When they finished, Chaz stood up. “Like many of the others, I had no idea it was this desperate. I have the luxury of being isolated from the family’s day-to-day problems in L.A. but I want to go on record as supporting whatever Stefan and Jean-Louis chose to do. I’m behind you 100 percent and will help in any way I can.”
At this, everybody chimed in, a couple of the younger vamps even banging emphatically on the table which earned them the fish-eye from Pen.
Stefan then stood and waited for silence. “I thank you all. As you know, unlike our neighbors, we have been careful and selective in our acquisition of acolytes. This now is bearing fruit. We do and will present a united front.” He turned to Jean-Louis. “Bring them in.”
Jean-Louis picked up a communicator, said “Now” and Sandor opened the door to escort Markov, Karoly and Alessandr in. Both the Kandeskys and the Huszars were silenced, and wary about being in the same room with age-old rivals. One Kandesky began a low hiss and was instantly quieted by a look from Stefan.
“Tonight, we meet for one purpose. To design a method of bringing this vicious and stupid tension to a close. A short time after I was turned, another vampire appeared. His name was Felix . I was settling into the area where I finally built the castle and Felix wandered over a large area, feeding and indiscriminately turning peasants. After about fifty years, he had a large band of followers, while Pen and I had started our family with twenty-two carefully selected acolytes, among them Jean-Louis, Milos, Bela and Nikoly. As Felix’ family grew, they ranged over a larger and larger area, until we were running into each other every time we went hunting.”
One of the Kandeskys I didn’t know had a frown on his face. “You’re too new to the family. You became an acolyte after we’d given up hunting and foraging for food,” the Baron told him. Then he turned to the full room. “I know there are several who don’t remember the old days. That’s why I’m going back.”
“We had to do something if both our families were to survive. We, the Kandeskys, were beginning to branch out to trade, moving more into the regulars’ world, so we began experimenting with food to see if we could live without hunting and killing. It was during this time that Felix and I developed the Neutrality, a swath of the forest where we agreed to never hunt.”
The Baron’s story continued, taking the group through almost three hundred years of growth, consolidation and pact-building. As the Kandesky’s moved into trade and fanned out to all the mercantile centers of Europe, Felix led the Huszars in the direction of controlling large areas of small and isolated villages, developing a form of agriculture.
This lasted until Felix turned a young man named Matthais. Matthais was ambitions, ruthless and a consummate plotter who quickly worked his way up to second in command of the Huszars. Felix doted on him, pouring on him all the affection he would have given a son.
Just before the turn of the 20th century, it was obvious to all that tensions were rising in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire, the area of Central and Eastern Europe where the Huszars hunted and cultivated their prey.
“We heard rumors that Matthais was stirring up dissent. It didn’t much matter to us, we were too busy making money and expanding to the Americas.” The Baron paused, his expression turned inward as he relived the past. “Then, they began to flaunt forays into the Neutrality. This was land we’d agreed to keep in trust and they violated it. We sent many peace emissaries and negotiating teams to Felix. He listened and agreed, but it was clear he was losing control over Matthais. The Neutrality raids continued and we fought back, losing two of our family members and a few demons.”
The lights were still dim from the video presentation, making the vampires’ eyes huge and dark. I glanced at Jean-Louis and a twinge of fear went through me. If I hadn’t known, trusted and loved him, his look would have sent me running in terror. These vampires may have been worldly, sophisticated, urbane, but they were vampires. It was like looking at your pet dog and suddenly seeing the wolf inside him.
The moment passed. Jean-Louis took up the story. “One day, we assigned a watch patrol for the Neutrality. Two Kandeskys and two demons. They were moving quietly, using silent communication, when they heard noise—snarls, shrieks, hisses. They crept up to the spot and watched as a band of Huszars attacked someone. After using silver rope to immobilize their prey, we watched them stake two figures to the ground then leave.
“When it quieted down, we went over to the assassination site—it was an assassination—and found Felix and a companion, dead.”
