Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Hmm. Now that I have a little think about that, I would’ve preferred it to end that way.
“And he brought a woman.”
“Did he?” Well, well, well. Syrsee, you are a little trollop, aren’t you? I had taken her for a prude, but even I am wrong at times. “What time did they arrive?”
“About thirty minutes ago.”
“Thank you, Lucia. Please, leave now.” I’m not mean to her. I’m actually quite polite. I like to be polite when I can. But she has known me long enough to understand that my politeness is just indifference.
So she scowls at me. “Well, what’s he doing there? And who is this woman? I thought you had him on a job?”
“Is any of this your business? No. It’s not. Get out of my office, Lucia. I don’t like to look at you. You’re not as pretty as you used to be.”
See how I was so polite? I insulted her, but then I followed it up with a compliment. She was once pretty. I can’t deny that. It’s just, in my opinion, she no longer is. Her face is the same, her body is the same—but her ugliness is on the inside and it leaks out.
Lucia is used to my dismissals. But still, she huffs as she turns. And when she pulls the door closed behind her, she slams it.
I push my fingertips into my temples, staving off a headache. Why did I ever bring her here with me?
No matter. And then the would-be headache disappears because she brought me good news.
The spa. It’s a twist in this story. All those plans between the Guild and me for how to get little Syrsee into White River at just the right time for Ryet to need her so acutely. Well, it would be an understatement to say that they paid off. But I don’t think the spa is really the best place for them right now. Too many humans around.
So I shall have to see to this, I suppose.
Ryet will be angry when I show up, but it’s his fault, isn’t it? He’s the one who left town. I put him there for a reason.
And he should know by now that everything I do has a reason.
The lavender haze finds me easily once I go looking. The dreamwalk is something I have been doing since I was an actual child. It made me quite special back in those days because I was the first to tap into this magic.
It also made me a target in the eyes of the other vampires in Old Europe. But I came through on top there, so I don’t dwell on that much. Back then there were no American vampires. My banishment to the Americas was meant to be a punishment. It was a wasteland back then. Literally. I’m not much of a history buff. Don’t much care about the past. But everything they teach the humans about the origins of America is patently false.
All this is beside the point. The point being I can dreamwalk like a champ. And since both Ryet and Syrsee are prone to walking the the hazy mist, this is a very convenient way to connect with them on a whim.
Ryet’s been doing the dreamwalk since he was made because he came from me, of course. And Syrsee did do it quite a bit when she was very young—less so after she went to the Guild school because every moment she stayed there, her energy was being blocked.
The Guild has always underestimated me. But I didn’t need her back then and… well, she was in good hands and turned out far better than I could’ve hoped.
I sigh, getting lost in the times that have led us here. She is so pretty. That dark hair of hers is gorgeous. Not really my type. I have always gravitated to the fair-haired ones. But Syrsee is everything her mother was, and so much more. And while I wasn’t happy about the breeding arrangement at first—my God, have I ever been so wrong about something in my whole life?
I am a fully satisfied vampire now. Breeding Syrsee’s mother was a brilliant move. And I am so lucky that Josep was banished from the Old World at the same time I was because without him we wouldn’t be here on the cusp of a new era.
Reluctantly, I have to admit that Lucia was necessary as well. She wasn’t such a bitch back then. Hundreds of years ago she was new, and naïve, and compliant. Always hopeful that her obedience would lead to greater rewards.
But she’s been using me. I’m using her as well, but it’s not the same. It’s my right to use Lucia. It is not her right to use me back.
Still, if there were no Lucia there would be no Syrsee.
I love that name, too. I chose it. It was written in the birth contract. And all these years, as I was waiting for the girl to grow up, I clung to it with delicious anticipation.