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Nicholas sighed. “Whose idea was the pink glitter bombing?”

Jesse shrugged. “Not know. Is funny?”

Carver thought it was funny.

“Not funny,” Nicholas responded.

“It’s a little funny,” Dante disagreed. He strode forward, passing Nicholas and Jesse.

Jesse gave them that adorable gap-toothed grin. “Hi, Carver.”

“Hi, Jesse!” Carver lowered his voice. “Is funny.”

Jesse nodded. “I know.”

“Not funny!” Nicholas growled. “I was battling the little gremlin shits and didn’t even see Syn flying in.”

“Wampire gnommies!” Carver and Jesse corrected at the same time.

Dante sat on the bench with Carver in his lap. “Where are the wampire gnommies? Did Nicholas scare them away?”

Carver very purposely didn’t look toward the bush where Germin seemed to be gathering his clan.

“If we’re lucky, the little sh…wampire gnommies portaled back where they came from,” Nicholas spat.

There was a sharp whistle that cut through the air.

“Shit!” Nicholas darted off the path closer to the bushes. It just happened to be the bush that Germin had been under.

“Attack!” Germin yelled.

Before Carver’s eyes, Nicholas was immediately swarmed.

“Ow!” Nicholas hollered. “No biting! You’re not really vampires! Ouch!”

Above them, Syn rolled as she flew fast and directly at Nicholas.

“Who knew we would get such an exciting show tonight,” Dante murmured.

It was pretty entertaining watching a big bad vampire shaking his legs while hopping around trying to get a dozen gnomes off him. Huh. Carver’s cheeks hurt from smiling. Could this be his new life if Carver betrayed his friends and everything that he’d once believed?

8

Dante

“Iwould like to feed you, little one.”

From the middle of his big bed, Carver glanced up at him. The boy hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d come across Nicholas, Jesse, and the wampire gnommies. After Nicholas had run toward the house in defeat, Germin had climbed Dante’s leg and settled on Carver where the two of them babbled at each other for nearly thirty minutes.

Dante had been relieved when he’d felt Carver getting closer to him when the sun had gone down.

He’d had to force himself not to run to Carver and that had become increasingly difficult when Carver had stopped before the gate.

Sending Syn to Carver had been a calculated move.

Dante had been sure that his familiar would at least keep close. He waited as long as he could before tracking the boy down himself. The bond between the two of them was growing. Even if Carver didn’t understand it. That was okay since Dante did.

The boy hadn’t come back to him with pure intentions.