Dae
The rice cooker clicked over to warm. I heard it from the other side of a very full kitchen.
Killian's house wasn't small, but tonight there wasn't enough chairs for all the people spread out between the kitchen and the front room.
Nik and Emma had taken the window seat, while Grace sat on the counter by the fridge with her heels knocking the cabinet door, Aiden leaning against the wall beside her.
Talin was on the stairs with Elias. Judy had the good chair in the front room where she was holding court with those sitting around her. And the rest were either seated at the kitchen table, on the couch by Judy, or milling about.
My Alice was at the kitchen table. Running my hand over her soft blonde hair first, I walked over to the rice and began dishing it into bowls for the humans—and the human-like male—in the room.
I could hear Elias's stomach growling from here.
I stirred the doenjang jjigae on the stove.
It was a classic Korean comfort food that was thick and salty, with lots of veggies and pork belly and one of his favorite meals these days.
It looked warm enough, so I spooned it over the rice.
Then I pulled a pan of chicken with gochujang out of the oven, shooing Angel away when she tried to steal a piece.
My mother used to do this. She loved to feed people. Sometimes it seemed like she was cooking for the entire village, and she probably was.
I hadn't thought about that for a long time.
Taking the first bowl and a piece of chicken to my Alice, I set it down before her and kissed her on the head. "Eat this. You've had a hard night." She smiled up at me and obediently picked up her spoon.
Then I walked over to the stairs and handed a bowl and a spoon to Elias and one to Talin.
"Thank you," he said.
"It's just soup."
"It isn't." He took a bite and moaned with pleasure. "So just take the thanks."
I grinned at him. "You're welcome."
When I turned to go get more bowls, Alice was laughing at something Ryan said, one hand over her mouth, and I stilled, momentarily distracted. I loved her laugh. I hadn't heard it nearly enough these last few weeks.
I'd just given Grace the last bowl when Killian tapped a glass to get everyone's attention. "I'll be quick," he said when the room finally quieted.
"You've never been quick in your life," Jamal told him.
"I'll be quick," Killian repeated with a sideways look at him, "because half of ye have a plane to catch and the other half are nearly asleep on yer feet and need to get to yer beds before the sun fully rises.
" From his spot in the archway between the two rooms, his eyes went from face to face until he'd met everyone's eyes.
"I just wanted to say that I greatly appreciate ye Jesse, and those on the plane with ye, who risked their lives getting here tonight.
And also ye, Luukas, and the rest of yer coven who rushed to my city to help.
I don't think we would've survived this night without ye. "
Judy made a small sound in her chair, and everyone turned to her. She stood up. "I would like to second everything that he just said." Her face was grave as she looked around. "Seriously. Thank you." She sat back down.
"I think it's time that the line between us is done," Killian suggested to her, and after a moment, she nodded.
"There's no coven in this city that's only mine and none that's only Judy's, and there hasn't been for a while now.
We've just been a wee bit slow about admitting it.
" He raised his glass toward Luukas. "And Luukas.
Ye came when we called. Ye'll not have to ask twice if ye ever need us to do the same. "
Luukas had been standing near the back door for most of the night, his hand on the back of Keira's neck, and I'd noticed he was always touching her.
"The courtesy among Masters to claim territories and ask permission to enter one that isn't yours is there for a reason," he began, "But that tradition is old and mostly meaningless now.
" He inclined his head at Killian. "We've never observed it particularly well and I don't intend to begin now. "
"That's him being warm and talkative," Nik said from the window seat. "Seriously," he said when everyone looked at him. "That was the warm version."
"Nikulas," Emma chided.
"What? That was practically a hug." Nik stretched his long legs out, then suddenly sat up straight. "Killian. Serious question. What are you doing for Mardi Gras and how many bedrooms have you got in this house?"
"Ye're not staying at my house."
"He's not staying at your house," Emma agreed.
"I feel ganged up on." Nik put a hand over his heart, mortally wounded, and Emma pulled him back down by the collar with an apologetic smile.
Aiden pushed off the wall. "Right. Practical matters.
" He held up his phone and turned the screen toward Killian.
"I've built you something. It has alerts that feed off the cameras in the city.
If anything wonky so much as leans on the Garden District or The Quarter here, everyone in this room gets a notification.
It's a new technology I just discovered. "
"I don't want a notification," Dante said.
