Page 17

“Yes, of course, you are correct.”

I knew how Victor was feeling, because I felt the same when I thought of how they’d have to face my brother. Victor’s immortality wasn’t going to stop Syros, and despite Zee’s new godlike powers, Syros would still be able to crush him like a bug. When the final battle came and we faced Syros, I’d be terrified for them.

I already was.

Victor stopped. “A vehicle . . . You hear it?” He tilted his head. “Headed this way.”

We hurried off the road, skidded down the bank, and pressed ourselves low in the brush, so we could see the vehicle but hopefully they wouldn’t see us.

The grumble of an engine grew louder, then a bang as it backfired. Headlights swept through the gloom, washing the track and everything along it in pale white light. We hunkered lower. The pickup truck raced by, kicking up grit, and as the sound of its engine faded into the night again, I frowned. In the back had been three figures, each carrying guns.

“Hooper’s friends?” I whispered, staying low just in case there were any more on the way.

“Possibly.”

A glowing meteor of purple glitter shot from the sky, landing dramatically on the track. Panting, Zee straightened, ruffled his wings and his hair around his horns. “D’yah miss me?”

“You’ve been gone for all of four minutes,” Victor said, straightening and joining Zee on the track.

“Yeah, I know, so—” He took a breath, and lowered his wings, reducing their glow. “Those guys? You know how I feel emotions? When I spotted them below, I got muchos bad vibes off ’em. Also, they took a shot at me. Missed . . . mostly.” He flung out his left wing, where a little bit of the membrane had been torn free.

Victor’s growl silenced all the nearby chittering.

“Easy, Vic. I’m fine. But those guys are headed out to Hooper’s love shack with bad intentions. Since they kinda helped me, and we’re supposed to be heroes an’ all, my gut says we should maybe go back there . . . just in case.”

I checked Victor’s expression.

“At the very least, we do not want to be blamed for two massacres in one night,” he said.

“Good points, both of you. Let’s go back.”

“And bonus, maybe one of ’em will have a phone.” Zee shrugged.

We started back, walking faster now.

“I can fly ahead an⁠—”

“No,” Victor snapped.

“Easy there, Bossy Fangs. I like the sass between the sheets, but out here you ain’t the boss of me. Remember?”

“You are already wounded⁠—”

“’Tis but a scratch.”

“No. While I know you are a capable warrior, those people were carrying multiple shotguns, and having recently been on the receiving end of a shotgun blast, I strongly advise you not to put yourself in front of one of them.”

“That’s a lot of fuckin’ words for I love you an’ I don’t want you to die. You can say it. We’re all grown-ups. Say the words . . . I love Zodiac. See, so easy. Copy after me⁠—”

Victor stopped. “I do love you, and I don’t want you to die, and frankly, your insistence on throwing yourself into peril is⁠—”

Zee grabbed Victor’s face and slammed a kiss onto his lips that had Victor instantly melting into his embrace and clinging to Zee as though this might be their last moment together. Zee parted from him with a chuckle. Lust flashed purple in his eyes, and with a lick of his lips, he laughed and shot into the sky.

“He is infuriating!” Victor growled, coming as close to a tantrum as I’d ever seen from him.

A shotgun blast boomed in the distance.

“Go!” I told him. He and Zee could reach Hooper much faster than me.