by Lexi Blake
He reached out and touched my shoulder. “Summer, I’m trying to slow down. I came on too strong in the beginning. I want to give you time to get to know me. Am I screwing up again? It’s been a long time since I felt like this. Like an untried boy fumbling his way.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. I should thank you for the pleasure. I’ve never fed a vampire before. It was nice. I enjoyed myself.”
“How very Fae of you,” he said, his amusement obvious. “I’m glad you had a lovely time. My cock is cursing me. But now my head is clearer and I realize I forgot a few steps. I should have told you how beautiful you are. I should have kissed you more and gotten my hands on you. I should have touched you and shown you how precious you are to me. You are stunning, Summer. I could stare at you for hours, but there’s more to you than a gorgeous face. When my soul brushes against yours, I am content in a way I’ve never felt before.”
This male confused me. I could still feel his arms around me, and he hadn’t gotten properly physical with me yet. I didn’t want this, didn’t want to want him. I wanted something easy, and I was fairly certain Marcus Vorenus was going to be difficult. I was absolutely certain Marcus wouldn’t be able to handle Turi. Marcus was strong, but Turi had an army at his beck and call.
Still, I almost knew what he meant. Something had happened when Marcus had drawn my blood into his body, some connection I couldn’t deny. I’d felt both strong and weak in that moment, but the weakness had a sweetness to it, a pleasantness that let me know I didn’t always have to be strong because he would be there for me.
“You don’t know me.” I couldn’t trust this feeling. Knowing I was truly a companion, that the glow that vampires could see hadn’t merely been a gift from my father’s vision of what his daughter would look like but rather a truth written into my odd DNA, had given me some peace. But it also let me know that other things had been written into my DNA, and one of them would be my attraction to vampires. I’d always been drawn to them, but nothing like the pull Marcus had. He could influence me in a way that should scare me, that did scare me.
“I know what I need to know,” he replied, dropping his forehead down to rest against mine in a sweet gesture that moved me far more than sex would have. “But I want to know everything. I want to know what’s happened to you. I want to know why there’s a sadness inside you that you can’t quite hide with your smile. I definitely want to know why you’re not with your Fae family. They promised your mother and father that they would take care of you. It was the only reason they’ve had a moment’s comfort over the years. Why are you alone? Where are they?”
I stepped back. I had a good way to save myself. It was called the truth. Once Marcus knew it, he wouldn’t be so hot to claim me as his mate. “They’re dead.”
His head came up and his gaze had sharpened. “Was it this Turi person?”
“No.” There was only one truth. “It was me. I killed them.”
His eyes flared and I knew I’d managed to actually shock the man. His hand went to his chest and then I was the one who was shocked because a dart stuck out of it.
I started to reach for him, but something stung my shoulder. The pain was brief but my vision almost immediately went fuzzy.
“Adam, I’ve got both targets down. We’re dealing with a Fae consort and a really weird vamp since he’s not wearing protective gear and his skin’s not burning,” a deep voice said.
“Summer, you must run,” Marcus managed to get out.
“Summer can’t run because she’s been given a big old dose of nighty-night juice. Summer has been a bad girl,” the deep voice said. I turned and began to fall, but strong arms caught me. My vision was already starting to go hazy, but I could see the man who’d shot me. He had blond hair and a chiseled jaw. He wore the outer garments all vampires wore, covering his skin from the sun. He lifted me easily. “Hey, and Romeo here has some serious mental powers. So he’s some kind of hybrid. I can feel him batting against my shielding. Dude, that’s rude. Yeah, he wants me to cut off my own dick. Fuck you, Adam. Get the transport ready and let’s not underestimate this guy. He’s strong and has a refined sense of revenge. Buddy, I’m not trying to steal your consort. I have one of my own, and she really would cut off my dick. I’ll bring you in with her. Summer of the Fae Lands, known to all as the Destroyer, I’m arresting you for…it’s a lot and you won’t remember. Let’s get going. Hey, weird vamp, if you could get Adam to cut his hair I would appreciate it. He’s got this thing where he thinks he’ll get a consort if he looks like a supermodel or something.”
