Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
KASO
“I don’t like this.”
Andreas sighed and shook his head. “Stop sayin’ that.”
I shrugged. “But I don’t like it.”
“How’s that helpful?”
I opened my mouth then shut it. “I just don’t like—”
“This. Yeah, we got it.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and rolled his eyes. “Look, we’re prepared. You and me? We know this shithead. We’ve brought in our best guys to help—”
“I know, I know. The t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted. The plan is set, the people are in position, it’s just…” I gestured to the glass pyramid above us with the city lights twinkling down. “This is the Louvre.”
He chuckled and leaned closer. “I like to think it’s proof we’ve cleaned our act up since our little … distraction era.”
“It’s the distractions I’m worried about.” I ran my hand over the back of my neck and glanced around. I’d never been to this museum before but its reputation preceded it. Especially when it came to the sheer number of human tourists inside and practically huddled around us. “I hate this feeling.”
Andreas grimaced and put his hand on my shoulder, gently squeezing. He lowered his voice, “my brother, you’re in your own head. Our plan here is solid.”
“Everyone in location down here?”
We both jumped at the sound of Regan’s voice but Andreas did a double take.
His cheeks flushed a pale pink and his amber eyes sparkled a little brighter.
But it was his grip tightening on my shoulder that gave him away.
We’d come a long way since I’d accidentally flirted with one of the Virtues.
Only time would tell if we were headed to glory or our final resting place.
Or Fourth Realm, there was still a very real chance one of these angels would decide we needed to be shipped to the realm of vampires on a one—way ticket.
“I already regret this,” Chanel mumbled as she approached.
It was my turn to do a double-take. My jaw dropped.
The girls had ditched the leather battle gear for satin and lace.
The combat boots were swapped for platform heels.
Chanel’s metallic gold snake skin heels sparkled in the golden lights of the room, every step was like walking on liquid gold.
It made me wonder what it looked like where angels came from.
She strutted towards us like she was on stage performing.
Her long golden blonde hair bounced with every step, the waves rolling like the ocean at the beach,
Oh man. I’ve got it bad. Focus, Kaso. She needs you to focus right now. But her outfit consisted of a long-sleeved body suit the covered her from collarbone down to her wrists and ankles, except it was made entirely of black lace where certain pieces were strategically placed to keep her decent.
“And you didn’t like this plan,” Andreas leaned over and whispered.
My chest tightened. I had to shove my hands in my pockets to stop myself from reaching for her. I cleared my throat yet oxygen still felt thick. “I told you it was the distractions I was worried about.”
His answering chuckle made my stomach turn with anxiety.
I glanced over to give him shit but paused when I saw the puppy dog eyes he was giving Regan.
At least she was a little more covered, her all-black satin power suit was elegantly sexy and subtle.
My girl liked to show more skin than her cousin.
Not my girl. She’s not my girl. I want her to be.
If I don’t fuck this up maybe she can be —FOCUS, KASO. For fuck’s sake.
She stopped right in front of me and glared. “Are you wearing fucking cashmere?”
My cheeks heated. I shrugged. “It’s Paris? Andreas’ plan said we were to dress nice so we look like we’re just here for the exhibition so I …”
She sighed and raised her hands toward my stomach like she wanted to pet me.
My adrenaline spiked.
Regan swatted her hands away and growled. “For this to work we need to stick to the plan Andreas and I made. It’s a solid plan. We’re ready. We can do this.”
“I don’t like it,” I grumbled.
“I already regret the heels,” Chanel mumbled.
Regan rolled her blue eyes. “Well I guess it’s a good thing your role in the plan is to stand front and center and be beautiful. All you have to do is stand there and flirt with each other, which you seem incapable of stopping, and be our eyes from the inside.”
Chanel arched one eyebrow. “That’s part of why I don’t like this plan. How would you like your job to be stand and look pretty —”
“Your boyfriend here is in a cashmere sweater and I’m telling you to go stand there and pet him —”
“I’m not her boyfriend.”
“Petting him is how we got into this mess,” Chanel hissed. “I have no self-control. That’s like asking me to hold your pizza but won’t let me have a bite.”
