"Are you just enjoying the conversation or are you listening for anything in particular?" I asked.
"I just like to listen," Roff said. "I learn many things that way. The comesuli are all cursing someone named Gabron."
"Well, they're not alone," I sighed.
* * *
"You know I have no problem with your business, or with your attraction to some of your girls, Gabron. What I have a problem with is your treatment of Lissa. What your normal practices have cost her. I was the one who brought this to my king's attention, because it involved many things, some of which concern him. My spies found out about Desire nearly three weeks ago—shortly after you hired her. You did not allow Lissa to review the application, did you?" Erland's arms were crossed over his chest. Gabron had been a friend and he was doing this out of respect for the old vampire.
"Lissa was not speaking to me."
"Lissa would have spoken to you if you had asked. If you had bothered to apologize. Yet you did not. Why is that, Gabron?"
"I am old as a vampire—you know this. I allowed my pride to hold me back. I generally know more than most—the experience is there. But I have only dealt with the females who worked for me all this time. I have forgotten that not all women are meant to bow or be subservient to my every whim. And I certainly had no experience with a Queen Vampire. It went right past me that she ruled Le-Ath Veronis instead of me. I am used to being in charge, Lord Morphis. Much of Refizan has been under my influence for a very long time."
"Could you not have loosened that grip, just a bit, for the Queen?"
"I did not think so. And I threw it all away, as you see."
"What do you intend to do now?"
"I do not know. Perhaps I will turn my interests in another direction. In the meantime, I have paid to clear away the graffiti from her statue. I still have some connections, after all. It was the least I could do."
"There were unkind things painted there," Erland agreed.
"I saw the interview she gave two days ago."
"Disturbing, wouldn't you say?" Erland examined his fingernails.
"She looks frail."
"She does. We are at a loss as to what to do about it. She has lost two mates, after all."
"Two?"
"You know Roff doesn't have a memory left in his head concerning her. Or his children. Some effect of the near-death, I assume."
"I know. At least she doesn't despise him, now."
"You have a choice to make, Gabron. Work to forget her, or work to get her back." Erland folded away.
* * *
Flavio had placed a piano in New Fangled, but nobody was playing. I'd gotten through half my bottle of blood substitute and Roff had ceased talking, choosing to listen to the kitchen conversation instead. He didn't notice when I left my seat and walked toward the piano.
I played and performed Follow Me, an old John Denver song. I got a round of applause when I was done, so I followed that with another John Denver song, Seasons of the Heart. Abba's I Have a Dream finished it off.
"I'm going home," I told Roff when I went back to our booth.
"I did not know you could do that," he nodded toward the piano.
"Now you do," I said and turned to mist in front of him. It would have been too heartbreaking to stay.
* * *
"Lissy, come to dinner with me." I was cleaning up in the huge walk-in shower in my suite, which meant that Tony could walk right in. The spray from my shower hid the tears that had fallen. Tony had stripped down to his underwear, but that came off quickly, all it took was a quick rip-through with his claws. Tony doesn't ever have to bite to make me come. He knew me. Up, down and sideways. He knew to cushion my back with his hands against the shower wall. He knew I didn't like the spray in my face. He knew just the right pace to go to make me crazy. He knew to urge me on when the climax started and he liked it if I squealed a little.
Dinner was roast beef and I ate. More than I had recently, anyway. We settled in the library after the meal, having coffee or drinks. Shadow had come—he was splitting as much time between Grey House and Le-Ath Veronis as he could. It was becoming a habit to watch the vid screen in the library to see what new crap was being spouted about me or Le-Ath Veronis. No, gambling hadn't slacked off—the applications were increasing. They all wanted to be near the scandal, I guess. Another vampire had paid the crown to take over Gabron's brothels and they'd become a tourist attraction. Figures. I made sure I was far away when the tours came through the palace.
News travels fast, too, I learned, as footage of me singing inside New Fangled was splashed across the screen during the news. Somehow, either a vampire or a sneaky reporter had recorded all of it. Then the program switched to their version of breaking news. An Alliance world was displayed and an entire city there was on fire after an explosion had destroyed more than half of it. And then the camera turned to show all of us something I hadn't ever expected to see again. My mates were shouting at me as I folded away in a blink.
