"What are you reading?" I asked.
"Just some minor social research," Arland said.
Okay. "Did the battlefield meet with your approval?"
"It will suffice. Have you acquired your weapons?"
"Yes," I said.
"I'm going to go for a run." Sean opened the back door and went outside.
I moved to the window. He was standing in the grass, looking up at the sky.
Arland's eyebrows crept together. "Should I be concerned?"
"Probably not." I had no idea. I was concerned. In my book, putting on alien suits that bonded with your body wasn't wise. But Sean was a grown man, and there wasn't anything I could've done about it. I had no idea what side effects this stunt could have.
Sean shrugged his shoulders again and took off, dashing into the trees. A moment and he vanished completely from view.
Here's hoping he came back in one piece.
"Lady Dina," Arland said.
I turned to him. "Dina, please."
"Dina." Arland leaned back and presented me with a dazzling smile, his fangs on display.
Uh-oh. Perhaps keeping "lady" in front of my name would've been a better strategy.
He rose and walked over to me. I used to read an action series about a former military detective who was almost six and a half feet tall. I'd never quite comprehended how tall that was, but Arland had just given me a very good idea.
"Do you need to make any preparations?" Arland stopped next to me and leaned his forearm against the wall, looking out of the window. "If so, how long they will take?"
"About seven hours, give or take a few minutes depending on temperature," I said. That was the average time it took the pearls to mature once planted.
"Will you be comfortable with fighting tonight?" he asked.
"Yes." This was the weirdest conversation.
Arland nodded. "Dina..."
"Yes?"
"This entire affair has many components in it. Pride, revenge, betrayal... All very important." He turned and looked at me with his dark blue eyes. "I'm honor and duty bound to resolve this. The future of my House depends on it. I don't know what Sean's motivations are beyond territoriality, and I don't know if I can rely on him. But no matter what my commitments are, I will promise you this: your safety is my first priority. I wish you had chosen to remain behind."
"Because I'm a woman?" I asked quietly.
"Because you will be the only person in the fight who hasn't been trained as a killer. I have seen my mother and my grandmother on the battlefield. Any vampire with half a mind knows better than to stand between a woman and her chosen target. When a man takes up arms, he does so for many reasons. Sometimes to punish, sometimes to intimidate or frighten. But when a woman picks up a weapon, she means to kill. So please do not take this as an insult."
He leaned toward me. Suddenly the space between us shrank.
"I will do everything in my power to ensure your survival, and should the need arise, I will put myself between danger and you." His voice was quiet and intimate. "Do not hesitate to use me as your shield."
His voice sent tiny shivers through me.
Wow. He was something else.
Arland smiled again, showing me his fangs. Vampires smiled for many reasons, but when a vampire male smiled at you from this distance with that kind of look in his eyes, it was done for one purpose only: to impress. Look at my big teeth. I'm an apex predator. My genetic material is awesome.
I had to say something. "I'll keep that in mind. Now if you excuse me, I have some preparations to make."
I picked up my broom, went outside, pulled the cart out with my magic, stuck the broom into it, and started toward the clearing. The cart rolled behind me.
No, this wouldn't do. I had to keep at least some semblance of normality and I was getting sloppy. Appearing normal even when nobody who mattered could see us was how innkeepers had kept up our disguises for so long. I sighed, circled the cart, and put my hands on the handles.
Vampires have been hitting on me since I was about fifteen. Mostly vampire boys. Vampires, as a species, lived to conquer. Their cultural identity was wrapped up around challenges, and both male and female vampires went after their targets with single-minded precision. As the daughter of innkeepers, I was off-limits and therefore irresistible. Nothing had ever come of it, and I was used to it by now, but something about Arland, the way he looked at me, or the way he smiled, sent a shiver of alarm through me. It wasn't unpleasant, which was troubling. Being involved with the Marshal of a Holy Anocracy House wasn't on my agenda. They didn't do "involved." They only did total and complete victory. I had to nip this in the bud.
Where could Sean have gotten off to? If that suit had strangled him and he now lay dying somewhere, I wouldn't even know. Idiot werewolf.
I reached the edge of clearing. Here the short, stocky trees parted to encircle a clear field. The boundary of the inn ended about twelve feet ahead. I took the broom from the cart, turned it into a narrow shovel, and thrust it into the ground. The hole grew around it, wider, deeper...
Little more.
Hmm. About a foot deep should do it.
Okay, good enough. Now I just had to make thirty-one more.
I turned and almost walked into Sean. His face was slicked with a faint sheen of sweat. His cloak was gone. He wore a T-shirt that left his arms bare, and the same damp sheen covered the carved muscle of his biceps. He stared at my face, his eyes so light they almost glowed. I looked into them and saw the wolf looking right back at me.
Every cell in my body went on full alert. My broom sprouted a blade.
Sean smiled, a feral grin like a wolf panting. "Dina." He practically purred.
"Are you okay?"
He glanced at my broom, amused. "What are you doing here, all alone?"
This was reminding me of Red Riding Hood. If he asked what was in my basket, he would regret it. "I'm not alone. I have my broom."
He leaned forward, closing the six inches between us. The dark tattoo designs slid up and down his neck and chest. The wolf in his eyes beckoned.
Oh no. No, no, no. We were not going there, into those dark woods.
I touched the tip of my spear to the underside of his chin. The heat coming off his skin warmed my hand.
"Ooh." He wrinkled his nose at me. "Sharp."
"I think your new outfit got you a little too excited." I began to pool the magic under him.
"I'm going to kiss you," he said.
"What?"
He pushed my spear aside with his fingers and bent down. His hand slid into my hair. His mouth closed on mine.