by E E Everly
Thandoran drops to a knee and passes me the water pouch. “Easy, princess.”
I sit back, dizzy. “I don’t think I can teleport.” I swish some water in my mouth and spit it to the side.
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Ugh.” My head throbs with every word. I’m seriously worried about our state. With no ambrosia in sight, Thandoran and I are in big trouble. Maybe moss will turn out to be his ambrosia. That would be lucky since I’m sitting on a huge mound of it. “Where did you say we are?”
“No clue.”
“Well, how did we get here?”
“We came through a portal,” he says.
“My mother opened a portal to Earth? I could have teleported.”
“No, you couldn’t have. You weren’t waking up. And Astra didn’t open a portal directly to Earth. We crossed to the planet Emira and traveled through a portal from there. By the way, you wouldn’t wake on Emira either. Apparently Earth is the only place you can be without getting sick.”
My curse did specifically say I had to be exiled to Earth or I’d become sick and die.
“You stepped out onto Earth without knowing where we are?” I ask.
“She said somewhere in Europe.”
As if Thandoran knows where Europe is. “I’m calling Natalia and Dumitru.” I fumble in my pocket for my phone and punch her number.
“Who are they?” Thandoran asks.
“She and Dumitru are my vampire bodyguards,” I say as Natalia answers.
“Sasha, you’re back. Everything go okay?” she asks.
“Vampire bodyguards?” Thandoran mumbles.
I wave at him to shut up. “More or less. Yeah.” I miss Kili already. How could Mother not let me say goodbye? I pinch my expression as I get a handle on my emotions. Unfortunately, one look at Thandoran forces my mouth into a frown. What am I going to do with him? “I need you to come get me. I can’t teleport.”
“Dumitru has you with his tracker. We’re on our way.” Thank the slimy sea serpents my bodyguards take their job seriously.
Car doors slam in the background. Dang they’re fast. With vamp speed, they made it to their vehicle in seconds.
“I’m so glad you know how to track my phone.”
“What is that?” Thandoran tries to take my phone, but I shove him away.
“Looks like you’re three hours away.” Their SUV roars as it accelerates. “Ve’ll be there as soon as ve can.” Natalia pauses. “Vho’s that vith you?”
“A thorn in my side.”
“Vho?” Dumitru asks. They must have me on speaker phone.
“A pain that came through the portal with me.” When Thandoran kneels by the stream, I have a huge urge to kick him in the backside. Although… I tilt my head. It’s a rather nice backside to look at.
“Hey, there’s fish in here.” His hand shoots into the water.
I jerk away, coming to my senses. “Ugh. Leave them alone.” They always say curiosity killed the sprite. Or maybe that’s Sasha killed the annoying boy sprite.
Thandoran holds up a tiny green fish by the tail, and it jiggles around like jelly. I smack his hand, and the fish flies into the water. “Please don’t tell me you’re craving fish. I do not want that to be your ambrosia.” I won’t be able to tolerate the smell.
“Sasha?” Natalia asks.
“Here. Just distracted by an idiot.”
Thandoran scoops up a palmful of water and throws it over my head.
I bolt to my feet, feeling a slight renewal because of my aggravation, and swipe the freezing water from my eyes as I hold my phone away. “Hey, phones are not waterproof!” I will kill him. Does he not realize it’s winter out here? The air crackles with static as my mood shifts, but it intensifies the pain in my head. “Get me out of here,” I say to Natalia. “I’m practically with a three-year-old. And now I’m wet.”
“Can you get out to the road?” she asks. “It vill save time. You need to head south. Looks like you can follow a stream.”
This stream. “Got it. I’ll use my compass app. My phone still has plenty of life.” I grab Thandoran’s elbow and yank him along the bank. He gets the hint and follows me, so I let go.
“Ve’ll drive as fast as ve can,” she says.
I sigh as I glance at my companion. I feel bad for him. He’s new to this world and has no one. I’m not even sure if he had training about Earth since he doesn’t know what a phone is, so I can’t tell him to leave. In about three hours, he’ll meet his first vampires too. At least he’ll have a safer introduction to them than what I had. “Natalia, you guys have to promise me you won’t drink him. Don’t breathe or anything when you see him.”
