Cian and Akiva sat on the couch, Indra on the floor so he could lean against Akiva’s legs. Aveline went back to the recliner, legs crossed under her, and Merric went back to examining our video game collection.
Yuna rounded on me.
“Am I wasting my time here?” The cecaelia asked me, question straightforward.
“What?”
She jerked her chin at the three men. “I don’t care if you’re sleeping with them. I don’t care if you’re sleeping with the fox.”
Merric looked at us, wide eyed.
Never in a million ears would I be having sex with the fluffy, murdering trickster.
“But if you’re not into women and I’m wasting my time, I’m out.”
“Are you the water shifter from the cemetery?” Akiva asked, twisting to look at us.
Yuna turned to him. “I am.”
Akiva looked slightly taken aback, impressed, and unsure. “You know your girl-crush is a cecaelia, right George?” he asked delicately.
I still wasn’t quite sure what the significance of that was. Wasn’t she just a type of mermaid? That’s the impression I’d gotten from Merric, anyway.
“Yeah, I knew that,” I said, trying to laugh it off. “So?”
Yuna was eyeing me suspiciously.
“She told me it was really hot when you impaled someone with your fingers,” Akiva informed Yuna. “Safe to say, she’s into you and all your…you know.”
The cecaelia smirked at him, seeming pleased, before rounding on me once more.
I didn’t know what he meant about her 'you know’.
“Explain to them what happened so that we can leave. Or just invite them so we can tell them on the way. The fox has already ruined the date; what’s three more men?” She said the word like it was dirty. Like men were dirty.
Honestly, I didn’t always disagree.
“You didn’t tell them?” Aveline asked, surprised.
“Didn’t tell us what?” Cian’s voice was sharp, and it was the first time I’d ever heard him so serious.
“It’s not a big deal,” I said, laughing nervously. “We just ran into a bit of vampire trouble last night. No big deal.” I repeated the line as if anyone would believe me if I said it again.
Yuna studied me carefully. “We did not run into a bit of vampire trouble,” she said, eyes not leaving mine. “The witch here got a call from her hellhound,” she threw Indra a dirty look. “How apparently her other friends were injured-I guess that means you two-and she was frantic when I found her. The fox hijacked a ride with us and we ended up in a warehouse, just to find out she was mind-tricked by a vampire and we were walking into a very bad situation. Did she tell you we almost died?”
“It was really fun though,” Merric put in helpfully. “Like, when that wendigo was chomping at your throat and then I had to turn out the lights? There had to be nine preternaturals there.”
I had a good feeling that he was neither trying to be helpful, nor unaware of what he was doing.
“I notice you didn’t introduce me to your new fox friend. Or tell me you found him,” Cian pointed out. “I thought we were working together on this.”
Yuna scoffed. “The fox is below mentioning. She didn’t even know that foxes can’t work real illusions until their third tail.”
Thanks, Yuna.
“I was helpful though,” Merric argued, whirling with his bushy tails writhing.
“Were you?” Cian looked at him, smiling. “That’s surprising.”
Merric looked at him and I doubted it was my imagination that his smile turned a bit cruel.
“We’re going to be late,” Yuna said, checking her phone. “Do you want to come with us, hellhound? I’d like to learn more about who I almost died for last night.”
“Me?” Indra stood up, surprised, and looked around. “Can they come?”
Yuna surveyed Akiva very seriously, then her eyes went to Cian for a moment. “The lich can come,” she agreed.
“If we get a plus-two, I’m bringing the vampire and Aveline,” Merric added.
Aveline put her hands up, already shaking her head. “Oh no, I’m not coming with you on your date.”
“It’s not a date,” I said sharply. “It can’t be a date with six of us.”
“It can if you want it to be,” Aveline disagreed. “Just remember what I said earlier.”
Metal clinked together and I looked up to see Yuna plucking my keys off the hook. “I drive better,” she informed me when I made a questioning noise. “Are you coming?” she addressed the question to Indra, but Cian answered.
“If you’ll let us. We were going to see if George wanted to go out anyway, so we’ll join you instead if that’s all right.”
Yuna nodded her assent like she was the one in charge of our outing.
“You’ve never even seen me drive!” But I was following her out anyway, Merric following us with an indignant squawk about being left behind.
“I’ve seen you fight. It was enough,” Yuna answered simply. I had no idea how that equaled out to my driving.
“Where are we going?” Cian asked, opening the door of his own Jaguar.
“The theater.” Yuna rattled off an address without blinking as I got in my side of the car. Once again, Merric was relegated to the back, and seemed quite happy about it.
“See you there,” Akiva promised, still smiling.
I closed my door, still trying to wrap my head around what was going on.
Chapter 19
The movie had been all right, though I’d been unable to focus on much of it. Merric had sat on one side of me, Yuna on the other, and the other three men had sat in the chairs behind us. Akiva hadn’t seemed thrilled with the seating arrangements, but I’d figured that at least with Merric beside me, I could see if the kitsune started anything.
After filing out of the theater, Cian had suggested that we walk along the quarter and find some place to eat. No one disagreed.
“I love this place,” Merric put in voraciously, having stopped in front of the entrance to a large café. At nearly nine at night, the place was still flooded with diners. Must
