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.
He turned those midnight eyes on me. “You knew what she was and where I was standing, didn’t you?”
I wasn’t about to lie or not take responsibility. “I did.”
He took a step toward me, but I held my ground. “You wanted her to pull me into the depths? Do you know what she would have done to me?”
I didn’t like the shame the question made me feel. “I wanted you to leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that.” He stayed just out of my space, not so close I felt it necessary to move away from him, but not so far that I didn’t feel overwhelmed by his presence. “I will be respectful of your wishes, but I cannot leave you. I must bring you back to your parents.”
“I don’t have parents.” Not really. I could think of Zoey Wharton and Daniel Donovan as my mother and father, but it wasn’t truly correct. They’d been the female and male who’d primed the magic that made me. Donovan had selected my form and function, though he hadn’t known he was doing it at the time. I’d been a thought, a wish in his head as he’d made love to his companion. I’ve studied how I came to be. Most of the time—the vast majority of the time—it takes a village to make a creature like me. Daniel Donovan had put his soul into that wish. He’d loved his companion so much, wanted a child with her so much, that I was the outcome of his hopes and dreams.
What would he think of me now?
The vampire’s face softened. “You do, Summer. You have a mother and a father who love you. They’ve been searching for you since they realized you were truly theirs. How old are you, bella? I know time moves differently on the inner Fae planes. I can’t imagine what it works like on planes I never knew existed.”
I wasn’t surprised. Haweigh, the sidhe who’d acted as my foster mother, had explained to me that the Earth plane was isolated, and much of the knowledge of creation had passed from there as the original supernatural creatures had left the plane. As the humans had taken over and proven to be the dominant species, their knowledge of what had come before them had faded from their consciousness and passed into lore. Most humans thought we were faery stories, myths, nothing more than tales to frighten children. It appeared the vampires of the plane were similarly ignorant. “I am considered a youngling.”
“You are considered a youngling by immortal creatures. This isn’t what I was asking.”
“You are immortal.” I knew I was pointing out the obvious, but I wasn’t sure why he needed a specific number. If he was an earthbound vampire, he didn’t have to worry about aging.
He shook his head. “No. I am long lived. I assure you I can die for the right reasons. Do your people count the years?”
“I am twenty-eight.” I wasn’t sure why it meant anything at all to him. “Though you understand that only applies to this form.”
“You are magic, Summer Donovan. You are eternal, so why do you feel so very human to me? I can hear your heartbeat, sense the warmth of your skin. What I cannot feel is the magic I should when close to you.”
My hand went to the charm at my neck, the one I could not take off. “I chose a mortal life.”
His eyes flared and I could sense his irritation. Or perhaps it was fear. “Why would you do that? Why would you choose to be vulnerable?”
I wasn’t about to tell him that story. I might never meet the people who’d crafted my form, but I didn’t want them to know what had happened. Still, I was curious. “How old are my parents now? The Green Man mentioned they’ve had children. I didn’t think earthbound vampires could do that. I thought you came from the Vampire plane and perhaps you were the father of Kelsey’s child, but I’m wrong about that, aren’t I?”
“The process by which I became a vampire took my ability to procreate,” he admitted. “And I am not involved with Kelsey in that manner. She is married. We are merely friends now. Only thirteen years have passed on the Earth plane since the day you were born. Your parents are married in the fashion of a vampire and a companion, but your mother is also married in the Fae tradition to Devinshea Quinn.”
That news brought a smile to my face. I remembered how fond of the faery my mother had been. It was good that she hadn’t been forced to choose. “She is happy?”
“For the most part,” Marcus replied. “It’s impossible for her to be completely happy since she misses her first child.”
“Tell me how you made the Gwragedd Annwn let you go.” I didn’t want to get emotional. I wanted to gather intelligence. I also found I didn’t want to stop talking to him. I needed to figure out who this man was. He wasn’t in the memories of my mother, but it was obvious—if he wasn’t lying—that he knew her well. “Vampires aren’t immune to her. Many a vampire has been dragged beneath these waters.”
“As you meant for me to be.”
I felt myself flush. “I changed my mind at the end. It’s why I told you to step back.”