“The Bite of Iceland is especially concerned, as you can imagine,” he added.
“Right,” I considered him. “So you came to offer me protection when actually, you want to join me so that you can protect yourself.”
“They made a wise choice when they asked you to be Ambassador,” he noted. “Yes, Princess, I am here because it suits my purposes more than yours. But then, I had no idea what kind of a woman you are. My reasons for being here are slowly changing.”
“You said you were giving me the chance to decide if I liked your attentions before you offered me more of them.”
“Yes.”
“I don't like them,” I gave him a steady look. “Now, where do your reasons lie?”
“Surprisingly, I find them leaning even more to altruism,” he licked his lips.
“Wanting to help me so you have a chance of getting into my pants, is not altruistic.”
“Isn't it?” Soren pursed his lips. “As you like then. Will you accept my help or not?”
“I will,” I leaned forward. “As long as you don't help yourself to my blood.”
“I'd never,” he said dramatically, then smirked. “I don't bite until they beg for it.”
Chapter Sixteen
We were up bright and early the next morning. Scratch that. It wasn't early at all. The sun rose way after nine in Iceland, so we'd actually slept in. It also wasn't bright. It was dismal and dark. We were up at dark and late the next morning. We wanted to get to the elven enclave just before dawn hit, aka twilight time, so we'd be punctual and also magically juiced up.
I had informed Soren about our plans, and he'd promised to return in the morning with a group of Bite soldiers. I'd been surprised, assuming that they'd be restricted by sunlight. He had laughed a little and reminded me that biters were descended from baobhan-sith, a type of blood-drinking fairy, and weren't actually the undead. I informed him that baobhan-sith couldn't tolerate sunlight, a fact which he evidently didn't know. That sobered him, and he ended up staying another half an hour, asking me about his ancestors. I questioned him about his tribe in return, and we both learned a lot that night.
Bite witches had evolved into something much closer to the modern vampire myths than they'd like to admit. The only similarity they shared with their ancestors was the need for blood. A lot of them did have an aversion to sunlight, but it wouldn't physically hurt them to be in it. Biters had also gained fangs in their evolution. Baobhan-sith didn't have fangs, they used sharp talons to puncture a victim's neck. I suppose talons in place of fingernails would have been too obviously inhuman, and so evolution had found a way to hide the fey traits. Bite witches weren't immortal, though they tended to live longer. Drinking blood promoted good health while abstaining would result in sickness, and eventually, death.
It had been a fascinating conversation, and I was excited to learn about the Bite tribe. They may not be immortal, but they were faster and stronger than your average human, and they did possess some minor magical abilities. One of them was the power of allurement, which I determined to be an off-shoot of the fairy-strike magic. Soren had confessed this to me with a grimace, saying he couldn't understand why his allure hadn't worked on me. I chuckled and explained how fairies couldn't be fairy-struck, at least not with that type of magic. He was shocked to hear that my father and I were the only fairies who could strike other fey.
Soren had been true to his word and had shown up with fifteen soldiers in the morning, shortly after I'd finished informing my group about him. In fact, they were still grumbling about their failure in securing the hotel and protecting me, when Soren and his biter team pulled into the parking lot. Killian especially had been upset, since he'd been the last one with me, and several of my Guard were giving him a hard time for not escorting me inside. I finally pointed out that Cat would have defended me if she'd thought Soren was a threat. That stopped their whining for a little while, but they still felt as if they'd failed me. After that whole elf-shot incident, I suppose they were feeling a bit inadequate.
“Is this a bad time?” Soren asked as he approached with a group of casually dressed biters.
Maybe it was his military title, but I'd expected his team to look more like a fighting unit, and less like a sampling of suburban America. Or suburban Iceland, I suppose.
“It's fine,” I assured him. “Thank you for coming.”
“My pleasure, Princess,” Soren bowed.
Killian stepped closer to me, and stared Soren down, “Dahl.”
“Blair,” Soren smirked.
“You two have met?” I asked.
“During my ambassador work,” Killian nodded. Then he went back to glaring at Soren. “I heard you were spying on us last night. Funny, I didn't peg you as a peeping tom.”
“I was waiting for an opportunity to approach the Princess,” Soren shrugged. “Though you might want to be more discreet in the future, Blair. That dragon of hers won't take kindly to hearing you've been pestering his woman.”
“What I do with Seren is none of your business,” Killian growled. “But you may want to take your own advice. I know that look, I've worn it often enough myself. Seren isn't interested in a biter, so keep your fangs to yourself.”
“Who needs coffee when you have testosterone in the morning?” Gradh rolled her eyes.
“Do not think to challenge me, caster,” Soren narrowed his eyes on Killian. “I am far deadlier than I look.”
“Seeing as you look like a fucking pussy, that wouldn't be so difficult,” Killian growled.
