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Sky’s smile grew tight just before he dropped his eyes to his backpack. “I brought along some water and sandwiches. Moon mentioned being hungry. I wasn’t sure if you could or would eat…”
Moon flopped on the ground and grabbed one of the water bottles. He handed it over to Chen, then snagged one for himself. God, that water tasted good. Too much cotton mouth. The vampire sat beside him, placing the sword in the cave, but keeping it well within reach as his gaze strayed to the minion playing in the melting snow. Moon handed him a turkey sandwich and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“You’re still healing,” Moon grumbled when Chen got that look on his face like he wanted to argue.
Once Chen accepted the paper-wrapped sandwich, Moon dug into his, moaning softly. Food and water went a long way to getting all the wheels turning in his head. Coffee would have been better, but he was not complaining.
“Do I need to worry about Greg getting pissed about me eating his sandwich?” Moon asked, only after he was shoving the last bite into his mouth.
Sky snorted. “Greg isn’t into sandwiches. If he was, you wouldn’t have gotten any of that down.”
“The underworld minions like sandwiches?” Chen inquired, still taking small bites of his.
“Oh, yeah. Love them. Apparently, a well-made sandwich is hard to get in the underworld.” Sky jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Greg. “I pay a lot of the other minions in small, simple things like sandwiches for their services.”
Moon reached for a second sandwich and another bottle of water. “So, what’s Greg’s payment of choice?”
Sky sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. “Stuffed animals.”
“Stuffies? That evil-looking Pokémon?” Moon cried out as he fell into Chen, laughing.
“Stuffies?” Chen repeated.
“Plush toys like teddy bears,” Sky clarified. “I’ve got my boyfriend, Nolan, running to pick up one for Greg when this is all over.”
Chen grunted, his gaze straying to the minion. “Will Greg help us find our way through the underworld?”
“Yeah…about that,” Sky started slowly as he packed away the empty wrappers and bottles in his backpack. “I need to discuss that with Moon.”
Moon wadded up his paper and tossed it at Sky. “Whatever you’ve got to say, you can say it in front of Chen. I’m not keeping secrets from him. Definitely not about something like this.”
Sky clenched his teeth and growled at him. “Moon—”
“Skylar, if it is a problem to take us through the underworld,” Chen broke in with his usual unflappable calm, “please take Moon through the woods to safety for me. I am fine to remain here until the sun sets and my brothers can fetch me.”
“Absolutely not! I am not leaving you here to deal with the fae if they find you!” Moon roared. “We leave together, or we stay together. Those are the only options.”
“Whoa! Dial it down a notch.” Sky smacked Moon on the top of the head. “I’m not saying I won’t take you through the underworld. I just want to discuss the possible complications. We are talking about going through the underworld with a soul that has died, gone to the underworld, and then got shoved back into the same fucking body without going through processing.” As he spoke, Sky motioned both hands toward Chen. “You might not realize this, but demons are very organized, and they’re sticklers for the rules. They aren’t big fans of vampires because they muck with their rules and processes.”
“Meng Po and Naihe Bridge,” Chen whispered.
Moon’s head snapped to find Chen staring off into space, his pink lips slightly parted. “Who?”
The vampire shook his head, one corner of his mouth twitching higher. “Meng Po. It’s one of our old tales of what happens in the afterlife. Meng Po waits by the riverside to offer you a drink of her oblivion soup. It permanently erases all your memories of your last life so that you may cross the Naihe Bridge to be reincarnated. You cannot move on until you meet with the goddess.”
“Wow, that’s cool,” Sky murmured. “I don’t know if that’s how it works. I’ve tried not to ask too many questions. But I know all souls pass through the underworld for processing prior to moving on to whatever is next, whether that’s reincarnation or an afterlife.”
“And there’s a possibility of a problem when it comes to Chen’s soul,” Moon murmured. He looked over his shoulder at Chen. Leaving him behind wasn’t an option. They needed to get the vampire away from both the sun and the fae. “I think I have a fix for that.”
Sky moaned and dropped his face into his hand. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” His friend’s head lifted and his expression was frighteningly serious. It was right up there with when Sky was on the warpath to rescue Nolan. “Moon, you need to think about this. As far as we know, this is permanent. You’ve known Chen for what, four days? Five? What if this is just infatuation? A fling?” Sky glanced at Chen and winced. “No offense meant.”
