Talon vanished. Ava vanished.
Suddenly, Val stood with her reaper in the center of a palace surrounded by desert, overlooking a lovely water garden bathed by moonlight. Lillies, water hyacinths, and fragrant grasses waved in the breeze, the inner courtyard a whisper of promised peace.
“Do you like this? I grew up here.”
“It’s amazing.” She walked with him to a bench overlooking the clear pool where fish swam and frogs leaped onto lily pads and colorful rocks.
Overhead, stars twinkled in the night sky while the goddess Selene floated on the wind to join them. Not that Val had ever seen her before. A vague knowing told her who’d come to visit.
Beautiful, the pale goddess with black hair and white eyes, no pupils or irises to speak of, smiled, her white robes floating in the breeze. “My children do me proud.”
Khent bowed his head in greeting.
Val stared, seeing familiar features in the stubborn chin, the faint shape of the eyes. “Your mom is a goddess?”
“Oh, not his direct line,” Selene answered. “I am a First. The wife of Ambrogio, who is the Primus.”
At Val’s confusion, Khent explained, “The Primus is the first vampire, my kind’s great ancestor.”
“A poet, scholar, and warrior. Ambrogio, my love.” Selene walked over the water, not making a ripple. “From he and I came all of you.”
“All of us monsters?” Khent asked, a bite of humor in his voice. Yet softness and wonder were there too.
“Mymonsters.” Selene winked. “And your monster is lovely, I see.” She smiled at Val.
Instead of taking offense, Val accepted the odd tribute. “I suppose I am less than human after all. I drank mead and didn’t lose it.”
Selene’s laughter sounded like the flutter of wind chimes. “Hecate is always a kick, isn’t she?”
The tone changed, the dream feeling less like a memory and more like the result of Morpheus’s interference.
Val felt a powerful presence and glanced at a corner of the courtyard, where Morpheus himself lounged on a padded bench while half-naked, gorgeous women fed him grapes.
“Yes, yes,” he whispered loudly. “I’m busy over here. Enjoy time with your great-great-however-many-times grandma.”
Khent frowned. “Morpheus?”
“Well, it ain’t Mormo hopping into your head, brainless.”
“One day I will eat him, I swear,” Khent muttered.
Val’s attention once again snagged on the goddess of the moon. “Can I meet Ambrogio too?”
Selene sighed. “He refuses to show himself. Not yet. But I thought it was time. Especially since you’re soon to die.”
Khent tensed. “What?”
“Death is your friend, my son. Don’t fear it, for you or your mate. But know she can’t survive her awakening. Not as she is.”
Confused, Val repeated, “Awakening?”
“Survive?” Khent growled. “I won’t let anything harm her.”
“Ah, but you have pledged your service. What you consider harm the Fates consider necessity. For without our template here in this world, the rest will falter.”
“That makes no sense.”
Val couldn’t believe Khent was getting snippy with Selene, his many times removed grandmother. This goddess didn’t feel as motherly or, well, as forgiving as Hecate. The way her eyes narrowed and the moon suddenly felt oppressive should have warned him to tread warily.
