Chapter 15

As the sunset in the bay, its descent cast long shadows across the street. Shadows that hadn't yet reached the hotel's flowerbeds.

I stood on the porch steps with Zee, watching the heat fade from the day. The city hummed pleasantly, and the hotel groaned and ticked, making settling noises. Or that may have been gremlins munching through the floors.

Zee had returned from Razorsedge early in the morning. I'd been tempted to rush to him, but Reynard had suggested he might need space, and that he'd come looking for us when he was ready.

Reynard had also suggested, it was time to talk about the flowers.

Zee emerged a little while ago, and met me in the foyer. He wore casual baggy pants and a torn string top. He didn't look angry or upset. He just seemed content. His neck chain was missing, its symbolism no longer required.

I looked down at the flowers. This was the right moment.

"So, there's a thing I need to tell you, and I should have told you before, but there was a lot going on, and you were dealing with so much. Reynard said I should tell you, but I couldn't. So this isn't on him. It's my fault. I should have said before. I was scared I'd lose you, and well... it was selfish, I know. I was trying to protect you, and myself, but I think I maybe hurt you instead, and I'm so sorry, Zee, but?—"

He pressed a finger to my lips. "Cherise is under the flowers."

"You knew?" I mumbled around his finger.

He plucked his finger away and looked down at the rows of happy flowers. "She fuckin' loved flowers. And knives. But mostly flowers. She'd like it there."

"I should have told you when he... When it happened."

"It wouldn't have changed anything." He slung his arm around my shoulders and tucked me against his side. We stayed like that a while, watching the sun set and the shadows crawl over the flowers.

"Do you forgive me?" I asked quietly.

He ruffled my hair. "There's nothing to forgive. If you hadn't noticed, I worship the fucking ground you walk on. I've got no fucking idea why you keep fighting to save people who don't deserve it, but I'm here for it, and you. And mac and cheese." He booped my nose. "Also, I really like fucking you. Like, so fucking much. Did you keep those fluffy pink cuffs I got in LA?"

I grinned. "Maybe."

"Maybe we can try them later?"

His being so understanding, proved I should have told him sooner. I tried to be a good person, but sometimes it was hard. Sometimes, doing the right thing hurt the most, and I already knew I wasn't cut out to be anyone's hero.

We walked, side by side, back into the lobby. Guests bustled. Madame Matase chatted on the phone. A new gremlin hole had opened up in the wall—I'd have to move the chair in front of it later. But the hotel was still standing, still offering a safe place for Lost Ones who needed it. Zee was right, coming home to the SOS Hotel felt good, in a world where there wasn't much good to be found.

"I'm afraid to ask, but was Sebastien unalived?"

"We voted. It was close, but the prick gets to live. We all had to make the best of a shit sandwich after the veil sealed. Some think he was just trying to survive. Like that forgives him for being an epic, abusive asshole. But he sure ain't in a happy place. Probably wishes he was dead."

I didn't want to know the details. Although, I kinda really did want to know every painful thing that had been done to him, so I could relish the taste of vengeance. Wait, I mean... vengeance is bad. An eye for an eye leaves two people blind. Or something.

"We persuaded him to sign over the club deed, so it's owned by the team now. Team of demons? Horde of demons? Throng of demons? What's a group of demons called? Whatever, he's no longer the boss of us. Ramone's the manager. He's fair, he'll be good at it."

Would Zee leave the SOS Hotel and go back to Razorsedge? He had that right. He clearly loved the club, just not its boss, and his performances were a gift to any and all who watched them. "And you? Will you go back?" I asked quietly, hoping he didn't hear how much it hurt to ask.

He could leave. That was his choice. We didn't have contracts. We had made a deal to fix up and open the hotel together, but technically, that deal had been fulfilled.

Today, for the first time ever, he got to choose his tomorrow.

"Me? Go back there? Fuck that. I got a good thing going in this place. My own pole—which I will fix. My favorite human, free food?—"

"You don't mean the guests, right?"

"Pfft, no. Why would I need to feed on the guests when I've got you? Oh, and hey, I almost forgot. You're our general now."

I stopped in the middle of the foyer. "Huh?"

He turned, casually cocking a hip and added, "Yup. You slayed Copernicus in combat, so you're the general."

I was the what now? "But I didn't mean to do that."

Zee rolled his eyes. "Not this again. Okay, sure. He just happened to trip and fall into the mincer with you right there?" Zee mock-gasped, and put on a dramatic voice. "Oh no, it was another terrible accident, that the sweet, innocent Adam Vex had nothing to do with."

"Uh, yes. That's exactly what happened."

He snorted. "I was there, Kitten. I saw it. You ninja-kicked his ass into that machine. You knew exactly what you were doing, and you executed it perfectly. But sure, it was an accident." He air-quoted. "It's fucking strange how all these accidents"—air quotes—"seem to happen around you, huh?"

"Strange? No, I don't think so. Accidents happen all the time." Oh dear.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh. All the time around you." He poked me in the chest. I looked down, and he flicked my nose. "So cute, so bloodthirsty. So fuckin' hot."

A strained laugh tumbled out of me. "Oh, Zee. You're so silly." I shifted my gaze sideways. Nobody had heard him, which was good. It turned out, I really wasn't very good at being a plain, boring human. Who knew it was so difficult?

My cover-up chuckling faded. "What does that mean, if I'm your general?"

He shrugged. "It's just symbolic."

"Oh, well," I sighed. "I suppose that's alright, then."

"Probably."

"Probably?" My voice cracked.

Zee snorted. "Nothing is going to happen unless we're called up for war, and since there's no war here, you're good."

Reynard chose that moment to emerge from the bar and grace us with his lordly presence. "What has you so alarmed, Adam?"

"He's a demon general now. General Vex," Zee emphasized, sweeping a hand through the air whiletasting the title on his lips."He sounds like a badass motherfucker. What do you think, Your Lordship?"

Reynard's cool silver-eyed gaze settled on me. "Remarkable, Adam."

"I'm really not." This was getting out of hand. Somehow, I needed to be more boring and less remarkable. "This is just a misunderstanding. How do I unbecome a general? Can't I make you the general?" I asked Zee. "It's more your thing."

"The next general kills you," Reynard explained. "It's the demon way."

"Daddy Vampire's right," Zee agreed, standing next to him.

"Well, that's silly," I huffed, frowning at them both. "I can't be a demon general when I'm just a boring human."

Zee smirked at Reynard, whose eyes glittered with sly satisfaction, and whose thin lips ticked up at one corner.

Almost as though they no longer believed me.

To be continued . . .