Chapter 14
Ra'Ak. Copper Ra'Ak—three of them, blasting everything about them with barely a thought. There were no High Demons here to neutralize their power. I figured the attacking Ra'Ak had already eaten as many of the population as they could hold, there on Phericia. Now they were toying with what was left, killing, exploding, destroying. Where had these come from? I'd forced all living Ra'Ak back to their original forms on Kifirin, as well as taking power away from the Elemaiya. Now I was looking at three of the Copper bastards. Well, I knew how to take care of that. They exploded in quick succession. And since the attack on the city was being recorded, the deaths of the Ra'Ak were shown in live vid feeds across the Alliance.
After I eliminated them, I went looking for any spawn or Ra'Ak-enhanced humanoids. They'd taken over an entire island and were preparing to ship out to other parts of Phericia. They died. I went to energy and just blasted them. I was filthy when I got back to the palace. Gavin didn't say a word; he just plucked me from the floor and took off toward my suite.
"Cara, you frighten me more than I can say," he muttered as he scrubbed me. My clothing had gone straight into the garbage.
"Gavin, I know you love me," I put my hands on either side of his face, keeping him from talking for just a moment. "I love you too, in case you haven't heard those words from me for a while. More than I can say. Let it go for now, all right? Just let this moment be good. As perfect as we can make it. You know by now that this is what I am. If vampires could have exploding aneurysms, you would have had one long ago."
"Cara, I only do this because the idea of losing you is so frightening to me. Perhaps that is why I took so long to remember you—I think they had to give me an extra dose of forgetfulness to begin with."
"It would take an extra dose for you, honey."
"Yes, it most certainly would." He finished cleaning me up and then took me straight to bed.
* * *
"Our baby took care of business." Drake gave Drew a high five as they watched the vid screen in the bar. They'd been hunting down and clearing out the Ra'Ak-enhanced as quickly as they could, but they'd stopped to eat at a local pub and watched as three Ra'Ak exploded, one right after the other, surrounded by a burning city that the Ra'Ak had done all they could to demolish.
"You know something about that?" The bartender pointed to the screen.
"Not a lot," Drew hedged. He couldn't lie, and that wasn't a lie. They just knew Lissa had done the deed, that's all they knew.
"Hell of a thing," the bartended said, placing a fresh beer in front of the twins. "The Alliance troops are still trying to figure out how they died. Nothing else was getting through to those things. The city was on fire because the troops started throwing everything they had against those snakes."
"They're pretty nasty," Drake agreed and went back to his food and beer.
* * *
"Father, I think I upset the Raona."
"How did you do that, child?" Flavio studied Roff, who seemed
distressed. Roff's wings rustled in agitation; Flavio had no hope of controlling Roff's emotions in that way. He'd never turned a winged vampire.
"I took her to New Fangled to get a bottle of blood substitute, but I had to ignore her after a while, to keep my body under control." Roff's golden-brown eyes begged for Flavio's help.
"What did she do?"
"Father, she left the table to play the piano you brought in and she sang, too. It was lovely. But then she came back, said she was leaving and disappeared right in front of me."
"Child, I have erred and not taught you the proper way to date a woman," Flavio sighed. "You must never ignore your date. And if you had told Lissa the truth, I think she would have made you happy. Very happy."
* * *
"Lissa, wake up, avilepha."
"Hmmm?" It was three hours before I was scheduled to rise; I could feel it. Yet here Kifirin was, waking me up in the middle of, well, it was always night on this part of Le-Ath Veronis.
"Shhh, do not wake Gavin. You must come with me, m'hala. Now." I opened my eyes and looked into Kifirin's angel face. He was so beautiful.
"Avilepha, it pleases me greatly that you find me appealing. But come. There are things you must do, my love and quickly, before the universes are torn asunder."
"What's wrong?" I was coming off the bed in a fraction of a second.
