"Parents." Dalton shakes his head after a few minutes.

It makes sense that after every crazy thing I just told him, the part about him having parents, and not just dead beat low down parents that abandoned him, but real good parents was what stood out to him.

He drops to the bed and I sit close at his side, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"They loved you, Dalton." I whisper softly. "I saw it in the way they held you. Your mom is gorgeous, and your dad was so devoted to doing whatever it took to protect you from what he saw coming."

"Too bad that even with his gift he couldn't be useful enough to see where I'd end up."

I try not to take offense at his tone about his father's ability. "The road to get here was bad, but I think they'd probably approve of their son being second in line to the whole kingdom." I remind him.

"They were vampires." He scoffs, annoyed by it. "Of course they were."

"You don't know what kind of vampires they were, Dalton." I sigh. "Not all of them are bad, you have to know that."

"Of course I do."

"Then why are you being so negative about that part?"

He groans, running his hands over his hair. "Because." He snips. "It's just another thing I had all wrong in my head. These days I'm wrong more than right anymore."

"I know the feeling."

Dalton shakes his head and stands. "Well, if you're right about your hunch, then we need to find Pedro and fill him in. We've got to find a way to hunt these people down before they do something even more crazy than stringing up vampires and draining their blood."

Even though it's silly I roll my eyes. "I keep telling you that they weren't strung up by something." I remind him. "The body was levitating."

"You just love to argue, don't you?"

I hide my smile as I follow him out of the room. "Only with you." I say under my breath.

We go straight to the suite, but Pedro isn't there. Dalton takes out his phone while we get on the elevator and he calls over and over, but Pedro isn't answering.

"What if he's...?" I can't finish the thought.

Dalton reaches down between us and holds my hand. "No, he's fine." He assures me. "We'd know if a herd of chanting freaks in cloaks had stormed Castrum and stolen our king."

I nod, knowing he's right, but I still won't relax until we find him.

"Could he still be in the ballroom?" I purpose and Dalton shrugs.

"Worth checking, I guess." He shrugs, still trying to reach him on the phone.

We head hand in hand through the corridors and down into the dark ballroom.

"Pedro?" Dalton calls out, but only his echo returns.

I stand in the center of the room while Dalton checks in the rooms that connect with the ballroom. He comes back to me in less than a few seconds and shakes his head. I sigh, trying to think where he could be, but also distracted by how quickly they'd been able to put the party away.

The room is entirely empty aside from the little stage and Pedro's throne, the lights arching over it the only ones still on in the whole room, casting Dalton and I in just enough of a glow for me to see him.

Dalton groans as he dials a different number.

"Lance," He says into the phone. "Do you know where Pedro is?" Dalton nods, sighing and half smiles to me. "How much longer will he be gone?" He groans at the answer. "Fine. Notify me the second they arrive back, we all need to meet. It's urgent." He pauses, but only for a second, rolling his eyes. "It's all too much for me to try to explain myself. Just tell me when they get back."

Dalton kicks at the ground as he tucks the phone into his pocket.

"So where is he?" I ask and Dalton sighs, turning back to me a little, but not meeting my eyes.

"Went with Fallon to get her brother from the airstrip." Dalton's fingers twitch at his sides. "Going to be around another hour before they'll get back."

I nod in the darkness, fighting back my nerves, I reach for his hand. "Are you ok, Dalton?" I ask gently. "Don't you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about." He grunts and I nod sadly, I can see in his eyes the news of his parents is still bugging him.

We just stand there for a minute before I finally decide he needs to be distracted if he isn't going to talk to me about it. I don't like watching him be upset. It makes my chest feel heavy.

"You know," I say, forcing a smile out even though it seems like a bad time to be smiling while the world crashes around us. "I was hoping that you and I would have gotten a chance to dance at the ball tonight."

I can tell I've caught him off guard by the way his dark eyes flick up to mine, one eyebrow piqued. "I'm not a dancer."

"Neither am I."

He presses his lips into a hard line. "You had four ballet trophies in your bedroom."

I roll my eyes, pesky vampire observantness. "Ok, well, those are from when I was like ten. I mostly did equestrian training after I quit dance."

"That's why you've got the horse." He mumbles.

"Yeah, his name is Kingsly." I smile. "He was a gift from Pedro. My parents almost had a cow over it. He gave me a pony when I was eight too."

"Spoiled." Dalton shakes his head.

"Say what you want, I know you like horses too." I grin. "I saw how you were with Kingsly back at my house. He doesn't trust many people. I like to think he's a pretty good judge of character."

He rubs a hand up and down the back of his neck. "I've got a horse here." He tells me and I'm genuinely surprised.

"Really?"

"Yes." He nods once. "Her name is Horse."

I snort a laugh. "A horse named Horse?"

Dalton smiles too. "I was being a smart ass when Pedro gave her to me. I didn't think I'd like riding, but I ended up giving in after the old girl stole my pastry one night. I take her out almost every night just to ride through the trails."

"I'd like to go with you one night." I say, glad that it's dark in here so maybe he won't see my blush.

If he notices he doesn't give it away. He just shrugs. "Maybe."

"Hey," I say, walking around him in a circle. "It's only fair." I wink. "I showed you mine, now it's your turn to show me yours." Dalton laughs as he watches me.

