Blood Double

by Connie Suttle

  Teeg, I sent.

  Reah?

  As soon as this is over, Edward is taking me home. I'm not feeling well.

  I was hoping you'd spend the night.

  Please don't ask.

  Astralan wants to see you.

  Tell him to visit Avendor tomorrow.

  If there's nothing to prevent it, I'll come with him.

  If that's what you want.

  Reah, we've spent two nights together in the past six months.

  I know. You're always welcome on Avendor. Edward says so.

  I don't like the way he and Aurelius watch me while I'm there.

  You think they don't have cause?

  Reah, let's discuss this another time. I have work to do tonight.

  As you say, Founder. I cut off the mindspeech before I became more upset than I already was, and Edward was sending love and concern in my direction—he knew I was upset.

  * * *

  Breanne's Journal

  Tell me about this one. Teeg's mental order was terse. He was upset about something, but I didn't want to know what that might be. The grand ballroom at the San Gerxon Casino was filled with people, all of them dressed extravagantly and all of them drinking, talking and laughing.

  This many people always made me uncomfortable. Receiving so much information at once usually gave me a headache, so I kept my eyes lowered, staring at shirts, dresses or jewelry instead. The man Teeg indicated was short, balding and holding a large glass of wine in his hand. What looked to be a servant stood at his elbow. I focused on the targeted face.

  There is little there, I returned. He believes himself in charge. The one at his elbow is running his kingdom and offering little in the way of authority or information to the figurehead at his side.

  You're joking? filtered into my head. Teeg walked up to the President of Theele and shook his hand in the accepted way. Come with me, Teeg added.

  Reah, Teeg's lovely, white-haired High Demon mate, spoke with someone nearby and paid no mind to his departure. I hadn't looked directly into her face, hoping not to read her. I'd read enough about her in Teeg's reading, and wanted to hit him for what I'd seen.

  It also seemed that the newly elected President of Theele was happy with the attention he was getting from Teeg San Gerxon and happily trotted beside Teeg, his taller, thinner shadow following close behind. I trailed the entourage discreetly as Teeg led them into a meeting room behind the ballroom. Close the door, Teeg instructed as I walked inside. Obediently, I closed the door behind me.

  "I was hoping we might meet in private sometime tomorrow," Teeg said smoothly to President Ferdik of Theele. "Just you and I, with no one else present. I have things to discuss that must remain between the two of us."

  "Oh, no, Nall here goes everywhere with me. Keeps me up to date and helps me remember things," Ferdik chuckled. "You won't even know he's there. When would you like to meet?"

  "Breanne, would you come here for a moment?" Teeg said. He'd deliberately kept his gaze on Ferdik and didn't look my way as he spoke. I went.

  "This is my new assistant, Breanne. Nall, hit her." Compulsion coated his words and I barely saw the punch coming before I was hit in the face.

  * * *

  "I didn't know he would hit her so hard, or that she wouldn't duck. She's vampire, for cripe's sake." Teeg's shirt was unbuttoned, his tie lying loose on his desk.

  "I believe Stellan wants to punch you right now." Astralan set a drink on Teeg's desk.

  "I said I didn't know. I only wanted to get Nall Seak arrested for assault, so I could grill Ferdik alone and look into Theele's puppet kingdom."

  "I'm assuming you laid compulsion on both of them before I arrived?" Astralan asked dryly.

  "You assume correctly. How's the girl?"

  "Fractured facial bones, Kevis says. Half her face is purple and black and her left eye is swelled shut."

  "Fuck."

  "Stellan's pissed."

  "I understood that from your previous statement."

  * * *

  Breanne's Journal

  "I want to go home."

  "I know that. Teeg wants you to stay." Kevis focused on my face and eye—the one I couldn't see through. It didn't matter, the right one still worked fine. Kevis wasn't happy and he was upset with Teeg. He wasn't alone in the upset department. Honestly, I would have settled for upset. I was seething. Teeg had done what he could to separate President Ferdik from Nall Seak—for a full two days. Have Nall arrested, get Ferdik alone. That was the plan. I received a black eye, bruises and broken facial bones out of it, for the second time in a matter of months.

  "And if I refuse?"

