"It won't run out," Jonathon answered with a roll of his eyes, but he shifted enough for the sun to hit Auguste's chest again.
"And your house?" I asked Auguste.
"It's just a house. I have—"
"You have others. I remember," I said, grimacing, but Auguste just laughed.
"Ma petite, I am…a daywalker now. We can go anywhere. We can be together at any moment—"
"Every moment," I whispered, eyes narrowing greedily, but no one seemed to mind my demand.
"It's just a house," Auguste repeated. "Cork is safe. Brownies are resourceful, even against the likes of Birsha."
"What the hell are the likes of that arsehole anyway?" Ezra asked. "He's more than a man. Is that from…you know. Eating vampire's organs?"
Auguste blinked at that. "You know…I was so—I haven't—Jon?"
Jonathon stood up suddenly from the bed, and despite the tense situation, it was a little amusing to watch him pacing in front of the window, cock hanging and bobbing with his marching.
"That's a fascinating hypothesis actually, Ezra. What would be the effect of eating the organs of our kind?"
"Who would dare try?" Amon asked, frowning.
"A monster," I whispered, the others all turning to me. "A real one, I mean. He is."
"Very little is known of him. Did he change before being put to death? Was he put to death at all? And most of what might've been known is already lost," Auguste said softly.
"I wouldn't even know how to approach an experiment to test this," Jonathon muttered to himself, hands on his hips.
"Lost might only be hidden, not gone," Amon said slowly, and my head had to whip between them each as they bounced the conversation around our circle.
"You prophesizing?" Ezra asked Amon.
We were all shifting on the bed, moving slowly to sitting as the ideas stirred between us. Amon's eyes brightened as they met mine.
"It would be best and safest for us all if we were to quit Birsha's territory," Amon said slowly. "Magdalena is certainly safe with Khepri."
"But now that I've escaped him three times, staying here puts a much more serious target on the others," I said, nodding slowly, leaning back as Booker crowded in, drawing me onto his lap and fashioning himself into a throne for me.
"Ah, I see your scheme now," Auguste said to Amon, smirking a little.
"I still don't," Ezra muttered.
"Something must be done about Birsha. To protect Esther. Ourselves. Others he might seek to trouble in the future," Amon said with a wave of his hand. "Birsha has survived due to his secrecy. He likes to have others do his dirty work. He's made himself impossible to remember."
"Amon," I said gently, arching an eyebrow. "Spit it out."
Amon scowled briefly and then squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. "Birsha has no territory in the Middle East, where his origins lie. Perhaps it doesn't interest him, or perhaps he avoids it for a reason."
"He wants us to go to Egypt. It's not far from where Gomorrah was before it was destroyed," Jonathon said drily, coming to sit on the bed.
"I was leading up to this," Amon snapped.
"You were showboating," Ezra said, vanishing as Amon growled and reached out an arm to swat at him.
"Egypt," I breathed, recalling the heat of my vision, the sand.
"In my territory, we would be thoroughly protected. Out of Birsha's reach and in the land of his history, we might discover valuable secrets. Unearth a weakness we could use against him," Amon said.
It was not quite the charming peace and delight I'd imagined for when I was ready to leave Rooksgrave. We might still be in danger. There would be work to be done. But it sounded like the kind of adventure one might read in a story, with twists and turns and danger.
"Will there be secret passageways?" I asked, smiling and thinking of the staircase Jonathon and I had traveled down to find Auguste's hiding spot.
Amon frowned at me, head tilting. "I have a half a dozen on my estate at least."
"And maybe…a map to treasure?" I added, grinning.
Ezra reappeared suddenly, eyes gleeful. "Oh, please let there be a treasure map!"
Amon's expression went flat, but I could've sworn his lips twitched.
"I should imagine we might have to wear a disguise at some point," Auguste mused, fighting his own smile. "I might like a mustache."
My nose wrinkled at that and Jonathon sighed and nodded. "I'll have to cause at least one explosion as a diversion."
Amon let out a heavy sigh, and I twisted to glance at Booker, who stared blankly back at all of us. I was afraid our teasing was going over his head until, at last, he spoke.
"I would like to rescue the damsel."
"Oh, you'll have to arm wrestle for it, mate," Ezra answered him, and I laughed and clapped.
"I take it you agree then," Amon said, still pretending he found us all ridiculous. Maybe he did. He liked us too, so what did it matter.
"Oh, yes," I said, crawling off Booker's lap, my chin lifted and lips tipped to Amon in offering. "Yes, let's go to Egypt."