Page 5 of Icy Reception (SOS HOTEL #9)

CHAPTER 5

With the storm having shut everyone inside, the hotel lobby bustled with activity, and the LARP attendees seemed to be making the most of the shut-in, gathering in small colorful groups. Nobody seemed all that concerned that the storm might be supernatural, or that two of their own had gone missing the previous evening. They had no reason to be concerned, with their friends around them and lots of free food.

Zee hopped off the grand staircase’s bottom tread and sashayed to the front desk like the diva he was, hips swaying, tail swishing. He fit right in among the guests dressed as everything from trolls to longbow-carrying elves with a sprinkling of clichéd vampires mixed in.

Ding!

We definitely were not getting Zee a bell.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Larimer emerged from the door at the back of the reception area and swiped the bell out from under Zee’s hand. “Good morning, sir. How was breakfast?”

Zee leaned on the end of the desk. “Yes, hello, breakfast was grand. Delicious pancakes. Bacon, top-fuckin’-notch. The water was angry, though.”

Larimer’s stoic mask didn’t falter. “Angry water?”

“Yes, very angry. Full of bubbles, very bad. I’d like to complain. Officially.”

“I see. This angry water... Do you think it could have been sparkling water, sir?”

“Hm, no, I don’t think so. It definitely did not sparkle.”

“Then perhaps you should take that up with the bar staff.”

Zee pointed a finger, and at the same time his tail swished the little bowl of lollipops off the counter, sending it and its contents scattering across the floor, startling a few fake trolls and one tall fae lookalike. A few yelps sounded, then some nervous laughter.

“Oh fuck, look at that!” Zee pulled a sheepish face then leaned over to collect the lollipops, but as he did his tail caught a display of leaflets, sending them flying like confetti. “These darn costumes... you know what it’s like. Well, you don’t... You ever role-played, Larry? Eh, probably not. Maybe you should. Help relax you. You seem pretty uptight. I can give you some tips?”

“Sir—”

“I got this.”

A few of the guests had joined in helping to pick up the leaflets and lollipops.

A huge potted plant went next, tipped right over, spilling soil on top of the leaflets. Zee yelped at that one. “Fuck, you really need to tie shit down. It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

“Sir, control your extremities!” Larimer blustered.

“Excuse-moi?” Zee straightened. “What did you just call me?” His voice had switched into level-eleven dramatically offended mode. “Extreme titties? That is sexual harassment.”

Larimer’s pale face reddened, and finally he stepped out from behind the desk .

That was my cue. I ambled in front of the desk, hands in pockets, minding my own business, and when I was past all the commotion, I ducked behind the desk, grabbed the phone, and quickly dialed the SOS Hotel.

Madame Matase answered in her lovely, polite, Eastern European accented voice.

“It’s Adam.”

“Oh Adam, darling! How are you? We have missed you, dear. How’s your vacation?”

“Oh yeah, it’s uhm...” Dead werewolves, Zander’s burned cabin, bloodthirsty loup-garou, amputated limbs, running for our lives... “Great. So great. Uhm... super great. Is Tom there?”

“I can patch you through to the bar. My darling, I do hope you’ll be back soon. We miss you.”

“We will be, I just . . . Soon.”

“Is that Zodiac I hear?”

I peeked over the desk to see Zee waving his arms and threatening legal action, claiming that Victor—now beside him—was his lawyer. “Yes, he’s having a great time too!” I told Madame Matase. I’m not sure she believed me.

“Transferring you now, darling.”

A blip sounded, the phone rang once, and Tom Collins picked up. “Welcome to the best bar in San Francisco ? —”

“Tom, we need your help.”

Tom gasped. “Adam Vex needs my help? Now?”

“Yes, right now, can you?—”

The line died.

Cradling the handset, I redialed. “Hey, Madame Matase, I seem to have been cut off. Gremlin maybe? Could you put me through again please?”

“Sure thing, my dear.”

Another click .

“Welcome to the best bar in all of San Franci ? — ”

“Tom, it’s Adam again. We really need?—”

“Wait, hold up. You need my help? Right now?”

“Yeah, we?—”

The line died again. I glared at the handset and redialed.

