“Yeah, well… stay here. Oh, there are the drinks, grab five of them, would you?”
“Okay…?” I did as she asked, then watched as she cornered each of the guys and practically dragged them one at a time to our table.
Jayce sat down beside me and grinned. “Hey, Piper. You made it.”
“Barely.” I made a face. “I hate teleporting.”
“You get used to it,” Xero said as Hannah shoved him into the seat beside Jayce. She hurried off again and returned a moment later with Kingston in tow.
“Look, what was your name, Ana?” he grumbled. “You seem like a sweet girl, but there is no way you are going to convince me to—”
“Sit.”
And shockingly, Kingston sat. He looked for a moment like he was going to crumble into a petulant pout, but he gathered himself together under an umbrella of forced dignity. I slid a drink toward him.
Hannah sat down across from me, glancing around at the gathered men. “Hi! I’m Hannah. I’ve met you, Jayce.” Her gaze shifted to the other two. “And I’ve seen you two in Combat. You must be Xero, and you’re Kingston. Right? Good! Now, Piper told me about your situation. It’s kind of fucked up, which is why you’re all going to sit here and get to know each other and make the best of things.” She folded her hands on the table and nodded decisively.
The guys all looked at me, and I shrugged. “You heard the lady.”
“You take orders from her?” Kingston asked haughtily.
I blinked at him slowly. “She’s my best friend, numbskull. She’s the only person I take orders from.”
Hannah’s eyes twinkled happily. It was ridiculous how easy it was to put that girl in a good mood.
“How about you, Xero?” I asked, turning my attention deliberately away from Kingston. “How did you end up at FU?”
Xero shrugged. “Showed up at the gate and asked if they’d take me. They did. Now I’m here.”
I squinted at him. “Um. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like you’re leaving out a whole lot of shit.”
He almost cracked a smile at that. “You trying to ask how I was turned?”
“That’s one place to start.”
He shrugged. “Friend of mine was driving me somewhere back in ’96… don’t remember the specifics. Went down a dark alley and parked the car. Said he was sorry, then went nuts. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in a red room and all I can hear is screaming.”
“Hold on, you were turned in the nineties?” Hannah narrowed her eyes at him. “You don’t look that old.”
“Feel a lot older,” he said. “Spent a few decades downstairs learning their ways. They think they’ve got all the time in the world down there. I heard rumors about this place around the same time I figured out what Gavriel’s minions wanted me to do—make my way back to earth and spend my existence turning people, recruiting for the underworld.” He shook his head. “Couldn’t do it. No way. But I made them believe I could.”
Kingston’s mouth was twisted in disgust as he watched Xero spill his story. I glared at him. What a dick. Wonder if I could trade that one in for a better model.
“Anyway, they sent me topside to hunt, and I disappeared. Came out here. Bounced off that freakin’ force field around the FU grounds so hard it just about scrambled my brains.”
“And they took you in?” Kingston asked, sounding appalled. “After you’d done time in the underworld?”
Xero blinked at him slowly. “That’s one way to put it.”
“Are they stupid?”
“Knock it off,” I snapped. “If you have to say anything, tell us how you got here, but lay off Xero.”
Xero granted me a very small smile, but turned back to Kingston. “They checked me out. Magic lie detectors and shit. Besides, I have to go through training like everybody else here does. I’ve got to prove myself just like all of you. Relax.”
Kingston opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again and buried his face in his beer. We drank in silence for a few minutes before Jayce rescued us.
“I was walking near the Hollywood studios at sunset,” he said brightly. “I was on my way to an audition when this—this thing popped out from behind one of those huge sound stages. I swear to God, I thought it was an animatronic prop or something; it was the coolest looking dog-monster I’d ever seen. I went up to it to