“It was the only way,” I blurted. “I told you that.”
“You told me something, yes,” Callie said, ignoring her whiskey. “Then did something completely the opposite. I got a letter from a vampire telling me where you’d gone. A stuck-up, stubborn vampire at that. One who wouldn’t fill us in on any other information. Who practically ran out of here when I went for my satchel.”
“You were planning to torture the information out of him, hon.” Dizzy sipped his drink. “You can’t really blame him for taking off.”
“Oh, I can blame him for a lot of things.” She braced her hands on the island and leaned toward me. “Then you ran off into a world you were unprepared for without so much as a hasty plan.”
“I did have a hasty plan. Of sorts.” I grimaced when sparks went off in her peepers. It wasn’t a good sign.
“There is no way any of that should have worked. It was a fool’s errand, Reagan.” She took a deep breath and her eyes misted. “I thought I’d lose you, after only just meeting you again.”
“I know,” I said softly. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I knew you wouldn’t want me to go. That you wouldn’t understand. But they were planning to come for me, and it would’ve been a slaughter if an army of them had come for me. Those demons were incredibly powerful. I would’ve been taken, and a lot of innocent people would’ve died.”
She took another breath, this one decidedly more ragged. “I know why you did it. And I knew you would, if I’m honest with myself. You’re just like your mother in that way. Purely bullheaded.” Her gaze shifted to Darius, and the anger rekindled. “You took the vampire in with you.”
“He said he’d help me,” I said meekly.
“You know what I mean.”
Yes, I did. She knew about the bond.
“It was the only way,” I rushed to say. “He had to share my power to get in, and I needed him. I knew I couldn’t do it alone, and he was my best, and only, bet.”
“Reagan, you are bonded to an elder. For life.” She sagged and pulled over a stool. “I don’t have the energy for all this.”
“Okay, but in my defense, he does actually love me. And he has put his life on the line for me more than once. He’s genuine. I know that’s hard to believe, and it’s not how this usually works. I also know he’ll try to keep things from me, because that’s his MO, but he is a good guy. Despite the fact that he is not actually a guy.”
“Vampires can’t love,” Callie said accusingly.
“Not usually, no,” Darius said in his eloquent voice. “And I do not know why it is possible now. Many things might be possible now. But it has happened. I do love Reagan, and one day, I will make her my wife.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I held up my hand. “No one said anything about marriage. That’s a hard no. Hard no.”
“Oh, lovely! I love weddings.” Dizzy beamed. He was going out of his way to be the nice guy. Callie must’ve been a terror these last weeks.
Callie ran her hand over her face. “I am now glad I never had children. You want the best for them, and then they go and make the worst possible decisions regarding their lives.”
“I’m sorry,” I said simply. A drip made me jerk and look up. It took a moment to realize it had been from the faucet in the sink. The drips from the edges of the underworld might just haunt me forever.
Callie wiggled her nose and looked away, not reacting to my strange antics. She blinked rapidly. With tight lips and a clenched jaw, she nodded, and I could tell she was trying her damnedest not to break down in front of everyone.
So maybe that was why Dizzy had been trying to stay so upbeat. Callie clearly didn’t like crying in front of people.
“I’m also eternally grateful you sent that demon to help us.” I took a gulp of whiskey. “We got lucky on the way to Agnon’s sect and found a demon that was all about my old pouch. But the way back would’ve been a shit show if not for that demon you forced into helping us.”
“That was a stroke of genius, that was.” Dizzy pointed at Callie. “All her, too. She came up with that on her own. I told you. My wife is not to be messed with when she is up against tough odds.”
“Bah.” Callie waved away the compliment. “That was logic, is all. Good. I’m glad I at least helped. I had to do something, after all.”
“So…do you want to hear about it, or…” I let my voice trail away.
“Of course we want to hear about it!” Callie made a gesture indicating I was insane.
“Start from the beginning and tell us everything,” Dizzy said. “I’ve been able to think of nothing else. Well, ever since we found out you’d come back in one piece.” He leaned forward in anticipation.
“First, did you know that dragons are real?” I grinned.
Their eyes rounded and smiles slid up their faces like children on Christmas morning.
I talked through the night, describing all the beautiful places and ugly creatures we had seen. The goats bewildered them as much as they did me, and they wanted more information about the dragons and the strange boatmen on the river. When I was done, silence filled the kitchen.
“Wow,” Dizzy said, leaning back and scratching a place on his stomach that looked like it had a coffee stain. “That must’ve been some adventure.”
“And you killed everyone who knew about you?” Callie asked.
“Except that demon you branded. They were being tight-lipped about it.”
Callie nodded, and given Darius’s thoughts on the subject, and Vlad’s only telling two elders under his thumb, that made sense.
“So you’re clear,” Callie said.
“I’m clear.” I sighed through my relieved smile.
“Except for him.” Callie pointed at Darius.
I laughed. “Right. Clear except for having bonded an arrogant yet romantic vampire.”
“So now what?” Dizzy asked.
I shrugged and leaned against the counter. “I disappear for a while. Darius has to ‘manage his estate,’ which means he’ll be checking on properties or toying with nations or something, so I might travel with him for a while and see the sights. I want to lie low and let all this die down. I want people to forget my name.”
“That’s probably wise. You’ve been too much in the limelight. You need to settle down.” Callie lightly tapped her fingers on her glass. “Things will go back to being boring.”
Dizzy reached over and patted her arm. “I’m sure something will come up, hon. Oh. You didn’t give him the scroll.”
Callie glowered at Darius. “I’m not sure he deserves it.”
Dizzy patted her hand again.
Callie rose and left the room. When she came back, she had a scroll in her hand, like the map we’d taken into the underworld. She put it on the counter in front of Darius. “The demon came back with more information on Vlad’s activities in the underworld. Most of it is probably hearsay, but maybe you can get something from it.”
Darius touched it lightly, smiling. “Thank you. This will be invaluable, I have no doubt.”