“You’re a lawyer and a vampire?” Larimer was saying, clearly finding Victor’s profession suspicious.

“Indeed.” Victor played along.

“A vampire lawyer,” Zee clarified. “Suing is his second favorite thing after biting.”

I didn’t have much time; I needed Tom to listen. After redialing a third time and getting put through to the SOS Hotel bar again, I blurted. “Tom, I’ll give you a pay rise!”

“Now you’re talkin’ my language,” Tom drawled . “How much?”

Larimer reached toward the end of his desk, probably looking for the phone to call security. “If you do not calm down?—”

Oh dear. “Uh... I don’t know. I need to check the accounts.”

“Not good enough.”

“Wait! Don’t hang up. I’ll make you assistant manager? Permanently!”

“About fucking time. I’m listening.”

“But Tom, you gotta stop drugging the guests.”

“You must be thinking of a different Tom Collins.”

“I’m calling security,” Larimer said, hand still groping. Any second now he’d look over. He began to turn?—

“Tom please, get here now.” I shot to my feet and shoved the phone back on the desk, seconds before Larimer realized his reaching hand wasn’t grabbing anything and turned to find me innocently smiling. “Oops, that uh... The sexy uhm, demon guy knocked your phone off the desk too. I uh... picked it up for you.”

Larimer snatched the phone, hugging it to him along with the shiny concierge bell. “Guests stay on that side of the desk.”

“Yes, of course.” I scooted back in front of the desk like the well-behaved guest I was.

Zee was still huffing and eye-rolling, with Victor beside him like a stone statue of silent judgment. Avoiding eye contact with them, I entered the bar and found a table to sit at, then waited for Zee and Victor to show up.

Had I done enough to lure Tom Collins to our rescue? Was he still angry? He was always angry, but was he angrier about being kept in the dark? For all his bluster and profanity, he was part of our SOS Hotel family. He’d help us... probably. Fifty-fifty chance.

“So, is he coming?” Zee dropped into the opposite seat at our little table.

“I think so.” Glancing around, I didn’t see Victor. “Maybe.”

“Fancy Fangs has gone back to the room. Said he wants to go over it one more time for any more clues. I told him I did that already, but he’s grumpy and stubborn.”

“Your distraction was the best, Zee.”

“Of course it was.” Zee flicked a hand, produced a lollipop out of thin air, and handed it over. “For my favorite non-human.”

“You stole a lollipop for me?” Chuckling, I took it from his fingers, unwrapped it, and popped it into my mouth. “What do you think’s going on here, really?” I asked around the lollipop.

Zee studied the bar’s chatting crowd. “We’re all trapped, so whoever is doing this wants people around. If it’s suckers, the only reason they want humans around is to eat ’em.”

That made some sense, but there were Lost Ones here too. “Maybe we should mingle, get a feel for our neighbors?”

“Good call. ”

Zee set off on his mission to introduce himself to everyone in the bar. I waited a while, scanning the groups, finishing my lollipop, getting a feel for the vibe of the place, and spotted a lone man sitting at the bar with his back to me. Occasionally he scooped up his drink, sipped it, and set it down again in smooth, well-practiced motions. Vampires moved differently to people, and like Victor, this guy had that same lethal grace paired with motionless poise. Definitely a vampire. And since we suspected the hotel of being bought by vampires then turned over for whatever nefarious plans they had, this guy might know more.

I headed over and parked myself on the stool next to his, then ordered a whiskey from the barman. A quick side-glance revealed folded sunglasses on the bar in front of him, short dark-brown hair, a shadow of stubble on his chin... He was the same guy I’d seen in the lobby when we’d arrived, not one of the LARP attendees.

“Pretty crazy, huh?” I smiled, and as he side-eyed me with silvery vampire eyes, I thumbed at the crowd filling the bar. “Fun, though. Are you uh, dressed up too?”

“Me?” His smile was soft and genuine, and his accent had a thick Minnesota drawl. “No, it was never my thing.” He sipped his drink, then took more notice of me. “What about you?”

“Oh yeah, sure. I’m uh... So, you know that crazy hotel in San Francisco?”

“The one where the heroes stopped that nasty sorcerer? I sure do.”