“Whoa, you weren’t kidding,” another voice said, though it sounded further away. “He’s trying to get me to shoot you. He doesn’t know I would do that for fun if I could get away with it. Thank the gods for shielding tech. He is strong. He’s got two full doses in him. Are you sure we should bring him along?”
“Yeah, I think it’s better we keep an eye on him. Let’s make it a party. Time to head home and collect that bounty.”
“Why do you get to carry the pretty consort, Tag? I’m always left with the dudes,” the man named Adam said.
I could barely make out the second man picking up Marcus as Tag settled onto his hoverbike.
“Because it’s good to be the boss,” Tag said. “Also, I actually think this chick is way more dangerous than he is. After all, she’s destroyed whole planes. Let’s get going. Charlie’s waiting.”
I felt myself moving right before the whole world went dark.
* * * *
Kelsey
I stared down at the book that had Dean up in arms. It looked more like an empty ornate sketch pad to me. “What’s supposed to be there?”
Dean’s skin had gone as white as his hair. He looked younger than he had before, but then pure terror that an authority figure was going to kick a little ass could do that to a kid. “Prophecy. Specifically prophecy about me saving my home plane. We’ve been looking for it for years and this was the only way to read the source material.”
“Your home plane is the Earth plane.” Quinn stood beside me and he was suddenly deeply interested in the discussion. He was in full-on ambassador mode.
Dean nodded. “Yes.”
I wasn’t sure how much of this I wanted Quinn to hear, but I had some questions. Dean and Summer had talked about how the witches magically transcribed all their prophecies into a single book. That would be handy, and I would definitely be talking to Liv about a spell to do that. I often had to grab whatever was around and write as fast as my hands could to get Gray’s down. I’d once handed the academics a prophecy about a town in South America getting its ass kicked by a giant spider demon that I’d had to scribble on the back of my grocery list. Hugo and Henri now know I need super-absorbent tampons. Also, that I can’t spell. “So you’re looking for the original prophecy because you can’t remember everything she said.”
“I was only thirteen at the time,” Dean admitted. “I wasn’t great at getting the details.”
“I can certainly see where it would be better to have the original prophecy. We study some of ours for years and still don’t understand them, and we have access to our prophets. Have you seen other psychics? Sometimes they can tap into memories that aren’t on the surface. A good psychic might be able to draw the memory out.” Quinn seemed to think about the problem for a moment. “If this is about the Earth plane, my partner and I need to understand what’s going on. My partner, Summer’s father, he’s the King of all Vampire. He also sits at the head of the Council of Supernatural Beings. I’ve read much prophecy and never once heard your name.”
I needed to move us off this subject. The last thing I needed was to manage to actually get this guy back to the Earth plane only to have Myrddin’s bestie run right to him and start gossiping. It hadn’t gotten past me that if this kid rid the plane of the wizard, then Lee wouldn’t have to. Lee would be free and I would breathe easy. “Well, when we get back, we’ll have to look. Honestly, if he hasn’t actually hear
d the prophecy since he was a kid, he could be making too much of it. Like he said, he was a teenaged boy. He likely remembers more about the witch’s boobs than he does what she actually said.”
Dean huffed. “They were nice. Am I not supposed to notice? And I remember a lot. Just not all the actual words. I was freaked out at the time. She passed out. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and I thought I’d killed her.”
I took the book and ran my hand over the page. “Have we considered that the pages went blank because someone used magic on it? Maybe it was like a ward. My best friend is a witch. She used to ward her diary against her stepdad. Didn’t you say these witches don’t like males?”
A groan went through Dean. “Of course. I should have thought about that. Magic has energy, and it can be masculine or feminine or some of the in-betweens. I’ve heard I give off a very masculine energy.”
I was sure he did. “Excellent, then we need to find a female witch and perhaps she can reverse the effect. I doubt they would allow their entire history of prophecy to get erased because some dude got his hands on it.”