There was no sound in the darkened room. Everyone was stunned to silence at the story of greed, murder and usurpation.
Stefan’s voice was tightly controlled as he told how emissaries from the Kandeskys went to the Huszars, looking for explanation. What they found was Matthais taking absolute control over the family, banishing dissenters into the edge of their territory and to the small, isolated villages of Eastern Europe.
“Eventually, we found out that Matthais was blaming us for Felix’ death. Our presence in the Neutrality that day had been noted by shapeshifters prowling through the woods. We suspect that the entire scenario was staged, with ‘witnesses’ to convince the rest of the family that Matthais couldn’t help Felix and barely escaped himself.” Stefan stopped.
“That’s where we are today.” Jean-Louis broke the silence. “We have more than a century of lies, deceit, murder and violence we now have to set right. We’ve been leaving them alone, thinking that their hatred wouldn’t harm us but a couple of things have happened.
“First, the end of the Cold War and the opening up of the former Soviet states. This brought immense pots of money to the region, and we’re moving to corral some of it. That frosts Matthais. Not only do we have wealth in the rest of the world, but now we’re moving in to what has been their exclusive hunting area.
“Then we brought in Maxie to oversee our expansion. They don’t have anyone who can compete with her, so if they want to keep their territory, they need to stop us from moving in. That means they need to turn Maxie. With her as a Huszar, they’ll have the ability to stop us. And, eventually, they plan to take over our entire business.”
Now it was my turn to be silent.
I don’t think I’d actually thought this whole thing through. And Jean-Louis being coy about giving me information hadn’t helped. So, that ass, that killer, that crud, that jerk wanted to turn me!
I think not!
If I wouldn’t let the one I love near my neck, I for sure wasn’t going to let some backwoods cretin get a lick.
Chapter Thirty-nine
The meeting resolved into committees willing to take on tasks. Chaz would chair the committee for propaganda, putting out rumors, statements and press releases about our push into Eastern Europe and our stunning successes. Maybe even small hints about the fat bottom line we expect.
Nik’s committee would fan out along the new border areas, probing for soft links, those Huszars tired of Matthais’ haranguing and bullying
Jean-Louis would work with Karoly and Markov to get Matthais’ Big Lie counteracted by the truth.
And Bela and Milos would start amassing weapons and ammo, placing a lot of smaller order for silver bullets and rope. Even though the Kandeskys owned the armament factories, there were Huszar spies around and a huge order would cause speculation.
And me?
Jean-Louis leaned over and softly said, “Are you ready to learn?”
At least I think he said it. I whirled around to look at him and he wore his I-wouldn’t-lie-to-you face. That usually meant he was stretching the truth. Maybe I just heard his words in my mind. I mouthed, “yes” and we headed upstairs.
Once in my apartment, I wound my arms around his neck. When I pulled his head down, I met resistance. “What’s wrong, don’t you want to kiss me?” Even though I was learning to control my impatience, my voice was petulant.
“You are such a ninny sometimes! I despair that I’ll ever see you be a gro
wn-up.” He was glimmering, so he wasn’t angry. “We have to work on getting your mind to cleanse itself and shut off probes, but at the same time be open to learn new things. It’s a balancing act.”
“Hmmmm. If I’m going to school, I’d better be comfortable.” I kicked off my shoes, pulled the dress over my head and went into my closet for one of his shirts.
He laughed. “Why, with all the clothes you have, do you wear my old shirts? They’re much too big for you, you have to roll up the sleeves, they can’t be comfortable!”
I tried for a Cheshire cat smile. “Oh, but they are. The material is soft, they’re roomy enough to wrap around my knees and they always have your scent. When I wear one, it’s as though I have you with me all the time.”
That actually shut him up.
“Whatever,” he said, flinging his jacket over a chair and rolling up his own sleeves.
Whatever? A lot of the mannerisms of these formal vamps were rubbing off on me, but it felt good to see that he was taking on some of me, as well.
