love she’d had for my father, I also knew she’d worried that his love for her had come from the glow she held, the fact that her blood strengthened him in a way other humans could not. That fear I’d felt from my mother was precisely the reason I’d turned down all vampire suitors. I’d been born knowing that vampires would always need me and I should stay away.
“You haven’t gotten the chance to know me so you can’t possibly gauge your interest.” Vorenus took a step forward, his foot inching closer to that moment when the sprite could take him.
Every word out of his mouth made me believe I was doing the right thing. “A female can’t possibly not want a male? Of course. I owe you the time to know you, to allow you to vie for my affections. I know how this goes, vampire. I give you time because I owe it to you. If I don’t want you then I’ve wasted your time.”
He took a deep breath. “You owe me nothing, Summer. I’m fumbling and that’s something I never do. Please, can we start again? I promise I’m not here to hurt you. I want to tell you about your parents. They are friends of mine.”
“You’re from the Earth plane, not the Vampire plane?” I was confused because it wasn’t normal to see a powerful Fae lord, a vampire, and a hybrid human traveling together. It was a little like a joke I’d heard once. A goblin, a troll, and a sidhe walk into a bar…
He frowned. “Vampire plane? I don’t understand. I am a creature of the Earth plane.”
Sure he was. I wasn’t completely ignorant. After all, my father was an earthbound vampire. “Earth plane vampires can’t stand the sun at all. Try again. Vampire plane vamps have adapted, but they need special gear here on this plane. The UV light is stronger here than their home plane. I’ve heard one of the big corporations has made a breakthrough with something called sunscreen. Is that how you’re doing it?”
It bothered me. I knew he was a vampire, but he wasn’t behaving the way he should.
His eyes lit with something like wonder. “There’s a plane filled with vampires? I’ve only ever known the Hell plane, Earth plane, and Heaven plane, though I’ve never been to the latter. The Fae have two small planes attached to the Earth plane, but that is all we know of the universe. And I am a daywalker. It’s a particular talent of mine to walk in the light. Tell me more about this plane.”
It seemed to me he had many talents, but that couldn’t matter now. It wasn’t a smart idea to stand here and chat with him. “Shouldn’t you be worried about Kelsey and her child?”
“I am more worried about you,” he replied, his voice softening. He took another step and he was so close to that water. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the sprite touch the shore, sending tendrils of dark water toward the vampire’s feet.
Was I willing to do this? It wouldn’t hurt him. He would find it pleasurable.
It would still be a violation. It would still be something he hadn’t chosen. I couldn’t do that to him. Not even to save myself. “Marcus, you should move back.”
But I was too late and the Gwragedd Annwn reached from the water and placed her hand on his foot. Marcus’s eyes flared and he looked down at the water sprite, who should have now been totally in control of the man. I could see she was touching his skin, and that connection should have made him melt, should have made him forget anything except getting his hands on the female sprite. He should have been under her thrall.
He bared his fangs. “Take your hands off me or this won’t go well for you, Fae.”
The sprite’s eyes went dark and her hands moved immediately, as though she’d been caught touching something that burned her. “What are you?”
“I am nothing to be toyed with.” He stared down at her and I would have sworn his eyes darkened, and they were obsidian before. “Go back to your deep and bother me no more.”
The sprite—again who should have been singing her sweet songs and dragging her prey close—sank into the waters. “Yes, Dark One. You walk in the light, but the night is here.”
She was gone and the surface of the lake was still again.