“Yeah, so... I’m uh, pretending to be the manager, uh... Adam, I think his name is.”

“Adam, huh? No, I don’t remember seeing him.”

“You know, the nice human guy? Turns out he’s sometimes a dragon?” Did my little laugh sound fake enough, but also real ?

“Oh yeah, you betcha!” He held out his hand. “I’m Wesley. Nice tah meet’chah.”

“Oh.” I shook his hand, finding it warm and gentle. “Hi. I’m Adam. I said that already. My real name is Adam, though, uh, same as the hero human guy, I guess.” Wow, pretending to be me while also pretending not to be was a minefield. At least Wesley didn’t seem to mind.

He chuckled. “Honestly, I got no idea who the Adam guy is, sorry. That was more Eddie’s thing.”

“It’s fine. So uh . . . is Eddie here?”

Wesley’s smile faded. “Ah, no.” He craned his fingers over his glass and swirled its contents. “He uh... he left. Apparently.”

Okay, I may not be the most observant when it came to emotions, but there was definitely something going on here. Unlike Victor, Wesley wasn’t trying to hide his feelings, and he seemed... sad.

“Hey, so...” Wesley turned on his stool to face me. “Strange question. Have you seen anything weird here?”

How was I supposed to answer that? Weird like dead bodies vanishing, like frozen people, like Larimer’s one long eyebrow? “Uhm...”

“It’s just...” He looked away quickly, thinking, then met my gaze dead on. “Okay, so this is going to sound insane but Eddie... he came here a week ago, was staying just for the night. We uh... We’re together, or I thought we were, but then he ups and vanishes. An’ he does that sometimes, but never without telling me. He moves around a lot. He has a creepy history podcast, travels all over, but I don’t know... this time? It just feels... off.” He scanned the chatty crowds in the bar, now with a different purpose, as though suspecting them of something.

“Yeah,” I agreed carefully. “Something is definitely off about this place.” I had to be careful. Wesley seemed nice, and nothing like the vampires I’d met before, but we had only just met. Still, if he suspected the Stephanie Hotel was more than weird, maybe we could help each other out? It wouldn’t hurt to have a local on our side.

“Did you hear about the new management?” I asked.

“I did.” Wesley shuffled closer. “They came in a few weeks ago, made a big splash about buying the hotel, bringing tourists in, don’cha know? Never met them personally, though. The locals don’t stay here so they didn’t see anything wrong. Then with Eddie vanished, I started to look closer?—”

“Everything all right here?” the barman asked, leaving my whiskey.

“Sure. Uh, can you put it on the room?”

“What room are you in?”

“Thirteen.”

“Sure thing.” The barman headed off to serve other customers.

“That’s the room Eddie stayed in,” Wesley said. Then he whispered, “You gotta be careful. There are eyes everywhere.” He nodded over my head, and a quick glance back revealed a camera spying from the corner of the bar.

“Yeah, we noticed.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t think Eddie left. I can’t reach his phone, and he’s not online. He stayed at this hotel and then vanished the next day. I think something happened to him.”

“Did you try the police?”

“They said they talked to the hotel and Eddie checked out. I don’t believe it.”

If I was going to take everything Wesley said at face value, then we could definitely use his help, and he ours. But he was a vampire, and there was a reason why Razorsedge didn’t ever allow vampires in and why Zee disliked them so much—vampires generally weren’t nice people. But neither were dragons. “I think we can help each other.”

“Really?” His face brightened.

“Yeah. We’ve noticed a few... unusual things too, and then something was left in our room...” I fished into my pocket and carefully eased out the key, just enough so that he could see but nobody else could.

“What’s that?”

“It was in our room. There’s a riddle, and we think whatever is happening here has something to do with whatever this key opens.”

“Do you think maybe it has something to do with Eddie?”

“Yeah, maybe. Some other strange things have happened?—”

“Hello my favorite human, and who is this?” Zee asked, draping his arm over my shoulders.

“Zee, this is Wesley.”

Wesley thrust out his hand and smiled. “Hey there.”

“Hey yourself.” Zee took his hand and gave it a quick shake, then stiffened. His sparkly eyes narrowed. “Vampire, huh? You work here?”

