Ian took our glasses and brought them over to one of the tree-styled chaise longues. I gladly followed him. One of those butterflies was going to fly up my dress, I just knew it.

“Cheers,” Ian said, holding out our glasses to us.

Vlad eyed him warily. I also waited before taking mine. Ian waved his hand, spilling some of his drink with the gesture.

“These are harmless, though you’re right to be cautious. In a place like this, never order an Orgasm, Mind Eraser, or Sex on the Beach unless you want exactly those things to happen.”

“Good to know,” I said under my breath. Then I took a cautious sip, surprised at the flavors that burst over my tongue. The golden liquid tasted like honey-covered sunshine mixed with spring rain.

“What is this?” I asked, finishing the rest in one swallow.

Ian gave me an amused look. “It’s called Faery’s Brew. Very potent despite its taste, so if you drink a few more that quickly, vampire or no, you’ll soon be so drunk you’ll believe that you can actually see faeries.” Then Ian raised his own glass. “Ashael, this is Ian and I need to see you,” he said before swallowing the contents in one gulp.

Vlad set his glass down without touching it. “That’s either a very peculiar toast, or something else is going on.”

“Something else,” Ian affirmed, taking Vlad’s glass from him. “Ashael, come as quickly as you can,” he said before hoisting Vlad’s glass and draining its contents, too.

“Who is Ashael?” Vlad said in a deceptively mild tone.

Ian signaled the bartender. “Another round!” he called out. Our glasses refilled on their own in the next few moments. Ian hoisted one, said “Ashael!” and downed it.

“You’re trying to summon him,” I said, figuring it out. “I didn’t know we were looking for a particular person.”

“Why didn’t we know before?” Vlad said, the edge in his voice making it clear that he didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark.

Ian blinked. “I didn’t tell you?” When both of us glared at him, he gave up the pretense. “Right, well, it would have been very boring explaining that I know a bloke who knows a lot of mystical blokes, but no one who looks for Ashael can find him. Saying he spelled himself to be elusive is putting it mildly.”

“We’re looking for someone who’s spelled so that he can’t be found?” I repeated, incredulous.

“Yes and no,” Ian replied. “No one can find Ashael by looking, but if you go to one of the few magically sealed places he frequents, then speak his name into a toast several times, he can hear you, and thus he finds you.”

Chapter 12

Vlad continued to stare at Ian, and from the look in his eye, he was mentally peeling Ian’s skin off one layer at a time. “This person finds us?”

A nod. “If he’s interested.”

“And if he’s not?” Vlad asked, his smooth voice belying the dangerous currents I felt pushing against his shields.

“Then he swipes left and we remain a trio instead of a quartet,” Ian replied, his tone adding, Isn’t that obvious?

Vlad leaned back in the chair, which creaked under his new, stockier body. “Then there was no need for Mia and me to be here.” His words hung in the air like poison swirling inside the finest of wines. “Yet you insisted that we come. Why?”

Ian stiffened as if affronted, but I was starting to realize that very few things offended him. “You wouldn’t want to be here if Ashael shows up?”

“If he did, you could have told him to meet us elsewhere,” Vlad said. “No, that’s not why you brought us, and since you’re pathologically selfish, it must be because it benefits you.”

“Backup.”

The word left my mouth before I had time to think it over, but when I caught the faintest widening of Ian’s eyes, I knew I’d guessed right. I let out a short laugh.

“You have enemies in this world. That’s why Mencheres had to guilt trip you into helping us, so now that you’re forced to be here, you’re making sure that you’re not coming alone.”

Ian’s silence was confirmation. “Seems you need us as much as we need you,” Vlad noted in a darkly satisfied tone.

Ian’s mouth tightened, that hard spark breaking through his devil-may-care façade. “For the moment, so I reckon that backing me up is the least you can do.”

“You could have just asked us,” I noted.

The look Ian gave me was disbelieving to the point of being thunderstruck. “Trust you?” he said, as if I’d suggested that he set himself on fire and jump into a gasoline-filled lake. “Why?”

“Not now,” Vlad said, his gaze flicking around the room. “Too many ears, even if most of them are human.”

Human, maybe, but the magic that pulsed through this place was tangible. Even if I’d been blind, I would’ve known I was somewhere special. Being able to see only meant that I was continually dazzled, if I allowed myself to keep looking around. But we weren’t here as tourists, even if this was the kind of place that millions of people would pay through the nose to vacation at.

“How long do we have to wait to see if Ashael intends to respond to your summons?” I asked in a lower voice.

Ian settled himself back into the couch. “A few hours. If he doesn’t show, we’ll try again tomorrow, but before we leave, we have to pay our respects to the architect of this level. You don’t snub a hydra mage unless you want to repeatedly drown for the next five days, as I discovered the hard way.”