Page 3 of On the Road

There was nothing here.

Relief surged, and I puffed a sigh.

That man had probably just been passing by and seen Victor’s and my show, so he’d stopped to gawk like anyone probably would. If they hadn’t known who we were, it might even have looked as though a vampire had been about to devour their victim.

That was all.

Nothing to worry about.

A little laugh slipped free. Jumping at shadows . . . that was me. It would take some time to relax into this new, happy life.

But I had a hotel to run, and everything was going to be just fine.

Turning on my heel brought me face to face with the brown-haired, blue-eyed man. A savage scar ran vertically down his right cheek, from the corner of his mouth to just below his eye. He blinked slowly, like a cat blinks slowly, but that didn’t mean he was content. Dragons blinked slowly before they were about to devour their prey.

The corner of his lips curved upward in a smirk.

I did know him. I thought I’d killed him.

Clearly, I’d been wrong.

“Syros,” I whispered.

“Hello, brother,” he said.

CHAPTER 3

“It’s a great day to be me,” Zee announced, emerging from the elevator in the lobby with a dramatic flair that clearly meant he’d been up all night entertaining and was brimming with sexual energy that should probably have been illegal at five a.m.

Dressed in a frilly, partially buttoned white shirt and flowing cream pants, with dark horns and a swooshing tail, he resembled a demon who’d grabbed a disguise from a wedding store while running from the cops.

He saw me . . . then the three duffel bags at my feet. “Ah, three sus duffel bags full of illbegotten drug money, amiright?”

“Uh, no. It’s⁠—”

“Guns, then? Definitely guns.”

“No.” I glanced at Madame Matase behind the front desk, but she didn’t seem all that concerned. Nothing surprised her anymore. “Why would it be guns?” I asked Zee.

He ambled closer. “A bomb? Where did you even get a bomb, and those weird-ass terrorist bags?”

Victor’s arrival gave me a brief reprieve, although as he emerged from the stairwell, dressed in vampire gray and with his hair impeccably braided, I could see he clearly had plans for the day. Plans he’d have to drop. “Adam, I missed you last night⁠—”

“Oh, yeah . . . I, uh . . .” Scratching my neck, I avoided his penetrating gaze. “There was a thing . . .”

“Ask him what’s in the bags, Daddy Spice.” Zee dug an elbow into Victor’s waist, which did nothing to move Victor at all. “I vote drug money. Tom’s dealers finally caught up with him and we’re embroiled in a drug war.” He draped his arm on Victor’s shoulder. “El Capo is after us, but we got this because we’re Heroes of the fuckin’ City.” Zee winked. “I am ready. Let’s go fight crime—or do crime. Both are valid.”

I blinked, briefly stumped. I’d been up all night. My head ached from a million thoughts, my stomach churned . . . and somehow I had to protect the two most important people in my life, this hotel and all its guests, Madame Matase, and Jimmy, and all the gremlins, and . . . maybe the whole city too. All night, I’d been trying to find a way out of this. I’d even asked Tom Collins—without giving details—and he’d agreed that sometimes there was only one solution.

“I packed our bags,” I said, forcing a grin. “We’re going on vacation.”

“We are?” Zee straightened, suddenly interested. “Oh, fun. Where to? Did you pack Carlos?”

Did I pack . . . uh . . . “Carlos is . . . who?”

“My favorite dildo.” Zee flicked his purple bangs and rolled his eyes. “How do you not know this? What? Why are you staring?”

“Do they all have names?” I asked—I couldn’t help myself.