Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

The armored van pulled up outside the hotel at six a.m., under the brilliant sunshine of a glorious San Francisco day.

I’d left Zee dozing, his tail wrapped around a sleeping Victor, and snuck out. Maybe letting this happen without them knowing wasn’t a great idea, but it seemed like the only way to keep them safe. Knowing them like I did, they’d try and stop the inevitable, and get themselves tossed in Lost Ones jail.

Three armed and armored agents entered the foyer, dressed for trouble.

“Adam, darling?” Madame Matase stood at the desk, concern written all over her face.

“It’s alright. They’re here for me.”

After the party last night, most of the hotel’s staff and guests were sleeping off hangovers. Nobody else was in the foyer, just me, Madame Matase, and my destiny.

After ruffling my hair, I tucked my hands into my pants pockets. “What happens now?”

The lead agent flicked open a pair of cuffs. “These are warded for your protection and ours.”

I nodded and held out my hands, palms up. This was really happening. “I’m not going to resist.”

“They all say that,” an agent at the back grumbled.

Zee poofed into the foyer, shirt loose and pants barely buttoned around his hips. “Oh, hell no! You sneaky sons of bitches aren’t taking my kitten. Not today, not ever.” He reached into the air and pulled Shareen from a purple tear in reality. “You wanna dance? I’m right here.”

The agents went for their guns, even though the wards would stop all of this from kicking off.

“Zee, no.” I thrust out a hand. “Don’t.”

“Adam? I . . .” His face fell. “What’s happening?”

“It’s over.”

Victor blasted through the stairwell doors, his hair a messy black flag and his face stricken. “Stop! I can stop this... The vampire council have sway. Just... I need time, just... Please, do not take Adam from us.”

This was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid. I shook my head and offered my wrists to the agent with the cuffs again. “Let’s get it over with.”

Victor ventured closer, moving slower, uncertain. “Adam, my dear?”

“Guys, please... It’s fine. Everything is fine, okay?” My little laugh came out strained. “You’ve got your own lives. I’ve fulfilled my prophecy. It’s over. This is how it ends.”

“I refuse to accept that.” Victor straightened. His top lip rippled in a snarl.

“Yeah, what he said,” Zee agreed, joining Victor at his side. “Nobody takes our kitten against his will.”

“I signed off on this,” I told them. The cuffs clicked home, underlining my acceptance.

“Adam, why?” This came from Victor, and the depth of feeling behind it had me briefly doubting my decision. Maybe we should have escaped in the Love Wagon —or whatever vehicle we could find—and gone on a countrywide people-eating spree. But it wouldn’t change anything. I’d still be a dragon and too dangerous to let roam free.

“I love you guys.”

Zee staggered, and slumped against the front desk, as though my love had wounded him. He turned his face away, eyes squeezed closed. Victor reached out to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. And that’s how I knew they were going to be okay.

I nodded at the agent. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait!” A voice sounded outside. “Wait! Halt!” Agent Leomaris burst into the hotel with a dramatic flair of their long coat. Striding over, they flashed a badge, dropped a black tote bag by their feet, and panted, “SSD Agent Elion Leomaris on special command from the newly elected police commissioner.” They tore a document from inside their coat and handed it to the lead agent, making the man remove his helmet to read it.

“Adam.” Leomaris turned to me. “You have broken and flaunted multiple laws, are a suspect in several missing persons cases, the prime suspect in damage to public property, and a slew of other crimes that are frankly, too long to list.”

I winced. “I did do all of that, yeah.”

“And in any normal circumstance, you’d be incarcerated and relocated to a Lost Ones holding facility, but it appears as though we have a situation. Several tears have begun to open in the veil, and with the situation becoming volatile, the police commissioner has created a new position among the SSD to help counteract this potential threat to peace.”

“That’s a whole lot of fuckin’ words when all I wanna hear is that Adam’s free,” Zee said. “And who your tailor is.”

“Adam, this is for you.” Elion handed me a shiny piece of card with my name and a very official looking stamp on it.

My cuffs rattled as I took it. “What is it?”

“A certificate.”

“A . . . what?”

“A certificate of appreciation for your helping to subdue the threat from the dark sorcerer, Gideon Cain,” Leomaris elaborated.

“A fuckin’ certificate?” Zee growled. “We saved the world and we get a certificate, and Adam goes to jail? You know this is bullshit, right?”

Elion half shrugged. “Whether the entire world was at risk remains up for debate.”

“Excuse moi.” Zee stomped over. “You think Cain would have stopped at San Francisco? You saw that great big hole he was opening in the sky, right?”

Leomaris stood firm under Zee’s intimidation. “Adam, please read the names on the certificate.”

“Alright, uh... Me, Victor, and Zodiac,” I read aloud.

“And what else does it say?”

“Uh, it says, under our names, that we are hereby granted the title of Heroes of the City ... Oh.” That sounded official. They wouldn’t send a hero of the city to jail, right?

“And as our new heroes, you have some... leniency when it comes to the law,” Leomaris explained.

“You mean we got wiggle room?” Zee asked, brightening.

Leomaris took a deep breath. “Adam, Victor, Zodiac, it appears as though we’re going to need heroes to protect this side of the veil, should anything as insidious as Gideon Cain decide to make its presence known in the human world again. Inexplicably, the vampires beyond the veil have preempted any war by surrendering in the face of our gift ... although nobody quite understands what that gift was. There are still a great many insidious beings who may threaten the peace of this world.”

“Erm... There was a, uh, gift?” The vampire queen’s decapitated body?

“No, we have no idea what that gift could be. No idea at all,” Victor emphasized, giving me his side-eye.

“While I am authorized to offer you this position,” Elion continued. “You must of course agree to accept the new title and its responsibility. We are not forcing you. It’s your choice.”

