Page 47 of Reapers Don’t Ride

She sighed dreamily. “Oh, yes. Fairies have the best spas, and they get their wings sparkled and their skin hydrated. It’s glorious.” Her bright eyes were even brighter at the thought of it. She was such an adorable little thing.

“Okay. I’ll take you to a spa,” I said, smiling slightly. At least someone would be happy whether Gavriel actually wanted a cake and card or not.

“Girl time!” She flung her arms around me and squeezed me as tight as she could while I patted her shoulder awkwardly.

“Sure. Girl time.”

After that, it was time to put the plan in place. We’d leave first thing in the morning, you know, because it would take time to get ingredients and bake the cake. And we had to schedule an appointment with the spa.

Shane helped with that while Gavriel looked perplexed. Shane had a poker face while he watched me call on his phone, Chira chirping beside me about all the things we should do, exfoliating and peels, until I asked the lady on the phone to schedule everything they had, and hung up.

Everyone stared at me, Chira, Gavriel, Shane, Rafe, Frankie, and Lorien, who had come in at some point, looking sketchy.

“If you want to go to the spa tomorrow, you’ll have to do your chores today,” I said, looking at Chira seriously.

Her eyes went enormous, and she stank of fear. She didn’t show the fear, just raised her chin, waiting for me to finally show my claws. I owned her. What would I do with her?

“We’re going to clean this entire building from top to bottom, and when I say top, I mean the ceilings,” I said, looking up at the smoke stained, grease-flecked ceiling of the bar that had probably had a clear color underneath it.

“What do you mean, you’re cleaning my bar?” Shane asked, his poker face getting even more impenetrable. It was also impossible to tell how he was feeling by his scent.

“There was a time in my life when I wasn’t allowed to clean. Being free means I get to live without roaches, spiders, and rats.”

His eyes narrowed, and then he shrugged and relaxed slightly. “Fine. If you want to clean my building, top to bottom, feel free, but you won’t find anything incriminating in any of the private bedrooms, because none of us are stupid enough to keep anything like that.”

Rafe, Tiago, and Lorien immediately rushed the stairs.

I got to work. The top floor in the narrow attic was where Chira and Frankie had their rooms. It actually wasn’t too bad; no leaks, no drafts, but it was filthy.

Chira splashed around like a child, making a mess while she played in the bubbles her brother made for her, but he was a high-quality cleaner and didn’t mind working hard. Gavriel took off his shirt and worked beside me with a broom, reaching up to sweep up cobwebs while Frankie scrubbed, using his wings to keep him aloft.

Tiago joined us a few minutes later, and the elf had a few spells that made things move much more quickly. He also started singing, and Gavriel joined in. Then it started to feel like a party. Not a Vampire King party, the kind that wasn’t nerve-wrackingly boring.

We worked our way down, and by the time we got to the bar, Shane was finished mopping up the floor, the ceiling was a dull cream color minus any grease or smoke stains, and Rafe was sanding down the counter.

“The back room is done,” Lorien said, coming out with a wet rag in his hand. He kept his eyes on the floor.

“Now, Ruby Blood,” Shane said, giving me a slight smile. “You have to dance with everyone here for working so hard.”

I stared at him blankly. “You would like to spar with me? What choice of weapons?”

He grinned, then nodded at Tiago, who strummed something elaborate on his guitar. “You’ll dance with everyone here, and then we’ll let you dance with your angel. That’s the price for letting you invade everyone’s privacy.”

“Oh. I don’t dance well unless my partner is a good lead.”

Shane glanced at Gavriel. “Do you object to her dancing with others?”

Gavriel studied me and then glanced at Lorien and back to me. Was that something? Did I need to try to get information out of him? Of course, because I could be so subtle, as demonstrated by the last time I’d slammed him against the bar and threatened to kill him. “Yes, I object, but I’m overruled by her generosity. Don’t make me regret it,” he said, shooting a glare at everyone there.

Rafe grabbed my hand and started hopping around the room with me. It was absurd. There wasn’t any actual dance, and I don’t think it followed Tiago’s song, but the elf switched songs so the fish guy’s dance almost worked.

After that dance, it was Frankie, and he was so graceful as he led me through the elaborate dance, while Tiago’s music became all that an elegant fairy ball could desire. Then it was Shane, who swept me around like someone who danced with awkward girls for a living.

When we were finished with an actually enjoyable dance that followed the music and was easy to follow, he handed me to Tiago, trading me for the guitar.

Tiago raised a brow and then bowed over my hand and proceeded to dance to the song Shane played. It was a country dance with a lot of leaping and elaborate arms, but Tiago did more than lead. He enchanted me so that I knew exactly what to do and performed perfectly.

After they were done, I turned to Gavriel, but Shane stuck his arm between us.