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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.
