Page 12 of Vampire's Choice

First a light brush, then deeper, his knuckles brushing the side of her ample breast, moving up to her shoulder and throat, where he put his own mouth to take a meal from the vein that pumped harder in response to his touch. Like every part of her, striving to please him and offer what he needed.

Whenever her father mislaid something, nine times out of ten it was because the pleasure he took in his servant had captured his attention to the exclusion of anything else.

Yep. There wasn’t a species on the planet that could match the vampire sex drive. Except maybe the male Ruth hadn’t physically seen.

Stop thinking about him.

Adan gave her a critical look. “You look dynamite, sis. Sexy as hell and twice as kickass, gotta say. You put thought into the look.”

She had. She might have her issues, but she could protect a human female and wanted to look the part. The boots were flat, the soles thick rubber. Two knives were concealed within easy reach.

She knew several fight disciplines, and practiced the forms regularly. Plus sparred with anyone who could be trusted with the knowledge of the extent of her abilities. The vampire world was all about power. Who had it, who didn’t, and who could take it from someone else.

The thought brought a wave of nerves and a reminder that she was really doing this. Leaving the shelter and protection of home.

She’d be fine. But still… She gripped Adan’s biceps and touched her head to his chest, gratified when he dropped a kiss on her head. “Thanks,” she said. “Thanks for reminding me you’re still my dumbass brother, even if to the rest of the world you’re an all-powerful Light Guardian.”

He snorted. “I’m a bottom of the totem pole Light Guardian who Derek routinely kicks around to remind me of it. He says humility is the most important skill for me to learn right now. Except when I need my reservoir of ‘I-can-save-the-world’ arrogance to back him up in a firefight.”

She grinned, linking her arm through his. “I’m available to spar with you whenever you need to hone those firefight skills. Just to make Derek happy, I’ll include a full scoop of humility.”

“Dream on.” Adan rolled his eyes, but he gave her hand a squeeze and escorted her toward the forest line, beyond which she saw an open field populated by large tents.

He didn’t need to give her any direction on the upcoming meeting. The flow of important visitors on the island meant they’d been coached as children on vampire etiquette.

But she did yank free from him, an involuntary reaction, as she noted what vomiting up her last meal had caused her to miss. It was daylight.

“It’s all right,” he told her, as she peered warily up at the sky through the interlaced tree branches. “Remember, I said the in-between portal space is a magically manufactured environment.”

“There’s a sun,” she said.

“It’s not our real sun,” Adan said. “The light doesn’t harm us here, just like in the Fae world, though we can’t really explain why for either. You won’t have to sleep underground here, but your body will remember the cycles of day and night. When the Circus comes out of the in-between spaces for a performance, Lady Yvette times the emergence for after dark. You and she will come back into a place like this for your daylight rest and rejoin the Circus at dusk.”

“Okay. Sorry.” She took his arm again.

“A lifetime of knowing sunlight is fatal to us isn’t so easily discarded,” he told her. “I get it.”

As they stepped out of the tree’s cover, she tried not to crane her neck to keep looking at the “fake” sun. It was chilly, as Adan had warned her, making Ruth glad for her coat, but she could feel the sun’s mellow heat against her face and throat.

“The portal area where we emerged looked a lot like the island side,” she noted. “With the creek and same trees.”

“When the Circus is in an in-between location,” Adan told her, “I structure the current portal on their end so it looks like where we came from. It helps me remember what the current setting is.”

“Makes sense. Does Derek know you got lost on the island where you grew up?”

Teasing him helped steady her. She hoped he’d understand.

“I was a lot younger than I am now.” Adan shot her a mock look of offense. “Pretend like you respect me in front of Lady Lyssa and Lady Yvette, and I’ll give you candy afterward. If your mouth doesn’t get you killed. In which case, I’ll eat it all myself.”

To uphold the sibling code, she offered no promises. But truthfully, she’d be on her very best behavior.

On Lady Lyssa’s first visit to the island that Ruth remembered, the vampire queen had lifted Ruth onto her hip. Ruth had threaded small hands through the straight dark hair that looked like her own. It felt like strands of satin ribbon. Though Lyssa’s jade green eyes were warm and smiling, Ruth had detected a vibration of power around the vampire queen, overwhelming enough she’d ducked her head shyly, making sure her father was near.

Lady Lyssa’s servant at that time, Thomas, had played with her and Adan after dinner, a card game that taught them bible verses. He’d gravely asked them about the animals on the preserve and seemed suitably impressed with their knowledge. Before he came into Lyssa’s service, he’d been a Franciscan monk.

As Ruth and Adan grew up, Lyssa returned to the island several times, often with Council members. The liberties a child could take gave way to an uber-respectful deference for the thousand-year-old plus vampire. She was slim and no taller than Ruth. Yet the still way she watched everyone and everything around her reminded Ruth of the big cats, if they were on the hunt…constantly.

Thomas had died some years ago. Jacob, her current servant, had a keen intelligence and gift for insight comparable to her monk, but he was a fighter, not a scholar. He was protective of his lady, but also amiable and level-headed. He’d sparred with Ruth to help improve her fight skills, and she’d tailored her speed and strength to make it an even match and learn everything she could.

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