Page 58 of The Mermaid's Bubble Lounge
“If Jade is Rafaela, then yes, I assumed so. As your husband knows you better than I do, my guess is he does as well.”
Fergus climbed up on the couch and creeped onto my lap, like I wouldn’t notice him. “Alec named her Jade because of her beautiful green eyes. Like Clive told you all, she hasn’t shifted yet, so they didn’t know her name.”
Vlad stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. “Chances are, she doesn’t know her name either. She was taken as a toddler and has been imprisoned and abused ever since. I know her family has been looking for her, but she may not remember them at all. Poor thing.”
“At least she’s with Alec, who understands what she’s been through.” I thought a moment. “A lot of horrific things happen in the supernatural world.”
Vlad nodded. “In fairness, they happen in the human one as well. The issue is we’re stronger and can take more abuse. If she were human, they likely would have found her little body in the jungle twenty-two years ago. We’re strong enough to survive torture, which can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at it.”
I considered what I had experienced, Alec and Fyr’s imprisonment, and Jade. Then I thought about all those poor women in the Budapest asylum and what had been done to them, how they’d died. My mind jumped straight to one of the first real conversations I’d ever had with Clive when he told me about his sister, who’d been raped and killed. Her death spurred him to go in search of the men who’d done it. He’d accepted the dark kiss, becoming a vampire, to better exact his revenge on them. Alec, Fyr, Jade and I were all still here, healing, creating happier lives for ourselves. Clive’s sister Elswyth had been gone for a thousand years, and her final moments were terror and pain.
“It’s a blessing.” I stood, dislodging Fergus with no small amount of effort. “I need to get cleaned up and go to work. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I’ll wait and walk through the folly with you,” he said, as though appointing himself my vampire guard was completely normal.
“Okey-dokey.” I went through the house with Fergus on my heels, realizing that Vlad had waited until I’d eaten to tell me about the pooka’s killing. The man was obsessed with my food consumption. Which, given our last conversation…was really sweet, and I needed to stop being annoyed with him for foisting food on me.
When I got to the bedroom, I closed the door after us and jumped onto the bed to give Clive a kiss on the cheek. “Promise me you’ll never grow a great big mustache. I can’t unsee it. It’ll haunt my dreams.”
After I was showered, dried, and dressed, I sat on the side of the bed to put on my shoes and socks, and to give Clive another kiss. “Have a good day, love. Rest up. More vampire shenanigans tonight.”
Vlad was waiting for Fergus and me at the bottom of the stairs. “You didn’t get a chance to exercise this morning, so we can run through the folly, if you’d like.”
“Thanks. We’d appreciate that.” I didn’t mention that jogging in jeans wasn’t the most comfortable because, again, I didn’t want to reject kindness from a vampire.
Once we’d entered the folly, we hit a fast pace and kept going. We were just entering the Shire when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I checked the screen and saw it was Bram, so I stopped. Vlad looked around my shoulder to see who was calling.
“Hello, Bram. How are you?” I held the phone between Vlad and me so he could hear clearly.
“Good day, Sam. It’s good to hear your voice. I hope I’m not bothering you.” Bram’s voice had a lovely Irish lilt.
“Not at all. It’s good to hear from you too. How was soccer season?” Bram’s nocturne was filled with huge soccer fans. Godfrey had lived there for many years before coming to America to rejoin Clive.
He chuckled. “First of all, it’s football?—”
“Oh, I should tell you that Vlad is with me and so is listening,” I told him.
“Yes, of course,” Bram responded. “I’d heard that Vlad and Cadmael had traveled to the States. Hello, Vlad. It’s been a very long time. I hope you’re well.”
“I’m good,” Vlad said.
Rolling my eyes, I added, “And he hopes you’re doing well too.” I elbowed Vlad and whispered, “Jeez, dude, learn some manners.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
At Least There Are Cookies
Bram laughed. “I’m calling you because your husband and I are doomed to missing each other’s calls in the summer. I could email him, but I wasn’t sure if the content of the conversation was too sensitive for that.”
“Oh, right.” I looked at Vlad. “Can I ask him or should you do it?”
“As you’re not a member of the Guild, why don’t you allow me. Bram, as you’ve probably heard, we lost a number of our Counselors recently. We need a new European Counselor, and you were recommended. Are you open to making that change?”
“And just so you know,” I added, “when your name came up, everyone nodded and agreed you’d be a perfect choice.”
Vlad shook his head but didn’t seem upset.
“I mean, you should do whatever’s right for you,” I added. “I just think it’s nice when people know their hard work is recognized and appreciated.”
