Page 47 of Perfectly Perfect Pixie

Frederick sat, back stiff and eyes trained on Peaches. A glass of blood precariously dangled from his fingertips. A sneer pulled the edge of his lip, almost to the point of flashing fang.

“He’s been there most of the evening,” Leon leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Almost like he’s holding court.”

I bristled. “Court? In Dusk?”

“It’s bold.”

“It’s not bold, Leon. It’s foolish.” There was only one vampire king in the Southeast, and Frederick certainly wasn’t it.

“As you say.” Leon bobbed his head before shifting away.

I sent a pleasant smile Frederick’s way, which, by his gesticulations, nearly gave him an aneurysm, before I turned my attention toward more pleasant matters.

“Good night, Peaches. Be safe and well. I will call you tomorrow evening.”

“You be careful too.” Peaches took flight, easily maneuvering into an eye-level position. “If you start feeling even a little yucky, I want you to let Leon know. You’ve got plenty of the regular blood you drink stored and close by?” Peaches worried his bottom lip.

“It is well at hand.” It was the only countermeasure Leon and I could conceive of. What I didn’t tell Peaches was that drinking it would taste foul after having dined on his blood. If I remained well, and Peaches blood continued agreeing with me, then I would ask if he would consent to being my beloved. If that dream came to fruition, I would drink no other blood but the divine crimson running through Peaches’s veins. It was a heady hope.

Cupping Peaches’s face, I leaned in and kissed him. It wasn’t the groping desire we’d recently shared. It was a future promise.

“Good night,” I said again, hating releasing him.

“’Night, Lucroy.” Peaches gave me one last longing look before he followed Bree toward the back hall leading to the garage. I watched until the last of his golden pixie dust faded.

“Are you truly okay?” Leon asked, closing the distance between us and keeping his voice low.

“I can honestly say I have never felt better, Leon. I believe it is too soon to call Horatio’s tale a myth, but at this point, I have no reason to stop this endeavor.” I thought about voicing my earlier thoughts and saw no reason to keep it secret any longer. “I believe Peaches is my beloved.”

“Good.” Leon slapped me on the back. He was fond of doing that, and I’d long ago reasoned it was a common sign of affection during his first life. “Beloved, huh? I had my suspicions, but . . . it’s so rare, and . . .” Leon blew out a tired breath. “It’s every vampire’s dream. Humans dream of the day they marry. Weres dream of the day they find their mate. Vampires . . . we’re told not to dream, that holding on to such hopes will only lead us into the sun all the quicker.”

Leon was sadly correct. “I had not indulged in such dreams until I laid eyes on Peaches. I will not lie and say I knew right away, but there was something . . . something that could not be ignored, no matter had I wished it.”

Going silent, Leon appeared to contemplate this. When his body stiffened and his jaw tightened, I followed his line of sight to Frederick. Indeed, Leon was correct. The bevy of humans, peppered with a couple of vampires, hanging onto his every gesticulated word was disturbing.

“Speaking of matters you can’t ignore.” Leon nodded in Frederick’s direction.

“He has frighteningly little control for one of his age.” I’d noticed this before, but the angrier Freddie got, the more control he lost. It was unbecoming. The humans didn’t realize. The vampires collected around him did. Their discomfort was obvious.

“I believe it is time I had another word with Freddie.”

“I doubt it will help.”

“I doubt it will either, but it will not hurt either.” I tilted my head, cracking my neck. “Then again, should Freddie prove . . . difficult, it might hurt quite a bit.”

Leon’s soft laughter followed us as we made our way to the bar. I caught Johnny’s eye, his disapproval of Frederick obvious. Lizbeth appeared equally annoyed. Following or not, Frederick’s time in my nest was quickly coming to an end. I might be a tolerant king, but I wasn’t kind or forgiving. No vampire was.

ChapterTwenty

PEACHES

The mid-fall sunshine felt deliciously warm. Nestled in the crook of a tree branch, one leg dangled over the edge, I comfortably lounged. Given how warm the day had become, it was easy to mistake the season for late summer or early fall. It wouldn’t last. Nothing this delightful ever did. Its fleeting made it all the more special.

“Peaches!” Two sprites sprinted toward me, their high-pitched call unmistakable.

Over the past few weeks, I’d gotten used to the tenor of their voices, along with only understanding their sounds through one ear. The other ear got bombarded with their clicks and seemingly indecipherable language. In the beginning, the disconnect gave me a headache. I was amazed at how easily I’d fallen into easy understanding.

“Good afternoon.” Holding out a hand, both sprites alighted in my palm. The two of them together took up the entire space, and one had to balance a foot on one of my fingers. Even still, they weighed next to nothing. Phil and I’d joked that sprites were made up of little more than light and air.

---