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“Is that
an actual house?” For some reason, she had the impression of such
perfection, she likened the abode to a doll house or a façade. It
was too beautiful.
    “ It is,” said Evie.
“It’s my house.
All mine.” She laughed and grinned, then took off at a run down a
path of sorts, leading the way across several bridges. Dahlia was
quick to follow, keeping up until they stood in front of the
cottage.
    “ Roman brought me here when
we first met and were having all that trouble with that other
vampire, Charles. Eventually, it became my get-away for writing or
just thinking. And then he told me it was all mine, which he proved
when I kicked him out one night and he actually left like a
gentleman.”
    “ Those are
rare.”
    “ Houses in
caverns?”
    “ No, gentlemen.”
    “ Indeed.” Evie nodded and
opened the cottage door. “Come in,” she gestured with a head tilt
before stepping inside. Evie may not have been literally aware of
it, as her breed of vampire didn’t need permission to enter
someone’s abode, but Dahlia’s did. The only one who seemed
completely impervious to this restrictive rule was the Entity
himself, no doubt the first of his species of vampire. But for the
others, it held fast. Personally owned homes were barred from
Dahlia’s entry unless she was invited in. So Evie’s invitations
could not have been more appropriately timed.
    It had been impossible to tell from the
outside, but the cottage was actually two-story. A tiny kitchen,
dining room, and rocking chairs in front of a stone hearth occupied
the first floor. A winding wooden staircase led to a loft, and in
that loft Dahlia could see a bed.
    There were actually two fireplaces in the
cottage, one on the first floor and one on the far wall of the
loft. She could hear warm crackling and see the orange-yellow glow
from the one above.
    “ I’ve never seen so much
magic in one place before,” Dahlia said. She could feel the magic
all around her; it was like walking in a dream. There was no pain,
there were no unpleasant smells, there was no danger.
    “ That may actually be true.
Not only did Roman build this over the course of his badass life
with nothing but warlock magic, it has so many wards on it, no one
can get in here without me accompanying them. Literally. I have to
transport us in, or forget it.”
    Dahlia turned to her friend. “No one? Not
even Roman?”
    “ Well, Roman is a given
exception. The man can do whatever he wants,” Evie shook her head
and rolled her eyes, but her cheeks were flushing with something
pleasant. “But besides him?” She laughed and shook her head. “Not
even Lalura Chantelle.”
    This made Dahlia’s brows hit the ceiling.
She was assuming this was not a tested theory. But it was
impressive, nonetheless, that Evie would even think such a thing.
If she believed Chantelle couldn’t get in – then it was probably
true that no one else in the realms actually could.
    “ It’s amazing,” Dahlia told
her.
    “ Thanks,” Evie said. “Let’s
have a seat.” She led the way to the table and as they approached,
a tea set, cakes, cookies, and other pastries appeared atop it. At
once, Dahlia could smell them. They were steaming fresh.
    And just like that, she felt both agitated
and frustrated.
    Evie sat down, but froze when she noticed
that Dahlia had hesitated behind her. Something akin to
understanding dawned on the Vampire Queen’s features. “I recommend
the double chocolate chip. You’ll recognize some of your own
chocolate in that one.”
    Dahlia cut her gaze to
Evie, peeling them off the cookies with something like a vengeance.
Could she seriously have forgotten that Dahlia couldn’t eat
anything? How could she forget, as a vampire herself? Sure, Evie’s warlock magic
made it possible for her to eat whatever she wanted, but of all
people, Dahlia had expected her to understand that Dahlia was
different. She wasn’t that kind of vampire. She wasn’t half warlock
and half Akyri, like