by Joey W. Hill
Vampire-servant relationships weren't what he'd expected them to be, all formal and arms' length, with the servant acting like a stiff butler from an old movie. And these guys were part of the top-of-the-heap vampires. Not on the fringes, where stuff like that would pass unnoticed. Plus, they were both total badasses and fighter types.
They'd also both been exactly what Dovia needed around her. Quiet, courteous, showing sensitivity to her situation but not smothering pity.
Like now. With all of them cognizant she was in an enclosed space surrounded by testosterone, everyone was going out of their way to keep their presence low profile, protective without treating her like glass.
Hard to get pissy toward the other vampire and his vampire-hunter servant when they were being like that.
See, he could be mature. Occasionally.
Rand's gaze lifted, showing amusement, and Cai curled his lip at him. Nosy wolf.
"I want to stop here."
Before Rand could reply to that, Dovia spoke up. It surprised Cai, because he'd thought she was dozing. But she'd lifted her head and had her hand on the door. The urgency in her tone suggested she meant right now. Was she sick?
All four men bolted into immediate action, mobilizing to handle the awkward possibility of female illness. Rasheed was already pulling over, responding to Daegan's gesture.
They'd emerged from the cow path road system a while ago, and were now on a winding, still rural but four-lane highway. Though they'd been gaining on and passing the occasional car, for the most part they had it to themselves. Even so, Daegan and Gideon were out of the car first, scoping the area. Proving they knew their job, they didn't allow anyone out until they gave the all clear, Dovia's request notwithstanding. When they did give that go-ahead, Cai exited and offered Dovia a hand out, Rand climbing out behind her.
She brought the stuffed rabbit with her. The girl didn't head for the roadside to get sick, as Cai had suspected. She headed across the two lanes toward the center median. Exchanging a glance with Rand, Cai followed her, the shifter trailing behind at a discreet distance. Gideon and Daegan stayed where they were, by silent accord sharing lookout duty with Rasheed and giving Cai and Rand the personal bodyguard duty.
This stretch of highway participated in the state's wildflower program, and the median was overflowing with a combination of red poppies, yellow lilies and lavender. Dovia went into them, her free hand trailing along the bobbing stems and blooms, her body turning as she looked at the flowers surrounding her.
"It's so beautiful," she said. "I haven't been up this way before. And when they brought me here, they had...I was hooded, and tied."
Cai moved closer to her.
"Can I borrow your knife?" she asked.
"Depends on why you want it."
She held out a palm. Imperious little miss. He stared her down and she sighed. "I want to cut a lock of my hair."
"Oh. Okay, let me do it. Sorry, but I'd feel better not seeing anything classified as a loose weapon near you for the next hundred years."
"And you think you're not kind." But she pulled out the comb holding up her hair. The dark red strands rippled as she grasped one lock about three inches from the end. Given the hack job that had been done on it before, he hesitated, but she met his gaze, telling him it was what she wanted. When he cut the piece for her, using the pocket knife Chad had surprisingly offered him, she took it and sat down on the ground, her knees folded, the bunny on her thighs. It had a satin pale green ribbon around its brown neck, and she untied it, retied it, with her lock of hair in it. Then she positioned the stuffed creature against a clump of the cheerful poppies, the ribbon and hair in its lap.
She knelt there for a few minutes, silent. Her head bowed and Cai thought she might be praying. Unexpected. Not many vampires he'd met were all that religious, though some believed in a higher power. But then she spoke, and he realized, both from the words and the weight of the emotions they were carrying, that she'd been collecting her thoughts.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be your mother," she said quietly. "Please forgive me. I hope my selfishness, my inability to handle being a mother now, doesn't keep me from having the privilege and honor of bringing another life like yours into the world. I know..." Her voice cracked. "You were not of him, nor of me, but a gift from God, and I should be stronger..."
She stopped. Cai dropped to one knee and slid an arm around her shoulders, under her chin. He pressed his lips to the crown of her bowed head. "God--whatever that is or means--understands. That kid, too," he said shortly. "I feel it, you know. When I handle that spark, I can feel what it feels, somewhat. It understood. It knew now wasn't the right time, the right circumstances."
