Dreams of a Dark Warrior

rusty spoon. Of course, I could only watch the first; for thesecond, I listened to him chewing it wetly, until there was a
pop
that he seemed to particularly enjoy.”
    And when Dorada got hold of him? Now,
that
would be torturous.
    “You see, that’s the thing with you detrus,” Chase began in a contemplative tone. “Your bodies are abominations. If I severed your arms—”
    Lothaire yawned loudly.
    “—you’d merely regenerate from the injury. You might experience pain, but you wouldn’t suffer the horror of permanent
loss,
not like a human.”
    Lothaire grew increasingly bored by this. “When I get free, I believe I’ll show you your spine. I’ll hand it to you so casually, politely even, as if expecting you to remark upon it.”
    Ignoring that, Chase continued, “Of course, mortals also don’t suffer from …
the sun
.” He flipped a switch, and overhead, the lights changed.
    Lothaire’s skin began to burn.
UV bulbs.
    Chase ripped open Lothaire’s shirt, exposing his chest. Though Lothaire was older and not as sensitive to the sun as other vampires, this was intense. “Chase, my master thanks you for this.” With a laugh, he grated, “You prepare me … for trials to come.”
    As charred flesh began to fall from his body, he writhed in agony. His hair turned to soot, the tip of his nose and the ends of his fingers disintegrating.
    And he couldn’t stop laughing.
    “You’re glowing,” the kid told Regin. He stood to his full towering height and pointed at Natalya. “And yourlips are black.” He gave a strained chuckle, looking like he was about to start banging his head again. “Snakes have arms and can talk, and men have horns, and—”
    “Take a deep breath, my poor lad,” Natalya said. “Here, have a seat next to me.” She guided him over to one of the bunks and sat close beside him.
    “You both have pointed ears.”
    “I’m a dark fey called Natalya. That’s Regin. She’s a Valkyrie.”
    Regin said, “So, you got a name?”
    He absently replied, “Thaddeus Brayden, ma’am. Everybody calls me Thad.”
    Ma’am?
“How did you get here? What do you remember?”
    “I, uh, I drove to my date’s house to pick her up,” he said warily.
    “Go on.” Natalya patted his knee.
    “While I was waiting, her dad kept looking at me funny, questioning me about stuff. But then he seemed to calm down, even gave me a shot of whiskey. When I woke up, I was here, seeing
things
. Things that can’t be right.”
    Regin asked, “What are you?”
    “A senior, ma’am.”
    Natalya murmured, “I could just eat—him—
up
.” She scooted closer to him until their thighs touched.
    Regin glared at her, then asked, “I meant, are you human?”
    “Of course, I’m human! Wh-why ask me something like that?”
    “Because you’re in a Lore supermax,” Natalya said. “A prison for immortal creatures.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    After Natalya relayed the basics about the Order and the Lore, he said, “These people made a mistake. I play ball, go to church on Sunday. I’m an Eagle Scout! I never heard of any of this stuff.” He raked his fingers through his tousled hair. “I just want to go home.”
    Regin snorted. “Don’t we all?” Actually, she only wanted to get to Lucia. Would her sister still be in South America?
    Natalya patted his knee again. “What’d the dad say before he micked you?”
    “That I play ball better than anyone he’s ever seen. But I get that all the time, you know,” he said without conceit. “I’ve set all these records and everything. So I thought he was going to accuse me of juicing, but I don’t touch that stuff.”
    “Records, huh?” Regin said. “Sounds like super-human strength and speed to me.”
    He exhaled. “I guess. But if I’m not human, then what am I?”
    “We don’t know,” Regin admitted. “You don’t have horns or pointed ears, no glyphs or scales.”
    Natalya added, “I thought you might be a vampire, but you have a tan line.”
    In a measured tone, he asked, “How do you
know
that I have a tan line?”
    “I checked to make sure you weren’t a vampire,” Natalya said. “You see, we’re enemies with the vampire Horde.”
    Regin narrowed her eyes at the kid. “Hey, you didn’t use tan in a can, did you?”
    “Of course not. I was out in the sun over the weekend, playing touch football. I was on the skins team.”
    Natalya was all but purring. “Did you hear that, Regin? The lads played
touch
football. And Thad