“Eira?”
I glanced up and met Harrison’s gaze.
“Sorry, just thinking.” I stepped down the few stairs to the pavement outside the bus. Harrison followed right behind me.
“How is little Terri?” Somehow, he intuitively knew what was on my mind. A strange skill for a human, even if he was a warlock.
“She’s doing okay, I suppose, for a six-year-old that lost her only parent. Hannah and Meredith help by visiting often. She learns a great deal from them.”
He closed the bus door behind him and nodded his head.
“You should come visit her,” I said, stepping onto the sidewalk.
A sigh fell from his lips. “She cries when I come by. Perhaps when she’s older, if she needs something the girls can’t handle, I’ll step in. For now, I’ll just give her space.”
“Eira!” A familiar, light female voice carried through the nippy breeze.
“Talk to you soon, Harrison.”
He nodded and pulled his coat a little tighter around his neck. “Don’t freeze,” he said and winked before walking off.
I snorted a laugh. I wore a thin black hoodie, not so much for the warmth, but so that people didn’t immediately question why I wasn’t dressed for the chilly January weather.
I turned and faced my friend. Diana was rapidly approaching, and I opened my arms to embrace her as she reached me.
“It’s so good to see you. I wasn’t sure you would come back again after everything that happened.” She squeezed me tightly, and I chuckled.
“Nothing could keep me away from you, D,” I answered. But she was right. Avoiding the town and the conversation Rose wanted to have about my supposed destiny had kept me away. If not for my friendship with the female iced dragon, there were endless amounts of excuses to never visit again. But D was pregnant, and that was enough to pull me back.
“Are you hungry?” She pulled away and studied me carefully.
I grimaced. She could always tell how recently ago I’d fed, like she could sense my blood’s viscosity. The longer I went between feedings, the thinner it became.
“I’m fine. Let’s go get you something to eat at the cafe. I could hear your stomach rumbling from up the street,” I lied. I hadn’t been listening earlier, but her stomach was definitely grumbling now.
“We’ll both eat,” she answered. “It’s breakfast time anyway.”
A moment later, we entered the Rose’s cafe and grabbed a seat in one of the wooden booths against the far wall. The bright teal tabletops brought a friendly upbeat vibe to the vintage country cafe. A mixture of chrome and teal were the main accents throughout the room, and an old nineteen-fifties jukebox against the far wall completed the scene.
“Hey! Your vampire friend is back,” Maven said, stepping up to our table. “You drinking, Eira?”
I started to shake my head, but Diana cut in. “Yes, bring an empty glass for her. I’ll have some water, please.”
“Sure thing. Plate of sticky buns to start you off?”
Diana nodded, and the purple-haired Pixie left the table. I followed her movements through the cafe, around the counter, and into the kitchen.
“Purple again?”
“It’s her favorite color. She changes it a lot, but she always returns to purple. Or so I’ve been told. Apparently, most of the Pixies change their hair color like we change our clothes.”
“Good to know.” I leaned backward in the booth and looked my friend up and down. She appeared healthy. A nice pink glow brightened her skin, and her blue eyes shimmered with life. Seeing her in control of her magick and not afraid was satisfying. She’d changed so much in the short time I’d known her.
The Pixie returned with a plate of warm, gooey sticky buns, a glass of ice water, and another empty glass. The scent of the cinnamon and honey mixture was tantalizing, even for me. Nutritionally, the food wouldn’t benefit me, but neither would it hurt me. Besides, those buns just begged to be tasted.
“You can have one if you want,” Diana said.
I glanced up and caught the flash of laughter in her eyes.
“Maybe just a little bite.” I reached for one of the smaller buns and lifted it to my lips. The honey and cinnamon coated my tongue, and I smiled, truly enjoying the flavors.
“Well?”
I swallowed the rest of the bun with a moan of pleasure and then licked the remnants from my fingers. “I haven’t tasted something that good in my entire life.” That said a lot, because I had been around awhile.
