had gone through hell trying to get him to remove it.
Ah, the good old days.
I looked at today's date on my phone. The good old days had only been a few weeks ago. I really needed a vacation. It also reminded me of a promise I'd made to a certain young lady. A promise I had yet to keep.
Thomas looked over from where he stood. Met my eye. Nodded.
I nodded back.
'Nuff said.
The next night, after a full day of rest and relaxation, I pulled on my best clothes and regarded my short blonde hair in the mirror. I looked pretty badass, I had to admit, even if the coloring looked a bit fake. Oh well, it'd grow out. I stepped into the hallway and walked to the bottom of the stairs. It felt very strange to be staying in the same house as Elyssa's parents.
Elyssa stood at the bottom of the stairs looking stunning in a short, purple dress and high heels threatening to make her taller than me. When I came closer, I realized how perfectly the dress complimented her gorgeous eyes. She even wore makeup that wasn't Goth, enhancing every facet of her face. I felt my mouth hanging open and clamped it shut before drool happened.
"You are so beautiful," I said, taking her hands in mine. I opened my mouth to say more, but couldn't think of a strong enough word to express how I felt at that moment. I loved her so much it hurt.
"Have her home at ten," said a stern voice from behind.
I spun to see Thomas Borathen, cold blue eyes staring at me, and gulped.
"I'm sure ten-thirty would be fine," Leia said, coming up behind him and leaning on his shoulder. "After all, they were out way past midnight last night."
Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Mom, Dad, seriously? Are you trying to give him a heart attack?"
Thomas let out a booming laugh.
Everyone else went wide-eyed with shock.
Elyssa actually looked like she might run for the hills. "Mom, someone's kidnapped Commander Borathen and replaced him with an alien!"
Thomas abruptly stopped laughing. "Eleven o'clock." He pursed his lips. Narrowed his eyes. "Have fun, kids."
Elyssa and I left, chuckling as we made for one of the black Templar SUVs. I drove to the Grotto and led her to Ancient Chinese Secret, one of the nice restaurants I'd seen the last time we'd been there. Supposedly, they had fresh ingredients delivered via the Obsidian Arch every day, and the ratings I'd read on the Howl app on my smartphone indicated it was a cool joint.
"I cannot believe my dad laughed," Elyssa said for at least the third time as she used chopsticks to shovel lo mein into her mouth. "He probably hasn't done it for at least two centuries." She took a sip of oolong tea and gave me a look. "You have this very mind-bending effect on people. It's like you change them just from being in the vicinity."
"Incubus pheromones," I said, winking. "Not even the men can resist."
She threw a noodle at me. "You'd better not be using those pheromones on anyone but me, Mister."
I laughed. Bit into an eggroll. "This place is really good," I said. "I've eaten a lot of Chinese food, but this place is tops."
Elyssa's eyes turned serious. "My dad said he's sending all the vampires you turned back into noms to the same kind of rehab they usually reserve for noms who accidentally find out about the Overworld. Some of them were suicidal when they found out they were noms again."
"I feel kind of bad about it," I said. "Although, the world is probably better off without a bunch of juvenile vampires gallivanting around without strict guidance. I wonder how many ended up like Ash and Nyte."
"Dad said they rounded up at least twenty, but he's certain there are a lot more. He doesn't even know what to do with them. It's like a whole new class of super."
"Well, they don't need blood, and they don't need to seduce women for food." I shrugged. "Maybe he could train them as Templars?"
"That's one idea. He doesn't want to just cut them loose without guarantees they won't abide by Overworld law." She sighed. "It's a huge mess. I don't even want to think about the ones who weren't in range of the spell."
"Not to mention anyone else Maximus turned that we don't know about."
"With him in prison, there are plenty of vampiric orphans out there. Most of them probably don't know a thing