Dark Surrender (31 page)

Shall we call this even? You did me a great service, and now I’m returning that favor.

Not even close to even…But I really don’t want to go over that bridge again. Fine! Even.

Min felt a sudden warming in her chest, and then in her head. Somehow she just knew that if she turned and walked out of the throne room, and down a hall that only opened when you touched the hand of the mermaid frozen in the wall, that at the end of that corridor was a balcony.

Min opened the silver and glass door that lead out to the balcony, and there, swirling in lurid, living color was a porthole. The swirling stopped for a moment and showed an image of Katarina sitting in a chair facing the porthole, effort making creases in her face.

“
Mom!” Andy and Min blurted at the same time. They grabbed each other’s hand, and then Min reached back and took hold of Luca’s hand. They moved to the porthole and stepped through.

*****

Just passing back into their own world felt like the weight off the world had fallen off Min’s shoulders. She sighed and drew in a giant breath.

Katarina’s eyes shot open, and she laughed one perfect “Ha!” and then flung herself up out of the chair and toward her daughters. She looked weak, and older than she had when they had left, but that didn’t stop her from getting to her daughters.

“
Oh my precious girls…I was so…” Her voice cracked from strain, and began to sob uncontrollably. But, to Min’s immense relief, they were sobs of joy. “I can’t believe you did it.” She kissed Min on the cheek. “You brought her back to us.”

“
Well,” Min said, pushing back her own tears. “Your little girl did most of the heavy lifting. You should have seen her. Really scary.”

Andy laughed. “Yeah right! You should have seen this one storm into the stronghold of the Winter Queen, the fires of hell blazing out of her freaking hands. It was amazing.”

“
But you should have seen yourself—”

“
Ladies?” Luca interrupted. “There will be plenty of time to tell the whole tale, but for now I suggest we move this to your house, and to those nifty wards you’ve told me about.”

Min smiled, and was about to pull her vampire into a deep, rhapsodic kiss, when she abruptly realized that there was an object in her hand—the silver fae dagger from the Summer Queen. She opened her hand and looked down upon it, just as one of the Summer Queen’s huge hounds appeared from under the veil it had been hiding under.

The hound’s eyes glowed a sinister red, and it opened its great, fanged mouth and stared silently at Min.

“
R-right,” Min stammered, and very slowly set the dagger into the hounds gapping maw. And just like that, the beast disappeared behind the veil again. There were no sounds of it moving across the tiled floor of the diner, but the door to the outside banged open, the bell over it ringing harshly.

Min reached out and kissed her vampire, breathless and exhilarated, and exhausted. He tasted so very good. “Let’s go home.”

*****

Chapter 32

They talked for hours. Not much came from Andy’s lips about what happened to her before Min showed up at Winter’s Keep, but what she did talk about came in excited bursts. She’d been so unbelievably happy to see Min. She had given up, but just seeing her sister, knowing how much she had to have gone through just to get there—it had ironed her flagging will. It was the reason why she could have done what she’d done.

“
So how did you know…know that you could destroy her like that?” Katarina asked, shaking her head.

“
I knew Min needed help…and I remembered the Summer Queen telling me how hard she had worked to make the Winter Queen want to have me. And she had said that it had worked so well that the Winter Queen had forgotten that I was a being of light.

“
Plus the queen couldn’t feed on me until I allowed her to. That had to mean something. So I just rolled the dice.”

“
It was amazing.” Min yawned. She felt happy. The tension in her shoulders had relaxed away as her vampire held her close. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep there and then, in her lover’s arms.

Andy cleared her throat and winked at Katarina. Their mother didn’t look thrilled to have a vampire in the house, but since he had just helped save both of her daughter’s lives, it seemed she was going to work around it.

“
Looks like we could all use a little shut eye.” She caught Min in the crosshairs of her mighty gaze. “I think we all need
sleep
.”

In other words, Min translated, no fooling around. She nodded her head. “Yes ma’am.” There would be plenty of time in the morning to blow her mother’s mind with tales of hot vampire sex. She led the way upstairs, pulling Luca along. When they were finally alone in her room, he helped Min undress, kissing her sore flesh at every visible bruise, and before she knew it she was lying in bed, the covers pulled up around her, her vampire naked beside her, pulling her up against him as she fell fast into sleep.

*****

Andy felt warm and safe in her old room. Her mother was well again, and it only seemed right that she was back under the same roof as her mother and sister. But a couple of hours later she was still lying in her old bed, wide awake.

Why can’t I sleep?

Because this isn’t who you are anymore.

She punched her pillow and scrunched up her eyes. She was so tired. Vaporizing a faerie queen really took it out of you. But she just couldn’t relax completely. Part of her, a very big part of her, wanted to be home, and this just wasn’t home anymore.

Her little dog looked up with worried doggy eyes from where she lay on the bed beside her. Andy rumpled his little furry ears, and then pulled herself up out of bed and got dressed again.

She gathered up Brutus, who was quivering with excitement, and called for a cab. The taxi company called a couple minutes before the cab would arrive. Standing all alone, even on a well lit street, made Andy’s nerves stand on end. She turned and looked down the street to find nothing. Then she turned the other way and about jumped out of her skin. Min’s vampire, Luca, was standing there silently, looking across the street.

“
This is really stupid of you.”

She scowled at him and then turned to face away from him. “My cab should be here any minute. You should go back to Min.”

He shook his head ever so slightly. “Min would want me here, with you.”

“
I can’t sleep, okay? I thought, since none of the fae would be coming near me for a very long time that it would be safe to go home, to my own bed.”