She grinned and nodded, taking one of the buns from the plate and biting a chunk out of it. “All the food here is amazing. Rose and the Brownies are the best cooks.”
“More than one Brownie lives here?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Most of the time, Brownies lived solitary lives, only meeting from time to time to procreate. Brownies didn’t have children the way most human and supernaturals did, either. A male and a female just met up, used some magick, and poof another full-grown brownie appeared.
“Yes, according to Corinne, the head cook, about a dozen families live in the town.”
“What else have you found out?”
The cafe door swung open, ringing the little brass bell above it. Calliope Hart strolled in, wearing an off-the-shoulder cream-colored sweater, painted-on jeans, and furry boots. Her long dark hair was braided down the side and hung mid-way down her back. She had a large paper shopping bag from her store in hand. When she caught my gaze, her face broke into a smile.
“So glad you’re here to stay for a while, Eira. I know Diana has really missed you,” she said, strolling to the table and sliding the bag filled with clothes next to me before sitting down on the booth seat next to Diana. “I brought you a few things. Diana said you didn’t have much and were planning to stay several weeks. Figured you wouldn’t want to wear the same thing every single day.”
“Thanks, Calliope.” I tugged at a few items in the top of the bag and sighed. I loved new clothes and missed going to the mall and shopping. I missed not wearing weapons as an accessory to every outfit. “They are really nice. You didn’t have to, though. What I have on is—”
“Very black,” Calliope finished.
Diana laughed. “Hand me one of your daggers, Eira. I know you have a dragon steel one on you somewhere.”
I pulled the small dagger from its sheath on my thigh and handed it across the table to my friend. There really was no point in arguing with her. If she didn’t feed me, one of her husbands would.
She took the dagger, held her forearm over the empty glass, and sliced it enough for blood to run. The scent of her blood made me heady. The soft intake breaths of two other vampires in the café let me know I wasn’t the only one affected. I turned my head and caught sight of Bailey and Erick sitting at a large table, along with several men I didn’t recognize. The other men were downing forkfuls of eggs and potato hash, so not vampires, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what they were by scent — something rare. And they weren’t the same, either. Each man was unique.
I returned my focus to Calliope and Diana. The glass was half full, and Diana was cleaning off my dagger. She’d already sealed the wound on her arm with a puff of her icy breath. I couldn’t even tell that she’d cut it a moment ago. Rotating the dagger in her hand, she handed it to me across the table, hilt first, before pushing the glass closer.
“Who is that with Bailey and Erick?” I thumbed over my shoulder.
Calliope glanced and smiled. Alek and Jared are the acting sheriff and fire marshal for the town. Very broody, but good men.”
“What are they?”
“Gryphon and a Phoenix. Not many of them left in the world.”
I nodded. They were the first I’d come across in a thousand years.
“I never noticed the necklace you’re wearing. Is it new?” Calliope asked, helping herself to a sticky bun from the plate in the center of the table.
Chapter 4
EIRA
I covered the medallion
at my neck with my fingers, rubbing the stone in the center, and shook my head. “I’ve had it since before I was a vampire. It was a gift from a man I loved.” Pain gripped my heart. Even after so many years had passed, I missed him more than anything. I’d never been able to let another man into my life —not on a long-term basis, anyway.
“What was his name?” Diana asked, her eyes holding understanding.
If anyone knew what it was like to lose a mate, it was Diana. She’d been trapped in a prison in the Veil for a thousand years, separated from her mates.
“Killían. We were betrothed. He was a strong, compassionate man. He and his brother were our Jarl’s most respected warriors. We were to be wed two weeks after the day I died.”
I lifted the cup of blood to my lips and took a long drink. Power flowed from Diana’s blood into my veins, filling me with energy. Nothing quite compared to Drakonae blood. But even the rush her blood provided wasn’t enough to make the pain of losing Killían fade.
“You loved him,” Calliope stated. “Have you ever been able to love another?”