Quinn nodded. “I agree, and perhaps we should allow Kelsey to hold it until Summer returns. The book itself could be spelled against masculine touch. It’s better to be safe. When we get home Sarah can take a look at the book. Or better yet, Nimue can try her hand at fixing things. She’s the most powerful witch I’ve ever known.”
And she was attached to Myrddin, so no way was she going to look at that book, but I wasn’t about to argue at this point. I would let the queen do that while I hid that sucker like the potential treasure it was. I closed it and picked up the satchel Summer had been carrying, sliding it inside. The less Quinn looked at that book the fewer plans he would make to give it to the bad guys. “Excellent. First, we have to figure out how to get home.”
Dean looked up at the sky. “I don’t think you’re going to do that tonight. We should get back to the brugh. It’ll be dark soon and there’s a lot of stuff in this forest that likes to eat people. Or other things. Seriously, this is a weird place. Sometimes I think I should go home and stop worrying about destiny and take a job at my dad’s corporation.”
I shook my head Dean’s way because I knew a bit about destiny. “That probably wouldn’t work out. Some asshole would decide you have to give in to your fate or some crap, and next thing you know you’re in an arena getting your ass handed to you by some big, nasty wolves.”
“The arena part was neither mine nor Daniel’s idea, and you won that battle thereby cementing your own future,” Quinn said with a frown. “But Kelsey is correct. Destiny is a funny thing. We rarely get out of it. Also, Hunters tend to destroy things when they don’t get the proper training, and by things I really mean entire villages of people. Forgive us for wanting to avoid that. You can be extremely stubborn.”
He was right. I was both stubborn and capable of great destruction, but Dean didn’t need to hear about that. If I trained him, he would find out for himself. “All I’m saying is fighting is way more fun than some corporate job, and it’s probably inevitable for you. How long have you known you had magic abilities?”
In my head I was already planning out all of his training. I had his team firmly in mind. I would be his mentor. Trent and I would handle his physical training on hand to hand and weapons. Liv and Sarah would teach him everything they knew about magic. It might even help Liv get out of her funk if she knew she was involved in something important. Henri and Hugo would do all the academic things. And Casey would teach Dean about how to function on the Earth plane. It was important for Dean to learn how to play video games and drink too many energy drinks and bemoan his fate. Casey was excellent at that.
He would need a schedule.
God, I’d turned into Dev Quinn.
“I’ve known since I was a kid. My mom says when I was four my toys would appear and disappear. She would get frustrated that someone was moving them, but my stepdad quickly figured out I was doing it. I wonder if I ever would have found out if I’d stayed on the Earth plane,” he explained. “Apparently the ability comes from my mother’s side of the family, but on the Earth plane they were never developed.”
“A witch isn’t the same as a werewolf or a vampire on our plane. A witch’s talent must be honed,” Quinn explained. “Or it stays a small thing, like the human who can see glimpses of the future in her dreams. They’ll often say he or she has the sight because that’s the first skill many witches develop. If the talent isn’t nurtured, it comes out as nothing more than natural ability. For example, if a witch was meant to be particularly good with spells, he or she will have a green thumb, an incredible way with plants. Someone with mental powers will be able to influence those around him, but most people would only describe the person as having great charm. Like I said, it’s not like a wolf who has to change or a vampire who needs to feed. If the parents were raised in the human world, it is likely that Dean here would have spent his whole life not knowing he had powers at all.”
Yeah, fate was a petty, gorgeous bitch, and Myrddin was going to find that out. I just hoped I got the chance to point out that if he hadn’t shipped Dean’s mom off the plane, it was highly likely that Dean would be some IT guy who never came into contact with the wizard. Or maybe I’d let him find out the hard way. “So is it Summer who’s been training you?”
Dean snorted. “Summer won’t touch magic. No, it’s her mentor Erna who’s been training me. She’s from the witch plane but disagreed with their rather violent misandry.”
