Most of the motivations and needs, worries and priorities, were fairly simple to her, compared to the complex mechanics of anticipating vampire needs. As such, only Miah and Nerida remained an enigma to her. She’d learned Mel and Frank were third-marked servants to both female vampires, though, and when she started seeing them together, the bond was obvious.

During one late supper, while the artists and residents chatted and women rocked children to sleep, she’d seen Mel with Nerida. The vampire was sitting on the woman’s lap, brushing and then braiding her thick, dark hair. When she was done with that, Nerida put her hands on Mel’s face, raining affectionate kisses on her mouth and cheeks, her temple.

Another night, close to the 3 a.m. hour, Alanna was bringing Evan some wine at the gazebo when her eye was caught by people on the dock. Mel, Nerida and Miah had been swimming, a unique thing to see because vampires had no buoyancy. However, all three were still wet, their dark hair sleek and dripping. Mel was stretched out on her back, her head in Miah’s lap. The woman was pointing out something in the stars while Miah played with her dark hair, tracing the thick braid across Mel’s breast. Nerida lay between their servant’s thighs, head pillowed on the Indian woman’s stomach, her arms curled over her hip, small fingers hooked in the belt loop of her wet cutoffs, listening to whatever story she was telling. Pausing to hear better, Alanna caught the singsong quality, as if Mel was chanting a poem.

After their wrestling match, Alanna had found herself meeting up with Mel more often. The growing bond was spurred in part because of their shared status as servants, but they also sparred once a day. Sometimes Mel used her to help demonstrate techniques to other women, but on one day when it was just the two of them, Alanna took the opportunity to find out more about her unique relationship with the two female vampires.

“Nerida and Miah . . . did you learn to fight from them?”

“No. My grandfather.” Taking a swig from a water bottle, Mel swiped at her sweaty forehead with her arm. They’d been working out in the open area behind the playground, and now she propped on a wooden snail. It was schooltime for the children, so they had the area to themselves. “He had one leg, but with that and a crutch, he could put me on my back in a heartbeat. Wily old goat. I taught Nerida and Miah, as did the founder of this place and his servant. They’re sponges. There’s nothing they won’t learn if it catches their interest. Pretty much anything that needs repair around here, they can jerry rig, but of course we all have other tasks, so unless it’s an emergency, it waits for its permanent fix until Niall gets here.” Mel grinned. “Where is he today?”

“He slept in this morning. I told Frank he’d catch up with him later to work on the plumbing at the admin cottage.” Alanna, looking toward the forest, took a sip from her own bottle. When Mel’s hand covered hers, she wasn’t easy enough with it yet to turn her hand and grip, but she did say what was in her head. “I don’t want to leave him when he’s like that. Evan has to order me to do it. I was afraid . . . but Evan told me he’d watch over him.”

Mel’s fingers tightened. “For all that they’re only here a few weeks a year, Niall’s presence is so large. I’m not sure what we’ll do without him. I worry about Evan without him, too.”

Alanna discovered her fingers had tangled with the woman’s, were squeezing them tightly. They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the birds in the forest, the wind moving through the trees.

“I just figured you’d finally worn him out for a change.” Nudging her with her hip, Mel pushed back the somber look Alanna knew reflected her own. “I’ve seen the mornings where you can barely walk, because the two of them have used you so hard.”

“They are very . . . attentive,” Alanna admitted.

Mel snorted. “The prissy ladylike way of saying they fuck you blind, girl. And who needs sight that badly?”

“So,” Alanna said, clearing her throat. “Do you spar with them? Nerida and Miah?”

“Yeah. Like wrestling a pair of ferrets. They keep me on my toes. And regularly kick my ass, of course.” She lowered her voice, despite the fact they were well away from any listening ears. Human ones, that is. “Though with vampires, that can be more win than loss, right?”

Alanna blinked, not sure how to respond. Mel shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. “Sorry. Forget it.”

“No, it’s all right. You don’t get to talk about your relationship with them, do you?”

How vampires and non-InhServs worked out their relationships with one another had become a topic of intense interest to Alanna, as if she’d find the key to her own evolving one with Evan and Niall, no matter how pointless it seemed to analyze it. She wanted to hear more, and her obvious interest seemed to relax Mel.

