Page 14 of Vampire's Choice

She saw nothing to explain her reaction. Damn it. But she knew she hadn’t imagined it. “Just a voice,” she said, low. “I thought I heard someone. Felt someone.”

Adan gave her an odd look. “Do they have a version of hazing for newbies?” she asked.

“Yeah, but pretty good-natured stuff, for the most part. And they wouldn’t do it before they know who you are or why you’re here.”

“Well, they sure as hell know what I am now.” Embarrassingly, she’d not only bared her fangs, but triggered their defensive lengthening. She retracted them, and did her best to look at ease so everyone would go back to what they were doing.

Why did she feel like he was here, close by? Laughing at her. Waiting to mess with her some more. She thought of a reason for it, and then cursed her own weakness. That damn feather she’d kept…

“I like it when you run away. It makes me want to catch you all the more.”

How could Adan not hear that? She could tell he couldn’t, because his concerned expression didn’t change as the words slid along the side of her neck, shivering straight over her collar bone and the upper rise of her breast.

“Seriously, fuck off,” she muttered. “Just getting my head on straight,” she told Adan. She put her hand on the bolo tie. Not to grip it, but to press the point of her wrist against what lay beneath it, nestled between her breasts. The wing feather she’d tucked under the band of her bra, for fuck-all knew what reasons.

She’d ignored a basic tenet of magical practice. Direct contact with objects of power was one of the strongest ways to feel their influence. The incubus or whatever-he-was had had magic oozing out of his pores. And apparently from his feathers.

“Ruth…”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. Let’s go. I don’t want to be late for my job interview.”

Adan wasn’t buying it, but with the Council head waiting, he didn’t have much choice. Fortunately, there was no repeat of that weirdness as they arrived at Yvette’s quarters. The yurt’s frame was crafted of sturdy wood, the sloped circular roof larger than the circumference of an amusement park carousel. The fabric that created it was painted in a marble swirl of black and red.

The entryway to the yurt was an open archway. They could hear two female voices conversing within.

Jacob sat to the right of the opening. He was sanding a dagger, one of six blades on a small table before him.

“Gundar put you to work?” Adan asked.

Jacob’s midnight blue eyes under dark brows showed amusement. “I admired his works-in-progress, and he told me if I sanded these, he’d give me one of the final products. Plus, Yvette prefers everyone enjoying the Circus to earn the privilege, no matter how short the visit.”

“Everyone, including your lady?”

Ruth held her breath at the impertinence, but Jacob chuckled. The easy familiarity said Lyssa’s bound servant considered Adan a friend. On the island, he was just her brother. Here he was a Light Guardian, treated on par with the company he was keeping.

“I leave that question between her and Lady Yvette,” Jacob said. “A place I wisely stay clear of.”

Jacob’s thick brown hair had traces of russet and was long enough to reach his broad shoulders. His trained fighter’s body moved with grace and deadly intent. Yet his face held a mild amiability—until something more dangerous was required. He coupled his intelligence with self-restraint, all elements vital to serving a queen. Particularly one who’d dealt with the cutthroat politics and violent tendencies of the vampire world for a very long time.

His attention moved to Ruth as he rose to give her a courteous bow, observing the required courtesies. In their world, the highest-ranked servant still fell below the lowest-ranked vampire.

Jacob had chosen strategic times to ignore such protocols, risking the ire of other vampires. Sometimes even his own formidable lady’s. However, those incidents had only added to his reputation, ultimately on the side of respect, because such acts were always done in the name of protecting Lady Lyssa. Her well-being meant everything to him. She meant everything to him.

Such devotion from a servant was appropriate. A vampire feeling the same way toward their human servant? That was a sticky problem, one that plagued the Council and the vampire world.

For a long time, the accepted thinking—and arguably still the prevailing feeling among most vampires—was that a vampire didn’t fall in love with their servant. Such “weakness” made the vampire vulnerable to dangerous influences from the human, and that would undermine the vampire world in unacceptable ways.

Depending on the rank of the “misguided vampire,” their overlord, Region Master or the Council itself, would order the execution of the servant. The vampire would be placed under the direct supervision of a vampire who could “reinforce and reeducate” them as needed.

Then, over a decade ago, Lady Lyssa had declared her love for Jacob before the Vampire Council itself. Since then, Lord Mason, who also currently served on the Council, had made a similar declaration about his servant, Jessica.

While Ruth didn’t know how she felt about the matter, she couldn’t deny a twist of satisfaction over Lord Mason’s announcement. It had set back on their heels those who’d always claimed the “malady” was a female vampire problem. Because female vampires were more susceptible to emotional manipulation by male servants. Of course. Cue the eye roll.

Around the same time Lord Mason had made his declaration, Lord Brian had presented strong proof that vampires and servants with “closer” bonds had a more likely chance of successfully reproducing. With less than five thousand vampires in the world, and a disturbingly low percentage of those being born vampires—considered genetically stronger and more vital to the overall survival of their race—things that might aid their survival carried a lot of weight.

The proof had driven the framing of a comprehensive policy which would improve the standing of servants in the vampire world, giving them certain protections and rights they’d never held. Originally introduced by Lord Mason, it had been stalled ever since, as it was subjected to multiple revisions and “cooling off” periods, depending on what else Council was handling.

With immortal beings, debating a society-altering piece of legislation for over a decade wasn’t unusual, but recently, a push to finish it, to call it to a vote, had been growing. Not just within the Council, but from Region Masters and overlords. It was hard to tell how it would go, because strong feelings existed for and against it.

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