really can be intractable creatures sometimes.”
My heart sank. Atlanteia had seemed convinced that getting the environmentalists on side would help to stop the demolition. I certainly didn’t have the faintest idea how to go about it. “So they’re not coming?”
He waggled a finger in front of me. “That’s not what I said. Somehow, round about the time that you busted the ward, whatever was preventing them from listening to Beltran completely evaporated.”
“I was right. The ward wasn’t just a physical barrier,” I breathed in relief.
“Indeed. Whoever created it was a clever bastard because it was a psychological ward too. They’re not easy to manage, you know.”
“You sound like you admire him,” I said, faintly disgusted.
“Just his work, my little dragonlette. Not him.” He dusted off an imaginary speck from his shoulder. “Anyway, to cut a long story short, hey presto and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, they are on their way. Should be no more than a couple of hours.”
Thank fuck. I beamed gratefully at him.
He bobbed his head in arrogant acknowledgement and opened up his palms, gesturing expansively. “Bring on the accolades.”
Aubrey took that moment to spit noisily on the ground. Solus’ lip curled in revulsion. I couldn’t help snorting out a giggle.
“Can I have my phone back now?” There was a high pitched plaintive note to his voice.
“He’s different,” commented Solus, eyeing the ex-vamp with detached curiosity.
“He’s not fucking undead anymore.”
“You know what I mean.” Solus frowned. “The Aubrey I knew might have been unlikeable, even as far as vampires go, but he possessed considerable inner strength. This one,” he pointed at him with his toe, “is a pathetic excuse for a human. Why is he even with us?”
“I don’t really know,” I answered, honestly.
Aubrey scrambled to his feet, throwing away his half chewed stick behind him with an angry flourish. “I am here, you know!” he shouted. “It’s rude to talk about people as if they’re not there when they are! I didn’t ask to be turned into a human. She did it to me.” His voice continued to rise, and his right foot began stamping the ground several times in quick succession. “Now give me back my phone! It’s mine!”
As if on cue, the phone in my hands beeped. I looked over at Solus and raised my eyebrows slightly. “He’s having some adjustment issues.”
“I’ll say,” murmured the Fae, with a slightly impressed expression.
“Just let me use it for a few more minutes, Aubrey. Then I’ll give back to you, I promise.”
He folded his arms and wrinkled his nose, then sat back down and huffed loudly. I opened Alex’s text. There were three images. I opened up the first one, with Solus peering over my shoulder.
“Who’s that?”
“I’m hoping it’s the prick that’s behind all of this,” I said, staring down at the hulking figure that Alex had managed to capture.
“Looks pretty strong. No match for our dragon though.”
I gave the Fae a warning glance. Aubrey was by now no doubt starting to put the pieces together as to what I really was but that didn’t mean that Solus had to hand the information to him on a plate. Fortunately for me he was still sitting glumly on the ground and muttering away to himself, paying us very little attention. Solus was right however: whoever this was that Alex had managed to snap, he looked as if he was built for one thing and one thing only. And that was fighting. This one was definitely a contender. I opened up the next one. It was a young looking guy wearing a hoodie. Alex had only just managed to catch him in profile, but he still looked remarkably babyish to be carrying out a reign of terror. Still, appearances could be deceiving.
I flicked my thumb over to the final image. This one was rather blurry, but it was still possible to make out the features of a somewhat nondescript looking man, wearing glasses and a suit. I frowned down at the phone. There was something about him that was vaguely familiar.
“He looks like that actor,” commented Solus, “the one in that Hollywood film about a man murdering his wife and it all going terribly wrong.”
I stared up at the Fae in surprise. “You watch movies?”
He actually blushed. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess,” I said, still somewhat nonplussed. “Just, I guess I thought that you faeries would be above all that.”
“Well, maybe you could come with me sometime.” There was a sudden mischievous gleam in his eyes. “We could sit in the back