Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

I climbed from the black sedan under a hail of camera flashes and placed shiny shoes onto the red carpet. A tiny little flutter of nerves constricted around my heart. Just seven weeks ago, I’d shied away from the spotlights, hidden in average, pretending to be nobody.

“Adam! Adam! A photo for your fans? Adam! We love you Adam!”

I smiled, tugged at my cuffs, fiddled with my collar, and tried to look casual. The limelight was going to take some getting used to.

A kerfuffle was happening inside the car I’d climbed from. Zee was urging Victor to hurry up, but Victor would not be rushed. He’d coached me on how important this was. We were to project normal, friendly appearances, not mayhem and murder vibes.

Victor emerged from the back of the car, wearing a classy black suit with subtle purple stitching and a lining of purple silk inside. The hail of camera flashes ignited all over again. He’d never looked more handsome. He reached out and looped his arm with mine. My grin had my cheeks aching.

But our moment was over as soon as Zee stuck a knee-high laced-up boot out of the car, then followed it with the next. He had the best legs out of all of us, so when he emerged like a butterfly from a chrysalis, and his wings unfurled behind him, the crowd of press and fans we’d collected lost their collective minds.

He was born for this. While Zee soaked up all the attention, Victor and I climbed the steps and entered the concert hall, where our Heroes of the City ceremony was about to take place. It was a glitzy affair, paid for in part by the vampires, who wanted their new council member to project nothing-bad-here vibes.

I wasn’t sure what it meant, that Victor would be on the council, or what tomorrow would bring. But we would be together. That much I was certain of.

Some of the staff guided us to our table, where Leomaris and their partner Delores were already seated. Claymore was here too, filling space for three at the table. He grumbled a hello. Jimmy had draped himself in an empty champagne glass, having already consumed his weight in wine.

Even Tom was here, projected from a phone on the tabletop, arms crossed, berating everything and everyone around us for their shoddy service. Madame Matase had remained at the hotel, holding down the fort until our return.

Victor and I took a seat, and Zee joined us a few minutes later, poofing into his chair, bringing with him his brilliant smile and a sprinkling of purple sparks. “Now this is what I’m fuckin’ talkin’ about. This...” He sat back and circled his hand in the air. “This is our fuckin’ destiny. Totally worth almost dying for on multiple occasions.”

“I’m glad you approve.” Leomaris smiled.

“Heroes of the city!” Zee laughed. “Joke’s on the SSD, I can’t even protect my dildo drawer from gremlins.”

Leomaris paled some.

“I’m joking. Lighten up, Legolas. We’re pros at this.”

“There is one issue we need to discuss?—”

“Is it a mood killer?” Zee was quick to ask.

“Potentially. It’s regarding Cain, and a minor recent instance of a potential esca?—”

“Nope, zip, shh.” Zee shushed Leomaris. “Save it till after.”

Leomaris saw us all nodding our agreement, and with a resigned sigh, agreed. “Alright, it can wait.”

We chatted between ourselves, going over the events from the past seven weeks since the hotel opened that had brought us to this seemingly impossible night: Gideon Cain’s first attempt to stop us, using Shadow to disrupt the hotel; Sebastien’s meddling that had seen good people get hurt; Victor’s wife and the vampires attempting to cut pieces off him; Tom being kidnapped; gremlins taking over the hotel; Reynard Technologies getting blown to tiny pieces; the death of the vampire queen... and more.

“It’s been fuckin’ wild,” Zee laughed.

Victor squeezed my hand. “Adam, please know that first and foremost, I am yours, and I belong with you and Zodiac at the hotel. Any position I accept on the council is for us, not them. It will benefit us greatly to have a foothold inside the vampire door, so to speak.”

“You had better not leave us, Murder Daddy. Personally, I don’t fucking care, obviously, but Adam loves you or something.” Zee shrugged. “Besides, we’re just getting warmed up in the bedroom. I’m not done until I hear indigo from between your fancy fangs.”

Leomaris spluttered their drink, Claymore groaned, Delores laughed, and Jimmy’s wings perked up as the little pixie tuned in to our conversation now sex was involved.

“That is a tall order, demon. I’ve had centuries of experience. Your mere decades are trivial, and frankly unimaginative compared to my learned sexual exploits.”

Zee gasped. “Did you just call moi boring ?”

Smiling at their banter, I sat back and absorbed how far we’d come. If anyone had told me we’d be about to accept awards for being heroes in front of the entire city, just a few months after opening the hotel, the old Adam Vex probably would have run away. Now, I couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.

The new police commissioner took to the stage and spoke about a new world in which Lost Ones lived in harmony with humanity, but also about sacrifice. Not everyone had survived recent events. Peace came with a cost. She continued, explaining that events from the Golden Gate Bridge were a sign humanity needed more than just the SSD. It needed firepower. And it just so happened, there was one dragon left.

To rapturous applause, Victor, Zee, and I took to the stage. We each shook the commissioner’s hand and accepted our framed Hero of the City certificates. The audience of humans and Lost Ones were on their feet.

Seven weeks ago, if anyone had suggested the SOS Hotel management team would be onstage, in full view of a potential worldwide audience, accepting titles as Heroes of the City , we’d have laughed, and I probably would have dropped everything and gone into hiding—again.

