“All right,” I said, “well, in that case, I’m going to step outside and make a couple calls. I want to talk to my uncle, and I want to talk to Selena, too.” I patted my pockets, looking for my phone, before realizing that it had been plugged into the stereo of my car. It was gone, destroyed in a ball of flames during the battle at the roadblock. I cursed silently. I had all my photos and my numbers backed up, but not my vast collection of pirated MP3s. I’d always been meaning to back them up to an external drive, but I’d never quite gotten round to it. Fuck.

“What is it?” Astrid asked, seeing the annoyance on my face.

“Ah, nothing,” I said, feeling suddenly resigned to the loss. “I just remembered my cell phone was killed in the car wreck. Can I borrow yours?”

“Sure,” she said, holding out a slim black phone in a scuffed chrome case. “It doesn’t have a passcode. Just… don’t look at the pictures, ok? And don’t forget you’ll need to walk into the grounds a bit. The mansion’s aura messes with cell phone reception.”

“Got it,” I said as I took the lycan’s cell phone. “Do you have Selena’s number in your contacts? I don’t remember her number by heart.”

“Yeah, it’s in there. Under ‘Sis’.”

“Selena’s your sister?” I asked. Selena was a cat-girl, not a lycan, but it was possible they might be adopted siblings.

Astrid shook her head. “Not exactly, but we go way back.”

I turned away, then stopped and turned back to Astrid as a thought occurred to me. “You’re not really from Sweden, are you?” I asked.

“Selena told you I was from Sweden?” Astrid chuckled. “No, I’m afraid I’m as American as you, Jeremy. Selena must have told you that because she knew you had a thing for accents.”

I rolled my eyes. “Another lie?”

“Hey, lighten up! It got you bonded with a beautiful dungeon core, didn’t it? And who knows, maybe you’re in for all sorts of bonus fun?” Astrid winked at me. “And not just killing bad guys.” She winked again, this time even more blatantly. It was so over-the-top that it was almost cartoonish and I had to laugh. My imagination was visited by Astrid naked beneath a shower head, her supple body glistening as water trailed over her curves. I shook the image from my mind for the moment.

“All right, all right, I give in. I’m still going to bend Selena’s ear for lying to me though! What are you three going to do?”