Page 79 of Resurrection

“We’ll make time,” Kelly said as he warmed up a huge slice of egg bake in the microwave. Seiran’s stomach grumbled as the scent of it hit his nose.

“Holy crap I’m hungry,” he said.

“Eat. Then shower and sleep,” Jamie said. His gaze fell on Gabe. “You can sleep downstairs.”

“Are you guys okay with that?” Seiran asked his kids. Kaine was already half asleep curled up in the corner by Page.

“We’ll take Kaine up with us,” Ki said. “Link is already sleeping upstairs.”

“Yeah, he was out hours ago. Said he was super happy to be home before the world ended,” Kura added.

“End of the world,” Seiran said. “I’ll have you know, I stopped that from happening.”

“We know. Thanks, daddy,” Kura kissed Seiran on the cheek and left him to Jamie. She and Ki crossed the room, where Ki scooped up Kaine. “Come on Page, let’s get you ready for sleep too.”

Page got to his feet, looking like little more than a zombie himself, tired, strung out, but also unwilling to take any sort of initiative on his own. Seiran was glad there were no weapons in the house other than the knives right here in the kitchen. He didn’t need Page thinking that suicide was a way out again. No matter how worried any of them were about the Dominion coming for them.

The kids headed upstairs, and Seiran was relieved that they were safe. He would make sure they all stayed safe. Even Page. Seiran reached out and spelled all the cutlery to not inflict self-harm.

Jamie squinted at him. “Really? You’re already running on empty and you couldn’t just say,hey Jamie, fix this?”

“You’d need a spell,” Seiran protested. “I don’t.”

“Show off,” Jamie said as he picked Seiran up and sat him in a chair at the table beside Gabe. “Eat. Then it’s off to the shower and bed for you.”

“Even with the Dominion about to rain down holy hell?”

“Even with. We have the Pillar of Earth, the Pillar of Water, and a fucking god of death magic in this house right now. Not to mention the fae child, the three super baby witches, oh and your best bud’s lovers are upstairs zonked out, so he’ll be here soon enough, which means crazy siphon power too. I think we’re good.”

“The Dominion have numbers,” Gabe said.

“But not power. They’ve spent decades destroying the powerful before they can live long enough to actually control it. That works in our favor, not theirs.”

“Are we really starting a war with the Dominion?” Seiran wondered. It felt surreal. He’d spent half his life bowing to their will to keep his family safe while he built up wards and alliances to protect them just in case. He had always hoped it would never be necessary, meanwhile still waiting for the hammer to drop. And now that it had, he felt strangely unsettled.

“Depends on them,” Jamie said. “But the vampires aren’t going to let this go, and the number of bodies means the humans are involved too. That’s a lot to try to overcome with some spin doctoring.”

It was, but it seemed the press was already trying to make Seiran out to be the bad guy. “I guess it’s war then.”

Chapter 26

Gabe had expected more protesting, rather than letting him return to his space downstairs with Seiran. But Seiran had eaten, and then used Gabe’s downstairs bathroom to shower. Jamie had dropped off a pile of clothes, which Gabe left on the counter, giving Seiran some space. Gabe lingered near the bathroom, not trying to be creepy, but worried that Sei would fall or pass out in the shower.

His aligning memories were a bit jumbled as he worked to make sense of them, but it didn’t feel like there were gaps anymore. He sent Mike a few questions while keeping an eye on Seiran. This whole mess with the Dominion felt like something he would have prepared for, and he had a weird feeling that he had? Or at least started to. It was something he’d learned to do over his long lifetime, prepare for just about anything.

He had a lot of questions. Most of them centered on his distrust for the Dominion. It sounded like Tanaka was promising that the Dominion would cooperate. Gabe didn’t know if he believed she had that kind of power.

We had a meeting before I went to ground, Gabe texted Mike.Did anything come of it?

Mike sent back a link instead of a reply. The first was to an article about a non-profit organization, with a vague overview of details about what it did. Though it seemed related to studying magic. Gabe frowned at it, scrolling through the page and trying to read between the lines.

There was a logo for the organization that looked familiar, and when Gabe navigated his phone back to the main screen, he saw an icon there. An app for the organization? He clicked it, and it suddenly said “Scanning for facial recognition.”

Would that work with all the changes to his appearance? Maybe he would need to shave and cut his hair? It seemed to chug for a minute or two before finally confirming his name and opening to a long list of information.

Welcome, Senior Advisor Santini, would you like a tour?The app said in a female voice. But he didn’t have time to sort through the app right this minute, as Seiran was swaying. Gabe took a step toward Seiran as he emerged from the bathroom.

He was dressed in a pair of pajamas withDuckTalesprint all over them. Hair hanging loose around his face and looking exhausted. Gabe raised a brow.