She stilled in his arms. "Truly. You're not lying to me."
"If I am, may I be damned to hell. Or have to wear bright, happy colors, which is the same thing."
A slight smile pulled against his cheek, but she turned her head, meeting his gaze with a piercing look that told him yeah, one day this girl would be a hell of a mother. Or the next Lady Lyssa. "You're telling me the truth."
"I am," he said.
He wasn't. He was lying his ass off. He could feel that spark, yes, but not any thoughts that specific. But he could feel if it was distressed, and he'd felt nothing from it but peace, so it felt like he might be telling the truth.
As good as she was with "the look," he'd had to lie to save his ass for decades. She wasn't even in his league when it came to a believable poker face.
After a long moment, her shoulders slumped with relief. Her face was wet with tears, but she was quiet with it, no sobbing. Her head bowed again and he shifted his hands to her shoulders, backing off some. From dealing with his own shit, he knew sometimes you had to feel stuff to get rid of it, but he wished he knew how to bring a smile to her face, help her feel better. Put something on the scale to balance the overwhelming load of what she was carrying on her shoulders. She was too young to have to deal with this crap.
A rustling noise brought both their heads up. It took several blinks for Cai to process the unlikely sight of a giant black wolf bounding through the flowers like goddamn Bambi, apparently chasing a cadre of moths. The pale yellow winged insects flapped around in a confused vortex as he snapped at them. It made them dance away so he could continue chasing, large body spinning in wide circles, leaping. Practically cavorting.
He was sparing the leg, doing a lot of it on three, which just increased the Bambi bouncing effect. Dovia sat back on her heels, watching Rand as Cai rose to his feet. That put him in the right position to see a smile bloom on her face, as rare and precious as one of the flowers around them.
Yeah, flowers were something special. Anyone who saw a flower break out of a seed pod, push out of the ground and become something as delicate and beautiful as what it was, despite the inner strength it took to do all that, knew they were looking at something precious.
Dovia was up on her feet, chasing after the wolf, trying to catch the moths with her hands. Years fell away and she was a young girl playing, not a sexually mature woman. Rand brushed against her, and her hand dropped to hold onto him. She'd left her shoes behind and Cai collected the feminine pair of modest heels by the ankle straps, watching her dance and play. She didn't laugh; he was sure she would again, but it was too soon for that. But she was smiling, her eyes possessing a promising light that showed her spark had not been doused.
She wasn't going to become a cranky, surly, closed off bastard like him, beyond help or repair. He glanced across the road and confirmed Gideon and Daegan were still at the car. Gideon was grinning, and he spoke a few words to Daegan. Cai could have heard some of it if he tried, but he knew it wasn't important. At his servant's words, Daegan tilted his head toward Gideon, his serious lips curving.
"I'm ready to go home now."
Dovia was standing in front of him, a chain of flowers in her hair, Rand at her side. The wolf panted happily, a moth wing stuck in his teeth. Dovia fastidiously removed it, showing
no hesitation at reaching into that toothy mouth. Rand landed an appreciative lick on her wrist that had her making a noise damn close to a giggle.
Show off. Flirt. "Okay, shift back into a human so you don't get hair all over the limo," Cai advised. "Or we'll tie you to the back bumper and make you run the rest of the way."
"We will not," Dovia said indignantly.
"Not your servant, is he?"
Cai said it more sharply than he'd intended, what the fuck. Rand's ears pricked up. Cai felt the mental rebuke from the wolf almost before Cai registered Dovia's instant flinch.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to sound like an ass. I'm just saying...well. Never fucking mind." He pivoted on his heel and strode back to the car, leaving Rand and the girl to follow at their leisure. What did it matter to him?
Cai made sure to keep his mind firmly closed. Yeah, Rand maybe could read his emotions as easily as his head, but he was done letting Rand meander through it like he had the poppy field.