“No, just . . . uhm . . . just came for a drink actually. You want one?”

Zee’s eyes narrowed to even thinner slits. His tail rattled. This was about to go as well as I’d expected.

“Zee, Wesley has some concerns about this hotel like we do,” I said, without saying it too loud. The barman may have been listening in, although he was busy at the other end of the bar for now.

“Sure, I’ll get a drink if you’re buying,” Zee agreed, then dropped onto the stool on Wesley’s opposite side. “Vampire, huh?”

“Oh uh, yeah.” Wesley glanced between us, now sitting in the middle .

“Kitten, the vampire diversity box has already been ticked for our Scooby gang,” Zee said in his sing-song voice that came with an undercurrent of warning tone.

“Wesley is a local, he lives in town, and his friend has gone missing while staying in this hotel... in our room. I think he can help, and we can help him maybe.”

Zee side-eyed the pair of us. It was like when he’d met Victor all over again. Zee didn’t trust vampires, and probably never would. “If I were a real demon, then I’d have a problem with you.” He pointed at Wesley. “But as I’m only role-playing one, I guess I can make it work. Just so you know, if you pull any funny sucker shit, a real demon would probably have to kill you.”

Wesley paled and coughed an alarmed laugh. “What?”

Oh dear. “He’s uh... he’s just getting into the role, aren’t’ you Zee?”

“Sure, it’s all pretend,” he sang, then narrowed his eyes on Wesley again. “Until it isn’t.” He smiled. “I’m just messin’ with you,” he sang again. “Or am I?” Deadly serious, then a chuckle. “Who fuckin’ knows?!” Zee laughed, then cut off and narrowed his eyes again.

“Is this because of the wars?” Wesley asked us both. “I wasn’t a vampire then. I got turned a few years back. You know, when the vampires came out as real and ran that recruitment drive?”

“The one the government shut down?”

“Yeah, well, that was after I drank the Kool-Aid. I’ve got nothing to do with the old world. Hey, I even like demons.” Wesley grinned at Zodiac.

“Then we’ll get along just fine,” Zee crooned.

It was pretty clear Zee’s loose smile and the twinkle in his eye could very quickly turn vicious. He’d lashed out at Victor not long after they’d met, although Victor had provoked him too. With Zee and Victor getting along these days, I’d forgotten they were natural enemies.

“Adam. Zodiac.” Victor’s deeply delicious voice interrupted our discussion. He strode over, stopping beside me, then took a longer look at Wesley.

Wesley’s eyes grew, his mouth fell open, and he stared at Victor in stunned silence. “Oh my gosh, are you... No. Are you? What... No. Are you?”

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

Wesley dropped off his stool, fell to his knees, and reached with trembling hands toward Victor. “Lord Victorveus Kirolis Reynarius, for real?”

Zee’s eyebrows climbed to their highest ever peaks. “The who now?”

Wesley took Victor’s hand and skimmed a revered kiss across his knuckles. “I never thought I’d meet a real Old One.”

“Oh, he’s real old alright,” Zee drawled.

Victor took his hand back and placed it gently on the younger vampire’s head. “There’s no need to be so formal. In fact, I prefer that you don’t, to avoid unwanted attention.”

“Wait, he can reveal who he is but I can’t?” Zee huffed. “Who fuckin’ came up with these rules?”

Wesley wobbled to his feet. “I can’t believe it.”

“That’s your real name?” I asked Victor. “Lord Victorveus Kirolis Reynarius?” I repeated. It sounded kinda old and mysterious and sexy. Like him.

“I have many names, Adam. I am many centuries old. Victor Reynard is a modern interpretation.”

“You are in the presence of greatness,” Wesley gushed, clearly enthralled and amazed.

Zee snorted. “You wouldn’t say that if you’d woken up next to him with a mouthful of his bed hair. ”

“Forgive my demon companion,” Victor said to Wesley. “He lacks respect for the old ways.”

“Companion?” Zee snorted in offense. “Was I just your companion while getting you off in the shower this morning, my lord?” He fluttered his lashes, then hopped off the stool and turned away.

Wesley gasped. “You let them speak to you this way?”