I shook my head and put the empty glass on the table. Diana wiped moisture from the corners of her eyes with her cloth napkin.
“Did you know the necklace is Elvin?” Diana asked, laying her napkin down.
A frown pulled at my mouth, and I raised my head to meet her gaze. Why would the necklace be from her world? “I didn’t.”
“I never really noticed it before, but the stone is a stunningly cut Goddess Sea diamond. The purple hue in the center of the stone gives its origin away.”
“Are you saying my necklace is from the Veil?”
Diana nodded. “Elvin men gave their intended a Goddess Sea diamond as a pledge of their love.”
I frowned. Killían couldn’t have been Elvin. I would’ve known. “He was a Viking. Just like me. He and his brother came from the territory north of ours after a raid wiped out his village.”
“Some Elvin escaped before the Incanti took complete control of the gate. They likely sold and traded many things from the Veil when they arrived. I’m sure that is how Killían came to have the piece.” Diana sighed and reached for another bun, swallowing it in only three bites before reaching for her fourth one.
“Baby’s making you hungry, isn’t he?” I grinned, hoping they would go for the subject change. I didn’t want to talk about the only man I’d ever loved. The only man I’d ever been able to love. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t tried to move on over the years… but I had never wanted any other man like I still wanted him. My mind still daydreamed of him. I could still feel his arms around me whenever I lay down to rest.
“I swear I don’t know how I fit it all inside me.” She leaned back against the booth and licked her sticky fingers. The scent of honey and cinnamon clung to the air around the three of us. “I remember starving during my first pregnancy. It’s amazing that I was able to carry Mikjáll to term at all. If it hadn’t been for that Elvin woman sneaking extra food to me...” She paused, her face darkening with pain.
“It’s in the past, D. You are here now. Healthy and reunited with both your mates and your son. How is Mikjáll adjusting?”
“He’s quiet. We haven’t spoken much. He refused to live in the Castle. Right now he’s staying with Jared. Miles and Eli keep telling me to give him time. It’s just hard. I don’t want to miss any more time with him.”
“Losing someone is the worst pain imaginable.” I rubbed the medallion and stared hard at my friend. “I’m sure this Jared…person is a good guy. He’ll help him find his bearings.”
Diana nodded. “Jared MacKay is the fire chief. At least that’s what they call him. He works hand in hand with the sheriff, Alek Melos. Both of them are broody and loners. I guess if that’s what he needs right now, then that’s what I need to let him have.”
“Nothing wrong with a broody, silent man,” Calliope chimed, grinning from ear to ear. “Sometimes those are the best kind to have around when you are surrounded by obnoxiously loud Lycans.”
“Calliope!” Diana turned, shushing the Siren.
A couple of guys across the diner turned to stare for a moment. Their eyes flashed yellow with annoyance before they returned to their rather loud conversation. I shook my head and turned to the amused Siren. Poor Diana was turning pink with embarrassment. Her high breeding made her always look for the politically proper way to handle a situation.
“Apologize to Liam and Finn. And then go apologize to Kasey and her kids over there by the wall. That was rude,” Diana hissed.
“You’ve been here a few weeks, and you already know everyone’s name. And I’m not apologizing. If they don’t want to be called loud, they should be quieter.” Calliope snorted. “Listen to them over there hooting and hollering like a bunch of rednecks. You’d think it was a hundred years earlier, and they didn’t have a care in the world besides watching sports and drinking beer.”
“Calliope, I’d think I died and gone to heaven if the NFL started up again,” one of the male Lycans hollered from his table.
“When you finally keel over, Liam, the NFL will probably start fresh just to spite you,” she shouted then leaned over to Diana. “Liam used to play professional football before the Riots.”
Diana shrugged. “I don’t know what football is.”
“A game that Americans loved before their country fell apart,” I answered. “Big guys ran a pigskin ball up and down a field, tackling each other to try and keep the opposite team from scoring points.”
