Blood Royal (Blood Destiny #5)

by Connie Suttle

  "Of course I will," I said. I just needed to be prepared to go to mist and take the occupants of the car with me as mist if anything happened. I ended up in the back seat of an SUV with Wlodek; Radomir was driving and Gavin sat up front with him.

  Wlodek spoke after a bit, surprising me. "Lissa, I hear you were involved in quite a fight when you were offworld." Uh-oh. Merrill must have spilled the beans. Wlodek was waiting as I hesitated before answering.

  "I was," I admitted. "But there wasn't anything else I could do unless we wanted to hand the entire planet over to the Ra'Ak. Do you know what they are?" I watched Wlodek's face; he was attractive without a doubt; his olive skin was flawless, his nose straight and his dark eyes concealed centuries of secrets. He didn't seem to care that he was handsome and always dressed as if he were going to be photographed for a men's fashion magazine. He had impeccable taste—I don't think anyone else made his clothing choices for him.

  "I know what the Ra'Ak are," he nodded slightly. "One of those creatures came here, four years ago. Saxom made a deal with that devil and nearly killed us all."

  "Oh, dear Lord," I whispered in shock. They'd come here? "Those things are awful, Wlodek. They eat people. Or send their spawn out to eat people and then create more spawn." I shuddered at the thought of the Earth being destroyed by those monsters.

  "I have never seen one myself, but Merrill has seen them twice and described it to me."

  "Their eyes are their weakness," I informed the Head of the Council. "I blinded three of them and got one eye on a fourth, before it was over. We wouldn't have lived through it, otherwise," I sighed, thinking how close we'd come (Dragon and I, along with all the Refizani vampires) to being killed. Kifirin helped, killing the last two Ra'Ak after I'd gotten injured.

  "Lissa, why am I only now hearing of this?" Gavin leaned over the back of his seat, a frown tugging at his mouth.

  "It wasn't supposed to be that way, Gavin. There was only supposed to be one Ra'Ak. They broke the rules; that's what Dragon said."

  "Were you injured, Lissa? And I would very much like the truth," Wlodek said. I knew he wanted to place compulsion, but he also knew better than to make the attempt.

  "A little," I shrank down in my seat.

  "Lissa, I can tell it was more than a little. I know those things hold a deadly poison." Wlodek wanted an answer and he wanted it to be the truth.

  "I ran into the forehead of the last one I tried to blind," I said softly. "I got poisoned, but Karzac and the Larentii came and took care of it."

  "Father, we're being followed." Radomir made the announcement; we'd bounced off Merrill's property earlier and were now on one of the country roads.

  "Are you certain, child?" Wlodek leaned forward, turning to look behind him. I did, too, and there was a car behind us with no headlights on.

  "I'll get it," I said and misted out of the car before Gavin could grab me.

  The two vampires in the car behind us weren't Saxom's; I could tell by their scent. I misted out again and flew forward, dropping into Merrill's Range Rover. "Merrill," I said, flopping into René's lap; he was in the passenger seat, after all—Tony and Charles were seated in the back.

  Thank goodness, Merrill remains calm most of the time. "What is it, Lissa?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the road.

  "There's a car with two vampires in it following Wlodek, but I don't recognize them and they aren't Saxom's. I don't know whether they've had compulsion placed or not. One is about seven hundred years old; the other is less than that, maybe four hundred."

  "If I stop the car, they will realize we know they are following," Merrill thought for a moment. "Why don't you take Gavin or René with you?" He turned to me briefly before concentrating on his driving. "Either should be able to place compulsion easily on these two and discover why they are following us."

  "All right," I nodded.

  "I will come, little rose," René held me on his lap and seemed quite content doing so.

  "Fine, but René, if I see them doing something they shouldn't, I may be picking you up again as mist and hauling you out of there."

  "I understand," René smiled. He was looking forward to being mist—I could see it in his eyes. Well, René was more of an adventurer than Gavin, it seems.

  "Be careful, Lissy," Tony shouted as René and I turned to mist.

