"I think we are tracking them now; they have killed in the course of a robbery," Gavin informed Charles. Wlodek must have been standing at Charles's elbow listening in, because he was on the phone immediately.
"What is happening?" Wlodek demanded. Gavin gave a report, including information on the kidnappings of Larry Frazier and Admiral Hafer, as well as the unwelcome news that Larry still had some of my blood and that he'd given it to at least one of the vampires to duplicate my talents. Wlodek cursed when Gavin informed him that I could make things explode with my mist.
"Remind me to have a talk with my child when you bring her home," Wlodek muttered angrily. Great. Something to look forward to. My life wouldn't be complete unless I was in trouble with somebody.
Wlodek provided three names he'd gotten from Angelo—Rafael Rivera, Alphonse Bouvier and Cyrus Falcone. All three vampires' accounts had been frozen by the Council. I figured the vampire that had blown up the first convenience store had been pretty pissed about something. He may have discovered the exploding talent by accident, but he certainly had a weapon in his hands now, as long as Larry could keep supplying him with my blood. The questions were, what would they choose to destroy with that talent and how much of my blood did they have left?
"Why didn't I know about all these things you can do?" Winkler quizzed me later as we walked toward the van.
"I've learned these things as I went along," I wanted to elbow him in the ribs. It made me worry over what might have happened if I'd known all this from the beginning. Would Winkler or Weldon have tried to control my talents? I still didn't know what the Council's intentions were toward me. They already had designs on Tony; I could see that from a mile away. What did they want from me? Would they take advantage of my youth as a vampire to get me to do as much for them as they could?
"Lissa, you have the biggest frown on your face," Tony said as he opened the van door for me.
"Just thinking," I muttered, climbing inside and scooting over on the bench seat so Gavin could slide in beside me. I wanted to yell at Tony. I didn't. That wouldn't solve anything, and both of us would feel worse afterward. We needed clear heads to deal with this problem.
"Lissa, I do not think Wlodek will be overly harsh," Gavin said. He was thinking back to Wlodek's words when he'd spilled the beans about my exploding mist trick.
"You two may be like this," I held up a hand with fingers crossed, "but he wants to yell at me every chance he gets." Winkler crawled in on Gavin's other side and closed the door, Tony and René loaded into the third row. Bill was in the front passenger seat and our driver, who'd waited for us inside the van, put the vehicle in gear and drove us back to our hotel.
"Lissa, you should eat and then try to sleep," Gavin said when we reached our room. René was schooling Tony with the hours of night remaining.
"What are you planning to do?" I asked.
"I will assist René," Gavin replied. I waited until he left the room before misting into Roff and Michael's room. Roff murmured sleepily when I lay down beside him, pulling my head onto his shoulder and falling asleep again quickly.
* * *
"Her blood does this?" Xenides hadn't felt like laughing with glee in a very long time. Some of the talents that Lissa bore were more than extraordinary. He would keep her alive and under his thumb for this latest reason alone. He'd intended to keep draining her blood for other reasons, once she was his, but this—no other vampire had ever been able to do these things. Xenides had always envied the misters—all he had was mindspeech. With the little princess's blood, however, he could destroy anyone and anything.
"And the effects lasted for nearly half an hour," Rafael said. "More than enough time to do anything one might wish to do. It was a stroke of genius, my sire, to take Frazier. He gave us additional information we did not have before." Rafael had no talents in misting, mindspeech or any other thing that might have made him special. For half an hour the previous evening, however, he'd been able to fly as invisible mist and had destroyed the convenience store when the clerk pulled a gun on his human puppet. He wanted that exhilaration again and was thinking of demanding the solution from the Frazier human. Rafael had to rein himself in; he realized they might need every bit of blood left to accomplish their goals for Xenides.
"How much of her blood remains?" Xenides asked, causing Rafael to start and grip his cell phone tightly.
"Only five vials," Rafael admitted reluctantly.
