Page 49 of I Dated a Golden Vampire
Riro looked at hishalf-brother and said, “So, basically, everything has gone wrong, and she’s giving me no point to get any romantic traction.”
Juro laughed.“Have you tried?”
“What?”
“Have you tried to make a move on her?”
“Not since she was stabbed.”
Juro nodded.“Probably wise.Well, thank you for bringing our lost citizens home.And I am not going to thank you for making me see what she did to them.”
“Your mate would just rip them down the centre.”
Juro grinned.“Yeah.Well, where can I send the bounty for them?”
Riro gave him Pria’s information.“She’s applying to be an escort for the BDC.”
Juro shrugged.“So?”
“Isn’t that weird?”
“Not really.She wants someone who will pay attention to her the entire time they are together, from first touch to aftercare.After that, she doesn’t care.Sex is sex, and the rest of the world is on its own.Ledia was like that.Hot as hell in bed, but prim and proper everywhere else.She couldn’t catch a flirting comment if you asked her to.She just shut it out.I am guessing your Pria is similar.Raised to labour too young, so it’s all she knows, and all of the things you take for granted, the giggles, the sly looks, and light touches.She doesn’t even know they exist.She wants an encounter that’s direct.Apply to be her patron.”
“I can’t.She has a block against Hyreno or Sethir.”
“Why?”
“She’s a water-manipulating air breather.”
“Oh.Father.Right.Well, I have changed those regulations.Sabine is a perfect example.She and Shavore are perfectly happy, here or there.”
Riro nodded.“I will see what I can do.Denog is waiting for me, so thanks for taking your people home.”
“I will always take my people back.Tell your lady that.”Juro smiled.
“She doesn’t consider herself Hyreno or Sethir or of the capitol.Every time she’s turned to her people to keep her safe, they have failed her.”He sighed as they walked to the wet exit.“I failed her.”
“What?”
“She was Waterdance.”
“Holy hells.Go and get me a sister-in-law.Salat used to make her as an action figure.”
Riro looked at him in shock.“You are joking.You have one?”
“No, but Salat does.He enjoyed the way she was constructed.”
Riro shook his head, left through the wet exit, and headed back to the yacht.Why was he not surprised that Salat was a fan of Waterdance?He would have to talk to him.
The moment he was back on board, Denog turned and headed back to the islands.
They got the hurricane warning when they were still a day out, and they were forced to shelter.Riro summoned a whale and got in the water.It was time to travel fast.
* * * *
She watched the stormget closer, and when the storm surge pulled away from the shore, she walked toward the shoreline.The first wave to strike the shield let her see it.It was compression-activated.She had already taken the second vial and was staring at the water slamming into the shield.She kept the third vial in her hand, and she waited.The roar of the water was familiar, but this time, she wasn’t waiting for anyone.The locals were all in heavily fortified shelters, and it was just her and the ocean.
When the alarm sounded on the shield, she took the third vial and lifted her arms, starting the up-and-over roll of the waves to keep it back and slow down the incoming force.The wind pushed against her, and she smiled.Her gills ached, and she finally understood what she was supposed to do.She walked toward the water, and when it covered her, she danced, and the storm above her lost power.She was holding her breath for now, but as the wildlife returned to the area.She smiled, and the last of her air trickled away.
