Epilogue
Peaches
“Do you have a few moments?” I asked. Phlox, otherwise known as Agent Frost, was leaning against the bar, his mottled blue and tan wings momentarily still. Phlox was petite, even for a pixie, and had his rear perched on a barstool. Leon was in the corner booth speaking with Lucroy. We’d need to involve our beloveds soon, but I wanted to speak with Phlox in private first. This wasn’t Southeast vampire nest business. It was Magical Usage Council business.
Phlox glanced around as if checking to make certain we were alone. I didn’t like the look in his eyes. Phlox appeared antsy and on edge. While Phlox’s temperament was a combination of his pixie and shifter nature, it wasn’t typical to see him so wary.
“What can I do for you?” Phlox asked, shifting on his stool so he could look me in the eyes. “Do you want some honeysuckle mead?” I noticed Phlox wasn’t drinking any and shook my head.
“Yes, but no.” I had a bad habit of not stopping at a single glass and I needed all my faculties for this conversation. Thankfully the music was low. It was still early in the evening and Dusk wasn’t technically open for business yet. A few of Lucroy’s nestmates milled about, but they were off in their own little worlds and didn’t seem to care much about what I had to say.
Johnny and Elizabeth were busy getting the bar ready to open and also didn’t seem to care what Phlox and I were up to.
My fingers twisted and my wings fluttered, filling the air with dust. It was a good thing Johnny and Elizabeth weren’t close by. Since vampires didn’t breathe, my dust wouldn’t bother them.
“What’s wrong?” Phlox tilted his body forward and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “You’re upset.”
I nodded a little too vigorously, tossing my hair back and forth. Like nearly every other pixie, my hair was white at its base and darkened as it grew. My particular coloration was golden-yellow. Phlox was different. His Pallas’s cat shifter heritage gave him a horizontally stripped pattern—alternating between tan and blue.
“A problem shared is a problem halved,” Phlox said. “At least that’s what I’ve been told.”
Phlox’s kindness eased some of my discomfort but not all of it. “I’m not sure if that will be the case here, but I promised Erasmus I’d speak with you.”
Phlox sat back. “Necromancer Erasmus Boone?”
“The one and the same.”
“Why didn’t he just call me? Does this have something to do with Navarre?”
I shook my head. “I’m not exactly sure who that is, so I’d say probably no.”
“ Probably ?” Phlox looked and sounded confused. I was mucking this all up.
“Sorry. It’s just… This is a little difficult and I don’t want to offend you.”
Phlox’s lips twisted into a half grin. “I can’t imagine you could ever do that.”
I hoped Phlox was right. “Have you… I mean, is there anything going on with the Magical Usage Council that’s concerning to you?” I chewed on my bottom lip, wishing Lucroy was by my side to offer some support. “In particular, the director?”
Phlox went completely still, which was unusual for a pixie. Our wings constantly twitched. My best friend Phil’s mate Sedrick called it instinct.
“Now, that is an interesting question. A very interesting question,” Phlox answered while sliding off his stool.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you’re not the first one to ask me that.” Phlox’s gaze darted around the room again and I didn’t like the way his eyes narrowed when they fell on the shadowed corners. “Let’s take this conversation somewhere darker. Somewhere the shadows can’t hear us.”
Phlox whistled and Leon immediately turned to look at his beloved. Lucroy’s attention quickly followed, only zeroing in on me. Phlox inclined his head toward the security door leading to Lucroy’s previous den, a space now often occupied by Leon and Phlox.
Our beloveds rose from their table, their fluid, vampiric movements mesmerizing. Without a word, they joined us. Phlox turned and yelled, “Hey, Johnny. We’re heading downstairs. Hold down the fort?”
“You got it.” Johnny tossed a towel over his shoulder. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he added with a waggle of his eyebrows.
“Goofy fauns,” Phlox lovingly grumbled while heading for the door.
Lucroy’s cool hand settled along my lower back. It was a sturdy, reassuring presence. There was a time he would have led the way, but this wasn’t his den any longer, and he allowed his second, Leon, and his beloved, Phlox, to punch in the security code, adding a bit of their DNA to the mechanism to ensure its compliance.
We descended into the pitch-black darkness. “Don’t turn on the light,” Phlox ordered when my fingers automatically started that direction.
“Hold onto me, beloved,” Lucroy said. “Leon and I can see perfectly well in the dark.”
“I can too.” Phlox tapped the corner of his eye with the tip of his finger and before the door behind us shut, I caught a glimpse of his shifted, catlike eyes.
Only when there was no light and no shadows did Phlox say, “It’s safe. Now, tell me what you know.”
I could only relate what I’d learned from Erasmus. While I may not have been able to see, I could certainly hear Phlox’s creative cursing.
The room quieted when I finished laying everything out, including Erasmus’s desire to ask Aurelia for aid. Phlox’s frightened “we’ve got a problem” cut through the darkness, sending a spike of unease through my soul. That spike grew when Phlox added, “A very big problem.”