For a man who preferred a more or less solitary life, it was entirely overwhelming.
But it was worth it. The cry of delight that tore from Zia’s throat as she embraced her frazzled mother, almost an exact, matured copy of her daughter; the wet gleam in her eye when she swooped up babies and kissed their faces; the enthusiasm with which she tackled her eldest brother onto the floor when his back was turned — all of it was worth the pain in his eyes and the sensory overload.
Besides, it wasn’t like he was worried about the outcome of the evening. No amount of suspicious looks from her mother or probing questions from her lean, keen-eyed father could shake his confidence. Not even the combined, thinly veiled suspicion from her brothers made a dent in his mood.
Zia was his. End of story.
It helped that he’d been through worse obstacle courses, anyway. He wasn’t sociable by any stretch of the imagination, but he stuck by Zia’s side as she moved from person to person. He answered questions and remembered everyone’s names, which seemed to impress several people. He even held a baby or two, though he was unsettled by how easily they melted into him, their little heads nestled under his chin and their breathing slow.
“Must be a vampire trick,” Zia’s second eldest brother speculated as he watched his daughter’s eyes droop. “I’ve been trying to get her to sleep that easy for six months. Care to tell me what kind of magic you’re using?”
Harlan could only shake his head. His guess was as good as Ahmet’s, though he suspected it might have something to do with an instinctive predator response. After all, if a baby lay still and quiet, they were less likely to be noticed by a big bad monster who wanted to eat them. It was the same reason people used mobiles.
He didn’t say that, though, and he didn’t hand baby Elif back for some time. It felt… nice to be trusted with something so precious. It was a taste of how he felt when Adriana used to ask him to read to her when she couldn’t sleep at daybreak, and, if he was lucky, how he might feel again in the future.
Slowly, in fits and starts, Zia’s family seemed to forget that he was a vampire, and that he was twice her age. The wariness faded from their eyes the more he put up with childlike manhandling and being asked to fetch this, pass that, find so-and-so.
By the time all of the children were bleary-eyed and the gifts had been distributed, even Zia’s mother, the elder Elif to thebabyElif he'd spent much of the evening with, had unthawed somewhat.
“You be good to my daughter,” she warned, pressing two quick kisses to his cheeks. They stood in the doorway, their coats on, and their bags considerably lighter after all the gift-giving. The one full of weapons remained mostly the same, of course. “And you bring her back to visit all the time. No more of this months and months without seeing my daughter, do you hear me?”
While he didn’t enjoy taking orders from anyone but his anchor, Harlan respected her mother’s directness — and her protectiveness over someone they both treasured.
“We will visit,” he offered. It wasn’t quite the answer she wanted, but it was all he would dare commit to with the shadow of Julius looming over their heads.
“Anne,don’t harass him.” Zia hugged her mother from behind, then turned to give her father an equally tight embrace. “We’ll come back for Moonset, okay?”
“You’ll relax during the holiday, won’t you?” her father asked. He spoke to Zia, but his eyes met Harlan’s over her head.
Francis North was lean and pale, with thinning dirty blond hair and an easy smile. But there was a hard sort of intelligence that gleamed behind his blue eyes. Despite his cushy little life, Harlan would bet any amount of money that Francis knew his way around a bolt gun.
That sense of tightly controlled danger slid smoothly beneath his words when he commanded, “Don’t work yourself into the ground on that paper, Ziabean. You know how you get.”
“More like you know howyouget,” she quipped.
Her mother let out a greatly put-upon sigh. “You do get it from your father.”
Harlan inclined his head toward them both. “I will make sure she relaxes.”
“Good.” Mrs. North gave him a look that wasn’t quite approving, but it wasn’t hostile, either.Small improvements.
“GoodnightAnne,Dad.” Zia stepped back to slide her hand into the crook of Harlan’s elbow. She looked sad to go, but her smile lingered, soft and full of warmth for the people who loved her so much, they could hardly stand to watch her go. Her voice was soft when she whispered the traditional blessing, “May your nights be warm.”
Harlan watched her parents’ expressions melt into a painful mix of tenderness and sadness. “You as well,gülüm,”her mother breathed, misty-eyed. “We’ll see you at Moonset.”
ChapterEighteen
They did not head backto their home for the night, though the drive wasn’t too strenuous. The m-grid automatically set their speed for far higher than normal on the long road through farmland and the delta, so it only took about forty minutes. Still, Zia was told that it was too dangerous for them to travel the long, almost desolate stretch between the Bay Area and Sacramento in the dead of night, when any number of vampires could have plenty of time to set up an ambush. So they drove the smooth, traffic-free highway to San Francisco, where they would stay at The Palace Hotel.
Despite the dour reason for their visit, Zia was thrilled.
The Palace was famous all over the world. It was one of San Francisco’s oldest and most luxurious hotels, and it hosted everyone from Taevas Aždaja, leader of the Draakonriik, to mega pop stars. Situated in the throbbing heart of downtown San Francisco, it was surrounded by people every second of every day — exactly what Harlan wanted.
It wasn’t a vampire’s style to attack in a crowd. They were stealth hunters and ambush predators. She was told it was highly unlikely he would try anything bold when they were surrounded by hotel staff and other guests. Privately, she thought that it was unlikely he’d try anything at all in the Solbourne’s city.
Zia thought the choice had a lot to do with Harlan’s unabashed love of luxury, too. She was an earthy type, but even she could appreciate the magnificent crystal archways of the entrance, the soaring ceiling of the lobby, and the Italian marble floors. Fresh bouquets the size of shopping carts perfumed the air, and a nocturnal crew of dapper employees welcomed them and their guards without batting a single eyelash at their entourage.
She tried not toooohandahhtoo much as Harlan escorted her up to their suite, but it wasn’t easy. Even though she was tired from spending the evening with her intense, chatty family, she still bounced on the tips of her toes when they passed a particularly gorgeous painting, or when the concierge explained that they had a lush indoor pool and spa.