"Then do not use any more for frivolous activities. I will see that you have a credit card to use quickly. No more robberies. You may be detected, and we cannot risk this. And I want two vials of her blood sent to me. Make sure it is packed safely and securely."
"Of course. The package will be sent tomorrow, sire," Rafael felt chastened. "We have enough money to feed the humans and enough blood to feed us. It is fortunate the older human had an apartment that does not appear on any of his records," Rafael smiled. "We are staying there until our mission is complete."
"Remember, if you see the little female, place compulsion immediately to do only as you instruct. I will come to retrieve her as quickly as I can."
"I will, sire," Rafael said.
Chapter 10
I dreamed of the High Demon's planet again, only this time there was a different king. The comesula was addressing him as Raoni Jaydevik. The king was handsome, with thick brown hair that curled slightly, dark eyes and a sensuous mouth. A beautiful woman with a river of platinum hair hanging down her back stood beside him.
"Glindarok, avilepha, say you will have my children when this is over," Jaydevik put his arms around the woman after the comesula left them.
"Jaydevik, if we can defeat the Ra'Ak and the rogue High Demons, I will be more than happy to have your children," the woman sighed.
I knew, though I had no idea how I knew, that she was already pregnant. Not pregnant long—perhaps a month or two—but pregnant all the same, and holding that information back from the king for some reason. And what was she saying about the Ra'Ak and rogue High Demons? That sounded like a conspiracy of some kind. Dragon told me that only the High Demons' planet survived out of all the dark worlds, because the Ra'Ak could not defeat the High Demons. Yet it seemed that some High Demons had thrown their lot in with the Ra'Ak. What had they been promised? I couldn't imagine that High Demons would ally themselves with the enemy unless they wanted something very badly.
A phrase whispered into my mind; answering my question in the dream—rule of the dark realm. Was I looking at something in the recent past or something that had yet to come into being? That question wasn't answered for me as I was shaken awake by a frowning Gavin and hauled back to our room. He grumbled softly, even as he planted kisses on my brow.
* * *
Roff woke me this time; right at ten a.m. Winkler was with him, a standard Secret Service uniform in a plastic bag slung over his shoulder.
"Rise and shine, baby. We have to get you cleaned up and ready to go before Director Bill has an aneurysm." Winkler offered a wolfish grin.
"Raona, I was upset that you left me last night," Roff grumped.
"I didn't, sir schmuck over there came and got me," I sat up on the bed, rubbing my eyes.
"Ah," Roff said, nodding slightly. He wasn't about to argue with Gavin. Most people, vampires included, wouldn't argue with Gavin if they knew what was good for them.
"This is yours," Winkler handed the dark suit and white shirt over. I showered and dressed as quickly as I could. Winkler was dressed in a nice suit and was going as a guest—go figure. His name was recognizable; I guess Vampire Queen wasn't a title one could throw about at the White House, so I was going as hired help.
"Lissa, I want you to turn to mist or whatever it is you do and scout out the place," Bill told me later while we were going through an employee entrance. The reception was being held in the Blue Room at the White House.
I saw it from above everyone's heads; some of the biggest names in computer technology were there having
tea and cake with the President and the First Lady. Winkler fit right in, wouldn't you know? There wouldn't be any other vampires there; my ability to walk in daylight had been given to me by Griffin and I hadn't been able to do that when Larry Frazier took my blood. He'd never get his hands on me again—not if I had anything to say about it. The reception was a bust, as far as attacks went. The worst thing I saw was one of the guests slipping a snack into a coat pocket.
Bill was waiting for me later in a hallway near the door, after the President and First Lady had gone back to their quarters. I materialized right beside Bill. "Nothing," I told him, shaking my head.
"Yeah. It was a long shot, anyway," Bill agreed. "We still have the one at five, and the dinner at eight." I didn't get a vibe off either of those things and figured it would be unimaginative of Xenides to attack the White House again. I didn't say that to Bill, though. He had enough on his plate to worry about.
