“Excellent.” Celestina dragged her sagging fae upright. “We’ll secure them, phone in for reinforcements, and Rupert will drive you all over to Drake Hall.”
Rupert puffed up like an angry cat. “Wait, why do I have to drive them? Why can’t I stay here and you take the rat—take them home?”
“Are you questioning my orders?” Celestina sounded pleasant, but her expression must have been pretty terrifying because Rupert turned whiter than usual.
“No, First Knight,” he mumbled. “I’ll take the wizards to Drake Hall once the fae are secured.”
Rupert’s fae seemed to come out of his addled state, so he gave him another good shake while Celestina tied up her fae attacker and called home.
Us wizards stood together, gossiping with Leila—once she joined us—and casting anxious glances at the singed trees.
But by the time the first Drake vampire showed up—jumping the wrought-iron fence—and Rupert herded us to his car, it had occurred to me there was something about that fight.
It was the first real time we wizards had fought with vampires, and we’d rocked it.
The vampires had given us an early warning, but we’d covered them from the magic that would usually pose a big threat to them. We’d also been able to flush the fae out, and the vampires with their superior speed took the baddies down before I’d even blinked.
The Drake vampires were an incredible fighting force on their own, and House Medeis wizards weren’t slouches, either. But together? …Maybe the Night Court was right to be afraid of us.
“Did you know Rupert gets eye twitches when he’s really annoyed?” I trotted at Killian’s side as we made our way down to the gym. “It’s so fun to watch!”
Killian raised an eyebrow at me. “You were attacked by fae archers, and the most interesting observation you make out of the entire event is that Rupert has poor muscle control?”
“It was pretty uneventful.” I held my katana in place at my side so it wouldn’t smack my leg with my fast steps—since Killian was so much taller I usually had to scramble to keep up. This light jog was a pretty slow pace for him. “We took the fae down in like a minute flat.”
After nearly crashing on the short drive over—Rupert didn’t appreciate it when Momoko tried to fish a leaf out of his hair while he was pulling into the driveway—we made it to Drake Hall.
Instead of discussing the attack, Killian insisted I prepare for training, and listened to a verbal report before escorting me downstairs. (The other wizards were sent to the kitchen for a snack. Momoko assured me they would find me after getting a bite to eat, but I ate here every day for the entire summer. I knew there was no way I’d see them again until it was time to go.)
“That may be, but it shows the Night Court hasn’t given up yet,” Killian said. “To their detriment. I intend to hang Queen Nyte with political ramifications for this until all fae in the region can’t move in the mess of red tape.”
“Can you really do that?”
“I am the Vampire Eminence and on the Regional Committee of Magic. Since they broke the rules, there’s not many who can stop me.” Killian stretched out his fingers and clenched them. “The Paragon might, but I intend to keep him out of the fight.”
“That’s thoughtful of you,” I said. “But I suppose, you are friends.” I cleared my throat and kept my eyes straight ahead.
I could feel Killian’s gaze on me, but I chose to ignore it, because otherwise that would mean looking at him.
For the first time I’d ever seen, Killian wasn’t wearing a ludicrously expensive designer suit.
Instead he was in one of those fancy, moisture-wicking t-shirts, and black jogger pants. He looked like a fitness model, and I was willing to bet that when he did train, he never sweated a drop. (Not fair! As a wizard my temperature always ran hotter, and whenever I trained with the Drakes they turned me into a sweaty mess.)
I didn’t want to ask him about the fitness clothes, or give him the satisfaction of seeing me eye him, so I kept my eyeballs facing forward and my mouth shut.
“The Paragon and I are not friends,” Killian stressed.
“Sure you are,” I said. “That’s why you don’t want to involve him in this mess.”
“No, it’s not.” Killian insisted.
“Just keep telling yourself that.”
Killian opened the door for me, conveniently letting me slip in front of him.
“Thanks,” I started. “So are you…” I slowly trailed off as I got a good look around the gym.
Every time I’d trained here, there were at least five other vampires working out—whether that meant lifting weights or practicing combat over in the padded section.
Today, there was no one.
The gym was deserted.
I sucked my neck into my shoulders and felt my nerves crackle to life. “What’s going on?” I reluctantly shuffled around so I could suspiciously peer up at Killian.
He smiled at me and gestured to the ground.
I looked down, and my hackles rose at the red and white rose petals that were scattered on the floor, making a trail over to the thickly padded section of mats. I returned my gaze to Killian. His smile turned bemused.
“You want me to follow the petal trail?” I guessed.
“Of course.”
I followed the petals, which wound around a few pieces of weight lifting equipment, and—as I had guessed—eventually ended up over on the mats. The white petals stopped about halfway there, so the only petals in use were red. That was why, when I got to the mat, the message spelled out in petals looked so disturbingly like blood spatters I had to look twice.
“I’m Sorry,” I read the words. I stared at the flower petals before I dared to ask, “Is this another apology?”
“It is.”
“Is there a reason why you keep going for a romantic vibe?”
“I’m certain I don’t know what you mean,” Killian smirked.
I inhaled deeply and started massaging my temples. “Where did you get this idea?”
“I assigned Rupert the task of watching several human chick flick movies. He said this method usually returned wayward males into the good graces of their significant others.”
“Why would you make him do that?” I asked. “You could have just asked Celestina!”
“I did ask Celestina what bribe she recommended,” he said. “She suggested what she called a spa day and insisted she’d go with you as your protection detail, which meant the day was probably more for her than you, so I discarded the idea.”
I set my hands on my hips. “Ah.”
“After hearing Celestina’s suggestion, Josh wanted me to get you a gun.”
I raised a finger in the air. “I definitely don’t want that.”
“I figured as much. Julianne suggested a sword.”
I made an appreciative noise. “Not a bad idea.”
“You really would forgive me if I got you another sword?”
“I already told you I forgave you.” I looked around, hoping for a broom or something to sweep the petals up—I now understood why all other vampires were conspicuously absent.