"You'll get a notification."
"I don't want a notification."
"Then you'll get a notification you ignore, and I'll feel better, and that's the arrangement.
" Aiden pocketed the phone. "Also Grace has left you a list of what to do if any of you get poisoned, cursed, or gutted, in that order, and I've put Mojo's care instructions on the back of it by mistake, so ignore the part about the mealworms."
"Who is Mojo?" Alice asked.
"He's a hedgehog," Grace said.
"He's a boot brush with strong opinions about my hoodie," Aiden said, but despite the way he crinkled his nose, there was warmth in his tone when he said it.
Grace made a noise and rolled her eyes, and he narrowed his eyes at her as she raised her eyebrows in challenge.
Dante uncrossed his arms. "Next time," he told Killian, "call sooner."
"There's not going to be a next time," Alex said.
"There's always a next time." Dante's eyes moved over the room, cataloging every exit in it for the fourth time. "Call sooner."
Laney touched his arm, and his shoulders relaxed just a little.
Alice got up from the table and crossed the room to her. "I don't know how to thank you," she said.
"You don't have to." Laney's voice was gentle. "I was happy to help."
"I wasn't happy about it," Dante mumbled under his breath.
"Ignore him." With a smile, she reached out and pushed a piece of hair off Alice's cheek, a small motherly gesture from a woman not much older than her, then pulled her into a hug.
"Word of advice," Shea said to Alice from the table.
She glanced at me, then back. "Let him be there to help you get through this.
Because just because it's over doesn't mean it's over for you.
So let him help you." Then she lowered her voice like she was passing on a secret. "They're unbearable when you don't."
"She's not lying," Ryan chimed in.
"Hey," Christian protested.
"Excuse me," I said at the same time.
"I think you're the worst of them," Shea told me. "You've been hovering since we got here."
"I've been cooking."
"You've been hovering while cooking. It's a skill you seem to have mastered." She reached down without looking and scratched Cruthú's throat, and the raven made a sound of profound satisfaction. "And Cruthú would like a taste."
Under Jesse's watchful golden eyes, I gave the bird her taste, which she seemed to enjoy. Then had to do the same with Wiggles, who'd roused himself from his bed in Killian and Lizzy's room at the smell of food.
Shortly after everyone finished eating, they all dispersed to find their beds. The Seattle coven had rented a house not far from ours, and on his way out, Luukas shook Killian's hand and then, after a beat, pulled him in and clapped him on the back.
Killian looked faintly stunned about it for a full minute after.
Then the gate closed, and the house was ours again, and it was suddenly, ringingly quiet.
Killian came and stood next to me at the sink as the other talked. I washed. He dried.
"I've had an offer on the club," he said.
I set a bowl in the rack.
"A man from Houston. He's got two in his own city and he's been sniffing around Bourbon street for about a year." Killian took the bowl and dried it slowly. "He'd keep the humans on. Keep the name, probably, since he's paying for it."
I stopped washing to look at him. "You're selling the Purple Fang."
"I'm thinking about selling the Purple Fang." He set the bowl down. "I've been thinking about it for a while now and I've been putting off saying it out loud to ye specifically, because I know what that stage is to ye."
I looked down at my hands in the soapy water.
Two months ago the thought of losing the club, of never being on that stage again, talking shit with Elias at the bar, teasing Kenya…it might've felt different. But now?
"Sell it," I said.
Killian's gave me a sideways glance as he dried the last bowl.
"I mean it." I pulled the drain and watched the water go. "I'm done, Killian. I'm not going back up there."
"Dae—"
"I don't need it anymore," I admitted. "And I don't just mean the blood. I mean the dancing. The attention. The mask I wore because I felt like I needed to hide behind it." I paused, glancing back at Alice before I met Killian's eyes. "I don't have to do that anymore."
"Good. I'm glad." He turned and leaned back against the sink. His eyes roved over the room and everyone in it. "It's settled then. I'll sell it, and we'll find something else to do to keep us busy."
But when I looked over, his eyes were suspiciously bright.
"We'll still be together."
"Aye." He gripped the back of my neck the way he'd always done. "Aye, we will. And that's what matters the most."
He let go and headed for the hall, but stopped in the doorway to wait for Lizzy and Wiggles. "Ye'll still have to earn yer keep, ye know."
I frowned. "I made everyone dinner."