Bill and I were served a light meal in the kitchen, where Winkler found us. The second reception was held in the East Room with a handful of foreign ministers from the European Union, who also represented member nations of NATO. That was over after an hour and a half. I didn't find anything during that one, either, but I misted into every nook and cranny anyway, just to check.
Gavin, René and Tony showed up for the dinner and it was a yawner. If I hadn't been mist, I think I would have cracked my jaws yawning. My long day and lack of sleep was telling on me. Bill had two of his vampire agents squirreled into the Secret Service for night duty, along with four werewolves for day duty. I'm sure the President had been briefed.
"It's all your fault, René," I teased him on the way to the hotel. "If I show up alone, all kinds of stuff happens. You come along and we get nothing."
Gavin shook his head but René laughed. "Little rose," he said, "you and Anthony make me feel young again."
"I hope that's a good thing," I said as we crawled out of the van at the hotel.
* * *
"We know where they are staying—our informant has given this information. You will go there tomorrow afternoon and kill the one in this photograph," Alphonse handed the photograph to Larry Frazier. They had everything they needed from Frazier now; he was expendable if he died. The Admiral was still under their control; his position of importance would become an asset very soon.
Larry Frazier stared at the photograph he'd been given and felt ill.
* * *
I'd slept through the rest of the night, waking around eleven. Roff was straightening the room—he'd gone downstairs to exchange our towels for clean ones and was restocking the bathroom when I woke. Roff pulled me against him when I wandered into the bathroom and gave me a gentle kiss before letting me go. I was so attached to him now, and I think he felt the same way about me. He offered to help me bathe, but I shooed him out of the bathroom and cleaned up.
"I'm going down to the gift shop to see if there's a magazine or a paperback that looks interesting," I told Roff, who was now setting Gavin's dirty clothes in a neatly folded stack. He smiled and nodded so off I went. One of Bill's guards was at the end of the hall near the stairs; our rooms were the last ones on the ninth floor. The guard nodded to me as I passed him on my way to the stairs.
Winkler was in the coffee shop, typing away on his laptop; I caught his scent on my way to the gift shop. Taking a detour from my intended target, I walked inside the coffee shop instead and sat down at Winkler's table.
"Want another cinnamon roll?" Winkler looked up and grinned at me. Honestly, that grin alone could make just about any female heart flop like a landed fish.
"I may have one," I smiled back at him and went to the counter to order it. I set my latte and cinnamon roll on the small table while Winkler finished sending e-mails. "What's the status on little Winkler and Winklerette?" I asked, using my plastic knife and fork to cut into my cinnamon roll.
"Everything seems to be fine," Winkler looked over the lid of his laptop. "I think Kellee snapped at Trajan, so he refused to let her go shopping for a day."
"A fate worse than death," I nodded, stuffing a generous bite of frosting-coated cinnamon roll in my mouth. "What about Whitney and Sam?" I asked about Winkler's sister and her husband—they'd been married a year and a half now.
"Whitney wanted to drop out of school and get pregnant," Winkler grumped. "I told her she had plenty of time for that later. Sam doesn't know how to say no to her, so I had to be the bad guy."
"I'm surprised you said no to her," I pointed my plastic fork at him. "I thought she was spending your money faster than you could earn it when I first met her."
"She does have a tendency to wear out credit cards," Winkler chuckled.
"Whitney can wear out a credit card in a single mall," I teased Winkler. "I should know—I've seen her do it."
"Then it's a good thing I have money, isn't it?" He closed his laptop and slipped it into the case he'd brought with him.
"I'm thinkin' it is," I said, eating another bite of cinnamon roll.
"Roff told me you have no money," Winkler wasn't looking at me as he took a sip from his coffee cup.
"Baby vamps aren't allowed to earn money," I grumped. "I'm a dependent until my five years are up, which pisses me off no end. I'm supposed to have a trust fund somewhere, but I haven't seen the financials. Merrill is handling that for me. I inherited my real sire's holdings when Gavin offed him after he was sentenced by the Council."
