Sophia blinked at him. “Are you making a case for vampires?”
“Yeah, I think I am,” he replied. “I mean, all anyone ever cares about is the fact that they kill people and spread their bloodsucking disease.”
“Totally,” Sophia said blankly. “Those guys make it about themselves and their fear of dying.”
Rudolf nodded, finished his bottle of wine, and still appeared mostly sober. “If your mean old sister hadn’t gotten rid of the last coven, then I’d make a campaign for vampires and educate the public on tolerance. I mean, shouldn’t we be accepting of all types?”
“Again, they kill people,” Sophia argued.
“So does listening to NPR,” Rudolf stated.
“How do you figure?” She wished he hadn’t finished the wine since the fae made her want to drink.
“Well, every time I listen to it, I want to kill myself,” Rudolf stated.
“Of course, I should have seen that coming.” Sophia looked away when Bep pricked her with a needle and began to draw her blood. Strangely, although she’d been in many a bloody fight, rode high in the sky on the back of a dragon, and faced severe dangers daily, she couldn’t stand the sight of seeing someone drawing her blood.
“Okay, I’ll message you when I have a lead on this substance,” Bep stated. “Your magic is low, and after this, you’ll be even lower. You’ll need to eat.”
“She’s buying me tacos,” Rudolf interjected.
“No, I’m not,” Sophia replied.
“But you promised,” he complained.
“That never happened. I have to go and round up some lone dragonrider,” Sophia countered.
“Oh, did that boyfriend of yours run off with a Miranda?” Rudolf nodded as if that made perfect sense.
Sophia rolled her eyes, surprised how Miranda kept getting brought up. “No, Wilder didn’t. He’s off on a similar mission.”
“Well, I’m all for having an open relationship, so good luck finding your new boyfriend to add to the reverse harem.” Rudolf tapped the counter. “Then I guess that means that you, Bep, will be taking me to get tacos.”
The potion’s expert shook her head. “I don’t eat tacos.”
“But you promised!” he whined.
Bep patted Sophia’s hand. “We’re done. Now take that circus monkey out of here.”
“He has business with you on Heals Pills.” Sophia pulled her sleeve down.
“See and we can discuss them over tacos!” Rudolf exclaimed. “And you buy the beer. I haven’t had anything to drink in ages.”
“You finished a bottle of wine,” Bep pointed out.
“That he didn’t share,” Sophia added.
“That was forever ago,” Rudolf argued.
Sophia strode for the door, hoping to get out of there before Rudolf zapped any more of her brain cells. “See you two later.”
“Bye,” Bep chirped.
“It’s good that you’re leaving,” Rudolf began. “Because you know what they say?”
“I’m certain that I do and you don’t,” Sophia called over her shoulder.
“Anyway, it’s true, absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Rudolf offered with a smile.
Sophia paused, suddenly surprised. “Ru, you got the cliché right this time.”
He tilted his head as confusion covered his face. “Wait, that’s not how it goes. It’s abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, which is totally untrue. Abstinence makes me dump Cindy.”
Chapter Ten
“I can’t believe you’re cutting me off.” Lunis pouted and laid his head on his front legs stretched out in front of him.
Sophia tightened the saddle on him, although he wasn’t making her job easy by lying on his stomach. “I’m not cutting you off from playing Animal Crossing. I have to use my phone to access the map so I can find this demon dragon and his rider.”
“Is this because I bought a bunch of leaf tickets using your credit card?”
Sophia darted her eyes at him as they narrowed. “You did what?”
“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You said you bought a bunch of Animal Crossing currency.”
He tilted his head and gave her a studious expression. “Would I do that?”
“You would and you have, and I told you to stop buying virtual money to make things like fake furniture.”
“But the dog wants a treadmill, and the goat asked for a grand piano,” Lunis explained. “What would you do if your friends needed something?”
“They aren’t your friends.” Sophia realized how much Lunis needed this mission. Getting out would be good for him. Then he could derive satisfaction from flying and completing the assignment and not from leveling up by foraging for nuts and berries in a virtual game.
“I don’t say that about Wilder,” Lunis fired back.
Sophia came around in front of him, her hands on her hips. “Wilder is my friend. He’s my boyfriend.”
“Oh, are y’all still trying to make that work?” Lunis teased.
“It’s not work,” Sophia replied, and that was the truth. Things with Wilder were easy. He was her person—the one who got her the best and was the easiest to be around. Sophia had a lot of people she loved, but no one like Wilder. It seemed effortless for him to make her laugh or take her breath away. That wasn’t work. It was chemistry. They were made for each other.
“Are you sure you need my help on this mission?” Doubt edged into Lunis’ voice.
“Yes,” Sophia urged. “Recruiting a dragonrider to the Elite is sort of difficult if I’m not on my dragon.”
“Maybe it will be less intimidating,” Lunis reasoned. “I mean, I’m pretty hardcore. Can you imagine how intimidating it will be for this newbie when they spot me?”
“Lunis, Mahkah says that it’s safe for you to fly. You have to be careful on takeoff though. Don’t overdo it. Once you’re up in the air, it’s all easy. Then with landing, you’ll favor your back legs.”
“I wasn’t planning on landing traditionally,” he teased. “I was going to roll out of it.”
Sophia grimaced. “I’m not in favor of that idea.”
“Fine.” Lunis held out his wing, inviting Sophia to climb onto his back. “We’ll do this, but let’s hope this new dragon and rider are cool. I’m tired of the stick-in-the-mud old dragons. They’re fun-ruiners.”
Sophia giggled as she climbed into the saddle and took the reins, trying to cover her nervousness. She had her doubts about Lunis’ first flight, but then she remembered something that Mahkah had told her when she first started riding Lunis: “The confidence of the rider becomes the fate of the dragon.”
Sophia swallowed and drew in extra confidence—telling herself that Lunis could do this. They could do this. Her faith in him would translate to his, and he’d be back to his old self. Well, maybe not that, but he’d be back and stronger for having gotten through the challenge.