She was too tired to appreciate the opulence of the Bellagio; she was dead on her feet and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. After she dozed off while walking for the fourth time and nearly fell over, Ash caught her and lifted her over his shoulder like he had the time she couldn't see anything.

"What'reya doin'?" Ruby slurred sleepily.

"Taking you to our room because you are incapable of doing it yourself," he said matter-of-factly.

She was too tired to argue and let him. He dragged their shared large wheeled suitcase behind him with one hand and kept her secured with the other. They got some stares from the night owl casino goers but there weren't many of them up this late gambling anyway.

Ruby was zonked out already and didn't notice; Ash simply didn't care. He found their room number by following maps on the walls. It took a while because he didn't know what he was doing but figured it out eventually.

The room card was the tricky part. He didn't want to wake her up but had no idea how this worked.

Ash squinted at the card insert part of the door for several minutes before it came to him. He inserted it wrongly three times before managing to get the door open. Human contraptions were difficult!

He very gently set Ruby down on the bed and made sure she was on her stomach so her wings wouldn't be affected. He had seen her sleeping like that before.

He sighed once she was peacefully asleep on the bed. He had done a lot of things he never thought he would today in the pursuit of vengeance. Fly in a plane. Taste human food. Read a human novel.

Perhaps the most unexpected thing of all was discovering how kind Ruby was. Her actions before had been neutral; she was simply looking out for herself while he was along for the ride.

Then she had to go and show him the most consideration another being had shown him in longer than he could remember. Not once but twice! Things didn't work that way in the coven.

As the leader he was in charge of taking care of everyone else. No one really cared what he wanted; they didn't bother to ask. His feelings weren't important because the needs of the many came before the needs of one.

It was simply the way things were; he accepted that centuries ago when he took up the mantle. Even Ariadne, who loved him most out of everyone there aside from their mother, had followed the status quo because it was the way things were done.

The coven leader had to be selfless and constantly do things he didn't want to do if it benefitted the whole. He had given up a lot after taking on that role.

In the vampire hunter raid that occurred shortly before fleeing the old country he had lost both his lover and his father. He was so busy taking care of business afterwards that even once he had grieved them properly he didn't have time to try and find another one.

Ash had been surrounded by other vampires but somehow still alone in the midst of them for centuries due to his role. Perhaps he had felt left out after all, like the fairy asleep in front of him.

He had a feeling her answer to his question of whether or not she felt that way held more weight than the word "sometimes" would suggest. The look in her eyes had been unbearably sad as she spoke.

Ruby became more intriguing the more time he spent with her. She was a mystery that he may never get the chance to solve.

Ash wasn't sure how long this trip would last but he would have to make the most of it because afterwards she would disappear. He knew this but part of him wondered what it would be like if she came back to the castle with him afterward.

She could teach him more about the human world and continue working on the garden until it fit her specifications perfectly. She had planted nearly everything that she wanted to but there were a few things that were seasonal and it was too late or early in the year for it.

He shook those thoughts free. No. It was pointless thinking about that sort of thing. Just because she had been kind to him didn't mean she would stay. Ruby was simply a nice fae.

A nice, mysterious fae. Ash still didn't understand her power or why she insisted on hiding it or her fairy form away. Or why she had more control over her glamour than fae were supposed to.

The more time he spent with her the less he knew. It was actually a bit frustrating.

He tried his best not to be nosy but the questions kept piling up. He reminded himself that her secrets didn't matter because their alliance was flimsy at best. That was all this was. A temporary alliance so they could each get what they needed.

Should Ash practice his barrier again? This hotel was about the size of his land back in California. It was the middle of the night so there probably weren't many people coming and going outside who would be confused if it suddenly disappeared.

It would only be for a few seconds. If anyone did see, it would be easy to dismiss as a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep.

Ash began casting the barrier spell while sitting on the edge of the bed and didn't notice that Ruby's hand had curled around the back of his s.h.i.+rt. He looked out the window and was astonished to see it higher than it ever had been before.

Hurrying over to see if it was a full dome, her hand let go of him. The barrier vanished immediately.

He frowned. He hadn't intended to do that. But for a second it really looked like he had created a full barrier. What had happened? He tried three more times and wasn't able to make it go any higher than he had back at the castle.

Stumped, Ash ended up back on the edge of the bed. Why had it worked once but not the other times? Had it simply been dumb luck?

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