The two Lycans rose from their table, came over, and very unceremoniously shoved their way into our booth.
“Hey, wolf man!” Calliope growled as she and Diana scooted farther into the booth to accommodate Liam’s massive frame.
Finn slid in next to me, and I glared, but didn’t say anything. I was used to Lycans —especially the alpha males that always did whatever the hell they wanted.
“What Calliope isn’t telling you, Eira, is that she loved football, too. She could scream and curse with the best of us at the big screen,” Finn replied, his deep voice rolling from his chest like warm honey.
“What I miss most is oogling all those tight asses,” Calliope returned. She seemed perturbed, but I caught a flicker of amusement in her sparkling brown eyes. The woman was a terrible flirt. It had probably been her intention all along to seduce the two Lycans into sitting with us.
I sighed. Football hadn’t been a sport I enjoyed. I much preferred the MMA style fights and other hand-to-hand combat sports. Even the obstacle courses were more interesting than chasing a damn ball up and down a field of painted grass.
Didn’t matter now, though. Public sports didn’t exist anymore. There were still underground fights, and I usually sniffed out two or three each time I was in a big city. Still, it was dangerous. Law enforcement would arrest anyone caught participating in or betting on those type of events. I preferred to keep as low a profile as possible. I was already wanted for smuggling in two of the five North American Republics.
Maven strolled by the table. “Did you need anything else?”
“A sandwich would be good,” Diana said before downing the last bit of water in her glass.
“Sure, sweetie. Guys, were you going order or just bug them about football?”
Liam and Finn grinned at Maven and stood from the booth. “We already ate, Maven. Thanks, though. Gotta get over to Dallas today and bring back a load of supplies for the hardware store. The shelves are a bit sparse.”
“I noticed you were out of rope,” Maven purred, sliding her gaze from the Finn’s toes all the way to his laughing, brown eyes.
“You would notice that,” he shot back, a grin splitting his face.
Once the two Lycans left the diner, both women quickly focused their attention on me again.
“Can I see the necklace for a moment?” Diana asked.
“It’s just a necklace.” I didn’t want to take it off. I never did. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d
removed it from my neck.
Calliope shook her head. “It’s your link to him.”
“He’s dead,” I said, anger rising in my chest. I considered Diana’s outstretched hand for a moment.
Why was I being irrational?
It wasn’t like she wouldn’t return it.
“Are you feeling alright, Eira?” Diana asked, dropping her hand to the table.
“I’m fine.” I reached behind my neck and pulled the corded chain over my ponytail. A shiver coursed through my body as I held the amulet in my palm.
She took it from my hand, and I could’ve sworn a spark passed between my hand and the amulet.
“Did you see—” Calliope pointed to the amulet Diana was now holding.
Diana nodded.
“What the hell do you two know that I don’t?”
“The amulet is bonded to you, Eira. It can only do that if it was given to you by an Elvin male,” answered Diana, extending her hand across the table.
I snatched it from her palm and pulled the chain over my head, feeling better as soon as it touched my skin.
“It’s interesting that even as a vampire, the magick held her heart. I never knew it was that powerful,” Calliope stated.
My eyebrows furrowed, and I stared at the Siren. Her lips were pulled down into a frown. I turned my gaze to Diana and saw pain in her eyes.
“What? Spit it out, D.”
“The amulet kept you from being able to fall in love with another man. When you accepted it from Killían, it sealed your heart for him. It’s Elvin magick. He had to have been Elvin,” she repeated. “It wouldn’t have activated otherwise.”
If I’d had a heartbeat, that statement would’ve made it stop.
Chapter 5
KILLÍAN
Opening the closet door in my bedroom, I pulled out a black t-shirt. Not much else to pick from. My entire wardrobe consisted of a few pairs of jeans, dark cargo pants, boots, and dark t-shirts. When the weather turned cold, about six weeks out of the year in Texas, I wore the one leather jacket I owned. No need for anything else.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 49