  "I believe Gavin would like you to stay."

  "Oh. The command from the sire. How nice for me," I muttered angrily.

  "Hold still, I can heal this. You'll only have a fading bruise tomorrow and the warlocks can cover that up."

  "Really? So that's supposed to make this all right?"

  "I didn't say that," Kevis place cool fingers on my face to remove the pain. "I realize this may have brought up bad memories. I can place you in a healing sleep after this, if you want."

  "I don't want. And we won't be talking after this."

  "Talking?"

  "You asking me uncomfortable questions and me spilling my guts. That talking."

  "I'll find another therapist for you."

  "No, you won't. We're done."

  "You can't let this stand in the way of your health."

  "My health was just compromised by the Founding Member of the Campiaan Alliance. Is that part of the health you're talking about?"

  "I see we're not getting anywhere tonight. We'll discuss this later."

  "No, we won't."

  "I'll finish this, and you'll be ready for the meeting in the morning." Kevis went about his business and left a few minutes later. I sighed and crawled in bed.

  * * *

  Breakfast was brought on a tray to my room. The cook, a man in his late thirties, brought it to me as I stared at the selections in the closet. Deciding that Teeg's appointment for the day wasn't as formal as the meet and beat I'd gone to the night before, I pulled a blouse and tailored slacks off hangers and dressed.

  Stellan took my arm as he led me downstairs toward the tunnel entrance we'd used the night before. "The boss built this as safe passage between the palace and his casino," Stellan murmured as we joined Teeg and Stellan's three brothers. Teeg didn't offer an apology. I wasn't surprised. Stellan kept my hand in the crook of his arm as we walked through the tunnel. Since I couldn't read him, I glanced at his brother, Astralan.

  "Get us out of here," I shrieked. "Get us out now!" I have no idea who transported us from the tunnel, but it exploded in a fireball behind us.

  Chapter 6

  Rain poured off the roof outside the small room we occupied, while thunder rumbled over Campiaa City, occasionally rattling windows and shaking the ground with its intensity. Teeg was furious and all his warlocks grumbled as employees were brought in for questioning.

  Stellan sat beside me, arms tightly wound around my body as I shivered in shock. Someone had just made an assassination attempt on Teeg San Gerxon. Only his employees (very few of them, in fact) had access to the tunnel doors. Enough explosives had been packed into the center section of the tunnel to destroy it and cave in the ground above it.

  The destruction included several small businesses built on the surface, some of which were filled with shoppers and clients. Seventeen deaths were reported and many more victims had been transported to a local hospital for treatment.

  My purpose in being in the questioning room was to validate the answers to Teeg's compulsion-laden questions. I knew before he did whether the employee was innocent. We were getting down to the last few; none Teeg had questioned had anything to do with the attempt and Teeg's fury was growing. Only those he'd trusted were left; that meant betrayal of the worst kind.

  The moment the brothers were brought in together, I knew. Two men,
in their forties, but that didn't mean old where I was. One hundred fifty might be old, if your expected lifespan was two hundred or more. These still looked very young. They'd worked for Teeg for fifteen years, and they'd just sold him out. That wasn't all I knew, either, when I gazed at them. My voice trembled as I pronounced their doom.

  "They were paid. Nall Seak paid them. Nall is no longer in jail; he has escaped and President Ferdik is dead in his suite."

  "Astralan, go. See about Ferdik. Take a few guards with you," Teeg ordered tersely. He rounded on the two who stood before him, then. He cursed them and they cowered. He'd given them opportunities and they'd risen in his business concerns. The promise of a big payday had lured them away quickly, however.

  I was the one who cringed when Teeg began to destroy the room. It ended when he turned to mist and blasted the glass wall of the room outward, allowing the rain, wind and the scent of wet grass inside.

  * * *

  "They're still alive, in case you're curious." Kevis was back. Stellan had been forced to leave me behind at Teeg's palace after Teeg ordered him and his brother Celestan to escort prisoners to the local CSD cells. Astralan and Galaxsan were told to arrange for a contingent from Theele to claim the body of President Ferdik. Teeg's two employees had allowed assassins inside Ferdik's suite—they had security clearance and held the proper chips to gain access.