“Them?” Zee narrowed his eyes. “You mean demons ? I see what this?—”

“Zee, let’s uh, go get another lollipop.” I grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the bar.

Zee pointed at them both. “I’m leavin’ because Adam likes lollipops. You suckers get on with your circle jerk, just don’t ask me to join.”

“Zodiac?” Victor enquired, taking a step toward us.

Zee held up a hand in front of Victor’s face. “Nuh-uh, your sexy companion has somewhere else to be.”

We left Victor frowning after us and headed out into the lobby, where I guided Zee toward one of the little seating areas. “Hey, you okay?” I asked him.

“Ugh.” His tail whipped. “Yes. I am fine.” He was not fine. I could tell by the way he pronounced every word perfectly. “Victor has a fangboy, which is so inappropriate right now. Did you see the way that baby sucker looked at him?”

This was not like Zee at all. Something was going on here. “Are you... jealous?”

“What? Pfft. Of who? That Wesley guy and how he’s all googly-eyed for our vampire? Did you see the way he took his hand, like Fancy Fangs is some kind of ancient fuckin’ messiah? And then kissed it. Uh, hello—” Zee froze, cutting himself off. His face fell and he gasped behind his hands. “Oh my fuck, I’m jealous.”

“He’s a young vampire. I guess they have their ways. But you don’t need to worry, you know that, right? Victor’s not going to leave us because he met a fan.”

“Are you sure about that? When was the last time you dropped to your knees for him?”

“Uh... I mean, it’s been a few days since we uh, you know. We’ve been on the road, and then there were the werewolves, and the loup-garou, and we’ve been kinda busy since the whole eating Gideon thing.” I shook Zee’s fears from my head. “We’re good, Zee. It’s Victor.” Victor loved us, and Zee was just having a moment because he was hungry, starved of attention, feeling the pressure, and didn’t like that he wasn’t the center of attention. “Wesley is just excited, like your fans get excited when they see you.”

“No, it is not the same. Nobody likes vampires.” Zee flapped a hand in the general direction of the bar. “We don’t even know that guy.”

“But he’s local and we could use his help. And his friend is missing.”

“Kitten, you are too nice. All suckers are bad... except ours. And we need to protect ours at all costs because he’s fuckin’ special and precious and ours .” He gave himself an all-over shake and whispered, “Ugh, I am not jealous. I am emotionally attached.”

The lobby chandelier flickered. Most folks around us didn’t notice, but Zee spotted it. Lights flickering at the SOS Hotel generally meant someone had turned on a shower or the elevator was about to explode, but the Stephanie Hotel probably had better electrics.

The phone on the front desk trilled. Larimer picked it up, frowned into it, and hung up. The lights flickered again.

“You think Tom Collins has finally arrived?” I asked Zee.

“Oh great, I haven’t been verbally abused in a while.”

“Where’s your phone?” Tom Collins used Zee’s phone as his anchor point, like a modern version of a genie and their lamp. It didn’t have a signal before, but if Tom Collins’s incorporeal djinn self was in the hotel wires, he’d probably be able to jump to it.

“In our room. Let’s go.”

After taking the stairs to our floor, I swiped the key and opened the door to find our unique djinn bartender standing by the table. He didn’t have a real body while away from the hotel’s bar, but he somehow looked exactly the same, just slightly blurry, wearing perfectly pressed black pants, a burgundy vest over a black shirt, and a black bow tie. His dark hair had been swept back—although, he didn’t really have hair, I guess? Anyway, he was the quintessential bartender, and now he was here with us, his arms crossed, scowling at our late arrival.

“Hey.” I headed over.

“This had better be good. I have a hotel to run while you three losers run away from your problems instead of dealing with them like adults.”

I grinned. “It’s nice to see you too, Tom.”

“I cannot say the same.”

“How’s Little Jimmy?” Zee asked.

“A smaller, irritating version of you.”

“Uh, that’s not what I meant, but whatevs.” Zee dropped onto the end of the bed. “Hotel all good?”

“Hm, is the hotel all good?” Tom Collins echoed and tapped his chin. “Shall we all do our nails and hair while we discuss how the hotel is barely functioning, or shall we get on with whatever you called me here for so I can leave and make sure you have something to return to whenever you eventually decide running is a terrible idea and come home.”

