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“Do you know what that is?” I asked.
After a few thoughtful beats, Zander asked, “Is it French?”
“Uhm, maybe?” I wasn’t sure why the language was important, and Zee shrugged when I looked to him for an answer. “Don’t you speak French?” I asked Zee.
“Moi? What the fuck gave you that idea?”
“You just said moi? That’s French, Zee”
His face got all gnarly with denial. “No it’s not.”
“Yeah, it is.” Wasn’t it?
“No, it’s not. It’s Zee. I speak Zee.”
Was it Zee or French? Now I wasn’t sure. “Hold up, are you French?”
“No, Kitten.” Zee rolled his eyes. “I’m a demon.”
“I know, I . . . never mind.” Anyway, the language didn’t matter, and trying to keep these two focused was like trying to catch two ping-pong balls at once. “Victor said it’s maybe a loup-garou that attacked you, which is like a shapeshifter. So it can shift into a humanoid wolf, but it isn’t lupine like you and the pack. It’s different and more dangerous, bigger and stronger.”
“Wow, sounds badass.” Zander grabbed the glass from a side table, and using a wide straw he fished for a bunch of bubbles at the bottom. “Bubble tea? So good.”
“The popping bubbles are the best!” Zee joined in.
“I know, right. You guys want some?”
“Thought you’d never fuckin’ ask.”
“Oh, uh, I can’t get up . . . Kitchen’s right through there.”
Zee sauntered out the door and clattered about somewhere near the back of the house. Hopefully Mia wouldn’t mind a seven-foot demon rummaging through her kitchen cabinets for bubble tea.
“Do you have any idea why the loup-garou would come after you?”
“It wasn’t just some random attack?”
“We don’t think so. Cameron was killed, probably by this beast, and then it almost got you not long after we arrived at your place.”
“Seems to me that maybe it’s after you guys.” Zander pointed the thick straw.
“Cameron was killed before we arrived, so we don’t think so. It could be random, I guess, but what if it’s not? Can you think of any reason it might want to hurt you? Has anything out of the ordinary happened lately? Have you seen anything weird?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t really get out much, just stay in my cabin . . . which is gone now . . . I guess . . .” He sniffed and looked up. “Wow. It’s really gone. What am I gonna do? This couch is nice but I can’t stay here.” His eyes got all big and glossy.
Zee reappeared with a drink and thick straw, and leaning against the doorframe he swirled his bubble tea. “Bubbles fix troubles,” he sang. “You can fill the whole straw with ’em, pour ’em on your tongue, and pop them all at once.” Which he did, all at once, then spoke around the many bubbles. “Ish like shome kunna fuckin’ parshy in yuh mowff.” He gulped, then blinked. “What?”
“Zander was just wondering what he’s going to do now his house and everything he owns is gone.”
“Oh fuck, right. So sad.” Zee did not sound sad. “Hey, I know. You can come back to San Francisco with us. We’ve got plenty of room . . . and dildos.”
“Really?” Zander brightened, and sniffing, wiped a tear away.
Oh dear. “Uhm—”
“Yeah, sure. Right, Adam?” Zee fluttered his lashes, and Zander’s eyes got even bigger and full like a scolded puppy’s, but I knew Victor would scowl and say we needed every single room to turn a profit, and we’d just spent all that money renovating them, and then there was my brother . . . but Zander’s big brown eyes . . . and . . . but . . . “I guess?”
“You guys are the best!”
