“Oh lord, I wish that were true.” Fire-proof shoes. Fire-proof shoes that were everything else-proof too. Of course, that would become just a touch useless when she finally decided that she really didn’t like them anymore, or just really needed to destroy something and her footwear was the target, but otherwise the idea was amazing. Terribly wishful thinking, though. Since Zaviar had not mentioned the necklace – though she wasn’t full sure why he would, because he wasn’t there to see how the rest of her jewellery had been scorched – Madeleine was not going to mention the fact that the only reason she had originally held any form of restraint and kept from turning into her own personal bonfire was because it was the one thing, obviously other than the were-snake himself, that she didn’t want to lose. That aside, she would have thrown restraint to the winds for the sodding air elementals to play with, destroyed anything and everything she was wearing and ended up demanding the shirt from a volunteer’s back. There was some information she simply did not offer freely, though. ‘You do when he stares long enou—Okay, I’m shutting up.’ “I think our family cribs were made entirely of wood. Bethany’s was.” Which made the most sense since while those cribs had actually been expensive – Lila would never accept anything but the best – it didn’t matter if it burned to cinders around a child with a natural affinity for Fire. “But—If it turned out to be a demonic were the little bugger would pull that apart when it wanted to get out.”
Madeleine rolled her neck, somehow managing to look amused despite the twinge it caused. “Grandfather said much the same thing earlier.” A beat. “After lecturing me for asking whether he had been anywhere near the London march. He thinks peaceful demonstrations are all run by some variation on hippies. He despises hippies.” She shrugged. When compared to her grandfather, they rather were hippies, she supposed. “I can’t say I disagree, though. About the giant target, not the other nonsense. They were organised swines, though, I’ll give them that.” Respect them in general? Not at all. Respect their ability to pull together a terrorist attack on an international scale? Well, yes. The bastards had the world’s attention and had made their point rather clear. They did not want peace. Nor did Madeleine, for that matter, and not simply because she wasn’t a peaceful creature. Why she should want to stand shoulder to shoulder with something so base as a vanilla human was completely beyond her. Vile. Well, it would be interesting to observe the fallout, at any rate. There had been far too much fence-sitting going on up until now and it was bloody boring. It’s a hand, Zaviar. Don’t look at it like that. She’d known he didn’t need it. But there had been a risk of her feeling a touch put out if it hadn’t been accepted. Besides which, it made her feel better since she’d done nothing else but fetch him a glass of water.
‘If they’re all Madeleine then I think I belong to all of them—and she thinks poison is for the weak. I think it would be like a slasher movie.’ The constrictor stopped to think, confused by just how Madeleine one could be. The subject was hurting her head more than the tapping of her ward’s heels had done earlier. ‘The Madeleine who won would be the best, right? So… the most Madeleine. And the right one. Yes.’ That settled that. Why did mammals take a simple thought and then turn it into something else? It made no sense. “Mm. Greek and Latin. I refuse to believe they are anywhere near that old.” Vampires became more powerful with age, didn’t they? For some reason, it made sense to her that the same should apply to demons and such. Should they not have razed the world to the ground by now if they were really that old? And as for recalling correctly: “Wouldn’t call what bad? I remember virtually nothing about him other than he’s a slimy git with a water affinity who happens to look a little like you. And called me ‘red’.” Zaviar smirked, Madeleine pouted slightly. It bothered her vastly. “Enough to fill Hell, I would imagine. Do you think it really had nine circles?” It was a valid question.