He had his book and it was nestled upstairs in the home Devinshea had built for us.
Lee had moved to stand over what Myrddin had called the Dark Dagger. He reached down and picked it. “Yeah, but we have this. I didn’t like it when it killed me, but I have to admit it’s pretty cool now. We should take it with us.”
“As long as you carry it because I’m not touching that thing,” I said.
“Let’s move. I’m just sad you gave away the bag because I still think it would be good to bring back some of that C-4,” Lee said, starting for the door.
Chaos. Gray had said the plane had missed my chaos.
I’d come to get back what I’d stolen from Myrddin, and I’d only been partially successful. Why should he get to keep what he’d stolen from me?
“Hey, I do have superspeed now,” Lee said with a half smile. “How about a ride down, Mom?”
In that moment I saw him as he’d been, with that scruffy smile he used to give me. My Lee. Always. “I think that’s a great idea.”
I hopped on his broad back and did not look at the hallway. I didn’t need to see what a messy eater he was at this stage of his vampire life.
He was right about his speed. It came to him as naturally as breathing. I’d heard stories of how strong Danny had been after his turn, but his powers had made him nervous. He’d shied away from them because they reminded him he wasn’t human anymore.
Lee embraced them. This was what he’d always wanted, and the power flowed and flowed.
If we passed someone on our way down, we were moving too fast for them to register. Before I knew it we were walking into the basement again.
Into all those weapons.
“Okay, Mom, hear me out. I run back and forth and save all these precious babies from going unused,” Lee proposed.
I pulled the amulet Declan had given me from around my neck. He’d been right about the glow. It pulsed with energy, letting me know it was ready for me to use. But I wouldn’t be making that phone call. I didn’t need the ancients to tell me what came next.
War. It would be bloody and long and costly.
And we would win.
Starting now.
“Uh, Mom, whatcha doing there? Because it seems like maybe you’re going to put a magical amulet that’s known to be volatile right next to the C-4.” Lee frowned my way. “You’re going to blow up all these pretty weapons, aren’t you?”
I was going to blow it all to hell. Most of the witches were out of the building. I probably wouldn’t even get Myrddin. The wards would keep the explosion from destroying the other buildings around us.
And the portal would close.
All in all, I was calling it a win. I placed the amulet directly in the middle of all that explosive goodness.
“I’m sending Myrddin a message. Don’t fuck with the queen.”
I walked away, knowing Lee would follow. Probably after stuffing his pockets with guns. I couldn’t even blame him, but I walked away from that building that had been my home for so long. I walked away because we didn’t need it. We would find another home, build another Ether.
We would be okay because we had each other.
Lee caught up and sure enough, he was carrying a flamethrower over his shoulder. “How much time before she blows?”
“Declan said it should be ten to fifteen minutes before it goes back to Faery.” By blowing a hole through time and space, and thereby setting off my explosion. I jogged along. I was pretty sure Lee didn’t even have to walk faster to keep up with me.
It’s been my fate to be the only one with sad human strength and speed.
I pushed through the door that led to the parking garage of the MT building. Or I thought that was what Neil had called it.
“Daniel, she’s here. What the hell happened? Lee, are you all right?” Neil rushed my way.
Danny was faster, though he stopped in front of Lee.
Lee gave him a grin. “Hey, Dad. Uhm, a funny thing happened on the way to the job.”
“You turned.” Danny breathed the words like they were sacred.
“And I didn’t even eat Mom, although she did this whole drama thing where she was sacrificing herself. I would never have heard the end of that so I decided to just be a king…” He lost his sarcastic expression. “Like my dad. Is that okay?”
What Gray had said was messing with him, though I doubt he’d meant it to. The idea that there could be only one vampire king was built into our world.
A long, deeply relieved sigh went through Daniel, and he wrapped Lee up in a bear hug. “You have no idea how happy this makes me. I was so worried about you and your mom. What happened? You should have been done hours ago. We kept the meeting going as long as we could.”