Wow. He appeared to still be a bit sensitive about the us leaving him thing. “Okay, so uhm. We found this.” I showed him the key .

“You found it?” he asked, after reading the clue.

“It showed up where a dead body had been,” Zee explained. Sort of.

“So what did you find under the chandelier?” Tom asked us both.

“Huh?”

“You followed the clue, right? Or have you been standing here holding your dicks this whole time?”

“Actually, I don’t think there’s been enough dick holding,” Zee added.

“Uhm... The chandelier?” It was important to keep the conversation on-topic and off dicks.

“ Verity hides beneath light’s prison,” Tom repeated. “Truth is under the chandelier.” His eyebrow arched higher. “Where’s the smart one from your inept trio... the vampire? Because you are as dumb as two rocks in a box.”

“Fancy Fangs didn’t get the riddle either,” Zee defended.

“You really think it’s a chandelier?” I asked, reading the clue again. Light’s prison. We’d wondered if it had been lamps, so we hadn’t been far off.

“There are almost two thousand lights in this hotel. The only one of significance is the chandelier in the lobby. Light’s prison. It’s fucking obvious. How have you survived this long without me?”

He had figured it out in seconds. “Can you stay and help us figure this all out?”

“Not if you don’t want the SOS Hotel to burn down.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I laughed.

“It’s happening right now. A troll lit an incense stick because his room smelled like dead vampire.”

“Valid,” Zee said.

“The stick set light to the drapes, and right now there’s about two hundred gremlins trying to put it out.”

Oh dear. “Tom, you need to get back there. ”

“Oh do I now? Tom come here. Tom go back. Are you the boss of me?”

“Uhm, yeah? I am.” I think? Was I? I wasn’t sure anymore.

He rolled his eyes. “ Save us, Tom. Put out fires, Tom. I do not get paid enough to fix your clusterfucks.” His outline sparkled, turning to static, and Zee’s phone on the table lit up. “Next you’ll be telling me you don’t know the food in this place is all drugged.”

“Wait . . . what?!”

Too late, his ghostly figure swooshed into the phone, making it twitch, and he was gone.

Zee blinked. “Did he just say the food is drugged?”

“Yeah, and he’d know.”

“Fuck, those tiny sandwiches were the best.”

“That’s why it’s all free.” And we’d been eating it—lollipops, quiches, sandwiches, chips, all of it.

“I don’t feel drugged.” Zee braced both arms behind him on the bed. “And I’ve been drugged a lot.”

I didn’t feel any different either. “Maybe we haven’t eaten enough of it?” Or we were powerful enough to resist its effects. “No more lollipops.”

“Ugh, fuck my life.” Zee flopped backwards onto the bed and blinked at the ceiling. “This place sucks. Being on the run sucks. Being jealous sucks. Everything sucks.”

I placed the key on the table. Alright, we couldn’t investigate the chandelier until the lobby was clear, which would be at night. That meant we had a few hours to kill.

My gaze settled on Zee, dramatically flopped on the bed, arms akimbo, knees spread, and grumpy because he was hungry. I could help with that. Maybe help both of us relax. “Do I suck?”

He heard the teasing in my tone, probably sensed where my mind was going too, and lifted his head to peer down his body at me. “Kitten, you don’t suck, unless you wanna suck? I’m all for sucking, especially if you’re doin’ the sucking part.”

“I can suck.” I shrugged, playing it cute. “For you.”

Zee’s slow smile lured me across the room so I could slot my legs neatly between his knees. He propped himself up on his arms again, putting us at the same height. “Hey there, Kitten.”

“Hey.” Heat warmed my veins and quickened my heart. Zee had a way of looking into me and knowing exactly what I needed—what we both needed. It was part of being an incubus, or maybe it was all Zee, but I liked it either way.

“You wanna fuck around an’ find out?” he asked, eyebrows jumping.