“
I get that.” The vampire stood unbelievably still for a moment, not breathing, not blinking. He was like a statue, literally. “But I can’t let you travel there alone.”

Andy glared at him menacingly. “I’m not going back in—”

“
I’ll ride with you, and make sure you’re safe.”

“
Oh,” Andy said, the anger dying from her like a snuffed out candle. “Ah, thanks.”

The cab pulled up a moment later, and Andy and the vampire got in. It wasn’t much of a drive, and thankfully the vampire didn’t feel too chatty. But Andy finally found herself babbling. About how she understood now why her mother had kept this from her, but that it still kind of pissed her off. And she was glad that Min had him, but “If you ever hurt her, I-I…I’ll…”

Luca looked at her nonplussed.

“
I’ll make what I did to the Winter Queen look like a bad sunburn. We clear?”

A smirk played on the edges of the vampire’s lips. “Crystal.”

Andy turned away, shaking her head. But a smile was pulling at the sides of her mouth. She liked the vampire. It was hard not to like someone that had literally risked life and limb to help save you. You’d be a sorry piece of work if you didn’t.

Finally the cab arrived in front of Andy’s house. She sighed as she looked up at the huge granite edifice. There were lights on here and there, but mostly the apartment building was asleep. It was well after midnight, after all.

Andy pulled her dog closer to her and looked over to the little park where she usually walked her. It was usually dimly lit, but the moon was full and illuminated everything until it practically sparkled.

That’s how she saw that Sam was sitting there at the lone picnic table, his big beast of a dog by his side. Her heart leapt up into her throat, and then she felt a surge of adrenaline. She wanted to go talk to him in the worst way. And since he was just sitting there, it seemed that he might be waiting for her too.

“
I thought you were going up to your apartment?” the vampire asked. And then he looked over to where Andy’s eyes were focused. “Oh, I see.” And then he gave a little laugh. Not an unkind sound, just amused. “Well, he seems safe enough.”

Andy glanced at him, not really knowing if he’d meant that last as a small insult, or whether he meant it. In truth she didn’t care. She just wanted to get to her not-so-secret crush. The dark creatures and monsters of the world would just have to find someone else to hassle for a little while. She had plans.

She got out of the cab and set Brutus on the ground. She listened to the cab drive off as she and Brutus walked quickly toward the park. She must have been walking pretty quietly, because Sam was muttering to himself, and didn’t seem to know she was approaching.

But Shylock noticed, and whined affectionately when he spied her coming.

Sam turned, the look on his face turning from surprised to happy in a heartbeat. But she saw that something long and shiny had been in his hand, and now wasn’t. Just that fast.

He stood and was about to say something, but just didn’t seem able to do so. It was comical, and endearing, and a couple days ago it might have been disastrous. If he’d gotten tongue tied, then her nerves would’ve jumbled, and she would’ve been tongue tied too. Or worse, she might have started babbling. But instead she smiled and said, “Waiting for me?”

His handsome Anglo Saxon face blushed, and a guilty smile lit up his face. She loved his smile. It was boyish yet masculine at the same time. It didn’t hurt that it belonged to such a great looking man.

He had broad shoulders, a well muscled body, and straight brown hair long enough to brush his shoulders. Not to mention his hazel eyes. They changed with his mood, or what he was looking at. And as he looked at her they changed from a cool blue to a radiant green.

“
Yeah…I missed you last night. I was home but you weren’t”

Andy didn’t take her eyes from his, just shrugged. “I had a family thing across town. Stayed overnight with my mother and sister.”

A relieved look shown on his face, for just a moment, and then he covered it up with a hasty smile. “Good, I mean, it’s good you get along well with your family. Family’s important.”

Absently he rubbed his hand over his mouth, obviously thinking over what he was going to say next. But Andy noticed something peculiar. A ring, old and gold, and topped off with a ruby and diamond insignia. She’d seen this emblem before, in books, and had always thought they were either remnants of a forgotten time, or simply fiction.

But standing across from Sam, the moon shining down upon them, she just knew he wasn’t just some pretender. The light made him shine just a little more than anything else. An inner light she had somehow ignored up until then.

Faith.

No, he was the real deal. An honest to goodness Knight of the Cross.

Andy gasped as this realization hit her brain. She was a star—or a piece of one—fallen to earth and was now human. Well, human with a bunch of unknown powers. And she had a huge crush on her neighbor…and he was a freaking holy Knight of the Cross, a crusader, a fist of God.

“
What’s wrong?” Sam’s expression had turned alarmed.

Andy realized she’d been holding her breath. She let it out, took another deep breath and smiled, more to herself.

Any other day this might have all been too much for her to handle. But today, after the couple of days she’d had, it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal.

She walked past Sam and sat down at the picnic table, letting Brutus pounce around on her leash.

“
Nothing,” she said. She decided to let him tell her about his real job in his own time. She knew that secrets were tricky things, and that they were usually kept for a good reason. She leaned back against the wood of the table and extended her arm to point at the bench left beside her.

“
Want to sit and talk for a bit?”

Sam’s face lit up again, and he quickly sat down beside her. “So,” he said, “do you come her often?”

Andy laughed. “All the time. I like the swings the best.”

***End***

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About me:

Well, I’m Mercy Walker, born in 197…something, in Columbus Ohio, and have lived for the last ten years in Athens Ohio. I handle money for a living, but read and write for fun. I’d love for my writing to become my full time job someday, but that remains to be seen. I have a rotten little jack russle named Jack. When I’m not at work I usually spend time with my mother at a local nursing home. I read and write mostly Urban Fantasy and Paranormal romance, both adult and YA.