“It’s fine, I was the one—” I started, then a female vampire stepped over to me. She held her chin high, long glossy black hair flowing down her back.
“Did she hurt you? I will take her to the magistrate for sentencing.” The woman lunged forward and grasped the troll girl’s wrist, yanking her up to her feet. A sob ripped from the girl’s throat and she whimpered. I noticed now, when I looked closer, that the troll girl had a silver collar on, much like the ones Demi wore on her wrist to keep her powers at bay.
“No. Hey, this is a big misunder—” I started when Luka stopped me.
“What my fiancée means is, we prefer to do our punishing in private.” He winked at the vampire, whose eyes hooded as she raked her gaze over him.
Bitch, he’s taken,I wanted to say, but controlled my temper.
Trolls and werewolves were inferior to vampires here, that much was clear. I didn’t want this poor girl going to prison for something as stupid as bumping into me.
“Exactly,” I said, and yanked the girl’s wrist away from the female vamp.
The vampire looked at me suspiciously and I noticed the surrounding crowd had gotten bigger. I reached over and ran a finger along the girl’s throat. “She would look nice in a pink collar. Don’t you think so, honey?” I asked Luka, and the female vampire burst into laughter along with the vampires, witches, and fey in the crowd.
Luka smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. The vampire woman nodded, then left, and the crowd broke apart.
“Change of plans,” Luka said, and pointed to a hotel at the end of the block. “Let’s go there and get a room.”
‘Too many supernatural ears here,’he told me through our bond.
I nodded.
The girl shook like a leaf in my arms. “Please, I … I have a family. I was so stupid not to see you. I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” I told her, and lightened my grip. I could say nothing more until we were alone.
Liv and Ruby wisely kept their heads down. I had yet to see one human or Ithaki.
Dragging the shaking troll along, I followed Luka to The Broken Moon Resort. The door handles were crescent moons and I was hoping that meant this place was run by werewolves, who I’d trust a whole lot more than my own kind in this new place.
I’d been asking myself something since we walked through that door in the pho restaurant: did we walk into a portal? Because there was no way this was Burbank, CA. anymore.
Luka quickly bought two adjoining rooms from a nice werewolf woman who I was saddened to see wore a neck collar much like the troll’s, which I was pretty sure kept her from shifting.
The troll woman kept mumbling apologies, and I felt awful that I couldn’t yet reassure her that we wouldn’t kill her or whatever the punishment was for bumping into a vampire. We passed a few fey in the hallway who gave polite nods, and then a vampire with one human feeder on each arm who nodded to Liv and Ruby. By the time we reached our room, I had more questions than answers. We all shuffled inside, the poor troll sobbing now, and the second the door shut, I spun on her.
“I’m not going to hurt you!” I blurted out. “We are visiting from another city. We like trolls where we come from.”
The girl froze, cheeks wet with tears as she looked up at me open mouthed. “What?”
She wore a dirty apron over an ankle-length skirt. There was grease under her fingernails and she looked underfed. My protective instinct went into overdrive. She was maybe twenty years old. The hard lines around her eyes told me she’d seen some rough days.
Luka stepped around me to face the girl, while Liv and Ruby sat on the bed.
“We’re from a magic city enclave in Idaho. Trolls have their own city there and are a well-respected people.”
The girl didn’t say a word, she just swallowed hard, looking at us both like we were crazy. The tusks in her cheeks twitched. “Othermagic cities?” she finally said.
Ahhh, so she was as clueless about other magic cities as we were until recently.
I nodded. “There are at least seven that we know of. Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Austin, Minneapolis, and of course Idaho, where we are from.”
She shook her head. “I … why are you here?”
Luka nodded. “I’m hoping that if we tell you, then you can help us, and in turn we might be able to help you too?”
She rung her hands nervously. “Is this a trick? You’re vampires. Of course I will do anything you say and without requiring anything in return.” Her gaze fixated on the floor.
