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“Wait, wait! I know about the pixie!”
Zee rolled his eyes. “Now he knows. Surprise, surprise.”
I dropped Ingo and backed up beside Zee. “Talk.”
Rubbing his throat, Ingo peered up at us from his knees. “The pixie was trapped in the tin after Armin took its family.”
“That is such a fucking vampire thing to do,” Zee remarked.
“Took them? Why?” I asked, fearing I already knew the answer.
“As a gift for our queen.”
“Oh, here we fucking go again.” Zee launched into the dramatics and paced, with his wings flared and arms waving. “This Armand fucker stole Jimmy’s family for a gift! Where have we heard that before?”
“Armin,” I corrected.
“Whatever. He’s stealing pixie people and giving them to Princess Buffy’s mom.”
“Daisy.”
“Whatever. And lo and fucking behold, it lands at our feet, where Adam Vex will go all gooey eyed for Little Jimmy’s plight, and I’ll have to march over to Vampire Mansion to save Jimmy’s family because all vampires are assholes and somebody needs to put a stop to their bullshit.”
I hadn’t said any of that, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a plan. With only one problem.
Ingo knew about it.
He caught my gaze, understood what it meant, and opened his mouth to scream or beg or maybe just cry.
“Sorry,” I said, then crushed his skull like an egg.
“Holy fucking macaroni and cheese.” Zee froze, wings back, and blinked.
“What?” I plucked my messy hands back and flicked bits of brain gloop from my fingers. “What is it?”
He made crushing motions with his fingers. “You. You just . . . with the . . . squish.”
“Oh. Right.” I wiped my hands on a patch of nearby grass. “He kind of had to die though, right? I mean, the murdering had to happen. He’d have warned the vampires we’re on to them.”
“Uh-huh. Yeah. Yup. I just . . . Fuck. I think I just fell in love with you all over again.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.” I picked brain matter from under my nails.
The vampire with the broken neck groaned, drawing our attention. “What about them?” Zee asked.
“Yours is still out cold, and mine . . .” Mine flopped around on the floor like a fish out of water. “I don’t think he saw much.”
“What about Jim?” Zee asked.
Oh no. I really did not want to hurt Junk Jim. He was nice. But leaving witnesses was always a mistake.
“I’ll talk to him,” Zee offered. “It’ll be fine. Watch.” He marched to the front passenger’s door and opened it.
“I didn’t see anything!” Jim squawked. “Nothing at all!”
“Good.” Zee leaned on the open door, casually looming. “Because if you did, we’d have to come after you, and you’ve seen what happens to the folks on Adam’s Bad People list, right?”
Junk Jim collapsed out of the van, into Zee’s arms. Passed out cold. “Yeah, he’s not gonna talk.” Zee shoved him back into the front seat. “And what’s to tell? A boring human exploded a vampire skull? Pfft, sounds crazy. Didn’t happen.” Zee slammed the van door, then eyed the headless vampire corpse slumped on the ground at my feet. “What do you wanna do about the body?”
