Page 9 of Bound

The vampire named Dellacourt shakes his head. Strangely, thevampires are the closest thing to a normal human I’ve seen so far, if oneforgives the fangs. This particular vampire’s skin is light, almost alabaster,and his green eyes are like emeralds. Like his fellow vampires, he’s dressed inan elegant approximation of a business suit. They seem to wear somber, deeplycolored jackets. The blacks and grays and navys seem almost luminous.Dellacourt wears black from head to toe. A sleekly cut jacket reaches his kneesand a matching vest completes the look. The only color he has on is a ruby redshirt that peeks out from under the vest. His trousers and loafers aremidnight-colored as well. Unlike Beck, the gnomes, and the other men who cameto “view” me, the vampires seem to have left the feudal era behind.

“Yes,” Dellacourt says slowly. “We need to talk about that.What would you say if I told you I could triple your business on this sweetthing?”

Reeve sighs, and I decide that he and Dellacourt probablyhave a long history, and not a lot of it good. “I would say that the day Istart listening to a slick vampire salesman is the day my wife should carve meup with a piece of wrought iron.”

Cara nods somberly. “I have it all ready, too. The minute hegoes soft, I’m taking him out.”

Cara holds out her small hand, and I take it. There are amillion and one reasons I’m not fighting my way out, the chief being I have noidea how to fight. Back home I carry a little canister of pepper spray with me.Not that it did me a ton of good since I’d been overwhelmed by the… What hadthey called it? Planeswalker. Someone had mentioned the Planeswalkers broughtthe gnomes goods to sell.

I have no idea how to get home. It’s time for me to playalong until I can figure a way out.

If I even want one.

The little gnome starts to lead me out of the tent into thesunlight. It’s warm on my skin and the daylight seems to caress me. I cannotdeny that it is beautiful here.

Dellacourt doesn’t miss a beat.

“Seriously, I can make this a very profitable venture foryou, Reeve.” Dellacourt follows us into the sunshine, and I hear a smallwhirring sound. I watch in shock as sunglasses form around the vampire’s eyes.Dellacourt grins down at me. “Nanites, babe. Those are tiny computers, to theless technologically advanced. All of our clothes and accessories have nanitetech in them. They are intensely useful little fuckers. Of course, every nowand then they band together and try to take over the world. Hey, what’sprogress without the occasional apocalypse?” He turns to Reeve again. “Back tomy point. I only need a few hours. I’ll give you a half million in gold, andall you have to do is delay this tournament until, say, eight o’clock.”

“That ain’t happening.” Reeve continues walking.

I study my surroundings as Cara leads me into what lookslike a small marketplace. There are stalls with vendors hawking their wares inodd languages. I’ve calmed down from initial rage and terror. Now I canconcentrate on my surroundings.

The gnome mentioned that I don’t speak Gaelic. I’m almostcertain this is the language spoken all around me now. It makes sense, in aweird way. The creatures around me appear to be straight out of NorthernEuropean lore. Gaelic was an ancient language of both Ireland and Scotland. Itook courses in lore in college, and I’ve been thinking about what Beck couldbe. It’s obvious he doesn’t think of himself as human. After watching the waythe gnomes treat him, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a faery of somekind. From the looks of him, he’s more than likely a sidhe. They’rethe human-looking faeries and the ruling class. If my lore is correct, he willbelong to one of two tribes, the Seelie and the Unseelie. The Seelie are theblessed, shining ones, while the Unseelie hold all the monsters the Fae have tooffer. I would bet he’s a Seelie, though I haven’t gotten a look at his ears.According to some lore, they should be slightly pointed. Of course, not allmyths prove true in this strange place. The vampire more than makes that casesince he’s walking around in the daylight.

“Hey, vampire guy, shouldn’t you be all crispy and fried bynow?” I ask bluntly because he seems like a blunt kind of man. Vampire. Dude. Idon’t know.

Dellacourt stops in his tracks and laughs. “Damn, she reallyis from the Earth plane. Darling, the vampires there are idiots who got lostand can’t find their way back. I read all the DLs on the subject. Horrifyingstuff, really. You see, your sun is different. It has a bad effect on my kind.It puts us into a weird fugue state during the daylight hours, and if we getcaught in it, we sort of explode.”

Reeve presses on, ignoring Dante’s explanation. “Don’t gofilling her head with nonsense. Don’t believe a word he says. Vampires like tomake themselves seem more important than they really are. The Earth plane isone of the inner planes. It’s why it’s protected the way it is. Everyone knowswe all came from there originally. There was a heavenly plane and the placewhere the demons come from, and there was Earth.”

See, this is information I’m interested in. Also, vampiresare real on Earth, but they’re not like the vamp in front of me?

Dante shakes his head. “We’ll have to agree to disagree, butI for one am thrilled I’m not an earthbound vamp.” A shudder goes through him.“Apparently, the animals there aren’t fit for consumption, so they end upeating a diet made up entirely of human blood. Though I’ve heard your kindtastes spectacular, sweetheart. I’ve often thought that if I could get a traderoute onto the human plane, I could make a ton of money selling human blood.”

Reeve frowns at the vampire. “Don’t go scaring the poorgirl.”

“Mr. Dellacourt doesn’t scare me, exactly, though I find himslightly repugnant,” I admit, eliciting a snort of agreement from Cara. “I dowant to know more about these planes thingees. Like how does one travel betweenthem?”

The vampire utterly ignores my very reasonable question.“Oh, no, that won’t do. The name’s Dante, sweetheart. Please, all the beautifulwomen call me Dante. And I’ll have you know I am considered extremelygood-looking.”

I shrug and walk on. I suppose he’s attractive. He’s talland lanky but seems strong. His hair is a thick reddish gold and cut in astylish fashion. It’s long and spiky and probably requires a lot of upkeep tolook that messy. I noted his eyes are green before they were covered by hissunglasses. “You sound like a used car salesman.”

“His sister runs one of the biggest corporations on the vampplane, but Dellacourt here is only allowed to oversee the family’s computerchain. They rebuild old machines,” Reeve pipes up, seemingly eager to pile onto Dante.

“Yep,” I say with a satisfied smile. “Used car salesman.”

We’re getting close to what appears to be a massive arena.It’s circular and constructed from a combination of wood and stone. There areseveral arches that appear to be entryways. A roar of approval rings from thearena, nearly shaking the ground around me.

Dante pulls on Reeve’s arm, getting down to one knee. Allprevious sarcasm has fled, and in its place is an earnest desperation. “I ambegging you. Give me half an hour. You can delay half an hour. Look, BeckettFinn is in the woods somewhere hunting. I’ll pay his fee to enter thetournament. His brother is dying. He needs her. Don’t you owe your kingsomething?”

The vampire knows Beck? I hate that my heart does a weirdflip flop when I hear his name.

I am not this girl. I am not this girl. I am not thisgirl.

“Reeve of the Gentle Hills is forever loyal, Dante,” a softvoice says and my whole body reacts.

When I turn, Beck stands mere feet away. He’s removed hisvest and changed into dark pants and a different shirt. He holds that long,ornate sword in one fist as he moves toward the arena.