Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,138

that way. He could feel her holding the bear against his neck. Pulling gently on her arm, he brought it back to her lap and closed her fingers more firmly over the small carving.

“I want ye to keep this.”

When her expression got that look he was beginning to anticipate, he wanted to snap at her. What did it matter if she kept something for herself now? But he’d try to respect what she held so sacred.

“Hold on to it for me,” he said, and her tension eased. She nodded.

If she was taken from them, he’d remember he gave her something for her own, even if only for a little while. Then he would be gone as well. What would Evan do with it, as well as his mementoes? After three hundred years, what retained value wasn’t physical, any items kept usually symbols of the intangible. Able to fit in that one wee box. When he died, someone who cared might keep something from it, but it would be a struggle to know what to do with the rest. The world was an ever-changing landscape, and only memory kept it the same.

My memory is quite sharp, Niall. And long. Come back to the cabin. The obsessive artist is up and it’s time to go.

Well, thank the saints. We could have been on our way three hours past, if ye weren’t such a wean about the sunlight.

Grinning at Evan’s response, he pulled Alanna to her feet. “He’s ready,” he told her. He bent, kissed her soft mouth. When she leaned into him, he held her against his body, felt her tension and worry. He’d find ways to distract her. She was proving herself adept at doing that for him, and he was determined to do as proper a job.

16

SHE was attending a human wedding.

From Niall and his correspondence, she knew Evan was comfortable with humans, but finding he had relationships with them made the whole situation even more remarkable. Tyler and Marguerite Winterman, the couple providing their graceful plantation home for the wedding couple, obviously considered Evan a friend, and his decision to attend the nighttime event seemed to reciprocate the feeling.

Tyler and Marguerite were both Dominants, in the human sense of the word. She recalled Niall’s amusing recap of rules, pain thresholds, boundaries—all that silly stuff. Marguerite, a reputedly formidable Mistress, was submissive to her husband. Brendan and Chloe, the young engaged couple, also had a unique dynamic. Brendan was a dedicated submissive, but his bride-to-be wasn’t a Domme, just a sexually adventurous young woman who was somehow compatible.

In the vampire world, all vampires were Dominants. It was part of the physical makeup of the species, whether born or made. Vampires only capitulated to greater political or physical strength. As interested as Alanna was in the wedding, she was equally curious about the “private party” planned for the following night, where she’d observe human Dominant and submissive practices. Safe words and consensual were not in the vampire dictionary.

Niall had told her they would participate in the private party like any of the human guests, though Evan would restrain himself from any extremes, including blooddrinking. The political pressure that attended vampire gatherings would also be absent, though she could behave as the servant she was. Among a group so immersed in the Dominant/submissive mind-set, the three of them would “blend.” Well, she and Niall would blend. She wasn’t sure a vampire ever fully blended, particularly one like Evan, who didn’t even mesh with the expectations of his own species.

Tyler had given them accommodations in a one-bedroom guesthouse, but Niall’s insistence on what appeared to be the smaller of Tyler’s annex guest accommodations became clear when he told her there was an overflow wine cellar there. They’d arrived well past midnight, traveling in the luxurious RV outfitted like a home on wheels. The vehicle had specially treated windows for Evan, though Niall explained it was for emergencies only. “He willnae turn to ash, but he’ll still cook above ground at the height of noon. All in all, ’tis a nice way to travel, though. Unless he has me drive this behemoth through Atlanta traffic. That’s when he really proves he’s a sadist.”

Upon their late-night arrival at the Winterman estate, which was on the Gulf side of Florida, they went straight to the guesthouse. Tyler had left the door unlocked for them. Her opinion of their host increased when she found he’d already had the cellar rearranged to create a comfortable bedroom for Evan.