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When he pulled out onto the state highway five minutes later, he gunned the engine to merge into traffic, and I could understand why people enjoyed having more powerful engines.
I wasn’t ready for that kind of speed, but I looked forward to the day I was, when I’d been dreading it before Ryan’s little lesson.
“I would like to suggest, again, that both of us fighting Kirsten might be a way for us to test ourselves without having to do so directly.”
“I have an alternate suggestion. For us, I think the arm-wrestling thing is going to be more of a marathon than a sprint, so we need time to see it through. Marco has agreed to let us use the basement of The Diamond Club on a night it’s closed. If we begin shortly after sunset, we’ll have all evening and night. I can bed down there for the day, if necessary. It isn’t ideal, but Marco can set guards on the location to keep me safe.”
In reality, we have a secret underground area one gets to from the opposite end of the building, not attached to the small basement, but Ryan didn’t need to know that.
“We don’t need to toss that much magic around in such a populated area,” Ryan said. “The humans won’t sense it, but any supernaturals driving on the major thoroughfares around the club absolutely will.”
I shook my head. “The basement is shielded. No one will sense us.”
“Marco gave you permission to tell me?”
“He did.”
“Thank you for trusting me with a secret.”
“We both have secrets.”
Ah, unsaid, was that she’d expect me to trust her with some, as well.
“Once we get beyond the need for our inner beings to fight for dominance, I’d like to invite you to my true home, in New Hampshire. I only spend a total of around three months a year there, but it’s my refuge. It’s my home. I own property all over the globe, but every other domicile is just a relatively safe place to sleep.”
“Thank you for that.”
“Fair warning, it’s in a town full of Slayers. You’ll meet the people who have become my family, and they’re all either Slayers, or married to a Slayer.”
I’d heard rumors of there being various “Slayer Towns”, but to my knowledge, no one had ever found one. He’d be giving away a lot, taking me to his home. “If you say it’s safe for me to go there, I’ll believe you.”
“I’ll want you to meet three of my friends, first, before I take you to my home. If they tell the town to give you a chance, everyone will. The Slayers in this town believe in giving vampires and predatory shifters a chance, before killing them.” He sighed. “I will need you to promise me you’ll only tell Marco about it, though. I know you won’t keep secrets from him, but I’ll need you to obtain a promise from him that he won’t share it, before you tell him.”
“And if he won’t give me the promise, you won’t be able to take me?”
“If he won’t give you the promise, I’ll talk to him and explain why we need it. He loves you, so I believe he’ll want this for you. We’ll figure it out. I know he has certain oaths to the Concilio, but I also know there are loopholes.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Vampires excel at finding loopholes.” Unfortunately, vampires also excel at closing them, and the Concilio had spent centuries doing just that. Still, Ryan was right — we could probably find a way to give Marco an acceptable loophole to keep it from them.
“The Concilio doesn’t know where you live?”
“They’re aware of the location of the town, but there are details about us they don’t know, and we’d like to keep it that way.”
“Has Blade brought Augustus?”
“Halloween is a big deal in our town. We have a lot of fun with it. He came once, to the restaurant we sometimes invite outsiders to, just inside the county line, and from there, we gave him an invitation to join in with our Halloween festivities. He left before the sun rose the following morning, though. It’s my hope to make you feel safe enough in our town, you’ll stay with me a week at a time, once you’re settled in enough here to be able to take such luxuries.”
“To be honest, I’ll probably want to copy what he’s done and take it slow, but I look forward to getting to meet the people you consider your chosen family. Marco is my chosen family.” I looked around and didn’t recognize the exit he was getting off on. “Where are you taking me tonight?”
“I thank you for trusting me enough not to ask before you got into the vehicle. There’s this axe-throwing place I thought you’d enjoy. We’ll have to watch our strength because it’s a human establishment, but I think it’ll be fun.”
Fun. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done something to have fun. Well, besides torturing people who deserved it, but this would be completely different.
“Thank you for thinking of it, and for bringing me with you. I agree. It sounds like fun.”
Also, our inner monsters were more likely to be on their best behavior around humans.
He sighed, and I scented — not regret, but something close. “I look forward to the day when we don’t have to be so careful around each other.”
