“Did you believe that?”

I smiled ruefully. “I left them when I was barely more than a child. But no, I believed little that they tried to teach me. You won’t be surprised to know that I was always obstinate. I despised my father and his ways. He and his brothers believed themselves to be gods. You and your druids struggle to be fair and just. The dragon-kin are the opposite. They are so deluded about their own godhood, they believe that any horrible thought in their heads is divine. Power has driven them mad.”

“I do recall that Lynn doesn’t mind playing goddess.”

I smiled at that. “It’s different. She doesn’t mind being worshipped, I’m sure. It is more her dark sense of humor though, than any belief in her divinity, that makes her collect lost souls to follow her. Sometimes you have to laugh in the face of the things that scare you about yourself, or the fear alone will drive you mad.”

“Both of you always did have a dark sense of humor.”

“In our family, you either go insane from the horror, or learn to laugh at it.”

He handed me two business cards that were blank but for two phone numbers. “Keep one, put your contact information on the other. Don’t worry, I won’t be calling you. My people will simply keep you updated on the draak’s activities if it seems pertinent.”

I nodded, jotting it all down. “Thank you.”

“I hear you’ve been invited to the necro assault.”

“Yes. I’m rusty, but I should still be useful against a race that can burn.”

“I’m having them put you in my unit. You’re less likely to get any trouble from my people that way.” He left the room. I watched him leave. Neither of us said goodbye.

I followed him out no more than a minute later. The druids were gone, leaving Christian still bound and gagged. I couldn’t really blame them. There was murder in his eyes as I approached him. I ripped the tape off his mouth, and he started cursing fluently. “You should have let him fight me when he mentioned it, Jillian. You don’t know how much I’d like to take a shot at him.”

I raised my brows at him. I should have known that would be the only thing he focused on. “Are you ok?” I asked him.

“Yeah. You?”

I nodded. “Just the usual Druid politics bullshit,” I lied, adding to the already huge pile. “Let’s head back to the retreat.”

“Those wankers,” he said darkly..

“Your British is showing.”

“Bloody wankers,” he elaborated, making me smile. He smiled back, always quick to shake things off. It was by far his best quality.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Too Much Dough For A Super-Nerd

 Christian took the condition of his slightly charred porsche better than I would have expected, considering how much he always waxed poetic about it. He was more teasing than mad about it as we drove to his retreat.

Christian’s mountain retreat was an impressive compound set up with Christian’s keen eye for both security and style. It consisted of several small buildings, and one much larger building. The entire compound was tucked into the mountains, almost completely hidden from the small dirt road that took us the last few miles from the interstate. The exterior of the buildings were stones that matched the desert mountains like camouflage.

I had no idea what was in the smaller buildings. I knew that the larger building was all of the housing, with enough rooms to comfortably house us and even most of Lynn’s followers comfortably. If I had to guess, I’d say the smaller buildings were probably bunkers stockpiling weapons. I knew I wouldn’t have to wonder long to find out. Christian would give me the grand tour.

“Does it make your skin crawl to have all of the goth humans in your safe house?”

He shrugged, seeming unaffected. He probably loved the thought of showing off his pride and joy to more people. “I’d rather not be bored up here. And anyways, they’re all humans. What’s the worst they could do? Lynn even made them all leave their phones behind.”

It still made me antsy. An overcrowded safe house… so much was wrong with that.

Christian sped into the oversized garage that opened before us with surprising swiftness. The concrete ground below the porsche began to lower immediately. It was a surprisingly smooth ride, and went down a shockingly far distance. I gave Christian wide eyes. “How far underground does this thing go?”

He grinned. It was such a smug, toothy grin. It made me want to either smile or punch him, depending on why he was wearing it. “You’ll see.”

Something occurred to me. I smirked at him. “Did you make yourself a bat cave?”

He wiggled his brows at me, shameless. “A slayer cave, to be exact.”

I shook my head, grinning. “You have way too much dough for a super-nerd. The combination is a danger to society at large.”

He threw his head back and laughed. It was infectious, especially after such a tense, volatile morning. “Wait ’til I give you the grand tour.”

We got out of the car. The room could have almost passed for an oversized version of a normal garage, all smooth gray concrete. A small elevator took us back up to the main floor of the house.

As we stepped out of the elevator and onto the main floor, a goth kid handed me a note and a flower, darting off without a word. I shared a confused look with Christian before looking at the note. I handed Christian the flower, muttering, “candy ass,” when he took it. He just smelled the flower, smiling pleasantly, unfazed.