“Thank you, Sam. That’s very kind of you to share that with me.” He paused. “A Counselor? I hadn’t considered that.” He paused. “I’ll need to think about that, won’t I? I’ll try to reach Clive before sunrise here and hope it’s close enough to sunset there so we can connect and discuss this.”
“He can wake up early,” I told him.
“I know he can, thankfully, or we wouldn’t be able to talk with one another for a few months. My best to you and Jane,” he said.
Jane was the Irish Wolfhound I’d found on the moors. “Actually, Jane was traveling under an assumed name. She dragged me through a fae rip in the realms near your nocturne and we ended up in the Cotswolds, where her owner informed me I had inadvertently stolen his dog Alice.”
“I hope you told him that you kept her safe from a pack of werewolves hunting her,” Bram said.
“Hmm. I don’t think I ever did. But, he let Clive and me adopt his wolfhound puppy, so it’s all good. Here. Wait. I’ll send you his pic.” I took a quick photo and texted it to him. “This is my son Fergus.”
Bram huffed out a laugh. “Very handsome and an excellent name.”
“Thanks. I know you’re busy, so I’ll let you go. Hopefully, you’re able to connect with Clive later.”
“I hope so too. Have a good day,” Bram said before he disconnected.
I stowed the phone and began jogging again. “For you guys, I hope he decides to do it. For his nocturne, I hope he doesn’t. They love him.”
“Unfortunately, we sometimes end up advancing the problematic ones because we can’t afford to lose the effective ones from their critical positions,” Vlad said.
“Is Pablo evidence of that?” We slowed to a walk as we rounded the small pond that marked the entrance to my old apartment.
“I have no idea how he ended up in the Guild. Back when there was a full complement of us, I avoided meetings. Sebastian was there to represent Europe. They didn’t need both of us, so I stayed home, ostensibly to advise my people if needed. Really, I was just avoiding the headaches.”
“Understandable. I’d imagine it’s hard to hold yourselves back when people are begging for a whooping. It’s a good thing I wasn’t in the room last night when Joao was talking about killing Jade so he wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout of her being found with a vampire.”
When we reached the living room of the small apartment, Vlad sat down and grabbed a book off the end table. “That one is weak. He uses his good looks and charm to get what he wants and then secrets away information to manipulate those around him, ensuring he always gets whatever he wants. He’s not used to being told no. He’s what I thought your husband was.”
At my dirty look, he grinned. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens tonight. Cadmael, a far older and more powerful vampire, and the new head of the Guild, gave him a direct order to look into Rafaela’s abduction. We’ll see if he does it. Joao’s not used to being ordered to do something he doesn’t want to do.”
Fergus got up on the sofa and flopped down so he was leaning against Vlad’s hip like they did this every day, and maybe they did. Vlad crossed his feet on the coffee table and opened his book.
“Okay. You guys have a good one,” I called, moving into the kitchen, where Dave was already at the stove. I checked my phone. How late was I? “What are you doing here so early?”
“What does it look like?” he grumbled, stirring something in a pot. As it smelled delicious, I leaned in for a better look.
“You and your long hair need to back away from my food.”
I moved away and watched him for a minute. “What bug crawled up your ass today? My hair is tied up and I was just looking.”
Flames went up his arms. He turned to me, expression thunderous, and I wished I had my demon sword at my side. Wait a minute. I grabbed my axe, which wouldn’t hurt him the way it would the fae, but it could still fuck him up real good.
“Who’s your dad?” I demanded.
His face went blank for a moment and then he shook his head, going back to stirring the pot. “You know who my dad is. You met him and lost your scars—you’re welcome. I’m not a pooka. I’m just in a shitty mood, okay? Maggie went back to Ireland to visit her family.” He shooed me away from him, pointing me toward a plate of bonus peanut butter chocolate chip cookies on the counter.
Dave had started cooking years ago to help with bouts of uncontrollable anger—half demon and all that. Cooking relaxes him. He picked up baking more recently and has been making baked goods for Stheno to sell at The Viper’s Nest. We tried putting a cake stand filled with brownies, cookies, and whatever on the bar to sell here, but Fyr and I kept eating them. Okay, fine. It was mostly me. Now, when Dave bakes, he puts aside the rejects for me. They may have looked wonky, but they tasted great.
Maggie was Dave’s banshee girlfriend. She should be his banshee wife, but unless they’d married in secret, it hadn’t happened yet. I didn’t know why he was dragging his feet. Oh. Unless maybe she was the one dragging feet.
“Why haven’t you locked her down yet?” I asked.
“I’m working on it,” he growled.
“Not hard enough. We both know you can be anywhere in the world any time you want. Why not just go visit her?”
Flames spouted from the backs of his hands again. “They don’t like me. They don’t want her seeing a demon, even one who’s only half.”