I hung my head to try and hide my stupid grin.
It was always nice to feel wanted, especially when it was from the person you wanted.
Reciprocated affection and attraction was the best. But also, she hadn’t objected to me being referred to as her boyfriend.
She was vocal about her self-control. The amount of giddy hope bubbling through my system made me feel like a shaken up bottle of Coca Cola after someone put a Mentos inside.
We needed this to go well.
We couldn’t afford any more mistakes.
I cleared my throat and held my hand out. “What do ya say? Should we go put on a show and look at the stars.”
Her cheeks flushed pink. She smiled and put her hand in mine, her skin as soft as the cashmere I wore. Distantly, I registered Regan and Andreas going through the rundown of the plan and all the details that needed to be hit just right but my mind was blurring everything else out.
Except Chanel.
I led her to the center of the pyramid, right where Regan and Andreas wanted us.
We were the bait, the distraction. The thing to make Christopher think we weren’t here to capture him just that we were also here to get a look a Princess Tatum’s first tiara on loan from Wynnfield Castle.
Which, I did actually want to see. I wasn’t from Princess Tatum’s country and I hadn’t been there, but I was born in a time where kings and royals courts were prevalent.
It made me feel nostalgic in a good way.
The stars were supposed to be visible from inside this famous glass pyramid, at least for my heightened vampire vision, yet I couldn’t take my eyes off Chanel.
As I stared into her green eyes I tried to remember a time when I’d ever felt like this.
The answer was never. I was two thousand years old, give or take a couple years, so I’d fallen in love more than a few times but never even remotely like this.
My pulse skipped beats.
Am I in love with her? I’d known I was falling, or at least dangling from the edge of the cliff side, yet somehow I’d missed the fall entirely.
I was in love with her. Madly. Deeply. In love with her.
Part of me panicked at the realization and the implications of such revelation, but the majority of me felt overwhelming happiness and peace.
“Um excuse me, miss?”
We both jumped apart at the sound of a little girl’s voice. When we looked down, we found a tiny thing with big emerald eyes and pale peachy-pink hair. She grinned up at us then crooked her finger to signal for us to come closer. Which we did.
“Hi sweetheart,” I said softly with a tight smile to not show my fangs. “You get yourself lost?”
She giggled and shook her head then reached up with both hands and tucked her hair behind her pointed ears – pointed. My eyes widened. She was fae. “Mais, non. Je ne suis pas perdu.”
I frowned. “Do you need help - désolé, avez-vous besoin d'aide?”
Her whole face lit up. “Tu parles Francais?”
I chuckled. “Oui. Je suis très ... merde, comment dit ton old en Francais?”
“Really? You forget how to say old in French?” Chanel chuckled but looked back to the little girl. “Nous sommes très vieux, alors nous parlons beaucoup de langues. Tu parles Anglais?”
She grimaced. “Je parle un peu anglais.”
“C'est bien, mais nous pouvons parler Francais pour toi. Qu'est-ce que tu besoin?”
The little girl bit her bottom lip and glanced around nervously, then leaned forward and whispered, “Es-tu Chanel de Chanegan?”
Are you Chanel from Chanegan? I chuckled and shook my head.
Leave it to little supernatural children to see through the blonde hair.
I almost smacked myself for not realizing this could’ve been an issue for us.
We’d gotten so caught up in catching Christopher we’d forgotten to take their recent fame into consideration.
Chanel smiled wide and nodded, then whispered back, “yes I am.”
The girl gasped and looked to me so I held up one finger in front of my mouth and winked.
She nodded like she understood she needed to play it cool. “Où est Regan?”
I pointed to my left in the direction of where I’d last seen Regan, where she was supposed to be standing according to the plan. The girl looked over and her grin widened. She looked to Chanel with wide, expectant eyes.
“Allez, on va la voir,” Chanel whispered and held her hand out to her. Then she looked to me. “Be right back?”
I nodded and stood back to my full height and watched as Chanel held the girl’s hand and hurried over toward her cousin.
Despite the hundreds of people in their fancy gala attire lingering around this main entrance, I could still see them over there tucked behind a standing banner sign.