“Always.” It was impossible to be around Zee and not want him. He was at his most sexy when not even trying—like now and most of the time—when he was just being Zee. I loved him the most when he didn’t know I was watching him, when he was concentrating on something, or when he was in full swing telling Victor some kind of joke or story. I loved him when he smiled, like he smiled now... all soft and knowing, filled with warmth and compassion. He pretended not to care about anything, when anyone who knew him knew he cared about everything .

I stroked my hands up both of his firm thighs, scrunching his pants fabric, then skimmed over bare skin where his waistband gave way to his hips. He smirked, content to let me explore.

I knew his body like I knew my own, but touching him never got dull. It wasn’t just about his gorgeous body, though. Zee was even more beautiful on the inside, and it was a crime that most people didn’t bother to look past the showy sex demon. Still, it meant Victor and I got him all to ourselves, and there was a lot of him to go around.

The impressive bulge in his trousers was proof of that .

That was my mission. My destination. It was just me and him and a few hours until the evening. We had time.

“Bet nobody’s had a dragon eye them like lunch and survived what came next.”

“That’s probably true,” I laughed, then dropped my gaze to his belt and swiftly unbuckled it. His abs trembled under my knuckles; his breaths snatched too. It felt good, hearing him react to this, and not just like it was another go-around. He’d been with thousands of people, but with us—with me and Victor—he was always our Zee, the real Zee. The one nobody else got to see. The demon we loved.

“Hey . . .”

I looked up and our gazes met. Tiny glittery sparks made his purple eyes shine. With his messy hair tousled around his horns and his mouth quirked sideways, he’d rarely looked so scrumptious. I was definitely going to eat all of him in the best way.

“Love you, Adam Vex,” he said. “And not just because you’re about to deep dive my dick.”

“Funny, I was just thinking the same.”

“You love yourself too?” he teased.

“No, I mean... I was just thinking how much I love you and we haven’t done this enough lately.”

His smile twitched, as though something I’d said had hurt him, but I didn’t get a chance to ask what. He swooped in, grabbed me by the back of the neck, and smacked a hungry kiss on my lips. I opened instantly, lust rising in a wave that threatened to overwhelm, and clambered onto his legs. Straddling him, I slung my arms around his shoulders and rocked hard against him. He hauled me close, wrapped his arms around me, and for a while there was no telling who ended where. There was just us, riding the wave, thrust together in a storm of need .

I wanted to shove him down and ride him hard—he’d let me, too—but first, I’d made a promise with my eyes to eat him up, and that’s what I was going to do.

Grasping his face, I broke from the kiss, leaning back so I could see the scorching heat in his eyes. His wings had appeared sometime during the kiss, and beat softly behind him in time with our hearts. Miniature fireworks danced through the canvasses of leather. I could have watched that show all night, but I was getting distracted.

“You don’t have to.”

“What? I want to.”

“I know it’s a lot.” And he wasn’t being cute. Parts of him were a lot.

I thrust my hands into his hair, and reared up onto my knees, peering down into his eyes. It wasn’t often I got to look down on him. “You can’t hurt me, remember?”

“I know. I forget. It’s just?—”

I pressed a finger to his lips. “Say indigo if you want to stop.”

He nodded eagerly. I shuffled down, freeing his mouth, and as he dropped back onto his hands again, propping himself half upright, I unzipped his pants and revealed my prize.

You ever ordered a foot-long from Subway and then, once it arrives, wonder how you’re going to eat it all?

Yeah, that.

Okay, there was a lot to get on with. Where did I start? My hand barely fit around the girth, and?—

“You gotta do something and stop staring at my dick or imma flip us both over, Kitten.”

“I’m making a plan of attack.”

“A plan. Great. Not that I want to tell you how to do this, but maybe lube things up? —

I swallowed all I could, which turned out to be not much, but it was enough that Zee dropped his head back and gulped. “ Oh-fuckin’-kaaaay.”

There was something about making an incubus demon gulp that swelled my chest with pride, and other parts. He was experienced; I was... not. Before Zee and Victor, there hadn’t really been anyone. And as dragon, well... nobody wanted an outcast, especially one with a prophecy around his neck. So it felt good to hear Zee moan, like he moaned now, and see him claw at the sheets, like he dug his nails in now. I worked him as best as I could, taking him an inch at a time, slickening things up and enjoying all his little grunts and twitches, hearing how they gradually became desperate.