But this was it. Things were looking up. We’d survived, and had our whole futures ahead of us.

We should have expected what happened next. When had an SOS Hotel management team date ever happened without some kind of incident?

“Adam Vex!” a male voice boomed through the applause, coming from offstage.

The hulking mass of a ragged man staggered toward us, panting and disheveled in blue overalls. The bright lights from above washed out the details, but I couldn’t miss the gun in his hand.

“What the actual fuck?” Zee said what we were all most likely thinking.

The figure stumbled forward, and looked up.

“Holy frog balls on a stick, it’s Cain?!”

We definitely weren’t all thinking that, but close enough.

Gideon Cain had looked better. It was only the shark-like grayness to his eyes and tousled salt and pepper hair that gave him away.

“You have them all fooled!” Cain boomed. “You’re no hero!”

“Security!” the commissioner barked.

I raised a hand. “It’s alright. Commissioner, please leave the stage. For your own safety.”

“Mr. Vex, this man is clearly unstable?—”

I shared a slight smile. “We’re acquainted, and this is what I’m here for. Please step back, we’ve got this.”

The commissioner nodded and backed off the opposite end of the stage.

“Wait, we have this?” Zee echoed.

“Guys, I think it’s best if I talk with him, one on one.”

Zee scowled. “Uh, how about, no?”

“It’s alright,” I told him with a sinister smile. “He can’t hurt me or anyone anymore.”

Victor knew what came next, and with a squeeze of Zee’s shoulder, he steered him toward the edge of the stage, but didn’t leave.

Spotlights burned down. Faces in the crowd all blurred into the background.

“You have them all fooled, but not me. I knew what you were from the very beginning. You’re a monster.”

He wasn’t wrong. I was all those things.

“You lost, Gideon.” I eyed the gun in his hand. His aim was the only steady part of him. “Put the gun down.”

“You lie, and you cheat. I outbid you. That hotel is mine! This victory is mine! I was going to save all you fools from yourselves!”

I raised both hands, holding them out. “I don’t know how you escaped the SSD or what you think you’re going to accomplish, but you need to lower that gun. You’re just making it worse for yourself.”

“I came to this world, I built an empire, and you got in my way. It’s not over, Mr. Vex. I have connections. You think I’m going to be stuck in this human suit forever? No, this is just a temporary state. I’m working on a way to stop you, stop you all. Hero?” He laughed. “This man is no hero, he’s no man, he’s not one of you.” Gideon waved the gun at the audience, eliciting a series of frightened gasps. “He’s a bloodthirsty killer!”

“Hey.” I snapped. “Point the gun at me, Gideon. I’m the one you want.” I spread my arms, making myself an easy target.

Zee poofed to my side and growled at Cain. “Is this the part where you get your evil monologue on? Because honestly, nobody got time for dat.”

Gideon’s aim swung toward Zee. He tugged the trigger, the gun barked.

No! I dodged into the path of the bullet.

The round punched me in the shoulder, almost jerking me off my feet. I staggered and fought the burn. I could take a bullet to the chest, but Zee couldn’t.

Zee’s growl had his wings sparking. The stage lights sizzled, growing brighter.

“Oh, you dead now, bitch !”

Victor dashed around the back of the stage, avoiding the spotlights. Zee sprang into the air.

They were going to engage. Gideon would shoot.

No, nobody threatened the people I loved.

I dropped my glamor in less than a second. All my enormous dragon self exploded onto the stage, filling the space from floor to ceiling.

Gideon’s face was the picture of surprise. Even now, he’d thought I’d hide.

He raised the gun up… and up. Higher and higher, until it pointed at my snout. “It doesn’t matter what you do, or how many names you get, you’ll always be a killer! Just like me!”

I opened my jaws and snapped my teeth shut around the irritating man. He was kinda crunchy, a bit gristly, and horribly sour. One gulp, and he was gone. It’s a whole lot easier eating people when you’re the size of a house. A whole lot less messy too.

A sea of gasps drew my attention toward the audience.

Oh, right. Big bad dragon. Oops. With the threat gone, I willed my glamor back into place, packing all my dragon self into its tiny, non-assuming, innocent human packaging, and brushed down my nice new suit, back in my normal, average Adam Vex body.

Silence muffled the concert hall.

I stood on that stage, while the whole world held its breath.

Would they believe it had been an accident? Hm, probably not. “Uhm ... so... Uh.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I swallowed hard. “So... uh...” I had this. I was the hero. I’d done what they’d wanted me to do. It was time to be myself.

Straightening, I breathed in, smiled, and shrugged. “Some folks just need eating.”

Cheers erupted. Applause surged.

Zee and Victor appeared at my sides.

“Ain’t nobody gonna mess with us now, Kitten.” Zee winked, grabbing my hand and lifting it to take a bow.

Contentment, love, and acceptance made my heart swell.

Who knew being me was the right way to be? It had only taken the best demon and a vampire lord in my life to figure that out.

“And if they do, we know where to hide the bodies,” Victor mumbled from the corner of his mouth, then winked. “Those you don’t eat.”

He was right.

We were going to be fine, just so long as we had each other, the SOS Hotel, and somewhere to hide a body.

THE END

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