Page 37 of Saved by the Vampire Goddess (Dark Wine Vampires #1)

Chapter thirty-seven

Valroy

Hawaiian Dome—The next night

A t dusk, I find a message from Ingvar waiting on my handheld, inviting us on a tour of the island.

At the appointed time, I escort Tina to the electric cart Ingvar parked near my apartment door. She’s dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Her chestnut brown hair is straight and loose, hanging down her back, except for two thin braids framing her face.

“Dulcissima, please take the front seat. You’ll be able to see better.”

She glances from me to Titus—who’s joined us—and back to me. If she was hoping to have the back seat all alone with him, she has another thing coming. She’s still too young to moon over Titus every time she sees him. I take the back bench with my best friend and give a stern-lipped tilt of my head. She joins Ingvar in the front.

The tour takes us through a major town where Tina will go to school, and we meet an amiable woman who Ingvar says is Tina’s therapist. He has to explain to me what a therapist is, and when he does, I agree with Ingvar’s assessment. Tina should talk to someone about all the fear and anxiety she endured in Maliff’s house. Processing trauma is the name Ingvar gives it.

Throughout the drive, Titus remains silent. If I had to guess, he’s still overwhelmed.

I spend the next night in a lecture hall learning about the mixed domes. This community is on one of the Hawaiian islands and has a volcano and a mix of higher elevations that weren’t swallowed by the sea when the doomsday glacier melted. Part of Ingvar’s continuous narrative is a history of the Collapse.

He’s in charge of our orientation, and I’ve become accustomed to seeing his Lux appearance, to hearing him sing his language, to understanding his words through the translator. I’ve even made a few correct guesses about his mood by the way he holds his wings.

When we return to our temporary housing, Titus waves goodbye. “I want to read up on the career choices I’ll have here.”

He looked a little alarmed when Ingvar suggested vocational training.

“Your experience running an auction business might prove useful.”

He shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“You’ll figure it out. See you tomorrow.”

Tina follows me to my apartment. I get her a cold juice from the refrigerator. Even though I don’t drink the stuff, I guess the Lux expect I’ll host mortals. Or maybe they stock all apartments with food for mortals and dark wine for vampires.

With each of us drinking our preferred beverages, I sit down in the living room with her. She’s asked Ingvar a lot of questions, but I feel I owe her an apology for everything that’s happened during the month we’ve been separated. “Tina, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop Maliff.”

She glances down at the glass in her lap, and the two thin brown braids fall forward. “It wasn’t too bad during the day. But at night…” Her lip trembles and a tear falls. “I wasn’t sure what he’d do.”

“I’m so sorry.” I hope Ingvar is right, that the therapist can help her heal. “But all of that is in the past. You’ll go to school, learn whatever you want, and make friends.”

She wipes the tear away. “Do you think I can learn more about math at my new school? Are girls allowed to learn that here?”

“You can learn anything you want. Ingvar said so.”

“Then I want to learn about math. The stuff you didn’t teach me.”

“Whatever you want to do, dulcissima. It’s up to you now.” Yes, I allowed her to learn more than most guardians would—enough to be my bookkeeper—but I had to draw the line somewhere. She’s always had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. In New Rome, it was unseemly to let her study higher math and would have hurt her chances of a good marriage. But my outdated way of looking at the world is gone. None of those concerns stand anymore.

“While I’m in school, what will you do?”

I smile. “Sleep, probably.”

She purses her lips and gives me a reprimanding look all domina master at a young age. “You know what I meant. When you’re awake here, what will you do? Scavenge like you did in Minnesota?”

“They don’t need that here. No abandoned areas are nearby.”

“Then what will you do?”

“I don’t know.” I should probably explore my options, like Titus, but I can’t seem to find the enthusiasm or energy.

“What you and Evelina did—it sounds so exciting to hunt for treasure in the wreckage. I’m sorry you can’t do that here.”

Only a teenager could make scavenging sound romantic. “I’ll find something to occupy my time, don’t worry. Besides, in the evenings, I can spend time with you.”

“But they have events for teens in the evenings. And something Ingvar called ‘homework.’”

“Don’t worry. I’ll find plenty to do with my free time.”

Besides obsessing over Evelina.

Tina takes a sip of her juice and keeps her eyes averted. “How did you become…a creeper?”

“Vampire. Don’t call them creepers here.”

“Then how did you become a vampire?”

Over the course of the last few days, I’ve told her highlights about my life in the ark and scavenging for riches, which is how she knew about my treasure hunting, but I didn’t tell her how I died. “Evelina rescued me when the Imperator exiled me.”

“And that made you…a vampire?”

“Not quite. That came later. I was dying from a deadly insect bite, and she offered to change me to save my life. I said yes, because I knew I had to rescue you.”

A pensive expression descends on her face. “Do you love her?”

The truth hovers on my lips. I don’t want Tina to feel guilty, to blame herself for keeping us apart.

“Valroy,” she says, elongating my name like a mother might do to a misbehaving child. “Tell me the truth.”

She is growing up. I have to face facts.

“Valroy?”

“The truth?” I pull Tina into my arms and kiss her temple. “Yes, I do love Evelina.”

“Then why isn’t she here with us?”

My gut churns and I release her from the bear hug. How do I tell a sixteen-year-old that love doesn’t conquer all? “It’s not that simple. She has to stay in the ark—that dome we arrived at before we came here. She lives there right now.”

The frown on her face is so adult. “Then are you going to go back to her home?”

“That’s not an option. But why are you asking?”

“You left her all alone. She must be terribly lonely without you. I know I was, and I had Titus’s company when he visited.” Tina looks at me. “Does she have a Titus? Someone to check in on her and keep her company sometimes, I mean?”

Tina’s sensitive to other people’s feelings—too sensitive. In the short time she’s known Evelina, she’s figured out how much my presence changed her life.

“I don’t know.” I shake my head, then let out a deep breath. “I—I had to come here. To take care of you. You’re only sixteen.”

She stares at me, her eyes solemn. “After Mom and Dad died, and you had to raise me, did you feel your age?”

“I… No, I didn’t.”

She nods. “I don’t feel sixteen anymore, Valroy.”

So much has happened that was out of my control, yet I can’t help repeating myself. “I’m sorry, Tina.”

She reaches out and puts a hand on mine. “I am not mad at you. It wasn’t your fault. You tried your best to protect me, as did Titus. And I love you both so much.”

“I love you too, dulcissima. But I’m staying here with you, so you have the safety to feel your age again—to enjoy being sixteen.”

“I don’t know if I can go back to the way I felt before Maliff. I’ve grown up.”

Those words stab pain through my gut. “Do you think you can be happy here?”

“Hawaii is so beautiful, and I get to go to school. How can I not learn to be happy again?”

“Well, I’ll stay right here and take care of you while you do.”

She looks up at me with her sad umber eyes. “But who’ll take care of Evelina?”