Gods, she missed having neighbors. She missedpeople. Or…whatever word encompassed all the different amazing species that existed. So many species! And some of them were really, really hot!
She wasn’t an introvert. Like, at all. What the fuck was she doing, living in the most sparsely populated part of the Containment Zone? Sheesh, what a dork.
“Max. Hey, Max.” Laughing a little, she leaned over on the couch and whispered into his ear, “Your penis is awesome. The best ever. I didn’t fakeshitlast night.”
She held up six fingers, then wiggled them in happy emphasis.
“I know, love.” He laughed too, rubbing the tip of his nose affectionately against hers. “That was the best sex of my life. Barnone. And I’ve had a lot of sex over the centuries. You honestly would notbelievehow much sex I’ve had. Gods, I think the first time was back in—”
“Hey, Riley.” Sabrina’s elbow rested on the mantel above the fireplace, and she surveyed everyone sprawled around the room with careful attention. “When you first met Max, how did you figure out he was a vampire? Because I’m guessing he didn’t intend to tell you.”
“What a great question!” Edie poked Max’s thigh. “We wondered that too!”
“Oh, we knew right away. Determining species is an automatic thing, since we’re all half-fae.” Riley propped herself up on her elbows and yawned widely. “Glamoured for privacy, obviously. Our troop is sort of special that way.”
Oh. For some reason that Edie couldn’t quite grasp, Riley’s revelation was…troubling. But honestly, what a lovely young woman—half-fae, whatever—Riley seemed to be. Good for her. Good for all of them!
“Huh,” Max said under his breath. “Guess I can’t detect glamoured half-fae. Good to know. Gooooood to know.”
“We couldn’t detect them either!” Spreading her hands wide, Lorraine met Max’s eyes and shrugged expressively. “Or so it seems!”
“I see.” The witch stared down at Riley, her eyes sharp. “Zombies can’t kill full fae. What about half-fae?”
Riley’s shoulders lifted in a desultory shrug. “Not sure. Maybe yes, maybe no. Hey, are you certain there isn’t anything weird in this—”
“I’m certain.” The intensity in Sabrina’s voice ratcheted higher.“Whatever’s going on here, do you have any part in it? Did you come to sabotage our efforts?”
“Nope.” Idly, the half-fae crossed one leg over the other, then swung her foot. “The exact opposite. We had a feeling that stupid splinter group of fae might be involved, and we wanted to help clean up the mess they made. Not all fae are jerkwads, you know. Even the full fae.” She scrunched up her nose. “Although, to be fair, a lot of them kind of are.”
“Yuuuuuuup,” Max muttered. “Got the trauma to prove it.”
Edie patted his arm.
“Alotof them,” said the blond Girl Explorer with feeling. “But even most of the jerkwads aren’t megalomaniacal murderers. That’s honestly pretty rare.”
Happy again, Edie grinned at everyone. Yay for the non-jerkwad, non-homicidal fae! And their wonderful half-fae kids! And all the whole-fae kids too!
Sabrina did not appear to be similarly pleased. “Do you know anything about the breach or what the splinter group’s larger ambitions might be?”
“Uh-uh.” Riley flopped back down on the carpet. “No clue. It’s probably horrible, though.” She tittered nervously. “Really, really horrible. Those fae areevil.”
Max raised a hand. “Seconded. The motion passes!” As he lowered his arm, he studied his palm. “Wow. Hands. They do a lot, huh?”
“Yours certainly do!” Edie tried to wink, but it felt more like a whole-face scrunch. “I’m talking about sex stuff, by the way.”
As one, the Girl Explorers all straightened and scooted a little closer.
“Yeah, you are,” he said, and they high-fived before he suddenly frowned and angled himself toward Sabrina. “Wait a minute. Witch, I feel—”
“Don’t worry, Max.” Their host offered him a toothy smile. “You’re fine. Everyone’s fine.”
“That’s so cool. Not the murdery part, the glamour part. You’re lucky you can disguise yourselves like that.” From where he hung half off the love seat beside his cousin, Kip pointed at Riley. “Lorrie and I can’t. Glamours just aren’t a troll thing. That’s why we had to hide in the woods for so long, until stupid common humans—” He looked apologetically at Edie. “Sorry. Untilcertainstupid common humans encroached on our territory, found our cabins and cottages, and forced us out in the open.”
“No worries.” Edie tipped her head in consideration. “You don’t live among the tree roots, then?”
Kip snorted. “We live in a condo, bro.”
“That’s awesome!” No wonder their clothing looked so clean!
