“Father is in his last class of the day and will be heading home soon. I have twenty-two drones on him, plus three of the werewolf students are going to be trailing along behind him as he comes down the hill.”

“Twenty-two?” Devaney asked, eyes bugging.

“Omega is as protective of Declan as your Alpha is,” Chris said with a bemused smile.

“Easy for you to say. None of us are the ones being targeted by a demon incarnate,” the beautiful werewolf said. “I see nothing wrong with twenty-two armed drones. I’d be fine with twenty-three.”

“The twenty-third will be coming from New York City as soon as it leaves the manufacturing facility. It will take up a high-altitude overwatch when it arrives.”

“Is that the first of the new ones?” Nika asked, sharing a look with Chris.

“Yes, although some of the new technologies have been added to many of my avatars. Even these little ones,” Omega said as both mini-drones suddenly took turns zipping around the room.

Despite their back and forth, jittery motion, Nika noted that the images of Declan on the wall didn’t so much as tremble.

“Impressive stabilization, but can I assume the new one will be an upgrade? Based on what I found in Missouri?” the blonde mindreader asked. Of all the vampires who interacted on a close level with Omega, Nika was one of the most comfortable with the quantum AI. Lydia had pointed out to her that might be a result of not having any chance at all of ever reading the machine’s mind.

“Very much so. I think you all will be impressed. Thank you again for finding me that gift.”

“It was one for our side,” Nika said. The werewolves and Jetta all looked confused at the exchange, but Chris just smiled and nodded at her. “I’m not excited to be trying to fill in for Tanya, so any edge we can get will be good, Nika added.”

“Where is she?” Jetta asked.

“She’s handling a problem that arose in Europe,” Chris said.

Holly snorted. “Convenient timing for the demon chick, don’t ya think?”

“What?” Chris asked. “What was that?”

Holly looked slightly flustered for a second, then her expression firmed up. “Just seems like a coincidence. And if I was stupid enough to tackle you two, I’d be damned sure to split you apart first. Always separate and divide your enemy,” she said, nodding.

“How would you do it?” Chris asked, a new urgency in his voice.

“I don’t know. Start some crap with some of her vampire people somewhere else so she has to leave the US.”

“Start some crap?” Devaney asked.

“You know… some drama. Spread rumors. Instill dissent. That sorta shit. Middle school 101, at least for girls.”

The others all looked at her with varying expressions. Stacia and Jetta nodding, Nika looking thoughtful, Devaney frowning, and Chris almost astonished.