“Baby, you are positively glowing.”

I pulled off him with a wet pop and smiled.

“You wanna ride me?” His eyebrows skipped. Now we’d gotten over his little carnivorous sperm issue, and because I was far from human—his typical prey—we could do anything. And as I didn’t have to hold back in terms of strength either, we were free to enjoy and rediscover each other without fear.

I was definitely up for that.

After yanking my shirt off over my head, I flung it away and found Zee holding out the little bottle of lube he had on him at all times—for sexual emergencies.

“Use me, Mydros.”

I froze, lube spilling into my palm.

“Gah, bad move? I just... it’s your name, I thought?—”

“No, it’s fine, I?—”

“Shouldn’t have. Didn’t think?—”

“Fine, really?—”

The door to our room opened and Victor stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of me, shirtless and straddling Zee’s lap, with Zee’s cock standing to attention between us, and Zee, wings out and lit up like a demonic purple pillar of sex. Victor, though, wasn’t the issue. Beside him stood Wesley, his jaw on the floor.

Victor covered Wesley’s eyes. “Look away, child.”

“I’m thirty years old and this isn’t anything I haven’t seen or done before.”

“Uhm, too much information, maybe?” I muttered.

“As I said, this is not for your eyes, child,” Victor reiterated.

“Uh...” Zee’s dick jumped. “If you’re gonna make this fuckin’ weird, you can turn your vampire asses around and toddle off while me and Adam get filthy. Bye now.”

“Is this an appropriate time to be engaged in carnal pleasures?” Victor asked.

“Out,” Zee snapped. His tail rattled a warning. Zee was not in the mood. “Now,” he growled, eyes and veins flaming purple. He was not messing around.

Victor’s almost indeterminable nod signaled his retreat and he backed out of the room, dragging Wesley with him.

With them gone, Zee still stared at the door, panting hard, tail still rattling, almost as though he wanted to go after Victor and throw down. He clearly did not like to be interrupted. Or maybe it was more than that?

“Hey...” I touched his cheek and turned his head toward me. “It’s alright, it’s just you an’ me.”

“I was too harsh.” His purple eyes glittered with raw, barely contained emotion. “I didn’t mean to snap at him. I’m real hungry. Fuck me, Adam. Do it now. I need it. I’m climbing out of my own fuckin’ skin. Pin me down, ride me hard, make me burn .”

Mercy. The shock of his words didn’t last long. I had his permission, he knew the safe word, and we were doing this. I shoved him down, slickened things up with a few quick sweeps, hopped off for a few seconds to tear off my pants, and then pinned him down again, locking eyes with him as I lowered myself down, easily accommodating all of him. He grasped my thighs, clutched tight, and bared his sharp teeth in a sneer.

Apparently, getting between an incubus and their food at the wrong time was not a good idea. But I had him now. He was all mine. If anyone wanted to interrupt, they’d have to watch.

Pouring part of my true self into my human disguise, I channelled my power and watched Zee’s wings blaze in response, emitting beating purple waves. Lit from the inside, he was lost to it now, consumed by... me. Us. This.

Was it a good idea to unleash whatever chaotic forces we ignited every time we had sex into a strange hotel that was already under some kind of supernatural influence? Hm, probably not, but we weren’t exactly thinking about that. The only thought in my head was one of answering his demands, feeding my incubus, and ruthlessly making him come undone beneath me.

And it was going well. At least I thought it was. I was having a great time, and Zee seemed to be into it too.

His ragged breaths began to stutter, his whole body trembled, and his wings rained sparks. He was close, and so was I.

Then his eyes rolled, his back arched like in the movies when people are being resuscitated, and a blast of purple light exploded out of him, splashing tiny sparks up the walls.

The lights went out.

Darkness rushed in.

Alarms screeched.

“Zee?”

His purple sparks faded in the gloom, and so did the rest of him.

“Zee?”

He wasn’t moving .

I dropped forward and probed up his chest to find his face in the dark... his eyes, were they open?

The sprinklers started up, suddenly drenching us under a torrent of rain, but I could hardly feel it or hear the alarms over my pounding heart.

“Zee?!”