I stared at him because that was a ten-cent word, and I was really more used to paying a penny.
“Misandry is the hatred of males,” Quinn offered, turning to Dean. “But I don’t understand a few things. Summer is made of magic. Literally. Magic is in every cell of her body. How can you say she’s not good at it?”
Dean’s expression shuttered. “I think Summer should tell you that story. I don’t really understand much of it anyway. I know she doesn’t touch the stuff now. I think it’s why so many people want to arrest her. After stealing this book, I’m sure the witches will put out an APB on her. That’s an all planes bulletin, but it’s really only for the linked planes, obviously, and then only for the ones with actual authorities. There’s this plane full of Neanderthals. They do not care, man. Not a single fuck among them.”
“She’s wanted?” Quinn’s shoulders had straightened, a sure sign that he was about to go into overprotective dad mode.
Dean nodded and shrugged the whole thing off. “On a bunch of planes. That’s what happens when you steal stuff. And she caused a slave revolt on this plane where there are insect overlords. I’m glad I wasn’t around for that one. Bugs kind of freak me out.”
“I’m going to find her. I don’t like the thought of her being out there alone if she’s wanted by the authorities.” Quinn turned to the path he’d made earlier, the one that would have taken Summer to Marcus.
“Uhm, she’s not alone, and it could be awkward if you rush in,” I pointed out. I knew Marcus. He could get freaky given the right circumstances. Not that I was going to mention that. I was going to keep my mouth shut and hope Summer forgot the whole “Kelsey used to sleep with Marcus” portion of the day. It was awkward. It made me super happy Liv and I had never gone for the same dudes. Before I met my husbands, I kind of went for whoever was in the bar at tequila o’clock in the morning, and Liv dated another kind of loser. It had been Marcus who’d taught me I deserved more. Marcus was the reason I was happily married to two hunky, amazing guys. I would do anything for him, and that included stopping Quinn from cockblocking him.
Quinn ran a hand through his hair. “I understand he needs to feed, but he should respect the fact Summer must be protected. We’ll go to this brugh of hers to sleep. Do you have any books there, or a library perhaps? I need to research a bit. It might help to know something about the plane itself. It might tell us something of why we’re here and how to get back.”
“Yeah, th
ere’s nothing like a library on this plane,” Dean replied. “It’s why this is our hideout plane. There are no authorities, but it’s got great access to other planes. You can get to Tír na nÓg or the Unseelie plane easily. The witch’s plane is accessible. Vampire is super easy to get to. I can pop home to see my mom for the afternoon. If you discount all the shit that can kill you here, it’s practically paradise.”
“I still don’t like it,” Quinn said. “We’re out in the open and apparently with no way of knowing who comes and goes on this plane. I think we should take cover. Is there any way to monitor the authorities who might be looking for Summer? Who knows that you use this plane as your base of operations?”
“Not a lot of people, though my parents do,” Dean allowed. “We put a camera unit on the door to the Vampire plane. There’s this group that’s been trying to arrest Summer for years. Taggart-Lodge Security. Most security on the Vampire plane is privately funded. They mostly come from the military. It’s a way for a poor vamp to move up from the surface. Lodge is a vamp who probably has never once walked on the surface, but Taggart was an impoverished royal who went into the military and blew up a bunch of stuff, and Lodge hired him to do his personal security. I only know because my stepdad tried to get Tag to head Malone security. There was a bidding war and Lodge won. In addition to heading Lodge’s security, they bring in money by collecting bounties. They haven’t tried to capture her lately. I think Summer finally wore the guy down.”
Quinn’s brows rose in obvious consternation. “We need to be monitoring that camera. Did you say Summer just ran a heist?”
“Yeah, but it was on the witch plane.” Dean frowned. “They might mostly use magic, but they know how to operate tech, too. It would be easy for them to contact the vamp plane and put in an arrest request. Let me see that satchel.”
I passed it over, glancing at Quinn because I knew that name from somewhere. “Don’t we have a Taggart Security back in Dallas?”