Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

The party was in full swing in the bar. The jukebox played at full volume, Tom Collins spun his unfiltered, expletive-peppered magic, and the few remaining guests we had were at least enjoying their free drinks.

Victor collected Little Jimmy's cannister and we huddled in a quieter corner to open it.

"I vote Adam talks to him," Zee said. "Jimmy hates Vampire Daddy, and I've already taken one for the team tonight." Scabbing bits of goo had begun to flake off Zee's wings like dandruff.

"Agreed," Victor said.

I was just glad we weren't discussing the Prophesied One, and would have done anything at that point to make sure it stayed that way. "Okay." I grabbed the cocktail cannister in both hands and cracked the seal on the lid. "Hey buddy, you in there?"

A hiss came back, like I'd trapped a snake in the can.

"I'd be fucking furious too, if I'd been shoved in a tiny can," Zee said .

"If you remember correctly," Victor said. "You were the one who put him in there."

"Ssh. Nobody likes vampires."

Reynard glowered.

"Hey, little pal, I know everything sucks right now, but we are going to help you, like you helped us, alright? If I let you out, will you please not murder anyone, and we can talk about the plan to save your family? If that's what you want?" I opened the lid a tiny bit more. Light poured into the can, onto Little Jimmy's gnarly, gremlin-like face. Big eyes peered up at me. He seemed calm. I opened the lid halfway, and tiny fingers crept over the rim of the cannister. Then the little pixie emerged. His wings were a bit crumpled, but a little flutter set them right. His cute-ugly face warmed on seeing me, then he snarled at Victor and Zee.

"Don't worry about them. They won't hurt you. I know we've had a few misunderstandings but hear us out? We discovered the vampires—" Jimmy hissed at Victor.

"Truth," Zee agreed. "Little man sayin' it as it is."

"—took your family as a gift," I continued. "I had that happen to me too, so I know how you feel. And we're going to help get them back. But to do that we need to know your real name. If you, erm... have one?"

Jimmy's lips rippled in a growl.

This was going to be difficult. Did pixies even have names? "I know you're upset. But we do really need your name, or some way of identifying you from all the other pixies."

His big eyes blinked. "Grr-dg."

"He got something stuck in his throat? Getting a name from a pixie is about as likely as getting Sebastien to admit he's a fuckface. Imma get a drink. Fancy Fangs, you want another Bitch?"

"No thank you, I already have one. "

Zee gasped. "Oh my fucking what?! Did you just... You did not just call me a bitch?!"

Victor smirked, as though he was a mere seventy percent innocent.

Zee blinked rapidly, while his thoughts backpedaled. "Why am I so fucking turned on? Ugh." He flicked his wings and tail, and sauntered toward the bar.

Even Little Jimmy managed a smile. "Grr-dg," he said again, when he caught me watching.

"Is that your name? Grr Dug?"

The little pixie's wings fluttered, which could have meant yes, or just that he wanted to stretch his wings. It was going to have to do.

"We'll get your family back." I pointed a finger at his chest. "Deal?"

His tiny hand grasped my fingertip, and we shook on it. "Grr-dg," he said, then fluttered off, behind the bar.

Whether Jimmy—or Grr Dug—would help us with the gremlins or not didn't matter. I was getting his family back. We all were. Because that's what SOS Hotel management did.

"You know, most people kill pixies without pause for thought."

I straightened, and smiled at Reynard's quirk of the lips. "I think we both know by now, I'm not most people."

"No, you are not, Adam."

In our quieter corner, with Zee making a scene at the bar, it seemed like a good time to sneak in some personal time with Victor. I hooked an arm around his waist and sighed against his side when his arm settled around my shoulders. We fit together so well, him and me. But we were definitely missing our third.

"He'll understand," Victor's voice rumbled. "When you tell him."

"I know, I just... When people learn about the real me, they either run away or their knives come out. It's always been like that, for as long as I can remember. Even you ran."

"That was... another mistake. I fear I'm prone to them when it comes to you."

At least he admitted he'd run, and didn't try to fob me off with the excuse, it's for the best. "I don't want to lose him, Victor. Zee's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Along with maybe this hotel, and... you?" I peered up as he looked down. Mercy, he was handsome. And intense. And I really wanted to climb him like a pole. Later.

"The truth won't drive him away, but not telling him might."

"Do you think he believed the spreadsheet explanation?"

"Not at all. But he knows you're uncomfortable and he will not pursue the matter out of respect for your feelings."

"That's what I thought. But thanks for the save anyway."

