I nodded. "Just like deer season," I said.
"Yeah."
I nodded again. "I'll probably have to bring some of the bodyguards for me, and you know that I don't approve of what you're doing with Peter."
"But you'll still come," he said.
"Yes, I'll still come."
"I know that if you die, you risk pulling everyone you're metaphysically tied to down to the grave with you, everyone you love, and you'll still come."
I sighed. "I should talk to them first, to be honest, and I will, but we can't keep each other from living our lives; then we become prisoners, and none of us want that." I started putting all the trash in the little bag. "Besides, I think Jean-Claude is powerful enough to keep everyone alive. But if I'm going to risk all that out of the country, then we have to defeat the Mother of All Darkness and the Harlequin before next fall. I can't risk dying and letting her win."
He nodded. "Okay, I help you solve your problem first and then you help me with mine."
"Agreed."
He smiled, and it was a mixture of Edward's fierceness and Ted's good ol' boy. "I get to help you kill the oldest vampire on the planet who is just spirit, so we'll need magic to kill her."
"She may not be killable. We may only be able to trap her magically, but honestly no one's come up with anything that will work."
"So I help you do the impossible, and then you come on a much more mundane kill with me and Peter."
"I know you'll pick something tame for Peter's first hunt, so yeah, that about sums it up. You help me kill the unkillable, hunt and slaughter the most fearsome warriors and assassins known to either vampire or shapeshifter, and then I'll help you do something much easier." I smiled, I couldn't help it.
He shook his head. "It isn't the killing that will be hard with Peter, it's the emotional stuff."
"How's he doing?" I asked.