole lot of things happened at once. All the frozen trolls dropped to the floor, including Toby, their heads bent at awkward angles. But Victor fell forward too, staggering, teetering on unstable legs. Zee poofed in front of him, and caught Victor in his arms. Blood stained the tattered remains of the back of his shirt.

On the deck stood another troll, smoking shotgun in hand.

He’d shot Victor.

I didn’t hesitate, didn’t slow. I strode toward the troll, who smirked back at us, so proud he’d blown a hole in our vampire’s back.

He swung the shotgun toward me and pulled the trigger.

Boom!

Even as fiery buckshot scorched my chest, I kept right on walking toward him.

He squeezed the trigger again.

Click.

“All out? Oh dear,” I said.

Click, click, click.

He looked at the gun, as though shocked it had let him down. I grabbed it, tore it from his hands, flipped it around so I had hold of the handle, then swung it like a bat.

The troll wasn’t smirking anymore. No, he lay on the deck with his neck broken like the others.

Silence settled around us. Just the breeze through the palm trees and the distant sound of waves.

I dropped the gun, and turned back to find Zee had scooped the unconscious Victor off his feet and was cradling him in his arms. Around us lay eight very dead trolls.

“Uhm... Kitten, did we just murder a mafia don’s son and a whole bunch of enforcer bros?”

I chewed on my lip as the reality of the last few seconds began to sink into my thawing thoughts. It did not look good. “Yeah?”

“Okay.” Zee blinked. “Maybe we should... run? Just a thought.”

“Yeah, I think that’s probably a good idea. Is Victor...”

“He’s okay, I think. Just bloody and out cold again.”

I sighed. “Okay, uhm... to the van?”

“To the van.”

Zee took Victor outside, and after I stuffed all our belongings back into our bags, I found him out there, with Victor still in his arms, standing beside the van.

A van with four slashed and very flat tires.

“So... I guess we walkin’?” Zee mumbled. Sirens sounded far off, but getting closer. “Sure, because why the fuck not add some cops right now?” Zee eyed the one road, and our only escape route unless we wanted to swim. Our only choice was to follow the road—on foot—away from the sirens and into the gloom, where more palms swayed and not a single light lit up the dark. “I guess we go thaddaway.”

I spotted the blue lights now. If we were caught with eight dead trolls, on top of all my brother’s bad publicity, Syros’s lies would see us arrested. We couldn’t get caught. “Yeah... Let’s go.”

With our bags in my hands, and Victor in Zee’s arms, we headed into the humid gloom where hopefully nothing else bad waited.