I stood at my father's side in the circular inner courtyard of his strange, castle-like home. Together, we watched the waterfall spilling in an endless stream from the lip of rock high above and disappearing into the yawning darkness of the chasm at its base.

His 'Stronghold,' as he called it, was partly built of dark stone and partly carved from the rock of the steep canyon wall. Shaped like a crescent, its curving arms hugged an inner courtyard, at the center of which was a deep chasm leading to the caves below.

It was the seat of his power, from which he ruled a large territory that stretched from central California far north into Oregon. He had no power among mortal peoples, of course, but among vampires, he was something like a lord—a master, you might say.

Ari and I were visiting at his request, and I'd been enjoying our stay in what had been, for many years, my only home.

Enjoying it right up until my father's last sentence, that is.

"Father, please. I beg you to reconsider," I said. "It is far too soon."

"I disagree. You knew this was coming, Soren, and you have had plenty of time to prepare."

My father, the vampire Volkir, was dressed as usual in an expensive silk suit, perfectly tailored to fit his tall, powerful body.

Like me, he had pale skin and blond hair—light with darker streaks throughout—and features that would look at home on a marble statue sculpted by a master hand. At 439, he was among the oldest of our kind on this continent and among the most powerful in the world.

"I'm not ready," I argued, clenching my hands into fists and beginning to pace back and forth over the flat stones that paved the courtyard walkway. My eyes were drawn to the lines of emerald mosses growing in their cracks and the sparkle of fine mist that covered them like diamond dust.

"Nonsense," my father returned, his deep voice firm and his silvery eyes following me like the eyes of a great cat. "It has been two years now, Soren. I told you once that I will not wait forever, and now the time has come when I will wait no more. There are things I wish to do, which I cannot do while maintaining dominion of this realm. It is time for you to take my place. You are ready."

I stopped pacing and leaned against the low stone rail, gazing down into the black pit on the other side, which seemed to mirror the black pit of dread opening in my heart.

"I don't want to," I said at last. "I'm happy to stand in for you, from time to time, but I have no desire to assume responsibility for your domain."

"Our domain," my father corrected. "Soren..."

I heard him draw a long breath, and then he came to stand close at my side, laying his hand on my arm and making me turn to face him.

"Everything has its season, my son," he said. "Mine, as regent of this realm, at least, is at an end. The time is right for it to pass to you, and to your life-bonded mate. Tlalli, too, is considering an end to her reign and, with no heir of her own, she has proposed that we combine our lands. There is no one I would trust with such power save for Ari and yourself. You have both proven yourselves worthy many times. Here—"

He raised his elegant hand and removed the wolf's-head ring he wore—the symbol of his power. Then he took my own hand and slid the ring on my finger. It fit, the wolf's sapphire eyes glinting in the pale, early morning light.

"It is done."

"Father..." I stared at the ring, an unnamed feeling constricting my throat and tightening like a band around my heart.

He laughed softly and patted my back. "Fret not, dear boy. I will be here to guide you and help you however I can. But from this day on, my power passes to you."

He left me, then, staring into the pit, and wondering how on earth I was going to break this to Ari.

As if we didn't have enough to deal with, already.

~ ☾ ~

"I don't know," Ari said later that evening as we sat together in one of the large, naturally heated pools that served as a bath, "it might not be so bad. It's not like much will change—at least not right away—and you've already been assuming more and more of his duties. It's really just a formality, isn't it?"

I sighed and stared at the wolf's-head ring gleaming on my hand.

"I suppose you're right," I agreed. "And it's not like I wasn't expecting it. It's just...this makes it real."

He laughed, the light, musical sound drawing my eyes to his face. He was as beautiful as ever—soft features framed by a mess of unruly black hair, dark eyes sparkling with amusement at my expense. He'd been spending more time than usual outdoors, these last few months, and his olive-toned skin had darkened to a lovely, toasted-almond shade.

"Do you know how many times over the last two years I've had to redefine my sense of what is 'real?'" he asked, smiling. "I think it's about time you had a turn at it."

I allowed myself a scowl. "I think I've had my fair share, recently," I said.

For most of my life, my father had remained largely unchanged—a reclusive, elusive, eccentric figure, an embodiment of masculine elegance, concerned with his own affairs and with little else.

Since I found my leof, though, my life-bonded love, he'd gradually changed.

The most recent development being that he'd fallen in love—with a married man, no less—and, to my utter horror, made the poor fellow his blood-mate.

Worse yet, the man in question is thoroughly entranced with the affair, and has convinced his husband to go along with it.

Finally, and perhaps worst of all, that man is Matt, husband of Ari's ex-boyfriend, Ben, and one of our—for better or worse—closest friends.

I do not believe that awkwardness agrees with vampires, and the situation is—for me, at least—incredibly awkward.

"Don't be a grouch," Ari chided, and slid towards me along the smooth lip of stone that served as a seat. Being somewhat smaller than me, the water reached to the center of his chest, and as he moved through it, the soft light from the crystal orbs along the walls reflected off its surface in a mesmerizing pattern of shining waves that whispered with soft little splashes along the walls.

After two years together, we knew each other well. I knew how he liked to be kissed—a sweet press of lips that spoke more of devotion than of desire—and he knew how to offer me all the comfort that I craved in his touch without awakening anything like lust.

Not that lust wasn't there: for me always below the surface, and for him occasionally blooming with the rareness of a desert flower.

It was not there now, and as he slid into my arms and offered me a gentle kiss, I kept my touch light, simply enjoying the feel of his smooth, slender body beneath my hands.

"Besides," he whispered, a mischievous smile pulling at his lips, "as the living embodiment of a goddess and a witch-queen, it's only fitting my love should be a king."

"My father's not a king," I argued.

"Lucky for you, I'm not talking about your father," he said, and tilted his head back to show me his throat.

I had to admit I'd gotten much better at this—able to give him some kind of pleasure when I took his blood without forcing him to feel anything against his nature or his will. In turn, he'd learned how to give me everything I needed without it doing him any harm, healing and protecting himself with the magic that was the very essence of his life. We'd found a balance, a harmony, that allowed us to live and love as one without either of us losing what made us who we are. I no longer worried about hurting him when my fangs pierced his flesh and drew his blood.

Which isn't to say that I didn't worry at all.

He was the leader of the Guardian Circle, a group devoted to protecting the world from the dark side of the supernatural, and he'd been very busy for a long time, facing danger after danger, and never refusing a call for his help. He, along with his godmother and his grandmother, was among the most powerful witches in the world, and therefore often called upon to put things right when some magic or other went awry.

Only last week, he'd had to send some sort of 'sea-gorgon' thing back to its own dimension after a would-be mage summoned it without the proper protections and then been promptly eaten by it. The gorgon had proceeded to terrorize a stretch of beach, and the local branch of the Circle had found it too much to handle on their own. They'd called Ari, and he'd answered.

He always answered, seeing it as his duty now, and it was exhausting. That was one reason I'd been happy to agree to my father's request that we join him for a week.

Out here, in the middle of nowhere, in the quiet and the calm of the remote northern mountains, in the solitude of my father's stronghold, I had Ari's full attention, and he finally had a chance to rest.

I should have known my father would have other plans.