The Council (Darkness #5)(20)

“This guy’s not irate, either, though. There’s really no point to him at all. He’d bore a plant.”

I stifled a chuckle as I turned a corner. I held my breath as I noticed three people up ahead. Two were talking, a male and female. The third stood by idly. He was a human male.

“They aren’t challengers,” Charles muttered, falling back a little.

The male and female glanced up and saw us. I received a scowl from both before they meandered off to the right through an arched doorway. They must’ve been heading to breakfast as well. The human had glanced up, too, and upon seeing me, smiled. He was a middle-aged man with a thick mustache and groomed hair. His stance and smile were pleasant and inviting.

He noticed my followers. “Oh. My goodness! You must be the black mage I hear so much about. A human to boot! Fantastic!” He stepped toward me, prompting me to stop and chat.

“How’d you know?” I glanced around anxiously. “Look, let’s walk toward breakfast. I really shouldn’t loiter around the hall. ”

He slapped his palm to his forehead. His comb-over quivered. “Of course. Please, we’ll go together.”

A couple steps in and I couldn’t help but just kind of put it out there. “You seem normal. All the other humans seem a little… kinda… off.”

He nodded in a knowing way. “I’m pet to a lovely female in charge of a homestead in Arizona. We only visit the Council once a year at most. Humans in here… Well, I’ll be bold. They get a little warped. Always inside, always in blood circles, always trying to blood-let themselves to the most powerful.” He shook his head sadly. “Wrong way to do it.”

“Sorry—” I held up my hand as we entered the safety of the cafeteria. “Blood circles?”

He quirked an eyebrow. “You sure don’t know much about this way of life, huh?”

Seeing a look that obviously answered his question, he smiled good-naturedly, stalling near the line for food. His glance took in Charles and Jessie before settling on me. “Do you go first, or do they? I’ve never met a human so high in the trade.”

“I usually go first. Unless I offer Charles to go. He accepts because he’s a child with no manners.”

“I accept because you are a woman; I hear you roar. I want to treat you equally.” Charles pushed me toward the line. “Also, you take too long and I’m usually hungry. Let’s get crackin’. I could eat this whole place.”

Remembering my own manners, I stuck out my hand to the man. “Sasha.”

He shook it, letting me enter the line first. “Harry. So, yes, let’s get you caught up. It’s always nice to meet someone of my own speed. I will absolutely have to introduce you to my mistress. She’ll be thrilled a human has been able to breach the negative stereotype.”

“Right, so let’s just get something out of the way. You’re totally fine being a pet? That doesn’t bother you at all?”

He laughed, apparently tickled by this question. “The title is derogatory, yes. But that’s the title these people know. Most don’t mean it that way. I am basically a boyfriend with an open relationship. I am a trophy wife to a billionaire. I am a lover to a beautiful woman. The term used to describe all these things could be derogatory. But we have an understanding, and we share mutual respect.”

“But… you would let her kind go first?”

He picked up a shiny, white plate. “In this place, absolutely. Not to defer would cause offense, and I would receive challenges. At home… it depends. Generally I let ladies go first, and some of the more alpha males. After that, it’s just good manners—either I gesture someone on, or they do likewise to me.”

“Next question: were you lured with pheromones?”

“The mistress—Tessa—doesn’t condone that practice. Humans wandering around without memories, their personalities changing—it just calls too much attention.”

“But nothing about it being unethical.”

Harry shrugged. “That’s a nonissue since they don’t use the pheromones sexually, or in any way not specifically to protect the homestead. They try not to interact with humans when at all possible.”

I picked up my own white plate, and then handed it to Charles so he wouldn’t reach over me with his big arm and knock me to the side. It wouldn’t be the first time. “So how’d you get hooked up with her?”

Harry smiled. “I approached her.” Seeing my shocked look, he continued as he scooped a steak onto his plate. “You’re wondering how I could see them. Well, I had researched their kind pretty fully by that point. Follow the vampire myth thoroughly enough, and deep enough, and you find trails. Spend three years hunting trails, and eventually you find what you’re looking for. I’d approached her a few times, and woke up with no memory of it after. But when I went back to my research, the block they put in my head winked out. Finally she let me talk to her.”

“So you’re chasing the myth and fell in love?”

He led me to a table after we had full plates. “I haven’t fallen in love. This is a mutual respect situation where we both benefit. I get my life prolonged, I get to learn a little magic—though I’m not picking it up that well—and she gets a blood source at her beck and call. I only take from her once in a selected number of months, so we don’t have a blood link. My blood has lots of power, so she says, but I just can’t access it. Since she doesn’t need me to, it’s a partnership until one of us grows tired of it and moves on.”