Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 123477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 617(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 617(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Moon looked up at Chen’s sigh. The vampire pinched the bridge of his nose while muscles in his jaw twitched and jumped.
“Yep, ran into Wyatt while shopping. I was helping a friend stock his pantry.”
“Uh-huh. Wyatt apparently got this crazy idea that your friend was a vampire.” Red sounded like he was talking through clenched teeth.
“What? That’s crazy!” Moon said, his voice jumping impossibly high. “It was the middle of the day.”
“No shit, it was the middle of the day, Moon!”
“Red, you need to relax. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack before the fae even arrive.”
“Lie to me again, Moon. Tell me everything’s okay,” Red groused.
“I am fine. That’s not a lie.”
“You promise the fae haven’t arrived early and aren’t holding you captive?”
Moon scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’ve got an overactive imagination, I swear. But no, the fae haven’t kidnapped me. If they’ve arrived early, I haven’t encountered them.”
“Why is everything with you so weird?”
“Oh, you wanna talk weird, Mr. I Turned My Ex into a Pig to Protect Him? Shall we discuss that?”
Red groaned long and loud through the phone, but it was Chen’s throat clearing that caught his attention. The vampire was staring at him with wide eyes and hands open, demanding to know what that was all about. Moon waved him off. He’d fill Chen in on that escapade later.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Red grumbled. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Look, Red, my friend could use your help. If you can get to the address I’m going to text you in the next hour, I swear I will tell you the entire story. All the filthy details,” Moon bargained with a grin at the phone. He knew he had Red now. If there was one truth in the world, it was that his three friends were incorrigible gossips.
“You promise all the details?” Red asked, sending Moon’s fist into the air in silent celebration.
“Yep.”
“Fine,” Red moaned, as if he were being tortured. “I’ll bring some tools and shit. I’m assuming you have nothing there handy.”
“Nuthin’ but a knife,” Moon said, sending a wink to Chen.
“Useless. Blood witches are useless,” Red muttered.
“We’re great drinking partners.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Oh! And on your way here, could you stop by and pick up Sky?” Moon tossed out, wincing as he waited for his friend’s response.
“You’re shitting me, right?” Red’s voice spiked. “How the hell is a necromancer going to help with the fae? Even if you had a fresh elf corpse sitting in your lap, he says he couldn’t raise it.”
“I might need him to contact the Variks for me. Preferably before the fae arrive. But I need to talk to him first. Explain the situation.”
“Vampires. This is about fucking vampires, isn’t it?” Red groaned. There were several stomps and slams in the background as if he were pounding his way through his house.
“Red?”
“Yeah, I know. Give me about an hour. It’ll take me a few minutes to pack a proper fae-related kit. Call Sky and give him the good news. All that shit. Send me the address.”
Moon sighed, smiling at his phone. “Thanks, Red. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Right now, I’m pretty sure this means you’re hosting the next two BL nights, complete with dinner and margaritas.”
“Done!” Moon agreed. His friend was letting him off the hook easy.
At least he was, for now. When he got here and heard the entire story, the price might go up. With any luck, Sky could talk Red down. The necromancer seemed to have a better relationship with some vampires. He could reassure Red that not all vampires were scary. He hoped.
Red ended the call and Moon picked up the phone, tapping on the screen until he pulled up the text feature. He carried it over to Chen and held it out to him. “Could you put in the address for him?”
The vampire frowned at the phone long enough for it to time out and go black.
“You can’t take what he said too seriously. Both Red and Mad love to bitch and moan. If Red hadn’t complained the entire time, I’d be worried. And he doesn’t hate vampires. It’s just that he’s fucking tense right now. This is the first time the fae have been around in his lifetime. All he has to go by are horror stories of humans being kidnapped by the fae. In particular, earth witches who were sucked dry of their magic and tortured for the amusement of the fae.”
Chen grunted and reached for the phone. Moon woke it and swiped away the security so Chen could type the address.
“I understand his fear. We will try not to keep him longer than necessary,” Chen replied. “Also, as long as he is helping the clan, we will offer our protection. We will not allow the fae to harm him.” Chen lifted his eyes to Moon’s face as he finished typing. “So long as he doesn’t come in between our goal of saving Wu Yichen.”