"You're welcome."

"After we've visited Reynard Technologies, do you want to uhm . . . maybe . . . get together, for uh . . . some, erm . . . tea and crocheting?"

Victor huffed the world's shortest laugh. "I'd like that. After I've burned Reynard Technologies down and annihilated its remains to nothing but dust."

"Oh. Okay. Sure. Arson's fun too."

"I imagine you rather enjoy fire, Adam?"

I grinned. "Maybe."

"For a human."

"For a human."

Zee returned. "Are we doing this, because the only thing worse than too much lube is not enough, and this shit is crusting in hard to reach places. Friction is not fun."

"In careful hands, with correct preparation, friction can be rather stimulating. "

Zee stopped in his tracks and breathed in hard. "You." He waggled a finger. "Stop making me horny."

Victor opened his mouth to respond, hesitated, and said, "Are you sure you'd like me to stop?"

Zee also hesitated, glanced at me. "This is fucking confusing." He huffed, and headed for the bar exit. "Let's go."

"Doesn't he live in a perpetual state of arousal?" Victor asked.

"I heard that," Zee called.

I snickered, enjoying their spiked banter and tucking myself in against Victor's side, as we headed back upstairs to my room.

The portal didn't look any better up close than it did from far away. Victor said not to worry, and to keep hold of his arm, and then in we went. It was an experience I'd prefer never to discuss, that left me soaked in goo and my insides all churned up with a squiffy feeling, much like when I'd been splattered by Fido's insides.

As we emerged on the other side, into what appeared to be a small, basic storage room, Zee pulled a face. And stuck out his tongue. "Got some in my mouth."

Victor freed my hand and gathered his wet hair from his face, sweeping it back into a floppy man-bun, like a male model in an aftershave advert standing under a waterfall, looking sexy and damp.

He gave his fingers a flick. "Unpleasant, indeed."

Cold, sticky gloop clung to my face and hands and weighed down my clothes. Unpleasant was an understatement.

Next to me, Zee closed his mouth. "I swear Tom spiked my drink, because I'm one bad word away from humping his leg. How does he make this shit look good? Look at him."

"I am looking." I couldn't not look.

Victor's wet pants hugged his ass, his now-transparent shirt clung to his chest, and Victor Reynard looked like the most amazingly delicious feast I'd ever laid eyes on.

"Zee, we're really drunk."

"Fuck, yes. But even if we weren't, I'd still want to breed that ass."

Victor suddenly blurred away, then reappeared with a sparking security camera in his hands. "It would be best if we avoid detection."

Right, yes, we were here to do important things, not gaze at wet Vampire Daddy while sharing fantasies.

Victor took the lead, as he seemed to know where we were heading, and we left the plain room and the portal behind.

"Do you think they know there's a portal in the closet?" Zee asked.

"It does seem like an unlikely place," Victor agreed. "Perhaps the Project Prophecy team's calculations were off."

"Must have been another spreadsheet error."

I avoided getting involved, and scanned our surroundings. Glass panels made up the corridor walls, just as I remembered from my previous short and not-so-sweet visit. I hadn't ever expected to come back, but apparently a few glasses of whiskey and a party vibe made a return trip seem like a great idea.

"Is that a robot dog?" Zee asked, getting distracted by one of the sparkling labs we strode by. The yellow doglike robot stood eerily motionless, waiting for its master's instructions. Thankfully, nobody was around at two a.m. to give it any.

"It is."

"Gideon Cain has all this now, huh? That must be a kick to the fangs. "

"It is," Victor repeated, adding a snarl.

"I'm sure he'll use it all for peace and to benefit the disadvantaged."

"Having met the man, that is unlikely."

"Oh well, can't be any worse than a bunch of vampires using it to spy on people." Zee's sing-song tone needled.

"Indeed."

Victor had admitted they weren't just spying on people. The vampires planned to use Reynard Technologies to disable all electronic devices, and ultimately use the chaos to step in and rule the world. Fun times.

I was very much staying out of all that apocalyptic hoo-ha, due to my personal circumstances.

We were just here to find out where Jimmy's family were being kept, so we could fix our gremlin problem. That was all. Oh, and Victor would probably set fire to a few things on the way out.

The tracking control room appeared up ahead. Victor stopped at the door and keyed in a code. Clearly, nobody had thought to remove him from the security systems yet.

Victor went straight to the interface pad below the bank of screens, and clicked search. "How do we spell Jimmy's name?"

I glanced at Zee, who shrugged. "I was at the bar," he said.

