Jamie glanced at Gryphon and whispered, "Another old guy?"
"Yeah. Seventy-five."
"What's up with you and older guys?"
"Don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. "But you gotta admit. They're interesting. And they sure do talk pretty."
Gryphon sighed and Amber wore a pained expression as Jamie and I smirked at each other.
I pushed back my chair, blissfully replete. "Okay, bedtime. Thanks, Jamie. That was great."
"What would you like tomorrow?"
"Got any spaghetti?"
"Meatballs?"
"Nah, just plain old noodles and tomato sauce."
"You got it."
We trudged up the stairs.
"Children, huh?" I said, later, nestled replete and content against Gryphon's chest. It was fast becoming my favorite spot.
"Sometimes I forget how young you are," Gryphon murmured, lightly stroking my hair. He seemed to enjoy playing with the long strands, rubbing them between his fingers.
"Thanks, I think. 'S not so bad here."
"You seemed to have found a friend."
"Isn't he great? Can't wait to meet his sister." A jaw-cracking yawn escaped me. I covered my mouth and giggled. How unlike myself. I never used to giggle, was my last thought before sleep blanketed me like a downy quilt. "Good night, Gryphon," I said, closing my eyes.
"Sweet dreams, Mona Lisa," Gryphon murmured, stroking my hair as I drifted off. "Sweet dreams."
Chapter Seven
The sun was a low fireball in the sky with sunset still hours away when I awoke refreshed, content, luxuriating in the feel of my lover beside me, the gentle beating of his heart, the soft soughing of his breath. I lifted my head from Gryphon's chest, stared down into his face, and my breath caught anew at the heartrending beauty that he had been graced with. I wanted to run my hands through the thick waves of his hair, taste his mouth, feel the downy softness of his nape. But I let him sleep, let him rest, and eased slowly out of the comfortable bed.
I listened for a moment and sensed no movement in the other room. Amber was still sleeping. I opened my senses even wider and detected no discernable stirring in the house below. I donned the silver cross I had laid on the bedside table, slipped into the black gown that was too formal for my taste, and eased quietly out the room and down the stairs, escaping outside.
It was a beautiful day, cool and crisp with the coming winter, with the ebbing sunlight gentle against my eyes. It had been awhile since I had seen the brightness of day since working the evening shift at St. Vincent's. How far away that all seemed now, that life, that job. Yet only two short days had passed. And all had changed. The forest beckoned me and I stepped into its woody embrace, breathing in the scent of the damp earth beneath the carpet of leaves, free and safe in the sunlight. It was not animals that I worried about, but others of my kind. They were by far more dangerous. But they slept now and I was safe in my solitude.
The sound of running water tickled my car and I followed it to a small clearing, delighted with my find. A gurgling brook ran before a sprawling tree with the perfect sitting branch, the grass flattened by creatures that had stopped to slacken their thirst. I knelt and sipped the cold water, sweeter than any that flowed from the faucet, and laughed with delight, lifting my face to the sky.
There was no sound, just a feeling that had me whirling around. A golden-skinned man stood there across the clearing, with hair so dark brown that it was almost black. He was dressed oddly for woodsidc wandering, wearing a flowing white silk shirt. The sparkle of diamonds flashed from his cufflinks. His long, pointed nails were sharp and lethal, and he bore a startling resemblance to the golden man in the portrait, only his hair was free of silver; an ancestor, most likely. Most curious was the absence of pull between us. There was no overwhelming attraction. No abrasion. Just some faint sense of like recognition but different from what I had felt with Sonia or even with Jamie.
"Hello," I said. "Have I taken your spot?"
His elegant brow arched. "My spot?"
"This clearing. I followed the sound of water here and found this lovely hidden spot. Is it yours?"
"I come here upon occasion when I am at court."
"Are you one of the Council members?"
"My father holds a seat. I represent him." He had an odd way of speaking. His words were more commonplace but some faint phrasing, a slight accent, made them quaint and bespoke of great age. His black midnight eyes studied me with interest. "You are Mona Lisa, I take it. The reason we are all gathered here."
I grimaced. "It seems I am. My apologies for any disruption to your schedule."
"Were all disruptions as lovely and fascinating." He bowed, a neat trick, all fluid, graceful motion so that it seemed entirely natural. "Prince Halcyon at your service." His gaze dropped to my neck. "You wear the holy cross."
My hand flew to where it rested beneath the gown. "How did you know? Oh, you must have heard that silver does not bother me." I tilted my head curiously at him. "The sun doesn't seem to bother you, either."
"No," he said gravely. "Heat is of no bother to me."
There was something in that tone, some flicker in his eyes, and I realized with that strange perception I seemed to have acquired that it was loneliness, sadness.
"I'm different, too," I said softly. "Part human. Part Moonie. Not fully either."
"Moonie?"
"It's what I call the Monère."
Amusement danced in Halcyon's eyes for a fleeting moment, then faded. "Where are your guards?"
I sighed. "Why is it that every male I meet asks me that same question?"
He eyed me curiously but otherwise remained silent, as if knowing that was the best way to prod me into an answer. He was right, darn him.
"They're still sleeping. They need their rest." I lifted my chin belligerently. "They went through a lot yesterday. One of them almost died and the other is… the other is ill."
Halcyon's lips pursed, half in amusement, half in exasperation. "I do not believe they will see it in quite the same light when they awake and find you gone."
My hand waved dismissively. "I'm safe enough during the day and I'll be back before they wake up." I winked at him, which took him aback. "This'll be our little secret."
"I think not, my little wayward Queen," he said to my chagrin.
"Come on, there's no harm done," I wheedled. "What'll it take for you to keep quiet?"
"A drink of your blood?" he asked silkily. My wrist was suddenly held lightly in his hand. One moment he was a clearing away, the next moment he was beside me. There hadn't even been a blur of motion that I could follow.
"Oh, my. You move fast," I said with surprise but no real alarm, sensing no menace in him, at least toward me.
He brought the pulse point of my wrist to his nose and drew in a deep breath as if inhaling some invisible fragrance. "What say you, little one?"
"Don't be silly. I know we don't drink blood." I giggled and twisted my wrist lightly out of his grasp.
Surprise lit his eyes once again, eyes the color of dark chocolate. Those eyes warmed me to him. I happened to like chocolate.
The corners of his mouth tugged into a grin that brightened his face, changing his face from attractive into handsome. "We don't?"
"No. Gryphon told me there's no such thing as vampires. You're just teasing me. You really don't need to tell Gryphon or Amber that I came outside without them, do you?"
"Amber belongs to you as well?" Halcyon asked with no small amazement.
"If you're thinking of the big tall guy, built like a giant oak tree, then yeah." My eyes darkened. "It would have been cruel to ask him to step out into daylight with me when he'd almost died yesterday from sun poisoning, don't you think?"
Halcyon gazed into my earnest eyes and shook his head. "You are most unusual."