45. Ready?

T urney barely held back his smile as Octavius slumped further in his seat. With Min-ji driving, Scarlett in the front passenger seat, and Theo and Sprinkle sleeping in the back, the van was relatively quiet. Aside from his boyfriend.

The vampire’s happiness from his college news had held up for about an hour into the drive. After that hour, Octavius had begun to make noises of discontentment, and had been for the last thirty minutes, while also becoming poutier by the second.

His smile slipped free as the vampire let out a loud whine.

“If you are bored, why don’t you call Cormac and see if he has any updates on the case?”

There was a startled snort from behind him. “Nothing yet,” Theo said sleepily. “He said it would likely take them a while.” The wolf yawned wide enough that Turney heard his jaw crack.

Well, at least one of them had kept up to date on the case, as he knew Octavius sure as hell hadn’t. “Okay, maybe instead of going home, we can join them?”

Octavius slowly looked over at him, his eyes narrowing. “No,” the vampire grumbled.

The man’s glare narrowed more as Turney’s smile grew. Ah, his bat was so grumpy and hard headed. Shaking his head, Turney pulled out his phone, which led to Octavius letting out another whine.

“I can’t believe they took my phone!”

“It had evidence on it,” Scarlett drawled.

“How am I supposed to survive without a phone?!” Octavius cried, before turning away to look out the window with a huff.

Min-ji snorted. “Pretty sure you survived a couple of millennia without one…”

“That was then, this is now!”

Chuckling, Turney flipped his phone open and checked the area. He forced his face to go blank as he spotted something that would fix his sad, batty boyfriend. With zero inflection, he asked, “How about we stop at our phone carrier’s store, get you a new phone, and then after…we can check out Dinosaur Fun Land?”

“N—” The vampire’s head snapped his way, the man’s bratty ‘no’ cutting off. “Did you say…Dinosaur…Fun Land?”

“I did.”

Octavius’ eyes went wide. “As in a fun land with dinosaur themed things?”

Turney smirked. “As in an amusement park with fun dinosaur themed things.”

The vampire let out a squeal. “WE HAVE TO GO!”

Turney stumbled, chuckling a bit as Octavius rushed past him into the room with a joy-filled giggle. “By the Gods, THE BED IS SHAPED LIKE A DINO EGG!”

The vampire sprinted to the window and pressed his face up to it. “I can see the rides from here! Oh, oh! I wanna go on the velociraptor! It goes around and around and around!” The vampire emphasized that by running around in circles.

Bouncing, Octavius stared at him for a second, before going back to exploring, while randomly shouting out cutely about things he found.

The room was a toss-up between the Flintstones, and a bossed-out kid’s bedroom. A lot of green, bone stuff, and cool, shaped, dinosaur themed furniture.

He had just finished rolling their luggage in when Scarlett appeared, her expression semi-amused as she watched Octavius run around. “Quick thinking there.”

“I thought we might as well continue our trip, even if it’s in a different place.” Smirking, he lightly knocked his shoulder against hers. “Ready for some dino fun?”

She snorted. “Do I have a choice?”

“Nope!” Turney laughed.

Scarlett sighed. “Then I guess I’m ready.”

Min-ji walked in, wrapping an arm around Scarlett’s shoulders. “I can’t say I’m not slightly disappointed that there is no spa here.”

With Sprinkle padding in on her leash in front of him, Theo walked in with a groan as he rolled his suitcase inside. “Yeah… that was a nice spa. I'm also going…to miss having my own room.”

Turney grimaced. “I think we were lucky they even had two rooms available. And that one happened to be a luxury suite. With the couch changing into a bed, and the door between the living room and the bedroom, you’ll have a little bit of privacy. Did you get things sorted with Sprinkle?”

“Yes. I will say…there was definitely a benefit to booking a hotel room with someone who wants one of us dead. A lot less questions when it comes to bringing a cat as a guide animal.”

He chuckled. “I’d imagine.”

Octavius rushed out from the other room. “The knobs of the sink are dino claws!” the vampire said with an excited squeal, practically vibrating where he stood. “Oh, are we ready?! Are we ready to go into the park?! PLEASE, SAY YES!?”

The vampire looked back and forth between them all, his large ocean-blue eyes sparkling as he pleaded.

Turney eyed the others, and they shrugged. “We’re ready.”

Well…as ready as they would ever be for any of Octavius’ crazy…