" G-r-r . . . erm . . . d-o-g ?"

"Grr Dog." Zee snorted. "That's his fucking name?"

"Grr-dog or Grrdug?" Victor asked.

"Grr- Dawg ?" Zee suggested unhelpfully.

"With a hyphen or without?" Victor asked.

Zee gave a snort. "Fancy Fangs said hymen."

"I said hyphen , demon. Why are you so fixated on vaginas?"

"Fuck, he said vagina. You walked right into that one. Now all you have to do is say testicles and I've got a full house of Victor Says Genitals ."

"I'm not going to say..." Victor straightened and took a self-leveling breath. "Might we please focus on this highly illegal and marginally dangerous task of breaking into a military-grade classified program to find a pixie's family, and less on whatever puerile game you've decided to play at any given moment?"

Zee leaned his hip against the bank of computers and blinked at Victor. "I got no fucking idea what you just said but you looked hot while saying it."

"Go with g-r-r-d-u-g ," I suggested, butting in before they got physical. There were no wards here to stop sparks flying between them.

Victor typed it in and a waterfall of names poured down the screen as the system searched for Jimmy.

"Is my name in there?" Zee asked.

"Yes."

"I bet I'm under B for Best Demon , right?"

"I suspect you're more likely listed under I for Irritating Distraction ."

"Oh." Zee fluttered his lashes. "I see how it is. Daddy Vampire is getting his sass on. Alright then. That's fine. Are you in there under A for Antique ?"

I rolled my lips to hide my smile.

"Considering your reputation," Victor added. "You're likely flagged as a threat, and therefore high on the list of targets to be eliminated when The Coming begins."

Zee's snort was at least predictable. "The coming ? You're fucking with me, right?"

"The Coming?" I asked.

"That's what they're calling it, when they figure out how to open the veil and our queen arrives."

"Excuse moi," Zee raised a hand. "The who now? "

"Vamps want to take over the world," I explained. "Victor admitted to helping organize it, but he's not into the whole evil-villain thing now."

"Woah, hold up, let's all backtrack a second and count the ways Victor Reynard is a dick. One, he gifted you to their fang-fucker queen?—"

"Tried to," I corrected.

"It rather backfired," Victor said, comfortable enough with me to joke. I was liking his new sassy side. "Although, I much prefer the resulting outcome than the previous potential version."

"Two, he neglected to mention that he and Tinkerbell—the fae behind selling body cream made from bits of demon—were old pals, for dramatic daddy reasons."

"I did have reasons, yes. Reasons Adam is aware of," Victor said. "I'm not certain they were dramatic, or... familial."

"Three, he's behind The Queen's Coming —which sounds like my kind of rodeo, until you realize it's a fucking masterplan to take over the world? And we like him because?"

"I'm not behind it, so much as I was one of many minor facilitators."

"Four, you're a dick."

"I'm working to rectify that." Victor pulled out a second keyboard, linked to a separate screen, and typed away. "In the chaos of Gideon's hostile takeover, he neglected to remove my permissions, which means I still have access to the building's security systems. A mistake Gideon will come to regret by the morning." He hit the return key and all the lights around us dipped to red. "Goodbye Cain Technologies." The red mood lighting highlighted Victor's sharp fangs.

"Ohh, nice." Zee grinned. "Just like the red room at Razorsedge."

"With fewer dildos," Victor said .

Zee gasped. "Did you just make a dick joke? What is happening? I tingled all over. You're tormenting me, is that what this is? Standing there all wet and sexy. I could deal with that. But if you're going to start slinging dick jokes around, then imma get weak, and I have not had enough drugs for that."

As much as I was enjoying their banter, a growing sense of unease plucked at my nerves, making me twitchy. The whiskey must have worn off, taking my lack of inhibitions with it. Or maybe the red lighting was a stark reminder we were in enemy territory, inside a building that had already tried to kill us once.

It was definitely time to leave.

The screen pinged and zoomed in on a map location.

"Hm, troubling," Victor said, taking all the information into his photographic memory. "I know where Jimmy's family are. We'll discuss it later. Let's go, before the security measures kick in and the systems begin to fail." He made for the door, but the twitchy, niggling feeling inside me grew.

"Wait, what about Claymore? Can you use that computer thing to find him?"

"I had staff try with no results, Adam. We really must go."

"Yeah, but they aren't you. Maybe they did it wrong, or maybe they weren't all that invested in finding one gargoyle. Can you try, Victor? Is there time?" I'd neglected Claymore for far too long, and this might be our only chance to find out what had happened to him.

