a nice brunch instead.”
“Xun Guan is gathering the council. Once they reach us, we should leave,” Mencheres said, moving into my line of view next. His long black hair blew around his shoulders as if from a strong breeze, when in reality, it was from the crackling energy Mencheres still emanated. Vlad’s pyrokinesis might have extinguished the volcano, but Mencheres’s telekinesis had kept the mountain from blowing apart from all that building pressure.
“Yes, so does anyone have a flask?” Ian asked.
Vlad gave him censuring a look. “Why would we have portable containers of liquor on us at six in the morning?”
I let out a tired laugh. “Ian isn’t trying to get drunk. He must want to summon Ashael to help teleport the council.”
Vlad stiffened. “Ashael the demon?”
“Ashael my friend,” I corrected him.
I didn’t trust Vlad enough to tell him about our shared lineage. Ashael was still passing as a full demon among his kind, and demons were even less accepting of mixed races than vampires and ghouls. Still, exhausted or no, I wasn’t going to let the disgust in Vlad’s tone go unchallenged.
“Eh, someone in one of these houses must have a bottle,” Ian said, then disappeared.
Vlad turned to Mencheres. “You have no objection to him summoning a demon here?”
Mencheres opened his mouth to reply. Ian returned before he could get a word out, holding a half-full bottle of ouzo.
“Don’t,” Vlad said in a warning tone.
“Sure,” Ian said sarcastically, and then took a drink. “Ashael, we need you!” he said right after he swallowed.
Ashael seemed to leap from the shadows, wearing only silk pajama bottoms in, of all colors, baby pink.
“Thought I could sleep now that it was almost dawn,” Ashael muttered, and then stopped short when he saw me. “Veritas,” he said in a conversational tone. “Why are you half barbecued and covered in blood?”
“She was sweating it while time-freezing a volcano that Ruaumoko detonated beneath us,” Ian replied.
That had been blood? I glanced down. My burns had healed, but yes, my remaining clothing was charred, and I also looked like I’d rolled around on a slaughterhouse floor.
“Someone tell Mr. Sparky Hands to put his flames out,” Ashael added without even glancing behind him at Vlad.
I looked. Yes, Vlad’s hands were alight again.
“Do you mind?” I asked in the testiest tone I could manage.
“I do,” Vlad replied coolly. “The last time I saw Ashael, he was trying to convince me to sell my soul to him in exchange for removing a deadly spell on my wife.”
My eyes widened, but all Ashael did was laugh.
“I was so close, too!” he said, finally turning to face Vlad. “I would’ve been the toast of my species if I’d negotiated that deal. Ah, well. Maybe next time.”
Vlad’s expression darkened, and the temperature suddenly spiked around us.
“Vlad,” Mencheres said in a stern tone. “Do not attack him. Ashael is a new ally of mine.”
“A demon?” Vlad let out a harsh laugh. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not,” Mencheres said, his hand on my shoulder silently adding, Let me handle this.
If I weren’t having trouble sitting up, I would’ve argued. Since I was beyond exhausted, I gave Mencheres a “go for it” wave. Mencheres was Vlad’s honorary sire, so if anyone could control the world’s most bad-tempered vampire, it was him.
Besides, all my abilities except my soul-ripping one felt depleted, and I wasn’t about to do that, no matter how Vlad’s rudeness annoyed me.
“You would not disrespect me by attacking an ally of mine without provocation, would you?” Mencheres asked Vlad.
“No,” Vlad said after a seething silence. Then, he flashed a cold smile at Ashael. “You’ll never get another chance at my soul. My wife discovered what she needed to know after your foolish attempt to drive up the price on your information.”
Ashael laughed again. “That’s what you believe I did? Aren’t you supposed to be brilliant as well as deadly?”
“No insults, Ashael,” I said as Vlad’s hands blazed again.
Ashael rolled his eyes. “Fine, but I liked his wife, so it was no accident that I directed Leila to the one person who had the information she needed.”
“Change the subject,” Ian said, spotting Xun Guan leading Hekima and the rest of the council up the hill to us. “Ashael, I need your help getting the council to safety . . .”
Ian stopped talking and slowly turned. I followed his gaze, but I didn’t see more council members. I didn’t see anyone after them except humans milling around outside the entrances of their houses, still wary about entering because