“I think it is my concern. I think it is everyone’s concern,” Charlotte insisted. “Have you heard the stories of the Summerlands? My mother was a scholar. She particularly specialized in the old ways and the stories from before the Piercing of the Veil.”
I had to frown at the thought. She wasn’t talking old ways. She was talking ancient ways. The Piercing of the Veil referred to the time when the Fae left the Earth plane. The strongest of the tribes fled when it became apparent humans would take the plane by their sheer numbers. There are still Fae on our plane of origin—as evidenced by my Green Man father—but they are few compared to the great tribes of Tír na nÓg and other planes. “Why would you care about old world stories?”
“I don’t think they’re stories,” Charlotte explained, moving closer. “Or at least not entirely. I’m sure we muddle things up over the millennia. But there’s a point to each of them, some kernel of truth, and I think you might be one of those kernels, Summer.”
“Charlie, baby, I thought we agreed not to bring the puppies to work,” a deep voice said. “Adam here is allergic.”
“I am not, asshole.” The dark-haired man who’d been with Taggart strode in and got to one knee to give the wolf a pet. “You’re gorgeous, girl. You should bite Tag. Go on and take a big old chunk out of him.”
“She’s not going to bite me,” Taggart said, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “I know how to make all the females love me. I gave her a hunk of meat last night. Do you know how expensive it is to keep a carnivore as a pet on a plane where ninety percent of the population doesn’t eat solid food? I’ve promised to train her to go on runs with me and she can eat whatever she can hunt down. I mean whatever, girl.”
The wolf’s tail thumped, and she did a whirly twirl as though she understood what the big guy had said.
Odd wolf.
Charlotte frowned her husband’s way as she put the puppy on the floor. The tiny wolf immediately ran to where her mother was and started hopping around Adam, yipping in a supercute way.
“Thea and Aaron decided to follow the lead,” Tag said. “You know my sister has been looking to spend time with the new guy. He’s an asshole. I heartily approve. They’re going to check out that McDonald doctor I’m curious about. Now, tell me where everyone else is and why you’re here with two animals who aren’t supposed to be here, and you’re talking to my prisoner. Also, why’s she up and the vamp’s out? I kind of wanted to talk to him before the witches get here.”
“Me, too,” Adam said. He’d gotten down to the ground and was playing with the puppy while the mother wolf looked on indulgently. “I think he might be an earthbound vamp. How cool is that? A distant cousin of ours.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to Vampire plane crap.” She turned my way. “The vampires here are arrogant as hell, and many of them refuse to believe they came from the Earth plane. They like to make up shit stories about earthbound vamps being vamps who got lost when the old vampires would send out exploration teams. It’s not true, of course.”
“There’s no proof that we came from the Earth plane,” Adam countered.
“Yes, there is, but vampires are too vain to believe it,” Charlotte argued. “Everyone but Levi is out to lunch, and he’s in the conference room on a call. I wanted to talk to Summer because I think you’re wrong about her. And I brought the pups because they looked sad that I would leave them behind.”
Her husband stared at her for a moment. “Is this about the convergences? We had to fight through one on the way to bring her here. It was rough.”
“Really? You pick up Summer and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a convergence?” Charlotte asked in a tone of so not surprise. “Did you find any sick Planeswalker demons hanging around?”
“No,” Adam said, getting to his feet. It was obvious he’d decided to take this seriously. “Is this about the research you’ve been doing with your sister?”
“I can trace the line of where the convergences have happened.” Charlotte picked up a tablet from the desk nearest to her and in a few keystrokes