Getting into the limo, Cai found the wet bar and took a nice, burning swallow of what was there. Yeah, vampires couldn't get drunk, but it still felt good going down.
Treat his servant like he was hers. Just because he looked damn good taking care of a young woman, playing with pups, or teasing Fane's mate, helping with dishes and looking as domestic as any spread in Better Homes and Gardens, it didn't give her the right.
Didn't give any of them the right to act like he belonged more to them than to Cai. Even if he did.
And even if Cai damn well knew it was better that way.
He acted like all was good when they got back into the car, not wanting there to be any tension for Dovia to handle. She didn't deserve to have to deal with his shit. He felt Rand's questions, the male's blue and gold-flecked eyes searching his face, but he refused to engage, shrugging it off with a slight head shake that said, Forget it, I'm fine.
Rand didn't look like he bought that for a second, but that wasn't Cai's problem. Dovia asked Gideon and Daegan some polite questions about Anwyn, typical girl interest in another woman, and the conversation turned in that direction. She looked amused at both men's confusion when she asked them where Anwyn liked to shop in Atlanta. Proving his resourcefulness, Gideon texted his Mistress and provided Dovia some answers, adding, "Anwyn said if you come there, she'll be happy to take you out to the best nighttime shopping spots."
That seemed to please Dovia, but it also exhausted her ability to be polite and social as her obvious upbringing had taught her to be. She subsided, but her tension became a humming wire whose vibration level rose, the closer they came to her home. When they turned onto the long drive, her hand was on the door as if she'd jump out before the car even stopped. Rand had sat next to her for the final leg of the journey. When he ran a soothing hand down her back, she nodded, acknowledging the reassurance, but then Leona and Georg came into sight, standing in the driveway in front of the house.
Tears overflowed Dovia's eyes, her shaking taking over. The young woman who was determined to be impossibly strong was overridden by the traumatized girl who needed her parents' reassurance and love. At least for a few minutes.
Dovia practically sprang out as the car stopped. Her parents' arms folded around her as if they'd let her go in an eternity or two. Maybe. Thankfully, Georg seemed pretty lucid. He held both his women as if he'd protect them from hell itself. Dovia held them as tightly, sobbing, but also telling them she was okay. Cai saw her touch her father's face, hold her mother's waist. "I'm okay, Daddy. I'm all right. It's going to be okay."
No sign of Tyra or Chavez. Not involved with Voltaire's plan, but probably no longer in favor either, Cai supposed. He looked toward Rand, whose concern about Greenwald, about how it would all turn out for her, was obvious. Cai nudged him with his foot, drawing his attention.
No, we can't keep her. Sure, you'll promise to feed and walk her. But I know who'll end up taking care of her.
Rand curled a lip at him, that sneer that made Cai want to do all sorts of things to him, but as the wolf continued to look worried, he sighed.
"She'll be okay. And she knows she can call on us if ever she has need, right?"
Rand nodded. Daegan had emerged from the car with Gideon, and Cai and Rand followed them a few steps away, where they weren't infringing on the family reunion. Rand spoke in a low voice.
"What happens when he...when he can't be overlord anymore?"
"Lady Lyssa and the Council are very mindful of what is happening with Georg," Daegan answered. "Though his illness has been concealed as much as possible, word is spreading. The Council has made it clear that any who act to inappropriately take his title from him will face Lyssa's displeasure. When she transitions him out of the role, the Council will ensure he and his family are well protected."
"Will Leona go with him?" Cai told himself not to ask, not to reveal he was as worried about the girl as Rand was. Overnight, they thought they were a pair of big brothers.
"Yes," Daegan said, exchanging a glance with Gideon as if they'd discussed how much information could safely be risked with Cai and Rand. Cai felt oddly gratified that the decision was in their favor. "She loves her daughter dearly, but he is her Master. She cannot bear to be separated from him, and if she remained in our world, she would have to become bound to another vampire who might or might not have Dovia's best interests at heart. Dovia will become heir to her father's holdings and officially be designated Lyssa's ward, for her protection, until she has the strength to hold those assets on her own."