"Gavin killed him?" Winkler's eyebrows lifted in alarm. I snorted.
"I thought he was going to kill me, too," I said. "Those two twits who turned me had done that sort of thing before. They thought it was a game. I was the only one who lived over it," I set my plastic fork down with a sigh. I'd only gotten halfway through this cinnamon roll, too.
"I didn't mean to bring up bad memories," Winkler said, covering one of my hands with warm fingers.
"Both times I've stood before the Council haven't been good memories," I agreed. "And those holding cells they have suck."
"I guess you can't let vampires out on bond, huh?" Winkler was trying to steer me away from the subject.
"They won't ever put this vampire back in one of those cracker boxes," I said. "And I think they know that, now. If they ever have a problem with me, they're gonna have to kill me quickly while I'm unsuspecting."
"Lissa, if I didn't see pure worship in Gavin's eyes every time he looks at you while you're not watching, I'd take you out of here today and they'd never find you again. You'd be raising my kids, baby, if you wanted to. Kellee is already saying she's leaving as soon as she can get up and walk after the twins are born."
"Life is just way too complicated, isn't it?" I squeezed Winkler's fingers and took my hand away. The thought of having kids that I could bring up? That was an old wound. Howard Graham made sure I'd never have any of my own and that wasn't anything that vampires got, either. "Your twins will just have to settle for having Auntie Lissa, who sends them birthday and Christmas presents."
"Don't forget you'll have a house next door—they can come over and play. Surely Gavin can't control you every minute after the five years are up, and you only have three more to go."
"Yeah. I hope I make it through the next three years."
"It won't be forever," Winkler said. "You can come to Whitney's graduation. She should be finishing her master's at the same time."
"That'll be nice. I'll look forward to that," I sighed. Winkler and I both got up and headed toward the elevator; it was already two in the afternoon. Halfway up to the ninth floor, my skin began to itch and then it was on fire. Winkler grunted when I grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the elevator as mist, and we were zooming upward through the remaining floors. The guard was already down and dead when we reached our floor and Larry Frazier was kicking in René and Tony's door as we sped toward him.
The door splintered before we got there and I wanted to scream at the sharpened stake that Larry held in his hand as he walked into the room. Winkler was almost th
rown to the floor as I let him go; I intended to mist in front of Larry, take the stake away and maybe toss him into a wall a time or two before I let Bill have him. The first part of my plan worked flawlessly; I materialized right in front of Larry and snatched the stake out of his hand before he had time to blink. The rest of my plan should have gone well, too, but it didn't.
I hadn't been thinking, other than to protect Tony and René and corner Larry. I could only imagine that Larry had the wrong room and intended to stake Gavin and perhaps haul me off. Who knew if I was right or not? I should have realized that a mere wooden stake couldn't have been used to kill the guard. It wasn't enough, as it turns out. The gun was, though, and after I snatched the stake, Larry let me have it with the .38 he was carrying. Twice.
Still intending to take him down, I reached out—but he was now farther away and I was falling. Pain bloomed in my chest and the room went spinning about me. The last thing I saw—before the room went dark, that is—was Winkler in wolf form, viciously snapping Larry's head from his shoulders with powerful jaws. The room itself was suddenly boiling with people of all kinds. Voices were calling my name, asking me questions, and hands were on me; I couldn't really say whose at the moment. All I know was that at least one pair of those hands was huge and blue.
Chapter 11
"What the fuck was he doing breaking into that room?" Winkler was pacing and growling. In the past hour he'd seen things he'd never thought to see, including an eight and a half foot blue giant, Lissa's father Griffin, Kifirin, another man who claimed to be a healer, Lissa's father's wife and a man with Asian features who had a thick braid that went to his waist.
Winkler and Bill had been shoved aside as Lissa's body was lifted up; all while Lissa's father was handing out instructions for her to be placed in stasis so she wouldn't bleed out. The healer and the blue giant had taken over, Tony was moved to Roff's bed and Lissa was now in Tony's spot, getting attention.
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