  I dropped René in the back seat of the pursuing car as gently and noiselessly as I could, but both vampires realized we were there in a blink, by the scent. "You will do as I say," René placed compulsion as they turned with a hiss. The vampires were nodding quickly at René's orders. "Pull over," René commanded. The driver pulled over. Radomir stopped ahead of us and began backing his SUV in our direction as René ordered the two vampires out of the car.

  "They're not Saxom's," I informed Wlodek as he inspected the two, walking around them and getting their scents. The two were terrified.

  "What are your names?" Wlodek barked, causing both vampires to jump.

  "I am Thaddeus," one of them replied, his voice shaky. Wlodek definitely had that effect on people. Vampires, too. I'd certainly been there.

  "Lorenzo," the other said.

  "Why are you following us?" Merrill had come and was now asking questions.

  "We seek the Council's help," Lorenzo admitted. "Our brother, Dominic, was taken by one calling himself Xenides. We have become concerned, because our brother does not answer his calls and we are afraid that Xenides may come for us as well."

  "Why has Xenides taken Dominic?" Wlodek demanded.

  "Dominic has mindspeech," Thaddeus hung his head. "Our sire, Maxwell, always told us that Dominic would be taken by the Council, should this be revealed. Therefore, we kept it secret. Now, Xenides has taken him instead."

  "How long ago?" Merrill asked.

  "Ten days," Lorenzo admitted.

  "Have you been placed under compulsion? Are you doing this at Xenides' bidding? Or one of his minions? Answer truthfully," Merrill's voice held the Command.

  "No. We swear, we only want our brother back," Thaddeus begged. Lorenzo agreed with his sibling. They weren't true brothers, but they did have the same vampire sire and they certainly looked enough alike to be brothers, with brown hair and green eyes. They just hadn't been related as humans.

  "Maxwell has been dead for more than fifty years," Wlodek observed.

  "We know. We do not wish to lose Dominic as well." Lorenzo was clearly upset.

  "How did you know where to find us?" Wlodek asked, pacing down the narrow lane between vehicles.

  "We were looking for the one called Merrill," Lorenzo admitted. "Our sire told us that if there was ever trouble to find him—he might be willing to help those with difficulties and gave us a general location where he might be found. We have been searching the area for three days. We hoped Merrill could take us to the Council."

  "I am Merrill," Merrill identified himself. "We will discuss your troubles presently. Gavin, will you drive their vehicle and bring them?"

  Gavin nodded. Tony had been busy searching their car while the others talked, declaring it free of weapons and explosives. I guess it was good to have him around after all.

  That's how we ended up at the Council meeting a few minutes late, with two extra vampires who had to be blindfolded before being led inside the cave.

  * * *

  The first prisoner brought forward was a vampire named Bartholomew, and he was definitely Saxom's turn. I touched my hair when Wlodek turned his eyes toward me. I got the idea that Wlodek already knew Bartholomew was Saxom's turn, but was testing me and my ability. Well, he knew now that I wasn't under Merrill's compulsion, so he had to make sure of things. Lovely. Regardless, Wlodek questioned Bartholomew accordingly. "Why are you listed as Jeremiah's child when Saxom sired you?" Compulsion was heavy in Wlodek's voice.

  "My sire told me long ago that the Council would never discover the truth," Bartholomew insisted. Gavin, Merrill and I, along with Tony and René, were all in our usual spot along
the cave wall to Wlodek's right, watching as Bartholomew was questioned.

  "He held us in contempt, did he not?" Wlodek asked.

  "Of course he did," Bartholomew snapped. "He finds you weak and ineffective." Well, that's something I wouldn't have bothered to tell Wlodek to his face, especially if I stood where Bartholomew did—facing that same ineffective Council.

  "Why did he send you after Lissa's records in the U.S.?" Wlodek went on. This was news to me; I hadn't been informed of this.

  "He wanted to discover if she had sisters, brothers or any living relatives." I only had cousins and they weren't close. Then it hit me. They were looking for others with my talents. I drew in a shaky breath. Gavin must have known, somehow; he moved his hand slightly, attempting to calm me down.

  "And what did you determine from these records?" Wlodek was relentless.

  "That Howard Graham was not Lissa's father. The DNA tests proved it. Xenides was quite upset when he discovered this and became infuriated when we could not find information on her real father."

