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“No!” Charlotte Lucas said. “I’m not going with you!”

“Mother!” Ruby cried out but Charlotte Lucas shook her head emphatically.

“He may have charmed you, Ruby, but I am not fooled that easily.”

She glared at me.

“I am sorry you feel that way Mrs. Lucas but I do understand. You don’t know me and you have made assumptions about my kind. I get that but it’s not safe here. I know the war is coming here, soon.”

“I will take my chances, thank you,” she said coolly, walking away.

“Make her change her mind,” Ruby said to me, grabbing my arm.

“Are you sure? It will only make her hate me more.”

Ruby pulled a face. “At least she’ll be alive.”

I knew she was right.

Chapter 27

Ruby

We arrived in the Capital after dark.

I was tired from the long trip and the excitement of seeing Luc again, but as we approached the city, my breath was taken away by the spectacular sight of all the lights and activity of the city. I had heard that the Capital was a magical place but this was more than I had expected. I was blown away by the modern buildings and cars, the walkways in the air, the drones and driverless cars buzzing through the sky.

It was like a different world, and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. We couldn’t talk much while we were in the air, the noise of the helicopter drowned everything out. My mother was asleep most of the way, an auto-hypnotic suggestion by Luc.

As soon as we landed, Luc took us to a car that was waiting for us. We drove to a hotel outside of the capital. Luc told me it was where most of the mortals lived and that we could feel completely safe here. The hotel was an old-fashioned one, a grand old house converted into luxury suites. Luc roused my mother and she seemed confused at first but I told her we had arrived at our destination.

“Where are we?” she asked, somewhat groggy, but got out of the car and followed us inside.

Luc hung back as I explained to her that we were going to spend a few days at the hotel to rest and get our strength back.

“Why did we leave Cape Falls again?”

“It was about to be attacked by vampires,” I said, looking nervously at Luc, who pulled a face. I had figured this much out in the helicopter, he hadn’t said anything to me. A porter came to show us to our rooms, Luc had reserved two rooms for us. He waited for me to check into my room, then knocked discreetly on the door.

“Have dinner with your mother, then I will see you later?”

I pulled him close and kissed him. “Promise?”

A sexy grin spread across his face. “Oh, you can count on it.”

I couldn’t wait to see him later but first I had to have dinner with my mother who was very fuzzy on the details of how we had gotten here. Finally, I gave in and told her the truth.

“You were being difficult, so Luc hypnotized you to get you here.”

“What?!” she was outraged.

“You were going to get us killed,” I said.

She stared at me open-mouthed. “Has he hypnotized you too?”

We ordered wine and delicious steaks and I refused to let my mother’s doubts about Luc affect my happiness.

“I love him, mother. You can rage about it all you like but he loves me too and whether you like it or not, he saved your life tonight.”