“Vhy?” Dumitru asks.
“He’ll be your dream freakin’ meal.” Because he’s ripped and tantalizing, I add in my head.
Of course I notice how tone he is. Under his jacket, he wears a bómull jersey—something like cotton to earthlings—that stretches tight across his pecs as if someone shrank it in the laundry.
“Uh, and Natalia? I need you to bring ambrosia. I’m conscious since being on Earth, but I’m weak. Thandoran here will fade fast if we don’t figure out his ambrosia.” I did not need to be dragging him through the forest, in the dead of night, wet and cold. “Grab a cartload of food items from various food groups, in case Mr. Thorny Pain here decides to faint.” I hope one of them will hit on something that’s his ambrosia.
“Vill do. See you soon.” They click off.
I look at Thandoran. “It’s going to be a long night.”
SIX
I grunt. I pant. “Wobbling werewolves, how much do you weigh?”
Thandoran leans heavily on me. We’ve been hiking for an hour, but he grew weary within ten minutes of being on Earth. Despite the cold sweat I’ve worked up and his near zombie state, somehow he keeps me warm as if he has an internal furnace.
“I must be more used to Earth’s energy field than I realized,” I say, since I haven’t succumbed to my need for ambrosia yet. I’m still shaky but somehow upright. “But you are not.”
“I’m fine.” Thandoran puffs out a drained breath.
“Right, that’s why you’re as pale as a spirit and dragging your feet.”
“How will I know what my ambrosia is?”
“You’ll feel it right away.” I pause. “I’ll call Natalia. We can’t go any farther. They’ll have to hike in to us and hope that something they bought will help.” I lower, I mean, mostly drop Thandoran to the ground. “Rest your pretty head here.” I try not to dwell on how attractive he is, but his unshaven jawline is a major turn on.
Thandoran doesn’t have a comeback. He closes his eyes and passes right out.
“Great. Just great.”
SEVEN
It doesn’t take Natalia and Dumitru long to find us. Thandoran and I are napping/lying semi-comatose under a tree when they arrive. Reluctantly, I curled against him for warmth. Luckily, Thandoran was too out of it to notice.
Dumitru pulls me into his lap as if I’m a baby and holds a straw to my lips. It’s a thick chocolate milkshake, still cold. They must have blurred with vamp speed through the woods. As soon as I take my first sip, I know it’s made from real ice cream. I hug Dumitru as I suck and gulp greedily. “Thank you.” My senses are enlivened. I’m already entering a euphoric state.
Natalia digs through a backpack full of groceries as she stares at Thandoran. “He doesn’t look good.” When she’s not speaking, she doesn’t bother breathing. “What should I try on him first?”
I prod Thandoran with my foot. He’s not responsive. “Something liquid you can squirt into his mouth.”
Natalia pulls out a ketchup bottle, mustard bottle, and cranberry juice.
“Oh yeah. The mustard.” I hate mustard, and I really want to see Thandoran’s reaction when he tastes it. Mustard is not a food we have on Belyven. It’s repulsive, even the color.
Natalia snaps the top off and lifts his head. She squirts a mouthful
of the yellow goop into his mouth.
Thandoran’s eyes fly open, and he coughs and gags. He rolls onto his side and spits the mustard out. “Are you trying to kill me? What is that horrid stuff?” He paws at his tongue and then licks a rock. Yellow drool runs down his chin. “Is this the thanks I receive for saving your life?”
The rest of us bust out laughing.
“It’s not funny!”
“All right. Mustard’s not your ambrosia.” Thank the faeries. I did not want to see him downing mustard ten times a day. “You should look through the backpack and see what smells good. That’s usually your first clue.”
I feel so relaxed that I snuggle into Dumitru. He’s like a warm blanket, which is great considering it’s freezing. He tucks me into his coat. Natalia grins at the pair of us. “Here try these.” She pulls out crackers, peanut butter cookies, and a stick of beef jerky.