I opened my mouth to agree, as going to jail definitely was not somewhere I wanted to be, when Zee raised a finger. “Hold up. This is all fine and dandy an’ all, but we need to know the important shit, like is there a uniform and do I get a swishy coat?”

Leomaris handed the tote bag to Zee.

Zee narrowed his eyes, glared, and only after he’d made sure everyone around us knew he was suspicious of gifts from a fae, he opened it. Zee gasped, his eyes got all big and emotional and his wings popped out in surprise. “You got me a coat?!” he squeaked.

Leomaris clearly knew exactly how to get Zee on side. “Made especially to your dimensions.”

“Oh my fuckin’ fuck, you know my stats?” Zee pulled the coat from the bag, gave it a flick, and swept it on, slotting its specialized slits around the base of his wings. It was similar in style to Leomaris’s coat but a dark, rich purple velvet. And it looked fine on him.

“My stars!” He spun on the spot, making the coat flare. “Fuck Hollywood. I’m a fuckin’ Hero of the City now. Adam—” He scooted close, and whispered in my ear. “I want this coat. And also, would like it a lot if you did not have to go to jail, which would mean me having to save your cute ass and us being fugitives for the rest of our fabulous, criminal lives. Tempting, but messy. So please, say yes.”

I glanced at Victor, then held out the certificate for him to check over. He scanned it, and while Zee pranced around the foyer, swishing his new coat, Victor asked, “On your word, this is a legitimate offer with no hidden motives?”

“No hidden motives,” Leomaris confirmed. “This world is not prepared for some of the more powerful beings that are now eyeing human cities as prime real estate. We need your help. And what better deterrent to testing us than the last dragon who happens to run a sanctuary for Lost Ones?”

Victor’s gaze slid to me. He nodded.

“We accept,” I said. I was going to be a real hero after all.

The agent unlocked my cuffs and pulled them free.

Leomaris nodded, and dismissed the other agents with a few terse instructions, sending them back outside.

Zee swept up to Leomaris. “I could kiss you. But won’t. Boundaries. You need anything? Drugs, sex toys? I’m your guy.”

“Uh... maybe don’t offer the SSD agent drugs and sex, Zee?”

“Fuck. Right.” Zee sprang back. “Joking... obviously.” He slid his attention toward Victor, and struck a pose in front of him. “You like, Fancy Fangs? Wanna take it off, Your Lordship?”

Victor huffed a sigh. “It’s delightful, and yes, but perhaps later and in private?”

I smiled at their antics, and then at Leomaris. “Am I really free?”

“You are, yes. Just make sure you don’t turn into the type of Lost One we need to guard against. No more eating people.”

A little nervous laugh tittered free. “What? Me?” I only ever ate the bad ones. Mostly.

“Your normal human act isn’t fooling anyone anymore, Mr. Vex. In fact, we need you to be exactly who you really are so the world sees we are ready to protect those who need it—Lost Ones and humans alike. There will be a ceremony, mostly to show the city you are...” Leomaris swept a hand toward me. “Relatively harmless.”

The city wanted me, all of me, exactly as I was. I didn’t need to pretend anymore? My insides got all zingy and light. “I can definitely do that.”

“Best day ever!” Zee squeed. He grabbed Victor’s hand and yanked him away from the front desk. “Excuse us. Adam? Kitten? Join us. We’ll be waiting.”

I swallowed and fought back a shy smile. “Alright...”

Victor extracted himself from Zee’s grip to march over and pin Leomaris under his strict glare. “While Zodiac can be bought with pretty things, and Adam has a good heart so naturally believes in doing the right thing, I am not so easily quelled, and should you or the SSD attempt to take Adam from us again, please know my undying wrath is no trivial thing.”

“Oh, my fuck.” Zee eye-rolled and stomped up to Victor. “They get it, you’re a vampire badass. Now let’s go to your room and find a nice silk tie you can use to roleplay that wrath. I wanna make a nest for Adam, and we’ve got some catching up to do now he can take it like a dragon again. Adam ,” Zee purred my name. “Do not keep us waiting.” He dragged Victor after him, back through the stairs doorway.

“Thank you,” I told Elion.

Their smile bloomed slowly. “Frankly, if you hadn’t accepted the offer, we’d all be on our way to Lost Ones prison. Our fates are in the hands of a vampire, a demon, and the last dragon. Please do not make me regret it.”

“We won’t. We’re good at this. Mostly. I mean... together, we’re generally pretty good at saving people. Sometimes. We’re not perfect, but who is?”

They laughed. “Alright. Well, you had better go be with them before they start arguing, no?”

“Right. Yes.” I glanced at the door Victor and Zee had passed through and back to Leomaris. “So, uhm... About those portals that are opening up. We might have one? Just a little one.”

They nodded and gazed about the foyer. “This is a better place than most. Guard it, and in time, the authorities will see about sending those home who want to return. As it should be. I suspect the SOS Hotel will pave the way in that regard.”

“Okay, sure. You uh... you don’t want to go home, if it turns out we can?”

“There was a time I preferred hunting people, now I prefer saving them. This is my home, as I suspect it is yours. Good day, Mr. Vex. And do not give me cause to regret our association.”

I gave a little wave, and Elion returned a soft nod.

Message understood. They would absolutely put me down if I happened to get the wrong idea about being a hero.

With Elion gone, and the reception’s phone ringing, doors slamming, elevator pinging, and Madame Matase chatting with a guest at the front desk, I studied the certificate.

Heroes of the City.

It must have been right, if it was on a certificate.

As it turned out, I’d been the hero of this story all along. I grinned, and briefly soaked up the SOS Hotel atmosphere. Me? A hero? How crazy was that.