Page 13 of A Vampire in a Pear Tree
To my astonishment, he drew a symbol on the air that hung glittering pale blue for a few seconds before it dissolved into nothing, taking Orla with it even as she was screaming, “Nooooo!”
“What—”
“I sent her into the Beyond,” he answered.“She’ll be back when she can find her way out of it, which can take a day if I’m lucky.Regardless, we will be able to discuss the situation concerning Desi without her being obnoxious.”
Despite being annoyed with his high-handed treatment of me, I was grateful not only for the fact he dealt with the bad-tempered bird, but also that he chose a place where I wouldn’t be isolated and potentially vulnerable.
Vulnerable to the lure of his incredibly sexy self, I thought, but quickly dismissed the idea of touching his hair, and possibly chest, and most definitely running a finger down the angled line of his jaw just before I kissed the breath right out of him.
“May I remind you again that I’m a thief taker, and I couldn’t possibly tackle someone who is known as ‘the Destroyer.’If he has something to do with Abaddon, then he’s likely pretty powerful, and powerful people don’t like it when you track them down.”
Owain paused to give me an extremely pointed look.
“OK,” I said, not in the least bit intimidated, although it was obvious he expected me to be.I wondered briefly at the fact that he didn’t strike me as dangerous when he most likely was—I mean, you don’t help create a brand-new race of beings unless you have some pretty significant powers.“I admit that came out borderline insulting.I assure you I’m not slighting you or what I assume is your badass reputation.It’s ...well, if we’re being honest, you’re not the sort of scary that I imagine this Desi guy is.I assume he’s a demon lord?Or adjacent to one?Is he one of those wrath demons who are almost demon-lord level of bad?”
“I like how you think,” Owain told me, taking me by complete surprise.“Your mind is refreshing.”
“Refreshing in a good way, like you enjoy a good stream of consciousness, or refreshing as in you want to eat my brains?You don’t look like a revenant, but admittedly, I haven’t been around any of them, so I can’t be sure.Wait, youarea vampire, yes?Because your mother didn’t say you were, exactly, but the sprite who helped me find you said that if you formed vamps, you must have the same sort of traits.But it’s sunny out, and you aren’t skulking from shadow to shadow to avoid being burned to a crisp.Plus you haven’t tried to drink my blood.Was it because you topped up at St.Pancras?You do drink blood, right?”
Owain had continued walking as soon as I responded, once again with a hand firmly holding on to my arm.He waited until my verbal wanderings dribbled to a stop before saying, “I will answer your questions, but only because you are nervous, and I wish to show you that I will never harm you.”
“Never?”I asked before he could continue, slanting a glance up at his pretty eyes.
“Never,” he repeated.
“What if I went Van Helsing on you, and tried to stake you?”I asked.
“Then I’d stop you.Do you want me to answer your questions or not?”
We were standing at a traffic light, with only a couple of people ahead of us.So as not to be overheard, I scooted a step closer to him, once again reveling in his spicy cologne, which wrapped around my head and made my libido roar to life.“Go ahead and answer the first lot of questions.I have more.”
“I had a feeling you did,” he said with a flicker of the martyred expression he’d worn earlier.That made me want to giggle, but since that might be insulting, I kept it to myself.“I will answer in the order you asked.I find the way you think refreshing because most mortals I’ve met since I was expulsed from the Hour do not make me want to laugh.”
“I made you want to laugh?”I asked, dumbfounded.
He looked anything but amused.
“Yes,” he said, his expression deadpan.“Next, I am not a revenant nor a Dark One.With my three brothers, we attempted to destroy Abaddon.Our punishment for such an act was a bloodlust curse.My brothers and I all had sons—I had two, Rhain had more than twenty, Rhys had three, and Cadell had one.As such, the terms of the curse laid our sins upon our sons, and it was those approximately thirty sons who were the first Dark Ones.”
“Your brother had twenty sons?”Incredulity no doubt filled my expression.“And also, you have two kids?Are you ...eh ...married?Involved with someone?”
“I’m still answering the first set of questions,” he said as we waited at yet another red light.“But yes, I have two sons.I’m unsure of the exact number of Rhain’s spawn, but the last I heard, they numbered over twenty.He took great pleasure in bedding as many women—and some men—as he could.We did not have recognized marriages as you know it when I was with my sons’ mother, but she was the equivalent to a wife until she died in childbirth.I mourned her loss for many centuries.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said as we hurried across the street.I wanted to say something comforting, but I didn’t know what wouldn’t sound trite.“It’s never easy to lose a loved one, and I can imagine that losing her to childbirth was especially devastating.”
“It was not a good time, no,” he agreed, pointing when we came to another intersection.“That is the dragons’ restaurant, on the right.As for your other questions, I do not share the traits of Dark Ones other than I must drink blood to survive, and the sun isn’t overly kind to me if I remain out in it for a protracted length of time.As the left side of my face is starting to sting, I will need to take refuge inside for a while, so it’s good we’re almost to our destination.”
I glanced at the side of his face nearest me.He did look a bit pink, like he was starting to sunburn.“Oh, crap.OK, let’s hurry to the restaurant.”
“Finally, your sprite was correct.I found a gullible mortal from whom I fed an hour ago, which is one reason why I have not pounced on you to swill back your blood.”
I stared at him in open-mouthed horror for a few seconds as my own thoughts were spoken aloud.Then I realized how idiotic I looked.“Swill back ...I was just ...you can read minds?”
“Not normally, no,” he answered, holding open the door to the restaurant.
I took a quick look in to make sure it wasn’t some sort of setup where I’d be vulnerable to attack either by Owain or by someone else (everyone knew dragons were very clannish, and didn’t help others without some pretty heavy payment), but it appeared to be a perfectly normal restaurant with booths on one side of its L-shaped interior, while the other was dotted with small round tables and chairs.It was about half-full of diners, so I allowed Owain to escort me inside.“Well, you did poke around in my mind, and frankly, I don’t like it.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me, making my stomach do an odd excited flip-flop.“Would that be because you were mentally referring to me as ‘an almighty bloodsucker’ or because you like my lower lip?”