Thandoran ignores the packages as she tears them open and waves them in front of his nose. He cocks his head to the side. “What’s that smell?” He wipes the drool from his chin once more and sticks his head into the backpack. He inhales deeply inside the pack. “Some kind of fruit?”
He lifts a red mesh bag full of mandarins. His eyes light up as he brings them to his nose. “This!” He rips the bag, and the little orange fruits roll around him on the ground. He grabs one and sticks it to his nose and inhales as if this is his first time ever smelling anything.
“Looks like this is it.” I hold my hand out. “You have to peel—”
Thandoran bites into the tough outer skin—into the rind, pulp, flesh, and all. He chews three times and swallows. Then he moans. With elation.
He tears into the fruit again, eating half the mandarin with one bite. Juice runs down his chin. His eyelids flutter. He makes satiated noshing sounds every other second. Oh keen kelpies! He’s blissed out.
Natalia’s and Dumitru’s mouths hang open. I’m embarrassed. Thandoran finishes his first mandarin and starts on another. Peel and all.
“You’re supposed to peel those,” I say. “The humans spray them with pesticides that cause cancer and stuff.”
“What?” Half delirious, Thandoran turns to me. His pupils are dilated from his blissed-out state. This is so typical with storm sprites and ambrosia, but I’ve never seen anyone else enter the euphoria.
“Is this what it’s like when I have my ambrosia?”
My vampires nod.
Holy hobgoblins.
More juice runs down Thandoran’s chin. It’s disgusting.
“We’re going to have to get you a bib.” I gather up the fruit and throw it into the backpack. “If mandarins are your thing, you might be able to eat other citrus fruits as well.”
Dumitru snickers.
“What?”
“Thandoran loves mandarins. It rhymes.” Dumitru’s laugh shakes my body.
I smack my forehead and stand. “It’s time we get out of here.”
Natalia scoops up the backpack as Thandoran grabs for more fruit.
“No.” I swat his hand away. “You have to pace yourself. New fruit in a new world. Plus citrus at that. Do you know what citrus fruits do to your gut if you eat too many? You’ll be in the washroom all night.”
I smile. Maybe I’ll let him keep eating them.
EIGHT
We arrive at my flat after midnight. Natalia and Dumitru leave Thandoran and me alone—unfortunately. They’ll patrol all night and then come home to the flat across the hall, which they were lucky enough to acquire when the owners moved out.
I think Natalia used her compulsion on them. It worked out for the best because I needed a guard and Nat and Dumitru weren’t exactly welcomed at vampire central since they became my friends. Deorc Mansion is where the vamps in this region reside. Killian was an outsider to the coven even though his sister ruled them. They fell out over sibling drama. Now Anya’s dead, and a new vampire leads the coven.
He does not like me. I haven’t met him, but none of the vampires like me or want anything to do with me.
Unless it’s to drink from me.
It’s best I stay far away from Deorc Mansion.
I head down the hall toward a nice warm shower but pause. “You’re on the couch,” I say to Thandoran. “This is a one-room flat, and I am not giving up my bed.”
Thandoran moves around the space, touching random things. I have a galley kitchen with an island, the couch, and a TV. The décor’s dark, with blackout curtains, because a vampire once lived here. Not much else to see.
Oh, and I don’t forget Kili’s baby stuff, everywhere.
My throat gets thick. I swallow. “Uh, if you look in my closet, half the clothes are Killian’s. They should fit you. There’s underwear and T-shirts in the bottom drawers.” I haven’t been able to pack up Killian’s stuff, especially since it smells like him, that sweet aromatic vamp scent that entices his prey. It’s heavenly to me.
I haven’t missed that Thandoran and Killian are practically the same height and build. My gut clamps down, and I feel like puking up my shake. I have to get Thandoran out of here. Find him his own place.
I am not going to be his babysitter.
He opens the refrigerator and pulls out the milk. After taking the cap off, he sniffs the jug.
“That’s cow’s milk. A lot like a lodinkyr’s.”