  "You should allow a healing sleep; you're shaking," Kevis added in a conversational tone. His eyes (and my reading) betrayed how much the attempt on Teeg's life had rattled him.

  "How's Gav?" Another man appeared in the room, and if I'd thought Flavio was the handsomest man I'd ever seen, he just took a back seat to Erland Morphis, father of Rylend Morphis, King of Karathia. Erland was also mated to the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. As Erland's son, Rylend, was Queen Lissa's son, that meant he was a half-brother to Teeg San Gerxon, AKA Gavril Montegue.

  "Gavril is fine. He wouldn't be if this one hadn't given warning."

  "Foreseers are rare," Erland Morphis came closer, leaning slightly to peer at my face.

  "She's not a foreseer. I don't know what she is," Kevis turned to Erland. "She can read what you are, no matter how many shields you have around you. Pheligar says she can even read Larentii."

  Erland blinked at me in confusion. Well, I usually did, too. I'd never heard of anyone who could do what I did, and I still considered it a terrible curse. "What am I?" he asked.

  "Do you want the short or long version?" I said.

  "Short will do."

  "Erland Morphis. Father to Rylend Morphis. Mate of Queen Lissa of Le-Ath Veronis. Also mated to Joey, Bearcat and Norton, from NorthStar. Advisor to your son Rylend, who is King of Karathia. A first-level warlock, with strong spell-casting ability."

  "Fuck me," Erland muttered, his face now so close to mine I felt uncomfortable. "Is that your real eye color? It's not enhanced?"

  "Sadly, it is not enhanced." So many people in my past hadn't gotten past my eye color and considered me a freak because of it. They hadn't waited to see what else I could do that would truly brand me a freak.

  "Tell Gavril that Rylend and I will return later. I must go. Something requires my attention." He'd turned away from me to speak with Kevis, and then he'd disappeared. I hadn't said what else I'd seen in Erland Morphis—that he was a man of honor. A shaky sigh escaped my lips and I hugged myself.

  * * *

  Gavin was silent as I was dropped off in his office. I remained silent as well, and as soon as Stellan brushed hair away from my face and said a quick farewell, he was gone. Campiaa was in turmoil and I had Council meetings to look forward to in the morning. Without a word, I left Gavin's office and made my way toward the Queen's suite. I'd been given Lissa's face again—by Astralan. Stellan didn't want anything to do with it, and voiced his opinion on the matter. It made no difference in the end. I seemed to be owned by the Crown on Le-Ath Veronis.

  * * *

  "That's what I was told. He identified himself as Jarnis when he brought her in, and said she would be taking Lissa's place." Gavin accepted a drink from a comesula. Most of Lissa's mates had gathered inside the Queen's library to discuss Breanne and why she'd been brought to Le-Ath Veronis in the beginning. Thurlow and the Larentii were noticeably absent.

  "Jarnis is only one of the Powers That Be," Karzac named the lowest level of the Hierarchy of gods and godlings. "And a low-ranking one. I would prefer to ask Belen before jumping to conclusions," Karzac accepted a drink from the comesuli servant and murmured his thanks.

  "I don't believe that Lissa would leave us without saying something," Drew said.

  "She has before," Tony pointed out. "When she was pissed."

  "She always came back, though," Drake said. "And she wasn't pissed, this time. She said she had things to do."

  "Adam, Merrill and Kiarra are still away, too," Shadow said. "Mom told me that. Belen sent them on a private mission." Shadow referred to his mother, Shannon, who was a healer for the Saa Thalarr.

  "I could have told you that," Karzac grumped. "Dragon and Grace say the same."

  "So, something important may be up, Lissa may or may not be back and we have a doppelganger to take her place," Aryn muttered.

  "Jarnis also said I could have Breanne if I wanted. As a mate. I have a mate. I don't need another." Gavin emptied his glass in one swallow.

  "Dude, I don't think Breanne would have you if you were covered in gold," Drew snorted. "I've seen the way she looks at you. Why the hell did you turn her, anyway? You could have found somebody else."

