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Victor rolled his eyes. “Yes. Fine.”

“Great. Let’s go.” I heaved Zee up by an arm. He gave himself an all-over shiver, and vanished his wings. All he had to do was face the door, duck, and we were⁠—

A roar erupted from deep within the building. The air shook, the floor trembled, my ribs rattled. I tried to turn, to see what was coming for us, but the blast slammed into my back, launching me forward.

For a heartbeat, I was weightless, bathed in heat, as light as a feather, then I slammed into Zee, and a wall, and maybe a stair rail. It all happened so fast, and then was over. Steaming debris rained in the stairwell, where we’d landed.

Zee coughed to my left. Victor emerged from under a pile of rubble to my right. We’d made it to the stairs, but where the fire door had been moments ago was now a gaping hole into a fiery hellscape that had once been Reynard Technologies but was now superheated ash, melted glass, and glowing metal.

At least we were in the stairwell.

“Testicles,” Victor growled.

CHAPTER 13

We stumbled out of the building from a side service entrance, and walked in the opposite direction to the fire crew’s flashing lights. We’d gotten a block away, when a huge explosion rocked the early San Francisco morning.

Nothing needed to be said, because we all knew that was the end of the vampire’s tracking program and Gideon Cain’s hostile takeover.

Gideon had learned that if he took anything from Victor, Victor would burn it all down on the way out.

Zee was more clearheaded now his lungs were gas free. “Lemme count the ways I love birthdays. One, cake.” He gave a nod to Victor, whose quick smile back was nothing short of a miracle, and was gone so soon nobody would believe it. “Two, surprise parties. Three, breaking into Reynard Technologies. Four, destroying shit. Five, bruised and fucked-up in a good way.” He rippled his fingers. “Equals, best fucking night ever.”

Though I smelled like a literal trashfire, and my side ached from the robot dog’s stray bullet, I did feel pretty good. “We make a good team.”

“We do,” Victor’s smallest of smiles was back, but this time it stayed.

“Like the Spice Girls,” Zee said.

I had no idea who they were. Perhaps they set fire to things too?

“How so?” Victor asked.

“You’re Daddy Spice, obviously.”

Victor’s left eyebrow arched.

“I’m Sexy Spice, and Adam is . . .” We waited a while, until Zee shrugged and settled on, “Boring Spice.”

“I like being SOS Hotel management.”

“That’s good too. When’s your birthday, Daddy Spice?”

“After several hundred immortal years, birthdays become irrelevant.”

Zee’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the fucking person who pops all the balloons at parties.”

Victor’s smile twitched, but it clung on, like the first little green flower shoot after a long cold winter.

Once we were far enough from the towering inferno, Zee used his phone to call an Uber. The driver didn’t seem all that concerned that we were bloody, messed-up, and smelled like smoke, and dropped us off at the hotel just as the sun began to rise over the Bay Area.

“And that is my cue to take shelter.” Victor stepped onto the porch, out of the sun’s rays. “Thank you both, for a stimulating night, and for your continued compassion and kindness in what has been something of a taxing situation. And of course, happy birthday, Zodiac.”

“Right.” Zee said, hand on hip, eyes narrowed, tail flicking.

“We’ll discuss what to do about Jimmy’s family after we’ve all rested and cleaned up.”

He dipped his chin.