"You planning to fight demons on your honeymoon?" the jewelsmith asked, handing me back the box containing the two serpentine rings.

"I beg your pardon?"

"These are lover's rings, right?" She raised a dark, pencil-thin brow at me. "With the number of protections you just had me put on them, either you and your girl are in some deep shit, or someone worries too much."

I frowned. Siobhan had a knack for rubbing me the wrong way, but she was the best at what she did. I held out the envelope with her payment. "I trust this covers it?"

She glanced inside at the rare grimoire and nodded. When she looked back up she fixed me with a keen stare. "You gonna tell me who she is?"

"He," I corrected, "and you don't know him."

"Ooh, new blood, eh? When do I get to meet him?"

"Never, if I can help it."

"Aah," she pouted. "You didn't use to be so mean, Sori. What happened?"

"Don't call me that. And nothing happened. I'm the same I ever was."

Her look turned cunning. "You're not, though, are you? I may not be a vampire, but I'm no fool either. Something's different."

I slipped the box into my coat pocket and turned to go. "My thanks, Siobhan. Until next time."

"It's him, isn't it?" she called after me, grinning. "You found your leof."

"Goodbye, Siobhan."

"Congratulations!"

Her call cut off as the jewelry shop's door swung shut behind me with a tinkle of bells.

Exhaling sharply, I noted that my breath didn't make a cloud of steam like that of the other people on the street. My turning had brought me many new abilities and advantages, and I didn't regret losing my humanity in exchange, but I missed the strangest things.

I turned the collar of my coat up against a cold that didn't bother me and turned my steps towards the street where I'd parked my car.

Two days ago, I'd left my father's house and driven north to Portland to see Siobhan. I'd hoped to have her enchant the pair of rings and be back in Santa Marina by the following morning, but she'd proved difficult.

She was an old ally—a custodian like my father and me—but she had her own agenda, and part of that included collecting valuable and rare books of spells. As it turned out, my father had just the volume she was looking for in his library, and she'd refused to place the protections for anything less.

Fortunately, my father agreed to part with it and posted it as promptly as he could by special courier. Even so, this had caused a delay, and I likely wouldn't get home until late this evening.

I'd considered calling Ari, or at least texting him, but eventually decided against it. I didn't want to give him an incomplete explanation, and the whole truth was something we needed to discuss face to face. So I waited, feeling reassured by the fact that he remained silent on his end as well. He was likely busy, and wouldn't appreciate the distraction, anyway, I thought.

Thinking of him made my chest ache. It had only been a little over two days, and yet I missed him like I'd missed the sun after the long dark winters of my father's homeland, when I was a boy. The desire to see him and hold him struck me like a homing call, a visceral instinct I almost could not resist. But there was one more thing I needed to take care of before I returned.

~

Vampires are strange creatures, and not in the ways that most mortals believe. There are, for example, very few of us—several hundred on each continent—and only the rare, mad cases are interested in building armies or ruling the world, and are dealt with accordingly. On the whole, we are as solitary and unsocial as snow leopards, and about as difficult to find.

We're also territorial, and a single vampire may preside over huge areas of land. My father claims the upper portion of California and some of Oregon, for example. More importantly, few are willing to tolerate trespassers, and Santa Marina lay within the borders of another vampire's claim.

Tlalli wasn't as old as my father, but she came from an ancient line. Usually, she resided far to the south, near the Mexican border, but as fortune had it she was in San Francisco on business, and my father had arranged a meeting.

Ten hours after I left Portland, I entered the hotel suite where she'd agreed to meet me. Her greeting was amiable enough, and I felt encouraged to have caught her in a good mood.

She was a stunning woman. Nearly six feet in height, with copper skin and hair and eyes like night, she bore the elegant and powerful aspect of her Aztec ancestors. Her ruthless intelligence had gained her a reputation for cruelty, but my father had assured me it was mostly false; a product of patriarchy threatened by her competence and power.

Still, the mostly worried me, and he'd warned me to careful of her nonetheless, and to tell nothing but the absolute truth.

"Soren Volkirsson," she greeted me smoothly. "A pleasure to see you. You've come into your own at last, it seems."

I bowed. "Tlalli. I'm honored."

She waved for me to sit, and lowered herself into a chair like a queen taking her throne.

"What brings you to me, then?"

"As you can see," I began, "I have made the choice to turn."

She nodded.

"And... I have discovered the one who shall be my life-bonded."

"You have my congratulations, then." Her smile was a sharp, precarious thing. I knew that after two hundred years, Tlalli had yet to find hers, and it was something of a sore spot for her.

"He is mortal," I added.

She raised a brow.

"And he lives within the borders of your claimed lands. I've come to ask your permission to reside there as well."

For a moment she didn't answer, and studied the black polish on her long nails.

"From what I've gathered, you've been doing that already for some months."

My stomach clenched. "Yes," I admitted. "I meant no offense."

Tense seconds ticked by before she answered. "Then I shall take none."

I relaxed. "Thank you."

"What of your hunger? Do you have your needs controlled?"

I knew why she asked. In vampire terms, I was still newly turned. Most took several years, if not decades to gain full mastery over the urge to feed. More than a few strings of murders and disappearances could be traced to new vampires unable to control their unnatural instincts.

"Yes," I answered. "My hybrid blood made my turning less difficult. Also..." I hesitated, but my father had advised me to hold nothing back. "...My life-bonded is my only source."

A slow smile stretched her lips at that. "Ah, yes. That's what I was sensing. And what a source he must be."

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, and I knew that she smelled Ari's blood in me, as my father had done. Her fangs showed a little over her lower lip, and the sight was chilling.

After a moment she opened her eyes. "Here is my offer," she said. "You may reside in my claim, but I expect you to join me for Midsummer."

This was the festival held at the summer solstice, and one of few occasions when our kind gathered in any great number.

I started to agree when she held up her hand.

"And," she said, "you will bring your bonded with you, so that I may meet him."

My breath caught, and she watched me with eyes that glittered like obsidian, black and sharp.

My options were limited. If I refused, she'd deny me permission to remain in her territory, and if I agreed, I was making a dangerous promise. Dangerous to keep, and dangerous to break.

Finally, I nodded. "I would be honored to attend you at Midsummer, Tlalli," I said, amazed that my voice did not shake. "And my bonded will accompany me."

"Excellent." Her smile broadened, showing her teeth. "You have my blessing, then."

~

In my car, I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. My relief was tempered by anger and fear. I could have continued living in her territory without Tlalli's permission, but I'd have risked making an enemy for myself, and for my father by extension. I could have asked Ari to move north, into my father's claim, and he likely would have; but he'd already lost enough without having to give up his home.

On the other hand, I'd agreed to bring him to a gathering of dangerous and bloodthirsty creatures, which was its own problem. Still, the life-bond would give him a measure of protection. It was sacred, and nothing was considered worse than for a vampire to harm another's mate.

And Midsummer was a long way off, I thought. We'd cross that bridge when we came to it.