Baile Siochanta (Southern Vampire Mysteries)

Chapter 6 - Mummer's Dance

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Breandan watched Sookie Stackhouse sail past him and out of the Ladies Room. Her back was straight and every movement told him how little she thought of him. It was infuriating. It took him almost a full minute and the disgusted expression from another woman finding him still leaning against the sinks to get his feet moving.

"Struck out?" his bandmate asked after he walked back onstage. Kiernan didn't bother to hide his smug satisfaction, and Breandan considered striking his bandmate with a curse on the spot. 'Blindness. That's an easy one,' crossed Breandan's mind, but he pulled it back.

'What would a human do?' he asked himself, forcing his mind back to the job at hand.

"Screwed up," Breandan said aloud through clenched teeth. Breandan's head was a snarl of frustration and fury. He was sure it had been Sookie Stackhouse, after all, how many more glowing women could there be in Boston? What he couldn't understand was her reaction. He hadn't used much of a push, but it should have been enough. She was attracted to him, and her surprise had helped to open her defenses, but then she had done exactly the opposite of what Breandan wanted. A possibility occurred to the Fae. What if her mongrel blood made her immune to the charms of the Fae? What if she was able to resist glamour?

"Sookie is a nice girl." Sean interrupted Breandan's thoughts and the Fae registered a warning. His neighbor had taken on a Big Brother tone and that could be a problem. The plan was to woo the girl and get her to Ireland, which assumed both personal involvement and a fair amount of plotting, but Breandan hadn't factored in her having protectors.

'This could work for me, though,' the fiddler thought quickly, then turning to Sean said, "That was Sookie?" He looked out across the bar, scanning for her, looking for the slight phosphorescence that was her, and knowing it would give the right appearance to his story. "I forgot you said she'd be here. She's beautiful! You didn't mention that!" As the song opened and he waited for his cue, Breandan finally saw her, and then watched, helpless, as Sookie Stackhouse stood and left the bar, followed by Amelia Carmichael.

Sean was short with him the rest of the evening and Kiernan was chortling with glee. "I didn't know," Breandan told Sean again, sticking to his only defense, then added, "I don't know what came over me. I just had to meet her. I swear, I'm not usually like this. She's...well, you see how she is!"

"Well, whatever you did managed to chase her and my girlfriend right out of the bar," Sean flashed his phone toward Breandan, showing the Fae he'd received a text, presumably from Amelia. "She says you're a total dickhead. Real smooth!"

"She's right," Breandan readily agreed, "I was an ass, but I swear. It was like a car wreck and every wrong thing I could say just spilled out. I don't know what came over me." It was enough that the ride home was a little less chilly and Breandan was happy to see Amelia's car out front, so at least Amelia wasn't going to punish Sean, and that would make using these two to get things back on track a little easier.

The call that night with his Father wasn't pleasant. His Father accused him of purposely creating drama in what should have been a straight-forward job. "I'm not sure what went wrong, but she's more than human," Breandan told Rogan.

"You're sure?" his Father paused. "And you say she was glowing?"

"She was like a canary in a coal mine. I'm not surprised the Selkie could track her. The spark seems strong in her." They had already decided that this was not Adele, and likely not Adele's daughter. This had to be Niall Brigant's granddaughter and her being this Fae could be helpful.