Page 108 of How to Stake a Vampire

“I’ll take it,” I said grudgingly.

Oscar cleared his throat from his zone of murkiness. “For the record, I also may have been hasty in my judgments.”

“You tried to have her thrown out of her first Alliance meeting,” Melody pointed out sharply.

Oscar avoided everyone’s eyes and took a large gulp of his pink drink.

Finnic grinned smugly. “Some of us had the good sense to back the right horse from the beginning.”

Titania narrowed her eyes. “You were drunk during her first Alliance meeting.”

“He was drunk duringallher meetings, including this one,” Portia corrected.

“Are they always like this?” Detective Johnson hissed at Finnic.

The dwarf hiccuped and nodded.

Daria sighed and poured herself another vodka.

Pearl looked supremely satisfied with herself where she lounged across the back of Victoria’s chair. “The rest of you simply lack proper judgment.” She swished her tail lazily. “I could tell how powerful Abby was when I first laid eyes on her.”

Hugh, Ellie, and I exchanged a loaded look at this barefaced lie.

Even Victoria had the grace to look embarrassed.

“Says the cat who spent most of the battle sleeping on Victoria’s lap,” Barney murmured as he drank his Bloody Mary.

“I was recharging my batteries,” Pearl said without missing a beat.

“For what?” Cornelius asked skeptically.

The cat blinked lazily. “To point out what you people did wrong.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Bo protested from the cushion at my feet. “I helped catch the bad guy!”

“So we heard,” Daria said drily.

“Good doggie,” Pearl added with the condescension of a queen.

Cornelius’s mouth had flattened to a thin line.

Victoria sipped her whiskey with the expression of a woman determined to ignore her supernatural pet’s diplomatic infractions.

Samuel took the chair next to mine, a martini in hand. He looked more relaxed than I’d seen him in weeks.

“So what’s the official Alliance position on recent events?”

Daria consulted a tablet that contained proper notes rather than the ones with the doodles she let slip in official Alliance meeting minutes. “Ludvik Bludworth has been neutralized as a threat to Amberford’s supernatural community. The ritual sites are in the process of being cleared and cleansed. The stolen materials have been recovered and are scheduled to be destroyed.”

Detective Johnson nodded a confirmation at the latter statement.

Constantia’s gaze flicked toward me and Ellie. “And the new developments?”

“Dear,” Gregory protested weakly.

Virgil frowned at his mother.

I swallowed a sigh. Here it came.