All I can hear is the engine, the way it goesplink,
Chapter Twenty-One
Grant
IwakeinVlad’sarmsand, like a day ago, to the sound of Asher’s voice. I frown and bury my face in Vlad’s chest. Getting really sick of that, honestly. Why is he here?
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
I hold on to Vlad for a second longer before I roll over. Opening my eyes brings me Quinn’s concerned expression fromonly a few feet away. “I’m fine,” I say on reflex, but by the way I wince halfway through the word, I don’t think he buys it.
“Where hurts?” Asher asks. Oh, he doesn’t, then.
“Everywhere.”
It’s pretty much true. I do not recommend getting hit by that much magic. We went to the beach, I remember that. Kelpies, a puca, Eirian…
Yeah, I might have the power, but I sure as shit don’t have the stamina to go up against someone like her. Live and learn, I guess.
“Can I help?” Asher asks. Even as he speaks, his blessing twists around like it doesn’t want to obey. He probably used it a lot last night.
“No, I…” The sun’s up. I can feel it. The curtains are closed, but only Maurice knows how to ward the windows against whatever about the sun kills vampires, as far as I know, and he’s not here. I twist around and look at Vlad. I already figure he’s deeply asleep since he hasn’t woken up when I’ve been moving, but he lookspained. There are grey smudges under his eyes and his brow furrows when I shift again.
Gingerly, I climb out of bed. Asher half-rises from his seat, like he’s going to stop me, but Quinn grabs his sleeve and tugs him back down again. I hope he’s gonna hold him in a second because I’m pretty sure he’s going to lose his shit.
I’m still wearing my shirt and shorts from the night before, and I wrinkle my nose as I cross the room. This should work, and then I’ll be energised enough to shower and change.Thenwe can come up with a new plan where I’m still bait, I guess, but where I’m less likely to get dragged off to wherever Eirian is hiding.
Asher squawks when I flick the curtains open, sunlight falling across the carpeted floor. I’m right to trust Quinn, though—he grabs Asher’s arm and I step into the sunbeam, letting out a relieved sigh. It feels too hot again, and I’m not sure whetherthat’s just because the sun’s coming through glass or because I’m not used to it or because I’m a vampire, but it doesn’t matter. My power draws together in my centre, basking in the glow just like I am.
“Fuck me,” Asher mutters. Quinn lets out a slightly hysterical laugh.
“Warn us next time,” he says.
I don’t open my eyes. The sun feels soft on my face, heat mellowing out as I soak it all up. “Next time, sure. This time, you’d have stopped me.”
Asher is quiet for a moment. Then he asks, “Is it helping?”
“Hm?” I want to stretch out in it and nap. Sounds perfect, to be honest, except I’ll never be able to do that with Vlad and I’d rather nap next to him instead. But is the pain ebbing? I prod at all the sore spots with my mind. “Yeah, it’s helping.”
“Okay.” Asher doesn’t sound convinced, but he doesn’t argue, and after a few minutes, Quinn starts chatting to him again, telling him about something or other his packmates are planning to do.
I tune him out. For once, my mind is quiet. Oh, part of my focus is on Vlad—will always be, and has been since the moment I met him—but otherwise, I’m bobbing along in a sea of sunshine, and for a few minutes, I have no worries at all.
After a while, though, my power expands. It fizzes out along my limbs, sweeping away all the damage Eirian caused when she tried to trap it deep inside of me. I blink my eyes open, wincing at the brightness, then take a step away and let the curtain fall.
The room is too dark until my eyes adjust, and once they do, I sit on the edge of the bed.
“Better?” Quinn asks. He doesn’t have the same concern as the rest do, for all that his pack has vampires in it. Maybe he just trusts me to know best for myself. That’s nice.
“Much.” I glance at Vlad. He still hasn’t moved, and with the way my power feels now, a gentle ocean but an ocean nonetheless, I’m surprised. “What happened?”
“You remember Eirian was there?” Asher leans forward. His jacket has been cast haphazardly over the back of his chair, exposing all the tattoos on his arms. “She attacked you.”
“Yeah, she was trying to subdue my magic.”
“Magic,” Asher mouths, then shakes his head like he’s filing the word away for later. I don’t know what else to call it. The Huntsman’s blessing is the way I got all this power, of course, but he never gave it to me. It came via Vlad. And that’s how the mages work too, I think.
They have magic. So why can’t I?
