She frowned. “I doubt it’ll work on me. I can’t be hypnotized, something about not responding to suggestion. So how do you do it?”

Eric shrugged. “I don’t have a clue how it works. It just does.”

Cinn thought Eric was a great guy, but his fantasy story was nuts.

Eric must’ve read her expression. “Humor me.” He glanced at Dacian. “Tell me two things you want in your fantasy.”

Dacian didn’t hesitate. “Put me someplace warm in the sunlight.” Then he held up his hand. “Wait. I thought of something else. I want junk food and a beer.” He laughed. A real laugh. “Sparkle isn’t the only shallow one in the castle.”

Cinn felt a revelation coming on. “Those are all things ordinary people would take for granted. Being vampire has its downside.”

Dacian looked as though her comment bothered him. “Guess you wouldn’t want to be vampire then.”

“It’s not bad, Cinn.” Donna reached across the table to pat her hand. “Sunlight and food are like dessert to us. They’d be fun to have, but we don’t go around thinking about them all night. As long as we have our main course. The upside outweighs the downside, believe me.” The look she threw Eric simmered and sizzled.

Something was going on that Cinn didn’t understand. Everyone was too intense about the vampire thing.

Dacian shrugged. “It’s no big deal.” But his expression said it was.

Then it hit Cinn. Sex with a human wouldn’t mean anything special to a vampire unless his feelings ran deeper than mere lust. Suppose, just suppose, a vampire wanted a more permanent relationship. A vampire who loved a human would be doomed to a long cold twilight as his mate grew old and finally died. Not a good outcome for either person.

Cinn didn’t know what to say, where to go with her thoughts. Confusion wasn’t leading to clarity. She wanted to pig out at the table with all the courses lined up in front of her—enjoy immortality with all its perks while still keeping her humanity. Why couldn’t she have it all? Whoa, halt, stop. Dacian hadn’t said one thing about wanting more than a sexual relationship.

“Nothing comes without sacrifice, even being human.” Eric’s stare made Cinn want to squirm. “What about you? What do you want in your fantasy?”

For a moment, Cinn considered not playing, but then she gave in. “Only one thing: no plants. Anywhere.”

“Why not?” Eric looked intrigued.

She sighed. “I have to be honest. I don’t really believe in your fantasies. And I know that even if they are real, the plants won’t be my plants. But I’d still worry”— she felt her cheeks grow pink—“that they might be watching.”