  I was numb. Completely numb. I had no feeling in my legs or my hands and would have given anything at that moment to slide down the cave wall and curl up in a ball on the stone floor.

  Lissy, don't let him hurt you, baby. That was from Tony of course, who never moved a muscle as he sent mindspeech. All those meetings with the president and heads of state were paying off for him big time. He already had the vampire non-expression thing and didn't need to learn it as I did.

  "What did Xenides intend to do with this information?" Wlodek asked.

  "He wanted Lissa's talents. Needed her talents, he said. He was very impressed with what he observed in Washington."

  "And when he failed to find any sisters or brothers?" Wlodek continued.

  "He wants to capture her and use her," Bartholomew replied.

  "And how does he propose to do this?"

  "He says he only has to find someone she cares for and take them. She will come and he will place compulsion and have her for himself." Xenides had already tried that tactic once—and succeeded—when he bombed Tony's hotel. If Jovana had been the stronger one when I found her, I'd have been placed in Xenides' clutches. The question was; could he keep me there if he succeeded?

  It was bad enough, learning the truth about my parentage. Now Xenides was threatening those I cared for. Whom would he go after? Gavin? Franklin or Greg? Charles? Winkler or Weldon? The list was longer than that. I felt cold and shivered.

  Wlodek questioned Bartholomew for a very long time, asking him about the murder of the legal secretary in Oklahoma—I'd seen her inside the courtroom years ago; she'd been helping the attorney defending Howard Graham. Now I knew for sure he wasn't my father; he'd been right about that all along. Howard Graham hadn't handled the truth very well and had taken his hate and anger out on my mother and me. I still wanted to curl up in a ball and whimper.

  A few Council members were now casting speculative glances my way. I couldn't flinch or allow them to see any weakness. Who knew what they'd do to me if they saw that? And Xenides? I wanted to kill him. Just go out immediately and track him down. Take the head off this snake, to see if the body would die with it. He was threatening me and everyone else I knew. Fucker.

  The vote was taken eventually, with all Council members turning in guilty verdicts. Gavin did the beheading and I didn't have any argument with that. Then another vampire was led forward. His name was Llewellyn and he wasn't Saxom's get. I did know who made him, however. Wlodek saw that I didn't touch my hair and looked away. I did my best to send mindspeech to him, just so he'd know.

  Nyles Abernathy made him, I sent as strongly as I could. Wlodek fumbled the gold pen he was toying with but recovered quickly. I think he heard me. Gavin and I had faced off against Nyles in Florida shortly after I'd been brought before the Council myself. Nyles had been Edward Desmarais' sire—the vampire who'd made the bet with my own vampire sire, Sergio Velenci. That's how I'd been turned. Nyles had taught his children everything he knew about playing with humans.

  "So," Wlodek turned the pen in his hands for a moment, his dark eyes narrow and unrevealing, "I have been informed that Nyles Abernathy was your sire." As bombshells go, that one dropped pretty well. I even heard a gasp or two around the cave.

  "Who gave you that information?" Llewellyn demanded. "Only my sire and I knew of this!"

  "I have sources you cannot imagine," Wlodek answered calmly. "Did Nyles teach you to play with humans, just as he taught your sibling Edward Desmarais?"

  "We enjoyed our games, father and I," Llewellyn snorted. "What should it matter if a few humans die? They are nothing but cattle to us. We are superior to those weaklings."

  "Yet you were once of that race, were you not?" Wlodek's eyes were hooded as he watched Llewellyn.

  "Only for twenty-two years. I have been vampire for fifteen hundred, now."

  "Explain your dealings with Xenides."

  "Xenides wishes to take the planet away from you and the humans and allow select vampires to rule." I was still trying to calm down a little, still shivering a little after learning that Howard Graham wasn't my father. Even so, it wasn't hard to find Llewellyn contemptible.

  "So, you intended to assist Xenides in his takeover?"

  "Obviously. I want humans to serve us. This is the only way it should be."

  "Do you know where Xenides is, or plans to go?" Wlodek was hammering away at this guy, but Jovana had already said Xenides might be heading for the U.S. That worried me. He could be after Winkler, Weldon or Thomas Williams and his family; I was a member of the Sacramento Pack, after all.

