claims to be. I’m not getting that vibe off him. There was a second earthbound vampire. He’s with Summer. He really is a vamp, and he’s got some creepy scary powers.”
Erna’s shoulders shot back, and she suddenly seemed taller than she’d been before. “You allowed a vampire to be around Summer?”
I wasn’t getting into that one again. “He’s a good guy. Look, like I said, we’ll get Summer back, but we need a place to stay for the night because I’ve already been in a fight, nearly got dragged into a void, and found out I got a bun in the oven. I need a nap and a hunk of beef and I’ll be ready to go. But I need you to take a look at the king.”
“You keep calling him a king.” Erna’s hands came down to her hips as she stared at the threesome beyond her magic veil. “King of what? Summer talks about them but only in a vague way. I know he was supposed to be a vampire on the Earth plane, and the mother was some kind of criminal.”
“Well, some things changed while Summer was here. Daniel took over the Vampire Council on the Earth plane and now he’s basically the head of our supernatural world.”
“A Night King?” Erna asked, her voice going low as though she was afraid others might overhear.
“God, no. Don’t call him that. He’s still pissed about the way that show ended,” I quipped. “We call him the King of all Vampire. Except it’s going to be pretty hard to keep that title if he’s not actually a vampire. It’s kind of a prerequisite for holding that particular title. I might have to kill him again to get it back. Not that I killed him the first time. It was a car accident.”
Erna stared me down. “You speak too quickly, obnoxious girl.”
I’d been called worse. “I need you to see if there’s a whammy on him. Dean here tells me you’re a witch.”
“She’s the strongest witch of her house,” Dean proclaimed.
“I’m sure my sisters would disagree.” Erna sighed and seemed to come to some decision. “All right. If they can help save Summer, I will do what I must. Bring the king into the brugh and we’ll try to figure out what’s happened. I swear, girl, if you turn out to be some kind of con…”
I held my hands up and gave my most innocent expression. “I’m on the up and up here. All I want is to find Summer and the vamp she’s with, make sure she gets to say hi to the ’rents, and then get my happy ass back to my plane. It’s supposed to be my honeymoon.”
I would be taking Summer and Dean back to the Earth plane with me so they could take care of the bad guy, thereby fulfilling Dean’s destiny and Marcus’s sex fantasies. But I wasn’t going to tell Erna that because I hadn’t decided if she was coming with us. She seemed a little on the bitchy side.
“Like I said, obnoxious child. I’ll go and make up a couple more beds,” she said.
“Hey, about that side of beef.” I was eating for two. And I honestly ate a lot for one.
“What is this beef you speak of?” Erna asked.
It took everything I had not to scream. I didn’t need Dean. I would kill Myrddin myself.
* * * *
Zoey
“I can stand on my own, Devinshea.” Daniel got to his feet. “I don’t need help.”
He was going to be so stubborn. I took a long breath and tried to find my patience. Even as a human he’d been terrible when he was sick. “You probably have a concussion.”
“Well, I can’t exactly get to an ER,” Daniel said, taking a deep breath, as though fortifying himself.
“It’s why we brought you to the witch,” Dev said with a sigh.
“We should have stayed close to the doorway.” My vampire husband straightened up his shirt. “They’ll be trying to get us back. I don’t want Zack to get lost here.”
“Zack will be able to track us any number of ways.” Dev walked behind the curtain.
I was going to put a hand on Danny to steady him, but he gave me that stubborn look. I turned and walked through on my own. “He’s going to be impossible.”
“Cut him some slack. He isn’t used to being vulnerable.” Dev reached a hand out as Daniel joined us.
I found some strength from his hand being in mine. “We need to talk about