“We want to date you,” Arden clarified, and Danica turned to look at him instead. The vampire was scowling at Phi. “Even with the throne, you still haven’t gotten less awkward.”
“Shut up, asshole,” Phi grumbled.
“Then learn how to woo a lady, dickhead.”
Danica watched them bicker for a moment before her brain caught up with everything. “You want to date me?” Arden and Phi nodded. “But you don’t need me anymore.”
“We don’t need a race car driver, sure,” Arden said.
“But we need you,” Phi finished. “With this crown on my head. . .” He gestured to his head where there was no crown. “Metaphorically, of course. With everything the world must adjust to and the races still continuing, I need you by our side.”
“And I need you by my side simply because I love you,” Arden added, frowning at Phi. “Pretty sure that’s what Phi means too but he’s beating around the bush.”
The new King sighed. “Yes. That.”
“You love me?” Danica blinked at them in surprise.
“We do.”
She shook her head and they both began to frown. “But I’m only human.”
“If you were only human, you would have never won a race meant to kill supes,” Arden shrugged. “It’s not about your genes, Danica. It’s about your heart.”
She smiled. “You’re right. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you love me, but if it helps matters, I’m pretty sure I love the two of you, as well.”
Their smiles made her heart squeeze. She’s assumed once she finished the job, she’d have to leave and never see the two men again. It would be torturous, but she’d have done it. After all, she never expected them to return any sort of feelings.
Arden kissed her first, a tender kiss that contradicted the vampire’s harshness. When Phi kissed her, he was rougher, every ounce of his authority in the notion.
“It’s not too late to make you a princess,” Phi teased as he pulled away. “But if you so choose, I plan on making you my Queen one day.”
“Ballgowns and court aren’t really my thing,” she pointed out.
“I’ll make you a crown of car parts,” Arden offered. “Perhaps one made of wrenches. You’ll be a Queen of Speed.”
Danica smiled. “Now that sounds more my style,” she teased and pulled them close. “What do we do now?”
Phi and Arden held her for a moment before standing up and offering their hands. She took them and stood on shaky legs, but neither one of them released her, holding her up.
“Now, we face whatever happens together,” Phi said.
“And we’ll walk into it as a trio.” Arden winked.
Something in Danica’s heart twisted and she found herself looking up toward the ceiling. I did it, Dad, she thought.
I always knew you would, baby girl.
Danica froze and when the two vampires paused to look at her, she shook her head and grinned. “I’m sorry the Porsche didn’t make it.”
Phi waved the words away, but Arden grumbled. “That car was a masterpiece. If I could stab the Old King again myself, I would. Do you know how much—”
Danica smiled at Arden again and glanced up. She knew her dad would have liked the two men, knew he would be proud, and so she faced a new future as they lead her out of the room and down to a garage filled with cars.
“Take your pick,” Phi instructed. “Any one you’d like.”
She grinned, grabbed the keys for the Hellcat nearest her, and let the two vampires help her inside. Once they were in, she inserted the key and took a deep breath.
With clear eyes and a full heart, Danica looked at the two vampires she’d given the keys to her heart to and then looked out the window. She wasn’t sure what the future would bring, wasn’t sure what the world would be like now that the gears of change had begun, but she knew she’d face it with a spine of steel and a wrench in her hand. Nothing could stop them. Nothing could resist destiny.
Danica Dyers, winner of the Race Games, Council Member, Mechanic, Survivor, looked into the desert and grinned.
With a whoop, she started the engine and pulled out into the desert.