I made an incomprehensible sound of protest and fear as we crossed that threshold between light and dark. Liam gave a wordless sound of comfort, turning his head and pressing his lips to my hair. Then it was over, my hand fully in the light. He released me and sat back.
I stayed there, turning my hand, feeling the sun on my skin. It tingled—the sensation not quite painful but not comfortable either. I could feel the strength I'd begun to take for granted fading and a familiar tiredness beneath it all. It wasn't so all-consuming that I felt like I needed to lie down, but it was enough that I understood why vampires preferred the cover of night for their business.
Liam brushed a tear from my cheek, and I realized they were wet. I brushed the tears away with the hand not in the light.
"Would you like to try standing in the sun?" Liam asked, his voice a quiet rumble.
"Is it safe?" I didn't know what the normal rules for this were. How much protection did I have from the sun? Enough to stand in it unsheltered? Or would that be the piece that sent me into flambé territory?
"My blood has strengthened you. At this time of day, when the sun is weak, you should be safe."
"So, if the sun was stronger?" I asked, turning to him.
His gaze was sympathetic as his eyes roamed my features. "It would mean considerably more pain and possibly death at your stage of development."
I nodded. Still, seeing a sunset again was something I’d never thought possible; reading between the lines, I took that to mean that the sun at midday wasn't necessarily going to always be out of reach. The stronger I got, the more of it I could take.
I made it to my feet and took a deep breath. Before I could think too deeply about the risk I was taking, I stepped forward. The knot at the center of my being uncurled, and I looked up, squinting against the bright light. Birds chirped, and I could hear cars and the noise of people going about their busy lives. All sounds I associated with summer.
Everything was so green and bright and shiny. The sun was hot against my cool skin. I forgot how frickin’ hot it could be when under its direct light. My skin prickled uncomfortably like it sometimes did at the beginning of a sunburn, the sensation a familiar one from my childhood.
I stepped further outdoors, Liam and Nathan at my back. My feet pointed me at the topiary garden before I could think. It had been so long since I'd seen flowers during the day, and I don't think I'd ever seen a topiary garden in sunlight.
The two let me wander for a long time, until the sun was setting, and the street lights had come on. It was only when the sun had fully sunk behind the horizon that I headed back to the mansion where Nathan waited. Liam must have slipped off at some point. Maybe while I’d been laying on a bench staring up as white, fluffy clouds made their way across a blue, blue sky.
"Liam had other duties to attend to this evening," Nathan said in answer to my questioning look.
And did those other duties have anything to do with a certain runaway werewolf? I slid Nathan a sidelong look, noticing the tight line along his jaw, as if he was waiting for an argument. I took that to mean he had no intention of telling me where Liam had run off to. I couldn't really blame him; I wasn't one of them. Also, I was planning on a little solo work myself.
"I had a few plans for the evening myself." I headed to the mansion. "I don't suppose you could give me a ride back to my place, so I can pick up my bike?"
He shot me a look that asked what game I was playing. "Why would you need your bike?"
I shrugged. "I have a few runs for Hermes tonight and need it for transportation."
"You're not working tonight," Nathan said. "You're slated for another fun-filled night in the mansion."
"I have to work, or I'm going to lose my job. Liam said it was fine. Check with him."
He frowned at me, not trusting my words for a minute. Smart vampire. In this case, I was telling the truth. I did have to work.
He pulled out his phone, hitting a button and then holding it to his ear as it rang.
"Nathan, what is it?"
I could hear Liam just fine, despite the phone not being on speaker. I guess in addition to being able to tolerate the sun now, I also got a bump in my hearing.
"Liam, the yearling is telling me you gave her permission to work tonight." Nathan raised an eyebrow in my direction and smirked, fully anticipating his win. I gave him a tight smile back.
Liam sighed. "Not in so many words, but I did tell her we wouldn't get in the way of her making a living."
That wiped the smirk off Nathan's lips. My smile widened.
"She can't be unsupervised," Nathan said, turning away as if that would keep me from hearing the conversation. "The wolf is still missing, and you know Brax will take any reason to snatch Aileen off the street to take her out of the equation."
"I’m aware of all that. You're just going to have to accompany her on her courier runs."
Nathan's head jerked, and he glared at me over his shoulder. Heh. Looked like it was Aileen 1, vampire babysitter 0.
He hung up without saying another word, not taking his eyes off me.
I sauntered past him. "You might want to wear comfortable shoes for this."
"We're taking the car, Aileen. I'm not chasing you down while you ride along on your bike," he yelled at my back.
I waved. That worked for me. It meant an easy night of being chauffeured from client to client. Compared to a normal night on the bike, that was practically a vacation.
*
"What is this place?" Nathan asked, observing the teeming mass of humanity before us with a scowl. He'd come by his grumpiness honestly. The night had not been an easy one for him as he traipsed behind me on each of my deliveries, some of them in the not-so-good parts of the city. One of them had been to a downtown sewer. That had reeked, and he'd complained over the last few hours that he could still smell its stench on his clothes.
At each delivery, he had to sit through comments and derision directed his way by my clients—most of whom had grown used to and tolerated my presence. The addition of another, new vampire, had been enough to bring some of the old prejudices to the forefront, most of which had been directed at him.
Vampires were not popular with many other spooks. Because they were so powerful, vampires sat at the top of the food chain and didn't concern themselves about the little guys. As a result, much of the spook world feared them, but also didn't like them. Since Nathan was with me, they'd assumed he was as powerless as I was. Hence the insults. Something I'm sure the enforcer had not encountered in many, many decades.
It had been an education for him. One I had enjoyed immensely, since he couldn't retaliate against any of my clients. Not without jeopardizing my job, which I'd made sure he knew was not allowed.