The girl waved to Regan. The cousins crouched down – their colorful magic sparkled between their fingers and then their blonde hair was replaced by neon pink and turquoise hair. The girl gasped and clapped her hands.
Someone bumped into me so I glanced away to apologize then turned back in time to catch Chanegan taking selfies with the little fae girl.
I hadn’t realized supernatural children knew Chanel and Regan weren’t human.
Perhaps it had something to do with the imagination and innocence of childhood.
Chanel and Regan hugged the girl then stood up straight.
Chanel took her by the hand and started to walk away, most likely to guide the girl back to her parents.
She’d made it about three feet before I heard a guy yell from nearby, “OH MY GOD! IT’S CHANEGAN!”
I gasped. Chanel flinched. I saw the realization of what just happened hit her. She’d forgotten to change her hair back to blonde.
“Chanegan?”
“CHANEGAN!”
“OVER THERE!”
“Oh mon Dieux!”
Only then did I realize I recognized that voice. I spun toward where I’d heard it and spotted Christopher standing at the very top of the large staircase that led to the main entrance doors up at the street level. He wiggled his fingers in a wave.
“ANDREAS!” I shouted without taking my eyes off Christopher.
“Move in, move in!” Andreas yelled into what was probably his phone. “Top of the stairs. Entrance, street level!”
But there was no chance we’d get to him.
All at once, every single person turned and charged for Chanel and Regan.
Hundreds of people in a panicked, mad dash right for us.
I leapt backwards to stand in front of them even though they were far more capable of defending themselves in a fight than even I was.
Except, these were all humans. They couldn’t fight them.
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted my brother standing behind them, his eyes on the crowd that was rushing in from every direction.
Chanel and Regan pulled the little fae girl between them to shield her.
My smart watch vibrated with an incoming text. I glanced down at it to see a text from Christopher pop up on the small screen that read ‘Fame was an interesting choice for the hunters.’
My stomach turned. I looked back up to where I’d seen him before and found him leaning against the railing like this was a normal day at the park. He reached up to run his hand through his blond hair – NO. FUCK! Princess Tatum’s sparkling diamond tiara sat on top of his stupid head.
I peeled my eyes off of him to scan the crowd for one of our guys but despite moving in fast enough, they were as screwed as we were.
Between each of us and the stairs had to be five hundred people.
It was shoulder-to-shoulder. It was a Black Friday sale from the 90s with parents willing to cause blood to get their hands on the Tickle Me Elmo toy.
And then the smug bastard gave us a wink before turning and walking out.
“CHRISTOPHER!” I shouted but it was no use, his vampire speed had him out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Even if I wanted to abandon the girls and chase him I couldn’t.
There were just too many people. The girls could have sprouted their wings and snatched him in seconds but that would’ve meant a really messy clean up with these humans that Zuriel would’ve been livid over.
They must’ve known that was a fight they didn’t want to have since they hadn’t already flown off.
Everyone was shouting. It was too much all at once. I couldn’t hear myself think. Lights began to flash as the people closest to us started taking pictures of them. I hissed and threw my hand up to shield my sensitive eyes from the light but when I turned my head away my gaze landed on Christopher.
Outside the glass pyramid looking down at us with a cocky, shit-eating grin.
A young girl ran up to the glass beside him, desperate to catch a glimpse of the popstars.
Christopher looked down at her head of messy brown hair then glanced back to me and arched his eyebrow. My stomach tightened into knots.
DON’T HURT HER, I mouthed up at him. DON’T YOU DARE.
He gave me a dramatic gasp with his hand pressed to his chest. Then he grinned, reached up to pull the royal tiara off his head, and sat it on the little girl’s head. With a wink to her followed by a wink to me, he turned and vanished from sight.
That son of a bitch.
He’d taken the tiara, pretended to fall for our trap, just to show us he didn’t fall for it. The last thing I saw before the stampede moved in close enough to block my view was the little girl’s parents walking her away from the glass…with Princess Tatum’s tiara still on her head.
A text popped up on my watch screen from Christopher. ‘You really ought to start hiring supernaturals for your crew. Your twenty human thugs were useless against my one, innocent little fae girl. Cheerio.’