“Why? Are you hungry?”

“Yes.”

“If you ask really nicely, maybe I’ll give you a bite.”

He gave her a cool look.

“Or you can just glower at me. That works too.” She cut a piece off of the steak and pointed the fork toward him. “Here you go.”

“What happened after the gym?” he asked before eating the piece of meat.

“I went to go help Mayhem’s Disposal Department dissect a bunch of vampiric tapeworms.”

He didn’t even blink—or stop chewing. “That sounds appetizing.”

“It was really gross, to be perfectly honest.”

“Worse than chopping up monsters?”

“Oh, much worse. When you’re in a fight, you don’t have much time to stop and smell the monster guts.”

“Indeed.” He lifted his glass to her.

She raised her glass too and took a cautious sip. The wine tasted a lot fancier than the generic stuff she bought from the grocery store. It kind of reminded her of dark cherries and chocolate. Did he know her tastes so well already? Scary.

“Then after the dissection, Naomi and I went shopping,” she said.

“And bought this outfit?”

“No. Naomi got this outfit for me from the hotel store while I was napping. I was almost too embarrassed to wear it. You know, on account of it being really…”

“Provocative?”

“Slutty,” she amended, biting back a blush. “But it’s the only thing I have that isn’t ruined or on Trove’s black list. You see, not even half an hour into our shopping trip, two gangs of centaurs stormed through the mall, shaking their swords and screaming insults at one another.”

“They always do that. They’re just looking for attention. Ignore them, and they eventually gallop away.”

“I couldn’t just ignore them when there were panicking shoppers riling them up,” she said. “We scared off the centaurs, but then vampires attacked.”

“Your magic is very appealing to monsters. It draws them in.”

She shook her head. “Not this time. The vampires weren’t after me. They were after a mage. Someone from the Magic Council.”

“Describe this mage.”

“Rich, powerful, rude, claiming jurisdiction. Basically like someone from any of the magic dynasties.”

Kai gave her a cool look.

She smirked at him. “What? You know it’s true.”

He remained unimpressed.

She sighed. “Ok. Fine. Male. Roughly fifty. He had silver hair, and a really bad attitude. About half a second into our conversation, I was already regretting not letting the vampires have him.”

“Duncan Blackbrooke,” said Kai. “What happened to the vampires?”

“There were two groups. The larger group—the bloodlust ones—ran around the store while a smaller group went after Blackbrooke. And only after Blackbrooke.”

“Someone was controlling them?”

“I believe so,” Sera replied. “Maybe someone with access to the Blood Orb.”

“If it’s really a magic-hating group behind this, they could be targeting members of the Magic Council.” He pulled out his phone and began swiping away.

“Kai, you’re on the Magic Council.”

He didn’t look up from his phone. “I can take care of myself.”

“That’s what Blackbrooke and his entourage of bodyguards thought.”

“I am not Duncan Blackbrooke.”

“There’s something else.” Sera reached into her purse. “The vampires were wearing magic-resistant armor. I managed to swipe a piece before being shooed away.”

Kai looked up as she set the knob on the counter. Blue light flashed in his eyes.

“Look familiar?” she asked.

He stared down at the knob, his expression darkening. “This is from my labs.” He picked it up, rolling it back and forth between his fingers. “How many armor suits were there?”

“Four. One for each vampire. The mages’ spells bounced right off.”

“And now Blackbrooke has the armor?”

“Yes.”

He pocketed the knob, then began swiping across his phone screen once again. “I haven’t been informed of any recent thefts at my labs. Not since the Priming Bangles last month. My security guys are checking the suits now.” His phone dinged, and he looked down at the screen again. “Everything is still there.”

“Maybe the suits are from someone else,” she suggested.

“Maybe.” He didn’t look convinced. “I’m having security question all the people who work in the lab. We’ll find out soon enough.” He took another sip of wine, a longer one this time. “What happened after the vampire attack?”

“By then, I wasn’t much in the mood for shopping,” she said. “I was, however, in dire need of a nap and a shower. And a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“I knew that dubious sandwich would find its way into this tale.”

“You should really give it a try. You might actually like it,” she told him. “I bet Trove’s chef could fix you up a nice, pretentious peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“What is a pretentious peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe they can add some garnish on the side.”

“I believe I’ll pass.”