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“I think he’s been rifling through my memories to learn about me. Like watching television to learn about a culture? He understands English. He has an idea of the dangers I could face. Do you think it’s a matter of explaining the Concilio’s rules to him, to convince him not to spring forth?”
“I believe there has to be another mechanism. A way for you to put him to sleep, or to paralyze him, so whether he leaves is your decision and not his. I also believe you’re going to need to use that ability sparingly, if the two of you are to be friends.”
“Aaron talked as if it’s me who needs to learn control, and not Ying.”
Sophia gave a slight nod, but Lauren could tell the Swan Queen had already moved to another subject. “Will you stand facing the corner, so neither of you can see me, and let me look over your shields as well as his?”
A few seconds later, Sophia verified what Lauren had instinctively known. “Having him in your shields has to be a temporary solution. Take some time to let him see what you do when you’re around different people. Make sure he understands the danger vampires present, if he doesn’t keep his thoughts well shielded.”
Chapter 8
Lauren awakened the following morning with Smokey on her bed, and she rubbed her cheek against his fur and cuddled into him.
She’d put this off for far too long. It was going to break her heart, but she owed it to the first true friend she’d had in this country besides her mother. Smokey had turned the house from two people living in it to a family. He’d been her refuge, so she had to give him this.
“If it’s time for you to go, dear Smokey, then you must go. I’m going to miss you terribly, but I don’t want you staying longer because you think I won’t be okay when you’re gone. I mean, I won’t be, at first, but I’ll survive.” Her heart was breaking, but she kept going despite her tears. “I’ve gone out into the world without you, and yeah, it’s good you’re here when I come home, but I don’t want you staying just for me. You do what’s right for you, my beloved Smokey.”
Smokey lifted his head and rubbed his cheek with hers, and she knew he’d heard her.
“You have been my best friend for most of my life. I wouldn’t be the same person I am now if you hadn’t been here. Thank you for being the best friend I could’ve ever asked for.”
Smokey took his time getting off the bed on one of the many ramps now in the house, and Lauren followed him out of the room. “You probably need to potty. C’mon. I’ll take you.”
She’d slept in leggings and an oversized tee, so she didn’t bother changing clothes. She’d let Smokey out, eat breakfast, go back to her room to get ready for the day, and then have her mother pop her to her office at the theater. Ambrose could drive her car down.
Or that’s what she told herself, but she sat outside with Smokey for fifteen minutes before the two of them went to the kitchen. Lauren made enough eggs with cheese for both of them, and they sat on the sofa together and ate their breakfast. She could take an extra hour to get to the office. Maybe two.
Chapter 9
Gavin came to life all at once, the pain surging back into his body, coursing through every nerve channel, startling him back to life as if he’d been struck by lightning. As always, he took a few moments to mentally scan for other minds before he opened his secure chamber and floated out.
He’d always awakened with a little of the pain and shock of rebirth, but then he’d been taken to Faerie, to the domain of the Siabhra — the boogeymen of the Faerie world, responsible for relentlessly punishing those who deserve it. Supposedly, the source of children’s nightmares, and Gavin had no problems believing it was true. While under the not-so-tender ministrations of the hellacious Siabhra, there had been no down time. No rest. No sunrise or sunset. No escape from the place-without-hope-or-joy, the infernal torment of anguish, worse than any nightmare he’d ever had, and possibly worse than any he’d ever inflicted upon others. The misery and suffering had been beyond anything he’d ever thought possible.
So far beyond.
When he’d finally been brought back to this realm, to the earth, the human realm, and felt the sun pulling him under, he’d hoped to never rise again, at the time.
When he’d risen, the pain of it had driven him mad all over again. He’d spent the day dealing with it and remembering who he was, only to be pulled down by the sun and then to be revived again the following evening and driven mad by the indescribable pain yet again.
Gradually, he’d managed to handle the shock and agony of rising without going mad, but it still hurt like fuck.
When the Concilio had tested Gavin to be certain he was safe to be around humans after his captivity in Faerie, the lead tester had told him when he resolved the issues brought up by the Siabhra, he’d once again rise as other vampires.
Gavin had no idea what that meant, but it clearly hadn’t happened yet.
He looked through his calendar, checked his text messages, checked in with Queenie, and made a few changes to his schedule. Lauren hadn’t come to him, so he’d be going to her.
He fed from a bear shifter on the off chance some ursine energy might make him more interesting to Lauren, he dressed in his usual all-black, all-natural-fibers attire, and made his way to the underground garage. In the back of a windowless armored van, he stepped into a large open box, and then into a bag layered with black latex, Kevlar, and other space age materials, so even if the van wrecked and the box split open, the bag would keep him in the dark. He watched them zip the bag and then latch his box through the vision of one of the guards, and once the van was underway, he tapped his phone on and looked through the things Queenie had pushed to it earlier, since he couldn’t pick up a cell signal inside the bag.
Once at the theater, the truck backed up to a loading dock, and Gavin’s box was wheeled out of the truck, into the building, onto a freight elevator, and then down into a basement made for vampires, since this theater was the one the supernaturals would be using.
Lauren’s office was in this building, and she’d called for a meeting with the shapeshifters who were practicing their parts.
“We open in three weeks,” Lauren was telling the shapeshifters when he stepped into the back of the room. “Two nights from now, we’ll run through a full-dress tech rehearsal of all acts. We’ll begin at six, and do the first act Wednesday night and the second act Thursday night. Expect to be here eight to ten hours each night. If for some reason you cannot participate, I’ll need a written explanation as to why, and when you’ll be able to give me what I need, no later than five o’clock tomorrow afternoon. You’ll all hear this again in a few hours when we have a meeting with those who aren’t up and about yet, so consider it an early heads-up. Meanwhile, I called all of you here separately because we need to talk about some issues that pertain only to the daywalkers.”
Gavin noted that Lauren’s shields were locked down tighter than he’d ever felt them, and that she was surrounded by two demi-gods. Ambrose, of course, but it took him a few moments to recognize the woman.
She went by Ellania now, or sometimes Ell, but she wasthe original Melanippe, daughter of Ares, and after being princess for over a century, was eventually Queen of the Amazons, though legends said she hadn’t wanted the title. She was six feet tall and strikingly gorgeous, but she was as lethal as any warrior, past or present.
