Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
This was bad. If he could have slipped out of the house to meet with his father and brothers without Corbin, Evander would have.
He needed to talk to them. Because this was a coordinated attack, and he knew it.
Someone had separated him from the hunt and sent him out into the human world, where the vampires had attacked him.
And then now there was vampirism in the Land of Summer.
“There’s nothing to say you had anything to do with vampirism being introduced.
What if it was already there? What if they were trying to just distract you long enough?
Just start infecting more fae.” Corbin stared at him, his eyes so serious.
“They managed to get Tisi and his birth parents out of the Glade. It’s not like they’re not noticeable. ”
He sighed. He supposed so. Still…
“What do you know about the vampires?” Ev asked.
Corbin shrugged and sighed. “Well, let’s see.
The whole garlic thing is a lie. They didn’t do well in the sun in the human realm, but obviously that wasn’t a thing in the Land of Summer.
Our light killed it, and it only kills vampires, that we can tell.
I mean, every so often we’ll find a demon that it’ll zap, but that’s rare.
They’re very hierarchical, and they’re not solitary; they function in groups.
So the chances of us just having hurt the one left behind are at best somewhat slim. ”
“Do you think there’s another stronger vampire already over there?” That was a horrifying thought.
Corbin nodded. “I do.”
“That’s not terrifying beyond all reason.”
“The good news is now that we know they’re there, we’ll be able to spot them.”
“Right. But we can only be over there so much. We need to communicate with my brother how to spot one. Obviously, they can hide in plain sight. None of us knew today until Cosmo started foaming.” They’d had no idea what this Forrest guy’s talents were aside from walking through trees.
Obviously, no one in the Flower Mound bunch realized what was going on.
“We’re sort of professionals.”
He blinked at Corbin. “What?”
“Love, we’re professional vampire hunters. That’s what we do. We rescue dragons from vamps. Also, werebears. I mean, that wasn’t us, that was Austin and Dustin.”
Now he was lost. “Who?”
“Austin and Dustin, they’re over with our boss in Lunastra.”
Evander didn’t care for that—there being this entire world where he couldn’t go and he couldn’t see and he couldn’t help if his mate was there. It made him very cross, in fact. “I don’t—”
He didn’t know what exactly to say.
“Yeah, we get that from Hawk when we go over to the Land of Summer. Orion’s kind of special—he can go over to the dragonlands.
He hasn’t tried to come into the Land of Summer yet, but you know, he’s Unicornian.
It’s really cool over there in the Glade.
I love it—there’s fairies, all sorts of things like pixies, teeny tiny little mean bitches with wings. ”
Evander just stared at him, “You’re not giving me confidence and comfort.”
“Oh, was that my job? I must have missed that part.”
“Ass. It’s kind of dizzying,” Evander chuckled. “As a fae, I’ve always known the human realm existed. We’ve interchanged with them for centuries. But to know about Lunastra and the Glade? I don’t even know what to say.”
“I’m sure there are probably other dimensions too.
There’s this place within the dragonlands that is called the Grove and it’s like a place without time or space.
It’s nuts.” Corbin reached over to pat his chest. “But it really is our job to hunt vampires, so I think we’re going to be all right. Is that enough comfort for you?”
“Do you think that vampires have a realm?” Because that was a horrifying thought.
Corbin shook his head. “No, I don’t think that it’s even a thing. I think they’re an infection. I think that vampirism is an infection. And unicorn blood is obviously the fix. Unfortunately, there’s only one of those and we can’t really bleed him dry. It would make my brother grumpy.”
“You think?” Of all of them, Cullen was the one who seemed to have the biggest temper.
“No chance.” Cosmo came wandering through. “I’m looking for grapefruit juice. Do we have any grapefruit juice? And Cullen’s not the one with the worst temper. You’re mated with the one with the worst temper. He’s kind of a bitch.”
Corbin snorted. “Like you have room to talk. I am not temperamental. I’m a nice guy.”
“You’re a dick. Like a giant bleeding dick.” Cosmo winked at Evander. “And seriously, do you think your baby’s going to come out glowing? We’ve never done that mind-melding thing when one of us was pregnant.”
Evander glared. Did he honestly need something else to be concerned with? That there would be something wrong with their baby?