"I don't know what to think about you." He shakes his head.

I stop in front of him, straightening my back. "That's not the first time I've heard that." I roll my eyes and then take a very small tentative step towards him. "Now I know you think you've distracted me off the topic, but I think you still owe me a dance."

He takes a step back. "Rose, don't be silly."

"It's just a dance." I smile, holding out my hand.

He looks at it, and I can tell he's considering it. "There's no music." He shakes his head. "You can't dance without music."

"You're just making excuses, come on. Just one dance." I hold my hand out again.

"You won't take no for an answer, will you?" He narrows his eyes.

I take another step forward, stopping directly in front of him. "You're finally learning." I wink at him and he rolls his eyes.

A little of my courage seeps away as I stand in front of him, his eyes locked on mine in the darkness. I try not to shiver as he very carefully places one hand at the small of my back and he takes my hand in the other one. I just as tentatively snake my hand up to the top of his shoulder, flush with his neck. I can tell he's nervous too by the way he tries not to look down at me and the firm set of his jaw. We both take a step at the same time, both of us trying to take the lead and we laugh quietly.

"For once let me guide you." He shakes his head. "If we're going to do this I won't let you step all over my toes."

I look up, unsure how I ended up even closer to him, his face right over mine. "Yes, Sir Dalton." I whisper, letting him take the next step and I fall in with his movements.

"Thank you, Princess."

Dalton had clearly lied. He leads us with ease, even without music. I feel him press his hand in my back a little harder and I let go of his hand, replacing it up on his shoulder with the other one and he places his other hand on my waist.

Our circles become smaller and less frequent as the minutes tick by. I find myself getting sleepy and lean my head forward, tucking it right up beneath his chin. The lack of heartbeat beneath my ear doesn't bother me. I'm used to it with my family. I find myself more distracted by people who actually do have heartbeats when they hug me.

After a while his rigid stance begins to relax and his hands are like whispers at my bare back and he rests his head on top of mine.

"This isn't so bad, is it?" I ask softly. I feel him smile over me.

"No." He agrees. "A tad crazy considering what all is going on right now, but not bad." I nestle in a little closer and he tightens his arms around me. I can't think if I've ever felt less in danger than I do in this moment, even with the actual danger all around.

We move slower and slower until we are hardly swaying back and forth.

"The trouble with no music is that one dance could go on forever." He whispers.

I tilt my head back a little. "Does that mean you want to stop?"

"No." He says quicker than I thought he would, but his grip loosens and he stops moving. "But we should." Slowly, maybe even reluctantly he drops his arms from around me and steps back. I sway unsteady on my heels after having spent so long leaning my weight on him.

He steadies me by the elbow, but releases me quickly and won't meet my eyes anymore.

"Dalton, can I ask you something?" I say. "I'm not trying to fight with you, but I have to know...why are you with Eyan?"

He squeezes his eyes shut tightly. "Rose," He sighs exhaustedly.

"No, I mean it." I press on. "Why? You don't deserve to be with someone like her. Someone who uses you and doesn't even know what she has. You should be with someone-."

"Like you?" He cuts me off bluntly, then turns away before I can even deny it. "That could never happen, Rose. Even if I wanted it to."

"If you wanted to?" I hate the hurt that slips into my voice.

"Come on, Rose." He sighs, turning back to me.

"You come on," I shake my head at him. "Stop pretending not to care."

He holds his head in both hands, looking up at the arched ceiling and then back down at me. "I do care, Rose. I do. Try as I might, I do care about you, but it doesn't mean anything. You're too young and-."

He might as well have slapped me in the face.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Dalton!" I snap at him, pointing my finger. "You're lying to yourself and we both know it's true."

He steps forward with lightning speed, grabbing my face. "Why are you so frustrating?" He demands and I hold his hands in place.

"Because I care about you?" I ask. "Because I want you to care about me?"

He looks down at me as if I've just spoken another language and I kind of wish I had, then I might not be standing here making a fool out of myself. His thumb brushes close to my mouth as he looks down at me like an unsolvable riddle.

He opens his mouth to say something else, but freezes suddenly, whipping his head to the left and looking up at the top of the stairs where a man stands, silhouetted by the light coming from out in the corridor.

"I do realize my timing is a bit off here," The man says and Dalton pushes me back, shielding me protectively. "but I am glad to have found the two of you in the same place."

Dalton drops his arms to his sides and his eyes widen as the man comes down the stairs slowly. "Malcom?" He gasps.

I squint against the darkness, but with the light coming from behind him his face is hard to make out.

"Who's Malcom?" I ask Dalton, taking his arm.

He half looks down at me. "The keeper I told you about," He says like he doesn't believe it himself. "The one from my feeder school." He turns back to him. "What are you doing here?"

The man takes another step forward, almost close enough for me to see now.

"As good as it is to see you again, my boy, it's not you I'm here for," He steps into the light. "It's her."

I gasp when I see his face.

"Malcom." Dalton says, his voice like a warning, letting him know he's close enough.

"Don't worry." He says to me. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just figured you'd like to meet me."

The man from the visions with Gran.

The man she met in the bar.

The man she brought home to her bed who in turn fed on her before he left.

My grandfather.