Thandoran tips the jug back and guzzles the milk.
“Hey! Not from the jug!” I whip into the kitchen with my vamp speed and grab the jug. “We have glasses for this.” I yank open a cupboard and pull a glass out.
Thandoran calmly wipes his mouth and takes the jug and glass from me. He sets them on the counter and pushes me gently against the refrigerator. His body is achingly hot even though there’s space between us. He leans toward me and, with a milky breath, asks, “When are you going to give me some of that vamp magic?”
Milky breath?
I suddenly want more of my ambrosia.
I suddenly have the urge to lick my ambrosia from his lips.
Am I nuts?
Yes. Most definitely.
I look away from his flaming eyes—they look as if they have miniature fires in them—and shoulder him as I squirm away. “You’re out of luck. I don’t have any vamp powers just hanging around.”
“Where did you get yours?”
“From my dead boyfriend.”
That makes Thandoran step back.
“Relax. It’s not as if I’m some black widow.” How much does Thandoran know about my amulet? Maybe he knows nothing. But he must wonder how I obtained these powers since my succubus ability that passed power to my son didn’t give them directly to me.
I rub my forehead. I’m seriously tired and jonesing for more ambrosia. Being in Thandoran’s presence is a drain. I’ll have to buy out the store’s whole section of ice cream if he keeps stressing me out as he is.
“I’m showering and going to sleep. Blankets are in the hall closet. A spare pillow too. Don’t touch any of the electronics until I can show you how to use them.”
Thandoran narrows his eyes.
“Just how did you con my mother into letting you come to Earth?” Why do I bring this up? I’m tired, and this might start a fight.
“Your mother wanted someone other than two vamps watching your back.”
So he knew I had a vamp guard way before I told him.
Could have fooled me.
“She thought you’d be the best choice? Out of all the guardians she could have picked, she settles on you, some guy off the streets?”
“That didn’t bother you when you were spooning me in the woods.”
I blanch. He couldn’t have been conscious. “How do you know what that means?” Spooning? What fae from Belyven knows that term?
“I’m not as dumb as you think.” Meaning he has had some Earth training.
“That’s not a term they teach in school.”
“Are you sure about that?” Thandoran wrinkles his nose, and the ring twitches.
�
��I don’t know what your angle is, and I don’t trust you, but believe me when I say, if you want to survive, here, on Earth, you’ll need me. So don’t piss me off, or I’ll feed you to the vamps across the hall. They’d love nothing more than to drink you.”
I whirl on my heel and blur down the hall to finally take that shower.
NINE
I wake up to a string of curses coming from my living room, followed by Thandoran’s deep yell. I blur into the living space. Natalia’s on the couch, on top of Thandoran, with her fangs extended.
He pushes at her, but he can’t budge her statuelike body.
“Natalia!” I shriek.
Dumitru barges through the front door, but I beat him to the couch with my vamp speed, yank Natalia off, and shove her against the wall.
My demon strength can hold her, but then I see Dumitru’s face. His eyes are black—full-on vamp out. His fangs extend.
“Not you too!” I press into Nat and knock her head back. Dumitru advances on Thandoran, who scrambles off the couch to his feet. “Run to my room,” I yell. “Run! I have wards against them on it.”
Thandoran does a double take, from the hallway to Dumitru and back. Natalia snarls, and I smash her against the wall so hard plaster cracks above her head.
Thandoran inches toward the hall.
“Run, now!” I scream.
Dumitru tears loose as Thandoran turns. I let go of Natalia and smash into Dumitru. We crash onto my coffee table, which collapses onto the baby gear stashed under it.
Natalia takes off in my absence. I fly off Dumitru and tackle her to the floor as Thandoran crosses the threshold into my room.
“What has gotten into you two?” I hold Natalia down while Dumitru gnashes at my bedroom doorway. The door is wide open, but he can’t press past my invisible wards.
I cast them at Natalia’s request, in case something like this happened. Kili and I slept safely every night. The rest of my flat wasn’t spelled because I didn’t want to kick them completely out.