We sat across from each other in front of the fireplace and his great violet-black eyes bored into mine. I felt myself slipping into some nether world, where I only had sensation, no physical body. Then I heard and felt, “This is what I’ll teach you. How to eliminate all the extraneous signals and focus only on the truth, the communication between two minds.”
I’d never felt words before, but his were bathing every part of me, pulling me closer and closer into his mind.
Then I snapped out of it. “What did you do? I was being drawn closer and closer to you.”
“Yes, I know. I didn’t want you to go into a trance, and I didn’t want you part of my mind. Not now, not yet. I was only trying to show you what could be done.”
“So you hypnotize people? That’s your silent communication?”
He grimaced. “This is going to be harder than I thought. You have such a shell. Have you ever studied yoga?”
I nodded. “I took yoga classes for exercise in L.A.”
“Well, that’s a baby step, but a step. What I’m going to teach you is a form of mind...control...maybe mind relaxation. The closest regular activity I can think to describe it is the practice of yoga. And I don’t mean the Beverley Hills Saturday morning variety before a tennis lesson and tanning session. Can you will your mind to go blank?”
I gave him a blank stare. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried.”
“Think about us making love. Think about the times when you’re solely sensation, you have no conscious thoughts. That’s the state you need to be in to send and receive messages.”
“I can’t do that! I can’t be in a constant state of arousal! Besides, that’s only because of you...” My voice trailed off as I became aware of him in my mind saying “Hush, hush, I’m not talking about the sexual part.”
He began having me concentrate on things in the room, the fire, the drapes, the sofas, to the exclusion of all else. As the night wore on, I began to absorb his voice as I felt the sensation of being part of the objects around us.
In the early hours, he stopped. “You’re beginning to understand. Now I’m going to give you sensations to remember until tonight,” and he stripped off his shirt I was wearing, laid me in front of the dying fire and started making love to me.
He was right, I was only sensation, even as I woke in the afternoon. When Elise tapped on the bedroom door and brought in coffee, I jerked back to my conscious reality. I didn’t remember going to bed—or maybe being put to bed by Jean-Louis—but I had a hazy memory of talking with him most of the night.
“Are you working today?” Elise pulled the drapes apart to a winter sun, making the leaves drip and the runoff soak the ground. “I think now the small animals feel safe coming out. The pigs don’t wander too far when it’s muddy. When the freeze starts, they’ll be back.”
I showered, pulled on some slacks and a sweater and tackled the backed-up emails. The usual, but Jazz was doing a superb job of balancing all the bureaus and facilitating the feeds to the TV show. I’d have to talk to Jean-Louis about giving her a generous year-end bonus. The pay scales at SNAP were about the best in the business, but an extra few thousand at Christmas wasn’t frowned at.
The castle was oddly quiet for having close to thirty additional people in attendance. The local Kandeskys, Bela, Milos and the others, would have gone home to sleep, leaving Chaz, Nikoly, Francois, Mira and more, with assorted demons, as houseguests. The vampires were still asleep., but I expected Josef and Lisbet, the supervisors of all the regular house staff, would be bustling, setting tables, readying fires and laying in supplies. Cooking—well, preparing—food for the Kandeskys was dead easy, nonetheless, it had to be ordered and served.
I went down to the armory to pick up a jacket and a demon, and here there was some activity. Sandor was supervising three demons who were unpacking and storing boxes of ammunition and keeping a running tally of all the weapons.
“Do you feel we’re prepared, Sandor?” I asked more for form’s sake. I didn’t really want to think about what was coming.
He gave me a long look. “Yes, we can handle it all,” he said and turned to his laptop.
Ooooo. Was he being disrespectful? Maybe he was blaming me for bringing the wrath of the Huszars down on his beloved Kandeskys. I’d have to talk to Jean-Louis about this, as well.
The sun was for show and not substance. It was colder than I suspected and a quarter of an hour was enough. The demon, I’d given up keeping the visitors straight, didn’t show any reaction, except to hold the door for me. All in all, not very satisfactory exercise.
