Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Power Outage Plunges Bay Area into Chaos.

Zee showed me the headline on his phone, then flicked to another. Networks Go Dark! Then another. Are Unicorns Real?

"Wait, are they?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, that's... I was looking that shit up when my phone died. Did you know, nobody has seen a unicorn, so in theory they could exist, which means they do until someone proves they don't. Like dragons. Ha." He spun the chair at the bar table, and straddled it, then braced his arms over the back and blinked innocent eyes. "Sooooo... Did we fuck up San Francisco's power grid? Knock out the internet and phone networks? Or was that some kind of wild fucking coincidence?"

"I'm going with coincidence." I nodded firmly. There was no way our bedroom shenanigans had caused a citywide power outage. That would be silly.

"Okay, okay . . . I'd agree but . . . it's just . . . have you seen Madame Matase yet?"

I'd woken up, left Victor sleeping soundly, showered, dealt with some minor overnight hotel issues, and joined Zee downstairs in the bar. "Not yet. Why?"

"She says the hotel wards are... What's the term she used?" He tapped his chin. " Fucked . Or did she say we're all fucked ? The hotel is fucked ?"

"Why did she really say?"

He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "She has lost all control of the wards and they've grown so much they've fucked-off all the way down to the waterside, which is super fucking illegal, against a billion SSD regulations, and not to mention a fuck-off neon sign pointing to the hotel as the source of a fuck-ton of supernatural power, since we're ground zero. Paraphrasing."

She was right. If the wards had grown that much, the SSD would know we had a Lost One of great power at the hotel. There was no other way to explain how our wards had suddenly grown to encompass half the city. "I guess the streets will be safer for a while?"

"And people's homes, and workplaces, and cars. And whatever nasty little thing they want to do, they can't because our wards have encroached on their lives. Abuse, burglary, assault, and good ol' fashioned homicide. Poof . Overnight cure."

"Yeah, okay... that's good?" But even I knew this was probably bad. Any kind of Lost Ones activity that could be seen to control humans was always bad. Humans did not react well to having their rights poked at, even if it kept them safe. They'd much rather have the free will to murder each other than have a Lost Ones ward keeping them safe.

"We got a few days, maybe a week, before the SSD come knocking," Zee added, looking and sounding serious.

"I'll talk to Elion."

He blinked. "Elion is who now?"

"Agent Leomaris. "

"Oh fuck, right. That icy popsicle of agent faeness. I hope that pole down their pants is a fuck-off magic wand because we're gonna need it."

"They'll help us."

"If we find their girlfriend, who may or may not have ditched Agent Morally Shady Bounty Hunter with Great Hair for a life on the tiles."

"We will find her." I dug the Dine and Fight tickets out of my pocket. "Tonight, in fact."

Zee plucked the tickets from my fingers and spread them with a flick of his wrist, then fanned himself. "At least nobody will be filming whatever crazy shit goes down this time, babycakes."

"The phones are still out?"

"Intermittently."

"Just a coincidence," I repeated.

"For sure."

But our shared glance suggested neither of us was entirely convinced we were as innocent as we pretended to be. I knew I wasn't.

Zee huffed a laugh and lowered his voice again as he fanned himself harder. "Was great fucking sex though, right? Fuck me, Victor's hung like a dark horse."

"Should I be concerned about your obsession with horse anatomy?"

His eyebrows jumped. "I am an equal-opportunities cock enthusiast."

I laughed at my wonderful, powerful, hilarious, silly—did I mention super-powerful?—demon.

"Shame the prophecy doesn't mention your bedroom skills, or you might have gotten laid more."

"I don't think it's that specific... or my skills. It's us. We're the dynamite."

"Yes we fuckin' are. So, what was it like topping him?" he enquired, demurely. "Not that I've imagined it. Most nights. And days."

I smiled, and felt my face warm. "I didn't really... I mean, I did, but he was in control the whole time, so I don't know if I topped, exactly?—"

"Okay, I get it. He topped us both—you mentally, me physically, at the same time, because he's Victor Fucks-Hard and he does not know when to quit..." Zee's voice pitched higher. The next words were said between his teeth. "And there he is, disheveled and fuckable, and I hate him for looking so irresistible just by existing."

Zee's grin grew and his eyes widened, drinking down the cool thirst quencher that was Victor. "Dayam, it's too late for me. Save yourself, Kitten. I'm on this train till we arrive at destination happy-fucking-ending."

I had to look and... yup. There was no chance of me getting off this train either. Victor had his hair loose, his sleeves rolled up, and his face wore his cool as ice, touch me and die expression, which we all now knew was a front for all the gooey, vulnerable, Victor softness inside.

"Zodiac." Victor greeted. "Adam."

"Daddy." Zodiac replied.

Mercy, he was handsome. And mine—ours. They were both mine.

A little tick of irritation, or maybe confusion pinched Victor's eyebrows. "If we are to project professional appearances, then you'll both need to desist with the amorous expressions you're wearing."

"I dunno what you just said, but if you keep talking, imma get hard."

"He said you're looking at him all googly eyed." I snorted into my whiskey, and took a sip. Zee hadn't been the only one.

"Google what now?" Zee frowned .

Victor's lips twitched. He pulled out the chair next to mine and sat. "Apologies for my tardiness. I appear to have overslept—Zodiac, extract your tail from around my ankle."

"Fuck." He shifted, leaning back in his chair, and flicked his tail onto the table so we could all see it wasn't up to mischief. "It wanders."

Well, this was new. Victor and Zee getting along? It really was a morning of surprises.

"Do you not have control of your appendages?" Victor asked.

"Pfft. About as much control as I do breathing."

"Semiconscious reflex. Interesting. Then your tail is more honest than your smile?"

"His tail is a huge tell," I confirmed. "The tail never lies."

"Alright, both of you, leave my tail out of this. I have good news!" he announced. "I'm no longer a sex magnet. Or at least, I didn't get jumped when I came down for my morning cocktail with Tom. The bead's sexy mojo has worn off. Of course, I'm still naturally fuckable but not in an angry mob kinda way." Zee slammed the Dine and Fight tickets onto the table and grinned. "Saddle up, pardners, we're riding out at dusk."

I glanced at Victor, hoping he was on board with visiting the next fight. He nodded. Good. We were doing this. Saving Claymore and Delores. Somehow.

"Mission objective," Zee began. "Destroy the harvester machine so Mr. Evil Sorcerer can't get his hands on enough boost to wipe out our little slice of paradise with a click of his cigar-stained fingers."

"And maybe end the fights?" I wasn't sure yet how to do that part. But with us three together, and Agent Leomaris for backup, we'd make a good show of it.