I scowled at the mention of her name. “Why’d she do that?”
“I asked her for some help. You said you’d watch the sunrise with me.” He looked at his watch. “We have about two hours. She gave me directions to a great viewing spot. I was hoping you’d still like to join me.”
I smiled. “I can’t wait, Leo. Are you excited?”
He laced his fingers with mine. “I’m mostly looking forward to spending it with you. I can’t think of a better person to be by my side.”
I tucked the blanket under my arm. “What are we waiting for?”
As we walked along the cobbled streets, I could see how extraordinary this place really was. An ethereal forest surrounded the entire village. Between the tall ferns and pines—taller than any I’d ever seen—were rushing streams on all sides, their banks heavy with roots and moss. While there was no typical pattern of what I’d term a neighborhood, I spotted many stone cottages tucked away in the forest, connected only by the pine needle paths or cobbled stone.
The massive ferns and trees drew my gaze upward, and I paused a moment so I could spin in a circle and take it all in. The stars crowded each other for space, and as I gazed at them, I could almost swear they grew brighter, as if each one competed for my attention. And the moon’s rays, while a soft glow among so many stars, sliced through trees and branches, spilling across the land and water.
Once my gaze returned to land, I noticed that Leo and I had drawn an audience of our own. Unlike on Earth, where deer and other commonly hunted animals had learned to fear people, the animals here seemed friendly. Comfortable. Deer moved about with their noses in the grass, and one passed within reach of my hand, allowing me to graze the coarse fur on its side. Squirrels and rabbits and critters unrecognizable to me scurried about, without a care that a vampire and meat-eater graced them with their presence.
“Wow,” I said in a breathy voice, “it’s like a Thomas Kincade painting come to life.”
Not many people were out at this late hour, but the few we saw seemed in no hurry to be anywhere. They were simply out for an evening stroll, enjoying each other and what life had to offer. Such a foreign concept, I thought. The entire city of Las Vegas was built around someone’s desperate need to fill a void within. Whatever it was they were searching for—money, love, sex, power, etcetera—there was always someone, somewhere, wanting more. I’d never really noticed how prominent that was before, until I saw how completely content the people of Faerie were.
After walking for quite some time, Leo pointed to a tunnel made entirely of twigs. “It should be right through there.” We stepped beneath the branches and came to a clearing with low rolling hills on both sides. He led me up a small mound on the left, spread the blanket out, and nodded to the other side. “She said the sun rises just over those hills.”
I sat down and looked around. We were only about twenty feet high but I could clearly see the village below and the horizon directly in front of us. “It’s perfect.”
Leo began unpacking the basket. “Are you hungry, my sweet? For food?” The emphasis on the last word was obviously in reference to my foiled seduction attempt from earlier.
I gave him a flirty smile. “If that’s all you’re offering, I could eat.”
He chuckled. “We have fruit, cheeses, and dried meats. Which would you like first?”
My stomach growled. Okay, maybe I was hungrier than I thought. “All of the above?”
He laughed as he set each dish in the middle of the blanket. “Dig in.”
I bit into a perfectly ripened peach. As the juices exploded in my mouth, I realized this wasn’t a peach after all. It looked and felt exactly like one, but it tasted like something much more exotic. The closest comparison I could think of was a blend of pineapples and mangos. “Mmm, this is delicious. Any idea what it is?”
He shook his head. “No. She said they have the same basic food groups as we do on Earth, but the offerings are quite different. They grow their food magically here…she said the final result is essentially a product of their imagination. Over half the village has lived on Earth at one point in time so any familiar tastes would have come from them.”
Ah, good ol’ Fae magic. If you imagine it, it will come. I peeked into the basket. “Got anything to drink in there?”
He
pulled out a sizeable growler. “Wine. Would you like some?”
“Yes, please!”
He laughed at my enthusiasm as he poured some into a small cup. “How was your meeting with your grandmother?”
I took a healthy sip before answering. “Eh.”
He scrunched his brows in confusion. “What does that mean? What happened?”
“Before or after she announced to the entire room that you and I slept together?”
His brows lifted. “You told her?”
“No! She just knew. She figured it out earlier but I didn’t get a chance to tell you. She put two and two together with the blood exchange.”
“Speaking of,” he interrupted. “How did she sense your blood inside me?”