I’d always wondered what it would feel like to be that loved. I’d remembered the ache in his heart as he’d named me. He’d looked at my mother and then to me and called me Summer.
“Okay, I brushed my teeth,” Lee said as he walked back in.
“I will smell your breath,” my mother vowed.
Lee opened his mouth and made fire breathing dragon sounds that had his brother and sister in fits of giggles.
“You know you should just do it the first time, son.” Dev Quinn walked in from the opposite side and smiled down at the boy who looked so much like him. “She always finds out.” He turned to my mother. “You want coffee on the balcony?”
I could feel the love between them. I wasn’t sure how it had happened because the way I remembered it my dad hadn’t liked the faery at all, but they were a family. I glanced at Marcus, who stood with them, the one from his memory. It was odd how he could control this, but his mental powers seemed strong. The Marcus in his memory looked wistful, like he knew what it meant to be surrounded by love but to not be a true part of it.
I knew that feeling far too well.
The scene in front of me shimmered and was gone and I was again alone with Marcus in the big room.
“Did my…Rhys get in trouble for not doing his homework?” I kind of wanted to stay in that scene though it felt like nothing truly important had happened. He’d simply been showing me what a day in the life of my parents looked like. It looked normal and amazing. I would bet there weren’t whole armies after the young Donovan-Quinns. They weren’t feared around the outer planes.
“Your brother did not because moments after, I helped him complete the assignment. And Lee hadn’t done it either, so it was a lucky thing for them I happen to know a lot about history. Your other father is quite insistent that I bring you back to him,” Marcus said. “Your arm is healed and we have much to talk about.”
I looked once more around that magnificent room on another plane of existence, in a life I might have had. “All right.”
When I opened my eyes, I was looking into the emerald gaze of Dev Quinn.
“I found your satchel, sweetheart.” He knelt down close to me and inspected my arm, which seemed perfectly whole now. “Marcus healed the wound? There won’t be any infection? Not that there should be. You should have been able to heal that wound yourself, Summer. I don’t understand what’s happened. You’re not supposed to be human.”
He would have a lot of questions. He was the only one of the three who’d been there when I’d come into being. I still wasn’t sure I could trust him. I wanted to tell them my story, but I had to be sure.
I looked to Dean. He was the only one who could really tell me what I needed to know. “Can I trust them?”
Dean’s lips turned up in a slightly malicious grin. “Let’s find out.”
I heard the crackle that came from Dean’s magic and then Quinn’s eyes went blank and I saw Kelsey fall to the ground like a puppet who’d had her strings cut.
Marcus’s hands tightened on my arms and then even he went still.
Dean might not be great with a crossbow but when it comes to this, he was a badass.
I stood because we should have a few minutes. If these had been normal Fae or vampires from the Vampire plane, I would have said we had all day. Dean was young, but his skill with magic was far beyond his years, and his mental powers were amazing. He was inside their brains, reading their intentions. He’d tried to explain it to me once. He said when he worked this magic he could sense things about a person, sense whether they were lying or intended to hurt us. This bit of magic would give me time to figure out if I should risk letting him teleport me out of here. “What do you sense?”
He grimaced. “I sense they’re going to be angry with me when they wake up, and that’s going to happen sooner than I would like it to. God, they’re all so strong. Where the hell did they come from?”
I could already see a strain on Dean’s face I rarely saw. I wouldn’t have as much time as I’d wished. “I was hoping you could tell me. They say they’re from the Earth plane.”
“Like my mom?”
“Pretty much exactly like your mom. You know my parents were from Dallas.”
“And my mom was born in Fort Worth. It’s why she gravitated to that area when she first found herself on the Vampire plane. She realized it wasn’t exactly the same place, but she looked for home and she found it.” Dean’s jaw tightened as though it was costing him more and more to work this magic. “Okay, the tall one is a Green Man and something else. There’s a peaceful quality to him, but he’s got more than one side.”
“He’s ascendant. Do you know what that means?” I’d spent some time teaching Dean about Fae society, but he hadn’t spent a ton of time on Faery planes since they tended to try to capture me there.
“Yep, the god’s there. But there’s something else. I don’t know. The god seems cool. He’s telling the man to calm down. Jeez, Summer. What’s it with you and the dual natured? The chick has a wolf in her, and the wolf is pissed and pretty much intends to rip my throat out. Violent much? But they both want to help you. They’ve said nothing untruthful to you. They believe everything they’ve said.” Dean panted and his whole body had gone rigid. “The vampire is telling me to pick up the sword and gut myself, and I want to do it. I want to do it so bad. It’ll feel good when the blood spills, and I shouldn’t stop. I have to do it.”
Fear clenched my heart. Marcus. That was Marcus inside Dean’s head, whispering to him, taking his will. “Let him go. Let them all go.”
Dean took a long breath and his shoulders relaxed.
“What the fuck was that?” Kelsey was on her feet in an instant. “Look here, you asshole. Stay out of my brain pan. You got questions, ask them, maybe buy me a beer. You know you should always buy a chick a beer before you stick your fingers in her brain. God, I hope they have freaking beer on this plane, but you never do that to me again.” Then she frowned. “I can’t drink beer. I hadn’t even thought of that. That sucks.”
“He was only trying to protect Summer.” Dev seemed far more willing to forgive. He stood up, brushing off his clothes. “Calm down.”
Kelsey’s eyes narrowed and a menacing growl came from her throat.
Dev put up his hands as though conceding. “And by calm down, I mean let’s all take a moment to think about how frightening this must be for Summer. Not calm down. You’re right to not be calm or logical. Damn it. Did anyone pack Advil?”
Dev put a hand to his head.
I wasn’t the only one who would need some healing touch today. Dean was good at what he did, but sometimes he wasn’t subtle. I had to hope that would change as he matured.
Dean was moving as I looked to Marcus, whose eyes had opened, but I noticed his fangs were out, too.
That was when I realized I’d made a terrible mistake. Dean had released his hold on them, but Marcus hadn’t stopped fighting. Dean picked up the sword Kelsey had dropped and I screamed as he lifted it high and started to stab himself.
* * * *
Zoey