  "He talked of traveling to the United States, but worried that he might not be able to pass the borders again," Llewellyn stated. "Many are actively searching for him, and he has learned that his image has been recorded and handed to the authorities."

  "Whom will he target and what are his plans should he go to the U.S.?" Wlodek asked.

  "He would not tell me this," Llewellyn grumped. "Although I asked many times."

  The guilty verdict was unanimous on Llewellyn and Gavin, as the only Assassin present, performed the execution. I wondered if he ever got tired of doing that. Things wrapped up quickly afterward; Thaddeus and Lorenzo had gotten an eyeful, I think; they'd watched the entire meeting in amazement. They were blindfolded and led from the cave as protocol dictated; they weren't allowed to see again until we'd arrived at Merrill's manor.

  Merrill placed the usual compulsion not to harm anyone inside the house or give its location away, before finding them a bedroom on the third floor opposite Paul and Deryn's rooms. I was still shaky, to be honest, and as soon as Lorenzo and Thaddeus were dealt with (Merrill promised we'd consider their dilemma later), Merrill, Gavin, Wlodek, Charles, René and Tony all crowded into Merrill's study with me. Gavin held me on his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around me while Charles read back the notes he'd taken from Llewellyn regarding Xenides' plans.

  "Lissa, I am sorry this information came at such a time; we were unsure how to present the knowledge to you concerning Howard Graham. We realized it would upset you when you were given the truth." Wlodek did have a bit of sympathy in his dark eyes.

  "Honored One, it did upset me, but what upsets me more is that Xenides is planning to take someone I care for in an effort to trap me."

  "That is an old ploy," Merrill interrupted, his piercing blue eyes scanning my face. He saw the fear there and attempted to defuse it. "Xenides likely realizes that we will not allow you to search for him if he manages to do this. He still believes you susceptible to compulsion, and understands that we would place compulsion not to go seeking him or your revenge. I can only imagine he was toying with Llewellyn, convincing him that he had a legitimate way of taking you from us." I wasn't about to point out to Merrill that Xenides had already achieved his goal once; he'd just failed to capture me through Jovana.

  "Then what is he going to do?" My voice shook. "Merrill, Weldon has a new grandchild. Winkle
r's wife is six months pregnant. He could hit any member of Thomas Williams' family in Sacramento."

  "Does talent run in families? I heard that Xenides was looking for Lissa's sisters and brothers, if she had any," Tony said.

  "It does," Wlodek picked up Merrill's letter opener—it was the replica of a Roman sword that I'd given him. Wlodek found it fascinating. "Lissa, please do not be offended when I tell you that we went looking for the same thing. We found nothing, just as Xenides did."

  "I'm not surprised," I muttered, staring at my hands. Gavin gave me a squeeze.

  "So, if Lissa's real father had other children," Tony wasn't allowed to finish his statement, René hushed him. Tony shrugged.

  "Do you think that's possible?" I drew in a shaky breath. "That my real father might have had another family? I'm assuming he's dead now, since I'm as old as I am."

  "Your father could be quite old now, but still alive," Wlodek said quietly.

  "You think he could be a target?" That opened up new and horrible possibilities for me. I wondered who he was and why my mother had her fling with him. I assumed that's what it was; a chance meeting, followed by a brief affair. Had my father even known he'd fathered a child? I'd read a short story once, about a child who imagined he'd been fathered by someone more important than his own father. I couldn't imagine that my mother had any aspirations in that area. She was mostly realistic; dealing with what she had and not what might have been. Perhaps Howard Graham had been sterile, too, and that's why I never had any sisters or brothers.

  "I would hope that Xenides never learns who your father is," Merrill snorted. "I find it unlikely, actually. I feel he would need greater resources than he now has to obtain this information." Merrill turned away from me as he made the statement.

  "I hope so," I mumbled. "I don't think I'd like to lose another parent to violence, although I don't know who he is or anything about him. My mother never said a word; she just let me believe I belonged to Howard Graham, though he claimed to the last I wasn't his. Turns out he was right."