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“Impossible,” I scoffed. “They’re too wrapped up in the drama of longing for the past or carrying on over the death of whatever pet human they stupidly got attached to.” The cat was shedding all over my trousers, so I stopped petting it and rested my hand on the table. “I had to set Vígí’s mansion on fire to get him to wake up. No one is coming here.”
“They are,” Killian grimly said. “So far, the twins, Baldwin, and Margarida have informed me of their plans. More may join them.”
“This sounds like a you problem,” I said. “Because there’s no way they’re staying with me.”
“Correct,” Killian said. “However, I willmake ita you problem if you don’t meet with them and get them to leave. Apparently, they’re concerned you’re losing it since you’ve insisted on all this secrecy of your location.”
I paused. “Me? I had to bankrupt Baldwin not even a decade ago to roust him from his stupid coffin, and he thinksI’mlosing it?”
“I have never claimed to come from a particularly intelligent vampire line.”
I drummed my fingers on the table of the bistro set. “Ambrose always did have a weakness for sensitive souls—curse him. Whatever. We’ll deal with it. None of them will put up with being parted from their precious routines and homes for very long anyway. They’ll probably set foot on the tarmac and then immediately start whining when they see how modernized Magiford is.”
“It’s your gamble to take.”
“Oh, no. We are in this together. I might be stuck watching you all but they areyoursiblings. I’m not related to any of you.”
The door opened bringing another waft of spices, and the nose-tingling zing of antiseptic.
Jade was back with her treated fingers.
“I have to go,” I said. “Call me later.”
“Have to go?” Killian repeated. “Go where, and for what?”
“You’re far too young to try wheedling info out of me,” I said. “Later.” I ended the call, smirking at Killian’s sputtering, then smiled at Jade as she approached the table. “All good?”
“Yeah.” She held her hand up showing off her bandages.
“Perfect. Then let’s settle the bill for your caffeine consumption and leave.” I tapped the cat, who obligingly got up—although he left a halo of hair on my trousers.
“I wanted to eat,” Jade said.
I stood up, brushing off my clothes. “Fret not, I’ll see that you’re fed.” I smiled at her, then tapped her nose.
There was a new level of amusementto our interactions, knowing that she was a slayer and oblivious to who I was.
Jade blinked in surprise but didn’t object until I draped an arm over her shoulders. “Back up, you’re stealing my heat.” She held the door open for me to soften her words. “Why do we have to go?”
“I thought we could grab something to eat as we walked on the boardwalk,” I said, inventing the idea. The reality was, we needed to leave the restaurant.
Killian wasn’t just the sharpest out of his very powerful, very wealthy Family, he waslethallyintelligent. There was a good chance he’d recorded the call and was playing it back as we spoke trying to pick up on the background noise and pinpoint my location.
“Oh. Yeah, that would be fun.” Jade smiled at me, her green eyes warm with all the happiness and friendship she’d lacked when pointing a gun at me mere hours ago.
Perhaps this isn’t much of a vacation after all, but one thing is for certain. This isvastlymore entertaining than anything I’ve done in centuries.
I chuckled deep in my throat. “It will be,” I said.
THE END
