“Do you foresee a need to make use of my particular skills and abilities?”
“No.”
“Political power plays?”
I rolled my eyes. “There will always be political power plays. In this case, though, I expect it will mostly be vampires attempting to curry favor with Killian, his siblings, and myself.”
Jade tilted her head as she thought. “Ah, of course. But if the power plays are all pandering to you, and you don’t expect combat, why do you want me to attend?”
“Because I want to publicly tie you to me,” I said.
Jade didn’t visually or audibly react to my news. She just thoughtfully pursed her lips, then glanced at Landon—who wasworking on my nitro cold brew—with more interest than she’d displayed toward the conversation. “Please explain.”
I planted my elbows on the table, then rested my chin on my hands and gave her my best besotted look. “When a vampire loves a slayer very much, they declare their intentions publicly.”
Jade looked away from Landon so she could stare at me—her expression once again neutral.
I sat up straight and dropped my hands in my lap. “I want to let vampire society know you’re off limits, and not to be attacked. The gala will be the best show of force I can manufacture that will ingrain this information in their dull skulls.”
Jade scrunched her nose ever so slightly—the first sign she was processing what I’d said. “Then…is that the entire purpose of the gala?”
“In my mind, yes,” I said. “But it will also be my first public event in vampire society since my arrival in Magiford, so I imagine Killian’s purpose in holding the gala is to show me off so his cellphone and email stop blowing up.”
“I’ve got your royal gingerbread latte and nitro cold brew—no cream!” Landon shouted at an unnecessarily loud volume considering I could nearly touch the front counter from our position.
We stood up and claimed our drinks. Jade took a cautious sip of her sugary monstrosity. “It’s delicious. Thanks—I mean, thanks for the recommendation,” she said in a stilted tone that meant she’d probably been internally rehearsing the line.
Landon beamed. “Crafted for your enjoyment! Here—you’ll need a lid. Enjoy your vampire prom!”
“Oh. Um.” Jade paused in the middle of fitting the lid on her drink and rapidly blinked.
So the gangly human can rile her up over the gala, but I can’t? That’s not fair.
I raised my drink in a toast and experimented with wrapping an arm around Jade’s shoulders. “Thank you—we will!”
Jade didn’t shrug my arm off—perhaps my casual touches were paying off, as earlier in the month she hadn’t hesitated to step away from me. She did, however, bump my side and nod toward the door.
“I can understand that you and Killian would have differing goals for this gala.” Jade sipped her drink again, then stepped out of my arm so she could push the café door open. “But you’ve been in Magiford for months. Why wait this long to throw an introductory gala?”
“Ah, you forget, I was hiding.” I winked, barely registering the cold wind that battered at us as we stepped outside. “Not even Killian knew I was holed up in our apartment building. Moreover, I had no desire to meet any other vampires for the mere sake of lessening Killian’s workload.”
I unlocked my car, and we climbed in, closing the doors and blocking out the winter weather.
“But it’s been a couple weeks since you revealed your presence,” Jade persisted. “Did you still hope to escape it?”
“No, I knew I’d have to do it eventually, but I’d been planning for midwinter.” I fiddled with my car keys, until I remembered Jade was probably cold. I turned the car on and blasted the heat, but left it in park. “I realized it was more vital than I’d planned when you stopped wearing your mask. Besides, the Dracos children have actually followed my orders for once and gone out in society to amaze and cow local vampire Families. The stage is set.”
“Ah,” Jade said. “Okay.” She sipped at her latte. “Are we going to head to Tutu’s?”
I sipped my drink, noting the nitro cold brew’s smooth and frothy texture as I took in Jade’s steady pulse and unbotheredexpression. “In a moment. Does the knowledge of all this maneuvering upset you?”
“No?” Jade finally frowned, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. “Why would it?”
“You weren’t thrilled when Killian whisked you off to meet the snake-brats.”
“Yes, because I’ve never read a guide on how to meet your task force partner’s affluent Family,” Jade said. “But everything you’ve described about the gala falls in the realm of basic vampire psychology. This is expected behavior.”
I stared at her as a mix of relief and delight bubbled up in me.