  "We might have no control over her, otherwise," Gavin grumbled. "And Jarnis was quite clear—he said she was nearing the end of her human life and it was required that she become vampire. He ordered that I see to it and left before I could ask questions. Now she is a loose cannon—and unmanageable inside the Council Chamber."

  "She hasn't done anything that Lissa hasn't needed to do for years," Rigo observed. "I have told our Queen many times that she was spending herself into the poorhouse by subsidizing palace expenses with her own funds. This one saw immediately what needed to be dealt with and proceeded to do so."

  "I'm saying that she may have been planted here to take Lissa's place, and we are supposed to accept it. I have difficulty accepting that. I have difficulty accepting her. She will never take Lissa's place. Not while I live."

  "I propose we wait until we have all the facts before making hasty judgments," Roff said. He'd remained silent, preferring to listen until now. He hadn't forgotten, either, how Breanne had come to him and begged him to hire an employee. Roff reluctantly hired the comesula and was now glad that he'd followed Breanne's advice.

  "If Lissa comes back, I'll see to it that this one is forced out. I don't like the idea of anyone holding Lissa's position, even temporarily," Gavin muttered.

  * * *

  "I heard it, Master Cheedas. Gavin said that she is here to take the Queen's place." The comesula servant set his drink tray on a kitchen counter.

  "That will never happen," Cheedas' eyes went red in anger. "That will never happen."

  * * *

  Breanne's Journal

  Whatever peace I'd gained with the comesuli ended abruptly. Breakfast was burned and inedible and I had to dress and do my own hair—the usual assistant never came. Gavin was unbearable when he came for me, and several Council members blinked in surprise when he interrupted me during the day's proceedings. He was supposed to be there to guard the Queen, and he was adding his two-cents instead. Nevertheless, the ticket prices for palace tours were increased, but that was the last item on a very long list of other budgeting concerns.

  At least the five comesuli had shown up and taken their seats, although a few vampires glared at their presence. I knew who all those vampires were, however, and made sure the comesuli were carefully guarded as they exited the palace. I also learned the extent of the palace comesuli defection when I went back to the Queen's suite—it hadn't been cleaned, the bed was unmade and no laund
ry had been taken away. It didn't matter—I'd already seen in Gavin's face the kind of poison he was capable of spreading.

  I was making the bed when Gavin and Teeg showed up—again. I hadn't eaten since a blood break during the Council meeting, felt I wasn't welcome in the kitchen and was waiting until most of the kitchen workers were gone before going to scrounge for a meal when my two least-favorite people appeared.

  "Go with Teeg, he needs your assistance again," Gavin growled. I couldn't refuse Gavin's order, therefore I had to change clothes, freshen up and go with Teeg San Gerxon. It didn't matter that I was tired and hungry; I was hauled to a private meeting room where Teeg had gathered the contingent from Theele. They'd come to escort Ferdik's body back to his home planet, and the population of Theele wasn't happy with Campiaa at the moment.

  Ferdik's election had been a popularity contest, it seemed, and Ferdik, spouting platitudes and anything else the majority of Theele's population wanted to hear, had won easily. Then, with Nall and his faction secretly in charge, Ferdik had proceeded to fleece the population. Only the population hadn't realized it yet.

  Are any of these in league with Nall? Teeg growled mentally as we walked into the room. I read all eight of them. Two had ties with Nall. One of them knew where he was.

  "This one knows where Nall is," I pointed to one of the two who'd sat together on the end. Thankfully, Astralan and Stellan were there to hold back the other six as Teeg questioned Nall's conspirators. The ordeal turned into an ugly mess and by the time my night was over—yes, I'd stayed up the entire night while the two were questioned by Teeg and the others in their party—I was exhausted. The two culprits had arranged to have Ferdik killed, hoping to pin the murder on Teeg since he hadn't had the good sense to die earlier in the explosion. It just hadn't turned out the way they planned.

  * * *

  Journalists and news crews from both Alliances were descending on Campiaa and Theele like seagulls on a stranded minnow when word got out. In a matter of hours, arrests were happening across Theele—it seemed that Nall and his cronies were handing out tax breaks like popcorn to those they liked, in exchange for some of those savings to be passed in their direction. Ferdik had been a bumbling fool of a politician and a front for those with more nefarious objectives.