There were fewer at dinner this night. Francois, Nik, Chaz and Mira left for home to get their projects underway. The locals, including Bela and Milos, ate quickly and excused themselves to meet with Sandor and a contingent of demons.
The chat was subdued and after dinner we watched both the US and French editions of SNAP, jotting down notes and criticisms. but nobody seemed to put their heart into it.
By midnight clumps of two and three were talking quietly. Jean-Louis stood up, took my hand and led me upstairs.
“That was preemptory of you. Did you forget how to speak?”
He looked at me as he opened the door. “That was a test. And you failed.”
“I failed? How did I fail?”
“I said we need to get started on your practice. Time is running out. Apparently, you didn’t hear me.”
I hadn’t heard him. My mind was idling along, not paying much attention to anything, jumping from thought to thought. All he’d taught me last night about concentration had flown the very leaky coop that was my brain.
He grinned. “Usually your mind isn’t a leaky coop. What’s changed?”
“I don’t know. All day hasn’t felt right. There isn’t enough of the present present .to get a hold of,” and I told him about Sandor’s comment.
“He wasn’t being disrespectful. Demons are never that. He must have sensed your discontent.”
“Am I that transparent?”
“Yes, you are. We need to work hard now to change that. We worked last night on accepting your surroundings. Tonight, we have to master shielding yourself, your thoughts. There may be danger and that’s the only way you’ll survive.”
“Danger? What danger?”
He leaned against the mantel. “You want to be with me. You don’t want me to go off, making you wait behind. As a regular, the only way you can be with me is if you’re protected. It’s for your safety and ours. Kiev was a test to see if you could be open enough to receive. You heard me, and you acted sensibly.”
I remembered hearing his voice and I remembered absorbing the items last night. Apparently, I had been learning, but wasn’t retaining.
“I told you what I was teaching you was like regulars and yoga. When you were doing it, did it just come naturally after the first lesson?”
“Of course not. You have to practice it to get...oh.”
My work was cut
out for me. I had assumed that his ability to know, his ability to see what was in my mind, was inherent, like having ESP or being color-blind. He was telling me that it was acquired and had to be studied and practiced. Just one little wrinkle here. He’d had close to 500 years to perfect it. I was trying to cram it into a couple of nights.
“You’re beginning to see. Now let me tell you the last piece of it. We’re planning a raid in two nights. Our target is Matthais. We aren’t going to kill him, because then he would just become a martyr and our troubles would multiply. We’re going to bring him to justice. We’re setting up a trial, inviting all the Huszars who care to come, to expose his perfidy.”
Kidnap Matthais? Put him on trial? It was a risky undertaking that would pay off with a jackpot if they could pull it off.
“Where do I fit in?”
“If you’re ready, if you want, I’m inviting you along with the raiding party.”
Chapter Forty
Oh. My. God. He was asking me if I wanted to break into the Huszars’ fortress and kidnap the head of the nasty family, the vampire who had brought misery to the countryside, the vampire who had supported Hitler because it served his ends, the vampire who was trying to wipe the Kandeskys off the face of the earth.
Well, maybe not.
Of course I wanted to go. I’d be with Jean-Louis. I’d get to meet this horror who was bent on destroying my home, my family, my love.
And, truth to tell, I was scared witless.
I had a mouthful of “what ifs” when he put a finger across my lips, then leaned over to kiss me, gently, gently.
“I know you’re frightened. And you should be. Even a lot of us are scared this might not go well, but we’ve hedged our bets. The faction led by Karoly is growing and he’s arranged for many of them to be recalled home for a planning session. Maybe ten percent of the Huszars at the castle the night of the raid will be ours.”
That made me feel better. Still terrified, though.
“What do I have to do?”
“You have to practice to proficiency your ability to close off your mind. We aren’t the only ones who have silent communication. Once they spot us, the Huszars will be probing for any way to get into our minds.”
SNAP: New Talent Page 17