"I was hoping you would search out the source for the Ra'Ak-enhanced before the Ra'Ak themselves began to appear. Too many other difficulties have distracted you instead. I will visit one of those distractions shortly. Meanwhile, you must rise, dress, have a cup of tea with me and reason this out swiftly. Time is very short."
I was flinging clothes on as I walked down the hall leading away from my suite. Gavin continued to sleep peacefully in my bed—Kifirin must have muted the noise I made. The guards posted outside my suite nodded to Kifirin and me as we walked away from them. Comesuli were already in the kitchen, preparing dough to rise and getting things ready for the day. A cup of tea was handed to me with a smile. I kissed Cheedas on the cheek and he grinned at me.
"Now, avilepha, think. Where are these things coming from? And bear in mind that many of the worlds that have already been cleared are now infected again." Somehow, Kifirin couldn't help me with this. I didn't know why, but I knew things had suddenly gone critical. Kifirin and I wandered down the lengthy main hall through my palace as we talked.
"This started with the Khos'Mirai, I think," I told him. "Dragon said he was involved. He must have said or done something to make the Ra'Ak aware that they could combine their DNA with the Dark Elemaiya." Kifirin nodded enthusiastically at my assessment. Yeah, I wasn't at my best, trying to think this early. I hoped the tea was helping. "And," I went on, "The Bright Elemaiya sure wanted to get their hands on the Ka-Mirai, because they wanted to change something awfully bad. But we never found out what that was, did we?" I drank more tea, begging my brain to wake.
"Who would know?" he asked.
"Let's go back to the kitchen," I glanced at Kifirin. His dark eyes looked as if they held stars in their depths, at times. I pulled myself away from that and headed to the kitchen almost at a run.
"Cheedas, can you pack a basket of goodies, like for a picnic?"
"I can, Raona, but it is raining outside. Not the best of times for something like that," he informed me as he packed food into a hand basket pulled hastily from the pantry.
"We're not staying here for the picnic," I said, patting Cheedas on the shoulder. I grabbed the basket and folded Kifirin to Evensun.
* * *
"Grandmother, I brought food for you if you will answer my questions," I told her. Narissa's hair was matted and she was filthy. She smelled, too. My murderous grandmother sat outside a poorly constructed lean-to, covered in limbs and wide leaves. It probably leaked like a sieve when it rained. She hadn't done much to help herself—that was evident. The Bright Elemaiya, once so pristine, had fallen completely. They were all as filthy and unkempt as Narissa. She glared angrily at me and if she hadn't been hungry, I would never have gotten anything from her.
"What do you want, hateful child?" She spat at me.
"Why did the Bright Elemaiya want the Ka-Mirai so badly?" I asked. "If you tell me, this food is yours. Refuse and I take it with me."
"Stupid girl," Narissa wasn't finished hurling insults. She cursed me in the Elemaiyan language, calling me names I would never use against even the worst offenders. Well, she didn't have much room to talk—as far as her insults went. Kifirin stood nearby, blowing smoke. I didn't know whether Narissa realized how much danger Kifirin presented. I swung the basket a little, enticing her. She knew she would never be faster than I was—she was mortal and I had vampire speed. "We all voted, after the proposal was made," Narissa grumbled. "We were offered money and an entire city was taken by the Ra'Ak for us in which to spend the winter. They killed all the humans, leaving everything they owned behind. We had food, warm beds, stores of goods and fuel and it was warmer there than where we've been forced to winter, most times."
"What did they ask for, in return?" I said. Narissa was taking the slow way toward the destination.
"The Dark Mirror—the Khos'Mirai, was sold to the Ra'Ak long ago by our Dark cousins. We could not find the Ka'Mirai, so we set about taking him back for ourselves. We should have ended his life immediately when he was brought to our Queen. He could do nothing for us—his ability was reserved for the Dark Elemaiya only. Instead of killing him, Friesianna let him live. The Ra'Ak came to us after a time and made an offer. Our Queen placed a geis on the Khos'Mirai so he could never harm us. That was our fear with the Khos'Mirai—that unless he was carefully supervised, he would bring about the destruction of the Bright race. We sold him back to the Ra'Ak for one winter's comfort. We should have asked for more."