The woman nodded. “Other than Frank and Niall, it’s pretty much only the founder’s servant, when they visit, and Elisa. She’s the servant of the vampire who taught Miah and Nerida to adapt as best they could.” All humor disappeared, her expression becoming dangerous, the Amazon warrior. “I sometimes wish we could resurrect that bastard who made them and kill him all over again. When he turned them, even though they were kids, they got some of the amped-up hormones that drive vampire adults. They crave sexual release for themselves and from their servants when they take blood, same as most vampires.”

“Oh dear,” Alanna murmured.

“Yeah. Frank tried like hell, but he’s never been comfortable with it, so they mostly use him just for blood. That’s not really the worst of it, though. They may have the bodies of children, but they have the hearts of women. They want relationships . . . love, and they won’t ever have that. Not for however many hundreds of years they live.” Mel took another swallow from the water bottle. “Not only do they have to stay hidden from the vampire world, no vampire or servant can get past the fact they look like kids. The ones who can aren’t anything they want near them.”

“You love them, though.”

“I can’t imagine life without them,” Mel said seriously, meeting her gaze. “And I love them as women. But even me . . . there are things they know I have a hard time with, no matter how I try. I guess there’s something in our chemical makeup, when we’re decent human beings, not fucked-up twisted pervs, that won’t let us get past it. I mean Nerida . . . she fucking smells like a little girl. I play with the kids here, and then I’m holding her and . . .” She shook her head, sighed.

“I learned more about their early years from the founder’s servant. She told me it got really bad once or twice, such that they were considering a suicide pact. The founder made them a promise. He said if it ever became too much, whether today, tomorrow or decades from now, he would help them with that, make it merciful.” Mel’s face tightened, showing her pain about that, but her acceptance as well. “When they decided to take me and Frank as third marks, they’d made a semipermanent peace with it. At least for the next three hundred years, according to Nerida,” she added wryly.

“They have this place, and most importantly, they have each other. And that was the solution, wasn’t it? What none of us can comfortably give, they give each other. It’s a weird thing to talk about. I should really stop.”

“No, I’m curious,” Alanna assured her. “I’ve seen you with them, and it’s an unusual . . . dynamic.”

“Yeah. No kidding.” Mel smiled fondly. “Nerida is the odd one. She can have sexual impulses, but it’s like the six-year-old’s in there, too, because nine times out of ten, those impulses have to do with affection. Closeness. She’s like an Olympic postcoital cuddler, without the actual coital part.”

Alanna’s return smile seemed to relieve the woman’s tension, her worry that the conversation was too much. Thinking how young she’d been when educated about her sexual requirements, Alanna realized she was probably more prepared for this conversation than most.

“The two of them are the only two vampires I know who like to swim. They hang onto a float and paddle around like beavers.” Mel chuckled. “Or they have me or Frank cart them around, hanging onto our necks. They felt your presence the other night, and appreciated your respect of our privacy.” Mel gave her a knowing look. “But what you saw, that’s the way it is. It’s probably the most difficult thing they have to cope with. Getting killed or preyed upon by a much stronger vampire, yeah, that’s rough, but finding someone to love, to whom we can give our soul, that’s the end of the rainbow for all of us, even vampires.”

Mel tilted her head up, closed her eyes so the sun could touch her face. Alanna saw her sadness, suffering for the two vampires she loved. “Nerida says it’s enough to have each other, because it has to be. She’s pragmatist and spiritualist both, and I think that helps Miah when she gets too bogged down in her emotions over it, over what will never be. Guess we all have to live with things like that, don’t we?”

“Yes.” Alanna felt the bite of that truth. Finding someone to love, to whom we can give our soul, that’s the end of the rainbow. “The more I discover about vampires, the more I realize how little I really knew about them, if that makes sense.”

“Truer words, Barbie.” Mel tugged her hair, which she’d braided for their sparring. “Hey, I’ll arm wrestle you. If I win, you take dish duty tonight. And don’t be a subby and volunteer to do them for me. I want to win the right to dump my least favorite chore on you, fair and square.”

“You’ll only cheat,” Alanna said archly. “Using your third-mark strength against me. Let me do them. You’re on the midnight shift, and your vampires will want to spend time with you. Evan will likely be painting and not need me right away. Plus Niall will be up by that time”—she hoped—“and can handle any immediate needs he has. Though he’ll likely demand something in trade.”