Zee nodded along, happy to stay as long as I was.

"Alright." Victor returned to the screen. His fast fingers tapped in some code, then Claymore's name, and the waterfall of data started up again. "Hopefully, this does not take long, as I've just activated a program I'd been working on to wipe the software."

"Wipe it? "

"Yes. I wasn't able to activate it this morning, but since we're here now, I've freed it into the building's systems and this tracking software. It will burn it all down from the inside, Adam. Reynard Technologies is about to perish by my own hand. We just need to leave before the security measures kick in."

Zee rolled his eyes at Reynard's theatrics. "What's it going to do, eat us?"

"No, but if the building goes into lockdown and movement is detected in certain zones, those zones will be gassed."

"Gassed?" I echoed. "We aren't in one of those zones, right?"

"We are. But we're not far from the portal. We should be fine."

"Oh, good." I glanced at Zee, who leaned against the screens with his arms crossed and his tail flicking, staring at Reynard as though trying to figure out whether to embrace Victor's newfound sassitude or rebel against it.

An ominous, metallic clang rang out from somewhere outside the room.

"You heard that, right?" I asked. Zee nodded, eyes narrowing as he peered through the glass walls. At least nobody could sneak up on us, but it also meant we had nowhere to hide. "Is there anyone else here?"

Victor peered through the glass walls. "There shouldn't be, not at this early hour."

"I'll check it out." Zee pushed off the bank of screens. "You two get your funk on and find Claymore."

He left the room, but I poked my head out after him. "Don't go far. Splitting up is a bad idea, remember?"

"Pfft, what's the worst that can happen? A paper cut? Death by stapler?" He rolled his eyes and strode on down the corridor, calling back, "I got this."

"He does not have this," Victor said as soon as I returned to his side. "This building is equipped with state of the art security measures, authorized to use lethal force due to the sensitive nature of our classified projects."

Lethal force?! "You're just mentioning this now?!"

"Zodiac left before it crossed my mind."

Oh my stars. "We really need to sober you up."

The screen pinged again and Victor read the results. "There haven't been any sightings of Claymore for over a month. Since the hotel opened, in fact. I'm sorry, Adam."

"Is that unusual, this scanner thing not picking someone up?"

"Only if the target is dead."

My heart sank. Our kind, spider-loving Claymore might be dead? "How? Why?"

"We will investigate this further, but for now, we really must go." Victor steered me toward the door, glancing up and down the corridors. If he was concerned, then we all needed to be. "I fear it is imperative we leave immediately."

Another clang sounded, but from a different direction. The red lights weren't helping to cultivate happy thoughts.

"What happens if we don't get out in time?" I whispered, as we hurried back along the corridor.

"Let's not be here to find out."

The corridor split ahead. The right fork led toward the storage room and the portal, and the left ventured deeper into the building. "Zee?" I called, then winced at how loud my voice had seemed. Silence came back. "Never split up. He said this always happens. Why did he have to go off now?"

Victor huffed through his nose and rolled up his wet sleeves. "Wait here. Do not move from this spot. I'll be back." He blurred away, leaving me standing alone, surrounded by glass walls and sharp, shiny, empty, glass rooms. Yeah, I really did not like this place. No wonder Victor had stayed in the basement .

Some of the ceiling lights went out, saving energy. That was fine. There was nothing back there in the dark anyway, or the lights would come back on.

I could wait.

Waiting was easy.

I tapped my fingers against my thigh.

Just had to sit tight. Right here. In the quiet, creepy corridor. Alone.

"Victor?" I whispered. He had great hearing, so he'd probably hear a whisper.

How long had it been?

Minutes?

Hours?

"Victor?!"

A rhythmic huffing noise shuffled from the way we'd come. I turned and squinted into the gloom. The lights were out. Vampiric night vision would have been useful right about now, but I was stuck with regular eyesight.

"Zee?"

The huffing beat came closer, but the lights still hadn't turned on. Closer . I backed up a step, triggering the lights behind me to blink on, but not in front.

The huffing stopped.

Whatever it was, it was just a few steps away, shrouded in darkness.

Something was there. I could just make out a shape in the gloom.

The lights blazed on.

A yellow robotic dog stood in the middle of the corridor.

"Oh." I chuckled. "It's just you." Kinda weird, but okay. "You had me worried there?—"

A whirring sounded, and a small black cylinder emerged from the robot dog's back. A cylinder that looked a lot like...

The robot dog cocked its head, and its gun barked.