"From what I've seen of that girl's strength of will, that'll be about a minute or two from now," Cai observed.
Gideon grunted an assent, his eyes glinting. "She's one tough little lady. And look out, she's coming back this way."
"Probably to hug Rand one more time." Cai started to retreat for the car, but Rand curled his fingers around his elbow, holding him. Cai shot him a scowl, but since the alternative was a juvenile wrestling match in front of Daegan and Gideon, he held his ground as if he meant to stay, rather than preferring to bolt like a rabbit.
Sure enough, Dovia hugged Rand, speaking softly in his ear. She had to stretch up on her toes to manage that, even with him bending over to accommodate her. But then she turned to Cai.
For a long moment they studied one another, a couple feet between them. Before he realized he was doing it, he'd run a light fingertip over the peach fuzz on one side of her head. She self-consciously followed the motion with her own hand, brushing his. "My parents wanted to thank you personally, but I knew you'd hate that, so I told them it was best to send a note."
"Yeah. I'll work on that address thing."
"They haven't thought of that yet, so you better make your escape while you can," she said with a faint smile. While tinged with a sad tiredness, it held peace and relief, too. Reaching up, she slid a hand along his face. In involuntary reaction to being touched without his say-so, he gripped her wrist, but he didn't push her away, and she didn't stop stroking his cheek. Her legs trembled some, and suddenly Rand was behind her, steadying her with hands on her shoulders.
She kept her eyes on Cai. "You know what you told me, about not letting them take away my ability to love whomever I want to?"
"I think I said 'fucking want to.'"
That faint smile came again, but it didn't detract from the seriousness of her gaze. "You should take your own advice."
She tossed a meaningful look upward, indicating Rand, without letting the wolf see the look. Then she hugged Cai's stiff body, gave him and Rand one more poignant smile, and returned to her parents, and her world.
Chapter Nineteen
As they were pulling out of the long drive, Cai's thoughts were turning to where Daegan and Gideon could drop them. Daegan had other ideas.
When he sat back and surveyed Cai from head to toe, it was with an unsmiling look that instantly put Cai on guard.
"Lady Lyssa has requested"--the vampire said it with the type of stress that Cai immediate
ly understood as required, commanded, get-your-ass-down-here or I'll fuck it up good --"that you attend her at Council headquarters in Savannah before you depart. Her plane has been made available to us to shorten the trip, and she says once she has spoken to you, commended you on your help in this matter, that you can request any destination of your choosing."
"But we have to see her first before we're free to go."
"She said you had an interest in Lord Graham's status and whereabouts. She has that information."
"She could text me. Or I'm sure I can find him on my own in another hundred years or so. Or he'll be dead. I really don't care if I'm the one who kills him. Dead is dead." Not exactly true, but he wasn't going to be bribed or baited. Or manipulated in any way. This was why getting in bed with Council vampires was like stepping into the mouth of a giant killer shark who promised not to bite.
"Cai," Rand said. He was sitting next to Cai, his warmth and strength near. "You did an amazing thing. Let her say thank you. Let them thank you."
"Having lots of friends and family is important to you. Not to me. I don't need to do this. You can go in my stead like an ambassador or some damn thing. Maybe she's going to give you a key to Vampire City. Don't really care. It won't mean anything. It never does."
He knew their departure from Dovia's had tripped his asshole switch, but he really didn't deal well with good-byes and transitions. He thought of Dovia, standing there with her two parents, so straight and tall, because she couldn't afford to be anything different. No matter how she'd been abused and raped. Then he thought of himself, nearly falling apart the first time Rand had fucking spooned with him.
"I'll tell you what the plan is," he said abruptly to Daegan. "Drop me off here at this convenience store coming up. Let Rand out wherever he wants to go so he can get back to Fane and his family where he belongs, and we all say how nice it was to meet one another, blah, blah, blah. Unless you want to drag my bloody body before her the same way Greenwald did."
