Page 63 of Great Service from Top to Bottom

“Can you get the door?” Zee asked, shifting Reynard so his head rested on Zee’s shoulder.

I grinned, even as my shoes squelched.

“What?” Zee frowned.

“You look cute carrying him like that.”

“Cute?”

“Yeah, it’s sweet how you keep rescuing him.”

“Uh, hello? I’m not doing this for him. I only save him because you keep telling me to. Open the fucking door or I’ll toss him in the trunk.”

I opened the back door and watched Zee shove Reynard’s floppy body inside. “So cute.”

He glowered. “Can we go now?”

“Yeah, I just need to make a quick stop on the way back.”

“I’ll keep an eye on you from above.” He spread his wings and shot into the air, vanishing among the city’s light pollution and occasional twinkling star.

After climbing in beside Reynard, I told the driver where to meet Agent Leomaris, and settled in the seat. We left the aquarium and Agatha’s lab in the rearview mirror. I shuddered a sigh and rolled my head to gaze at Reynard.

He snoozed, slumped against the door. His hair was a tangled mess, and curtained half across his pale face. Wet, filthy clothes clung to him. He’d hate that we’d seen him like this, at his worst.

The little blue flower he’d given to me earlier caught my eye on the back shelf. Still there, still beautiful. Made stronger with each crease and fold.

Victor’s heart was in the right place. He was just really bad at trying to do good.

Like the rest of us.

I picked up the flower and cradled it in my hand, then gazed at the ageless, ancient vampire who’d become a part of my life.

We’d figure it all out. Together.

CHAPTER 17

We left Reynard sleeping off the tranquilizer in his room, changed our clothes, and hurried down to the bar.

Zee set about fixing Basic Tom’s arm, while I tried to research djinn in the Wilson’s Guide but “someone” had torn out the D’s. My vague past knowledge extended to knowing that djinn were mischievous beings who were rooted to an object, like a hermit crab and its shell. If Tom was a djinn, then he was a living being, and not an AI. But how had he gotten inside a Tom Collins bartender unit?

We knew all of this could be traced back to Gideon Cain. What if he’d put the djinn there? Sorcerers could control incorporeal beings, like Shadow—and djinns. In all likelihood, Tom had no memory of his true form.

I’d need to do more research, and make sure I was right before breaking the news to him. It’s not every day you’re told you’re not the thing you thought you were, and might even have a life somewhere outside the SOS Hotel bar.

“We good to go?” Zee twirled the wrench in his hand. He’d changed out of his armor and hat while I’d ditched my wet clothes for some loose sweats and a baggy top. Now, Zee wore a bright red, skin-tight top that proclaimed, Stop Staring at My Cock, with a cartoon cockerel on it.

Basic Tom looked ready, now he had his arm back. Now all we had to do was turn him on, and he’d have his bot body back.

I grabbed the shotgun, loaded it with a ch-chunk, and shouldered it, with both barrels pointed at Tom. Just in case the wards didn’t work. “Okay.”

Zee ducked behind the bar and flicked the switch.

The bot shivered. Its torso shifted, the shoulders rolled back, and Tom lifted his head. The liquid way it moved made it a hundred times more lifelike than Basic Tom, but we had to be sure.

Tom Collins lifted his chin, frowned, saw me with double barrels shoved in his face, and thumbed over his shoulder. “What does the fucking sign say?”

“Uh . . .”