"Old woman, I pity you at times," I said and handed the basket over. This was the worst of news—the Ra'Ak had gotten their hands on the Khos'Mirai a second time. He was still alive. Now, terrible things were happening and if what Kifirin said was correct, everything might be about to collapse.
* * *
"I'm sorry to barge in like this, but I have rotten news," I said. Kiarra sat at her kitchen island having breakfast with Joey, Bearcat and Norton; Erland's other honey-loves. I wondered briefly if they knew about the male-female cycles.
"What do you have?" Kiarra offered Kifirin and me a place at the island.
"Do you know that the Khos'Mirai was sold to the Ra'Ak by the Dark Elemaiya, and then somebody managed to get him away and turn him over to the Bright Elemaiya?" I asked, accepting the glass of orange juice she poured for me. Kifirin got one, too. I noticed Joey and the others were now staring at Kifirin. Yep, definitely the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.
"Yes. The Ra'Ak were using him to cause terrible things to happen," she nodded.
"Well, those fools that called themselves Bright Elemaiya turned around and sold him right back to the Ra'Ak, after their queen put a geis on him not to destroy their race."
Kiarra's fork clattered onto her plate. "You're kidding," she said, her beautiful face settling into a worried frown. "We thought he was dead—that the Bright ones killed him."
"Nope. They sold him back to the Ra'Ak. It's my guess that the Khos'Mirai convinced a few Ra'Ak to listen and told them to either go backward or forward in time so they wouldn't be caught up in what I did to the rest of them. Now, they're sending their Ra'Ak-enhanced armies out to destroy entire worlds, all while hiding from us. I'm still working on how and where they might be able to do that," I muttered angrily. "And I think all these Ra'Ak-enhanced are quarter or eighth-bloods. Those would still have enough Elemaiya in them, Bright and Dark, to accept Ra'Ak DNA. All they have to do is go up and down the timeline, kidnap as many as they can find while deliberately breeding others and presto, you have sufficient numbers." I gulped my OJ. It was very good—fresh squeezed.
"So, they've been breeding them purposely, too," Kiarra nodded, her eyebrows drawi
ng together in thought. "But where are they hiding? Where have they been, all this time? The Ra'Ak must be shielding them heavily."
"Kifirin seems to think the universes are in trouble, but he can't give me details. He says I have to figure this out and then find a way to deal with it."
"You wouldn't be able to find them easily if they were hiding inside a void," Joey suggested.
"A void?" I stared at him. He was Merrill's last vampire turn and reportedly a genius. Around five-eight in height, he had strawberry-blond hair a shade darker than mine and green eyes. Those eyes were trained on me while ideas formed behind them.
"Yeah. Where there isn't much of anything. It would be easier to find a single grain of sand in the ocean, I think."
"But what would happen if something was stuck inside a void—something that didn't belong?" I asked. "What would that do?"
"Things would definitely be out of balance, I think," Joey said. "The largest void actually counterbalances everything else—sort of weighing what is empty against what is full."
"There used to be a gate, too, into that void," Griffin appeared at my elbow. "Hello, daughter. Amara says to give you a kiss from her," Griffin leaned down to do that. "The baby will be here soon. Therefore, you have to wrap this up quickly."
"But I closed the gates down to everybody except the Saa Thalarr and people like that," I said.
"But the Ra'Ak have the power to open a new gate, although their gates stay open afterward, unless they deliberately close them again. The original gates had to be held open with power. They would also shut immediately after you traveled through them. What do you think that might mean, sweetheart?" Griffin blinked at me.
"That there's an open gate into a void." I said what I knew.
"A void is a very cold place," Joey offered. "If they've stuck a planet or something like it inside a void, it would be a warmer spot in a very cold place. Right?"
"Let me get this straight," I muttered. "They've placed a planet or something inside the void, where it shouldn't be. Just so they can raise their enhanced soldiers, after collecting them up and down the timeline, that is. And then they took them out a gate, while there was still a gate, but they had to create another one when I closed the gates against them," I said.
Blood Rebellion (Blood Destiny #7) Page 23