Page 282 of Dragon Slayer

“Finished?” Vlad asked, and Val tossed the mirror down onto his cot, face heating.

He cleared his throat. “Yes.” He tried to say it with dignity, but Vlad rolled his eyes and muttered “stupid” under his breath.

Just like old times.

When they reached the main basement, where the lab bustled away like a beehive that couldn’t tell night from day, Vlad wrapped a strong hand around Val’s bicep. A gesture that probably looked restraining, but which felt comforting to Val.

“Do not make a fool of me,” Vlad said in warning, low enough that the humans couldn’t hear.

“Of course not,” Val said, and in this moment, he meant it. He may not have been the sweet, adoring little brother he’d been as a boy, but in this instance, free of cuffs and walking on his own two feet, being bratty was the absolute last thing on his mind.

Techs and doctors gave them a wide berth; some masked their horror, but a few gawked openly. No doubt they all were thinking of Val charging through this lab with his sword in his hands; throwing Major Treadwell across a room; slaying guards with his bare hands.

Vlad had always believed in the Machiavellian ideal: better to be feared than respected. Respect had never been in the cards for Val, not in any lifetime; a little fear, he thought now, wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

He caught a whiff of Mia in the elevator, and his spine straightened unconsciously.

Vlad noticed. “This mortal–”

“She has a name, Vlad.”

“YourMia. Do you trust her?”

A snap answer formed and died on Val’s tongue. It wasn’t the simple question that it seemed – nothing ever was with Vlad. “Yes,” he finally said, careful. “I do.” He would list the reasons if he had to, but mostly it was a gut sense. He hadn’t felt that way about anyone in a very, very long time.

Vlad nodded. “Will you turn her?”

His stomach lurched. “That’s up to her to decide.”

“It’s the only way to keep her alive.”

“Iknow that,” he said through his teeth.

Vlad thankfully didn’t say more, and the elevator deposited them into the library.

His pulse picked up with every step, a rapid hammer-beat that echoed through his ears and fingertips. Excitement. A rabid kind that elongated his fangs in his mouth and made him salivate, though there was nothing in him that wanted her blood. It was just – visceral, his anticipation of seeing her. Something as primal as all the vampire parts of him.

Vlad gave one low warning growl that meantcalm downas they passed through the library and out to the vast atrium. But Val couldn’t calm down. He–

There she was.

She was dressed as she normally was back in Colorado: buff breeches, and a casual t-shirt, and lovingly worn schooling boots. Someone had given her a black baseball cap with a little checkmark logo on it – Nike, he’d learned in his dream-walking; modern men and women were obsessed with the makers of things – and her honey-colored ponytail had been pulled through the hole in the back. She held herself a little uncertainly, arms folded across her chest, and she had dark smudges of exhaustion and creeping sickness under her eyes.

She was the loveliest thing he’d ever seen.

His breath left his lungs in a shaky rush. “Mia.” It was the only thing he could think to say, struck dumb all over again thatshe was here.

“Good morning.” She smiled, and her gaze trailed down his legs and back up. He wanted to preen a little under the attention; he might be a little sallow and thin, still, but he was pretty, and she noticed. When her eyes met his again, she was blushing, faintly. “I can’t believe Vlad was able to find you riding clothes.”

“He’s very resourceful, my brother.” His voice sounded breathless, smitten. He didn’t care. Grinning, he said, “What do you think? How do I look?” And gave her a spin.

Her blush deepened.

“You can say ‘fetching,’ darling.”

“Don’t be arrogant,” she chastised, but smiled.

He wanted to step in close to her, pull her into his arms, press his face into her hair and tattoo its fragrance into his brain. But he felt suddenly self-conscious with Vlad watching. And with–

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