Page 23 of Vampire's Choice

“Marcellus wanted me tested. Merc pushed me out of my comfort zone to show Marcellus how I’d handle it. He knew what he was doing.”

While she was pretty sure there’d been a personal and intimate component to that pushing, he’d helped her seal the deal on the job. He’d taken it farther than Marcellus wanted, but not farther than he had wanted.

Or Ruth herself.

“Mind what I’m telling you, and don’t be too sure of yourself when it comes to him.” But a glimmer of dark humor touched Yvette’s gaze. “You’ve been raised around wild predators. Treat him the way you treat them.”

With respect, compassion and an abundance of caution. Never turn your back, and never show weakness, because in a blink, you will become prey.

Yes. With the possible exception of compassion, that fit her analysis of Merc.

Yvette cupped Ruth’s knuckles in one hand, clasped Ruth’s forearm in the other, then dipped her head to bite. A quick pain, followed by a swimming sensation of sensuality and power. Ruth steeled herself so she didn’t sway toward the woman. Yvette’s eyes remained on her, her full lips closed over the penetration point. When she retracted her fangs, her tongue caressed Ruth’s skin to close the wounds. Ruth couldn’t contain her shiver, but that reaction to a dose of a stronger vampire’s pheromones wasn’t considered unusual.

Yvette squeezed Ruth’s hand and released it. “Welcome to our ranks, child. Work hard, do well, and you’ll earn a place here.”

Yvette pivoted to stride back toward her quarters. The blacksmith dwarf was at the opening, waiting on her. Ruth had been officially dismissed.

“Hi.”

Ruth turned to find a human woman standing a few feet away from her. She was in her thirties and had copious amounts of brown hair with hints of red. Two braids kept the abundance out of her face, the braids dyed a lighter brown and threaded with ribbons and beads. Her eyes were a mix of green, gray, brown and gold. A henna tattoo formed a graceful crescent from her temple to her jaw.

Gold and silver bracelets, embedded with crystals in multiple shades of green, adorned her arms. Similar stones hung from the double piercings in her ears and a chain around her neck. They weren’t merely for decoration. Because a great deal of crystal work anchored the sanctuary magic, Ruth recognized the pale color of green amethyst, the stronger statement of polished malachite, plus fluorite, moldavite, and the rare prehnite.

“Yvette asked me to take you to lunch and show you around, if that’s okay. I’m Clara.”

Clara extended a hand. The human greeting wasn’t often used by vampires. They didn’t make physical contact until power lines were established, but Ruth had been around enough humans to react appropriately.

Clara’s grip had a firm calmness, though the lack of threat in it was too pronounced. Like Charlie, Clara was thin, but whereas it suited Charlie to look that way, Clara looked well below the weight she should carry. The wide neckline of her loose cotton top slipped off one shoulder. As she’d turned to gesture toward the cook tent, Ruth had noted a vaguely familiar symbol tattooed on the back of it. The shirt was split along the seams of its two sides, forming a petal shape over a brown calico skirt, which swished as she moved.

“Yvette said you’d need some blood. That was some fight. You’re good. Merc looked like he was actually having to try.”

Ruth glanced toward the sparring area, but she already knew he was gone. It was unsettling to know she knew that, much like how he’d known when she was looking at him.

Then she remembered how he had described her charge. Gypsy fortune teller.

“Yeah, I’m the one you’re here to protect,” Clara confirmed, reading her expression. “From all the crazies in the world who think I’m the key to their evil master plan. No matter how ridiculous that sounds.”

It did sound ridiculous. She was lovely…cute. Unassuming, like a cub. Not the type of female who could win the heart of a powerful angel like Marcellus.

But she had, so there was more here than it seemed. A definition Ruth applied to herself, so she would respect it. “So, you tell fortunes?”

“It’s mostly intuition and deduction, giving people a little thrill and good feeling. I don’t push deeper unless something in me says that’s needed. And I always hope it isn’t.”

Her face tightened. The gesture made her look shockingly gaunt, and Ruth drew a step closer, as if driving that look away should be part of her untested arsenal of bodyguard skills. “I won’t try to read you,” Clara promised. “I don’t do that with people I know and spend time around. It’s not just being nice. I see things I don’t want to see, learn things I don’t want to know. I get enough of that in my head from other places, bad places.”

“I won’t ask,” Ruth assured her.

Clara nodded. “I used to laugh a lot more. Smiling’s harder.”

“Perhaps that’s why I’m here. It’s definitely not because I’m the biggest and strongest on your security team. I’ll teach you to play the way big cats do. They learn to hunt through play. They learn to protect themselves through play. Most importantly, they learn to enjoy each moment through play.”

Seeing Clara’s intrigued look, Ruth decided to go further down that rabbit hole with her. “Albert Schweitzer said the creatures of the world are caught in the darkness of Nature, where there’s cruelty and loss, and indifference to both. But smart as he was, he missed that the creatures of the world don’t carry the heavy psychological weight of that knowledge. Which means they embrace the joy of living each day, which eludes those of us who think we’re so much smarter.”

Clara blinked. “I love Reverence for Life. I keep a copy by the bed. There must be a good library on that cat sanctuary where you grew up.”

So they’d told her a little bit about her newest bodyguard. Good. “My adopted uncle had shaman ancestors. He read other teachers’ thoughts on life, death and everything in between. I like to read, and he encouraged the addiction.”

The quick sparkle in Clara’s gaze was a star on the twilight horizon. Holding the promise of growing brighter, if conditions allowed for it.

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