Corbin snarled at Cosmo. “Really? Just back off. I don’t intend to have a glowing baby. But if I do, I bet that he isn’t a rock.”
They stared at one another, and Evander held his breath because he wasn’t sure if there was going to be a fight.
Then both of the guys cracked up, Cosmo coming to embrace his brother.
Corbin held on, shaking his head. “I love that little gargoyle baby with all of my heart.”
“You do. You love all the babies with all your heart. And I’m sure your ones are going to be fine. It’s just really unnerving and embarrassing to have a vision in front of Mother and all of these biggie-wows and your people?” Cosmo’s eyes went wide, pink hue deepening to rose. “So damn awful.”
“But it was the perfect thing to happen,” Evander told him. “That way we knew what was going on and we were able to get rid of the threat. Without you, goddess knows what would have happened.”
“He’s got a point, bro.” Corbin patted Cosmo’s back. “I know your visions are your least favorite part of what we do. But today, it was super important.”
Cosmo seemed to relax a bit. “Thanks. I think I needed to hear that today. So do we have any grapefruit juice?”
“If we don’t have it, I’ll order some and have it delivered.”
Evander rose to check, going to the fridge to look at the various bottles there.
He knew what grapefruits looked like, he thought.
Sometimes there were things from the human realm that still baffled him, but he’d been out there long enough to know the difference between McDonald’s and Burger King, for example.
He saw the bottle of ruby red grapefruit juice and pulled it out, holding it up so Cosmo could see. “Here you go.”
“You’re so much nicer than my brothers.” Cosmo grabbed the bottle and poured himself a glass.
“Thank you so much. I feel like I’m trading up with you as far as brothers go.
Oh, and also, Hawk and Orion would like to sit and talk with you for a while at some point.
I think they intend to cook dinner tonight if you want to hang out with them in the kitchen and do that. ”
Ev blinked because that was unexpected, but he could certainly do that. “I would love that, although my cooking skills are fairly simple.”
“Well, then, prepare to be dazzled.” Cosmo winked, then took a sip of his juice and wandered off, humming.
“I think I’ve just been insulted more than once.” Corbin told him.
“I love how easy the three of you are together. It makes me smile.” Evander went to stand behind Corbin, locking his arms around his mate’s shoulders.
“You and your brothers seem more formal together. Is that how it’s always been?”
Evander sighed, his chest hurting for the boys they had been once upon a time. “When we were younger, my brothers and I were very close. But then, we had to settle into our various roles at court. And there has been some resentment ever since then.”
“That sucks, babe.” Corbin stroked his arms, causing goosebumps to rise up on his skin. He did love Corbin’s touch.
“I do miss the way we once were, but that is life in the upper Fae Cappourts. It pits us against one another.” There was always intrigue and distrust.
“You should invite them over. They wouldn’t be able to come in, but we could have supper out in the yard. They could meet the nieces and nephews for real. Your dad could come.”
Evander’s eyes went wide. “You would do that for me?”
Corbin frowned at him, appearing confused. “Of course. Family is super-important. And here, there’s no court to impress.”
“Thank you, lethean.” This place had healed his body, and now he thought Corbin might heal his soul too. He was so in love it hurt his chest.
Corbin stood, turning to hug him. “Can we go rest a bit? I know you were in bed for a long time, but I’m so tired.”
“You’re growing a baby and you incinerated a vampire. You have a right to be.” He took a kiss, then lifted Corbin into his arms. He carried his mate to their part of the house, careful not to jostle him.
Corbin was asleep before Evander laid him in the bed.
Evander headed out as soon as he knew Corbin was sound asleep, wandering through the old house, his fingers trailing over the hardwood as he headed downstairs.
He loved it here. This fascinating house had apparently been the home of a clutch of dragons and the scene of a murder.
This had been where the vampires were, and it was ironic that, after having been cured, he was here now.
Corbin said the dragon whose home this had been was in the dragonlands now, happy and raising children, growing things.
He was one of Corbin’s dearest friends. Cosmo’s too, if he remembered correctly.
One day, they would meet through the conservatory in Cosmo’s home, which had been built so that everyone could at least communicate.
In between the three homes, there was a common area, and he found Orion and Hawk sitting there as if they were waiting for him.
Hawk was huge, with scales evident on his face and eyes that flashed with pure fire.