Page 11 of Vampire's Choice

Adan glanced toward Mal and Elisa. “Lady Yvette has someone who wants to meet with Ruth, before she’s officially accepted under her care.”

“I didn’t think I needed anyone’s permission other than hers. She’s ranked like an overlord, right?”

“Yes, but she does answer to the Council.”

Mal’s expression tightened. “Who?”

Adan paused, glancing at Ruth. Don’t lose your shit, sis. If you freak out, he will.

“Lady Lyssa.”

Mal respected Lady Lyssa, arguably the most powerful vampire in their world, and the current head of the Vampire Council. Many Council members and higher-ranking vampires had visited the island over the years. Most stayed a few days, and some even pitched in to help with the island’s daily labor-intensive operations. Mal knew the value of having such influential patrons, while grumbling over the disruption of the sanctuary’s routine and the need to hone diplomatic skills that didn’t come naturally to him.

In the 1990s, Kohana had noted the vampires viewed the island as an “eco-vacation.” A place to reconnect to the earth and slow life’s pace. Mal had scowled at the term and inflicted another scar in the doorframe.

While Mal fortunately didn’t seem too disturbed by Adan’s announcement, he wanted to know why such an important vampire needed to sanction Ruth’s presence.

“It has to do with the woman she’s protecting,” Adan told him. “Ruth’s going to be fine, Da. Promise.”

On that note, Ruth allowed herself one last hug from her parents and then stepped up beside Adan as he called the magic that would open the portal.

She’d never traveled that way before. Adan had told her how it would be, but he’d framed it in a context she would understand. Which wasn’t accurate at all.

Her recent experience, being plucked off the ground effortlessly and accelerating through the air at a speed that made it impossible to have any thoughts at all, came far closer. Adrenaline, a dash of terror, and a heavy dose of oh, that cup of blood for breakfast was a really bad idea.

When her mind stopped spinning, she was kneeling on an unfamiliar forest path. Adan held her hair back as she coughed and bent over double. Thank the Great Father and Mother that Adan hadn’t portaled her directly into the audience with Lady Yvette and Lady Lyssa.

When she straightened, Adan pulled a handkerchief out of the bag slung across his body. “Portal first aid supplies?” she rasped as she took it in a trembling hand. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?”

She glared down at herself. She’d chosen her outfit carefully. Snug black jeans with a cream-colored tank, the jeans tucked into calf boots. Her belt had an ornate buckle Adan had brought her from a Cherokee festival. Around her neck was a collar of turquoise nugget ovals set in silver frames. Below it rested a bolo tie with a matching silver and turquoise pull on it.

Because Adan had warned her the Circus’s current in-between portal campsite was in a colder climate, she’d donned her calf-length inner fleece and outer cowhide jacket. It had a rich camel color and was quilted, the squares edged with the same cream-colored fleece.

Some of her hair was pulled up in a top knot, the rest loose down her back, the strands Adan had held out of the way. Silver rings adorned the shells of her ears, and another turquoise and silver nugget adorned the top knot.

It was a stylish, sexy and professional outfit, now baptized with several drops of bloody vomit. No time to fix it; no one with any sense of self-preservation kept high-ranked vampires waiting.

“Here, stay still. Don’t tell Derek I did this. He’s anal about using magic for trivial purposes.”

“I want to see Derek tell Lady Lyssa an audience with her is trivial. Double crap. Where’s my case?”

“I found out where you’ll be quartered before I came to get you. I sent it there as we came out of the portal. Another thing Derek would ping me for, but I figured it would be easier to stride through camp with a determined, badass bodyguard look if you weren’t dragging a giant suitcase behind you.”

“Good thinking.” As he focused on the several drops, Ruth closed her eyes and tried to come up with an alternative plan if he couldn’t fix it. A brush of heat and an amused voice broke into her mental scrambling.

“I can protect the world, but you think I can’t get a bloodstain out of cloth. You’re all set.”

Opening her eyes, Ruth saw with relief her clothes were pristine. “I’m allowed reasonable doubt. Sgidoda built an entire bespelled sanctuary with Derek that connects to portals all over the world. Yet if he puts his Jeep keys down anywhere but the hook in the entryway, he can’t find them without Etsi’s help.”

“You know why. She told us.”

“‘Women have the magic ‘find-things’ uterus. Men have the ‘fix-anything’ pecker.’”

When Elisa had made that proclamation, Kohana had laughed so hard he nearly fell off the bench at the dinner table. He roared even louder when Mal entered moments later to demand, “Where the hell are my pliers?”

Elisa had calmly found them on the railing by the porch swing. He’d laid them there a couple hours before, when the two of them had shared a glass of lemonade. She’d been curled up against his side, her hand resting on his thigh as he tasted the tartness of the fruit in the glass, then moved to sample it from her lips.

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