Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(41)

“She’s not the type to hold a grudge,” Penny replied as the shifters approached, Charity and a strange dude in the lead.

“I would hold a grudge,” I said.

“That’s because you’re an asshole.”

“Touché.”

Charity’s gaze took in the construction and then the completed bungalows.

“After all that,” she said to the man, and I noticed Kairi was following close behind them, “you still put them way out here?”

“It was decided that this would be a good location for guests wanting a little privacy,” the man said.

Charity huffed, marching straight past Penny and up the couple of steps into the closest bungalow. Both Kairi and the warrior fae dude followed. I could hear their quick-fire exchange of words but not what they were actually saying. A moment later, Charity came back out, her face screwed up with anger.

“I will take this up with Grandmama,” she said, stopping in front of everyone. “Roger, forgive us. It seems we don’t have the capacity to house you as you housed us. Rest assured, I will take it up with the governing body immediately.”

“Don’t trouble yourself,” Roger replied, holding a folded-up garment, his backpack, and standing nude. He’d stayed in animal form in the rear for most of the journey, ready to be the first line of defense turned offense. The last two of the three groups foolish enough to approach us had been dispatched by him before everyone else caught on. “We’ll be fine here.”

“I just hope the beds are actually off the ground this time,” the surfer guy—Andy, I thought his name was—said miserably.

Charity nodded, gave Devon a poignant look, and then stalked away. Devon glanced at Roger.

“Go,” he urged.

Devon nodded and jogged after Charity. He’d be staying with her.

“Okay.” I looked at Roger. “Any rhyme or reason to where we stay?”

“We’ll be protected here,” Emery responded. “The elves won’t risk approaching these lands with the intent to do violence. They know Romulus plans to visit them, and bring us with him, so they’ll start planning for that.”

“Awesome. We’re giving them a head start and home advantage, all on a couple of Seers’ say-so.” Even though I’d tried to ignore talk of what the Seers had said, I’d picked up on that much.

“Yup,” Roger murmured, which was surprising, given he didn’t usually voice things like that. But like everyone else, he didn’t seem inclined to do anything about it. Maybe he just didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t say I did either. So instead, I turned toward the first bungalow.

The one I chose had two bedrooms, a smallish kitchen without an oven, a menu that I would absolutely be ordering from—though, without a phone, I wasn’t sure how—and a table in the living room. I fell onto the couch, which was plush and comfortable.

“Better than a hotel room,” I said, wishing there was something to prop my feet up on. The coffee table would have to do. “Nearly as big as my first house. You know the one, Darius, before you came in and expanded it so much that people now feel comfortable camping out in my living room.”

Darius checked out the kitchen then disappeared through another door that presumably led to the bathroom. “Rudimentary,” he said.

Penny and Emery poked their heads in. “I guess we’ll be sharing,” Emery said. “There’s just one place with a solo living space, and the older dual-mages have claimed it. There isn’t enough room for everyone to have their own spot.”

“It’s not much smaller than that cottage in Ireland, remember?” I put my hands behind my head.

Penny stood in front of me for a moment and stared.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t care that they were rude to you?”

“Who was? The welcome chick?” Penny continued to stare. I took that as a yes and shrugged. “A lot of people are rude to me. In fact, most people are rude to me. Have you met Moss? That guy still hasn’t warmed up. I’d be wary if she were too nice.”

“And this…” Penny held out her hands. “This is cool?”

I frowned at her. “What’s with you? You hangry?” I let a smile slowly drift up my cheeks. “Oh, I get it. You’re worried that, with a place this small, you won’t be able to help yourself from barging into my room at suspiciously inopportune moments.”

She rolled her eyes and headed to one of the bedrooms.

“I’m on to you, dirty girl. I’ve got your number,” I called after her.

“These are much nicer than the last…bungalows that were here,” Emery said, taking a chair from the table and placing it by the square window. He settled in and looked out.

“What happened to those?” I asked.

“Charity blew them up. I’d tell you the story of why, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise. We’ll just say the welcome chick was nothing compared to the others around here, and your patience is a lot shallower than the shifters’.”





Fourteen





Charity left her new bedroom the next morning with trepidation swimming in her gut. Given she had an accepted place in the leadership of these people, they’d moved her from a temporary house, which was large, to a house near her father, which was too large. What was she going to do with five bedrooms, two living rooms, and a library? Especially because these people were getting ready to move out of here.