Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
Praise for KEY TO CONSPIRACY
“Talia Gryphon is a master at making the impossible seem real. Her diverse group of characters lives on in your heart and your imagination long after the last page has been turned. Her women are strong and independent, and her men are alpha enough to be led. Talia is a developing master of the word who has an amazing grasp of human nature and the ability to craft tales that will engage the mind as well as thrill the soul.”
—Stephanie Burke, author of Keeper of the Flame
“Fun and imaginative, this rock-’em, sock-’em vampire tale puts a hard-as-nails military twist on the ole wooden stake. Oh, you want some erotic spice? Here’s a whole rack!”
—David Bischoff, author of Farscape: Ship of Ghosts
KEY TO CONFLICT
“A kick-ass blond vampire-therapist, two sexy vampire brothers and an evil Dracula looming in the offing. I dare you to put this book down.”—Rosemary Laurey, author of Midnight Lover
“A fast-paced adventure tale set in a fascinating new alternate reality.”—Robin D. Owens, author of Heart Fate
“Kick-butt attitude, sassy dialogue and steady action make this a light, fast read. Gryphon puts a refreshingly different spin on Anubis, Osiris, Dionysus, Jack the Ripper and elves, while giving a nod to J. R. R. Tolkien.”—Monsters and Critics
“Urban fantasy readers will welcome Talia Gryphon, whose thriller will appeal to fans of Charlaine Harris and Kelley Armstrong.”
—The Best Reviews
“With a story that is just complex enough to be attention-grabbing, rich locales, vibrant characters and multifaceted mythology interwoven with current cultural icons, this book will draw you in and not let you put it down.”—The Eternal Night
“Gill is a wonderful character, full of conflicts . . . interesting twists and turns . . . The story was strong, the characters were intriguing and . . . the prose really took off. I think that we’ll see some really great writing from this author in the future.”
—SFRevu
Ace Books by Talia Gryphon
KEY TO CONFLICT
KEY TO CONSPIRACY
KEY TO REDEMPTION
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
KEY TO REDEMPTION
An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / October 2008
Copyright © 2008 by Talia Gryphon.
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For Uncle Walter. Your courage during your time as a POW in Hirohata during World War II and your tolerant, noble heart continue to be an inspiration.
To Tim Frasier, my fencing master and dear friend.
To Uncle John and Aunt Virginia. You always made me laugh.
To Max and Desiree’, my childrens’ best friend and his fiancée. May you have a wonderful life together.
To Bill Paisley. No one has ever looked better in a kilt.
To Mary and Tom Wallbank. Hooray for Captain Mother and Tom.
Thank you to Louis Kellerman, for his help with the translations of French and Italian in the books.
To GerardButler.net and GerardButlerGALS.com, for the charitable work they and Gerard Butler do for many worthwhile causes.
As always, to Ginjer Buchanan, my wonderful editor, and Joe Veltre, my fabulous agent.
Special thanks to my military advisors: Charles Randolph, Sgt. U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Retired; Jon Eppler, Sgt. U.S. Army Reserves Intelligence Analyst; Steven Mills, Sgt. USMC, Retired; Donald Akina, Corpsman Second Class U.S. Navy, Retired.
*Disclaimer—Licensed sex therapist and licensed sexual surrogate are highly specialized, scrupulously screened and meticulously trained professions. Most are under the auspices of Masters and Johnson, the Kinsey Institute, AASECT or similar legitimate groups. Gillian’s training, ethical code and mentors are in regard to the study of Human and Paramortal relationships in her world. This does not infringe on the practices of these professionals in our world.
Talia Gryphon
CHAPTER 1
CASTLE Rachlav was becoming a boardinghouse of sorts to all the Paramortals who had come out of the forest, fields, hills, dales and the occasional closet. Romania’s location and Aleksei’s connections with Osiris and Dionysus and his diplomatic ties to more than half of the known Fey, Sidhe and Elf worlds made it a logical place to hold meetings and Court and to discuss their collective next moves.
Dracula had been busy. There were murders, missing persons, decimated populations of Paramortals and not so thinly veiled threats toward those who would sign the now-famous Osiris Doctrine. The fact that all the murders, abductions and misdeeds were carried out quietly so that they had no way to prevent anything was a constant source of irritation for investi
gation teams everywhere. The Human world was in collective fear, wondering why in hell they had ever legalized the Paramortals and invited them into their homes and offices in the first place. Things were not looking cheery, even with Gillian and company’s valiant rescue effort of some months back.
Gillian was out of sorts since she couldn’t turn a corner in the castle without nearly tripping over one of the Fey, Brownies or the occasional Elf. The Vampires were far less obtrusive, even before the Egyptian Vampires had gone home. Anubis reasoned that Aleksei had plenty of muscle and that he and Sekhmet could better serve the cause by traveling on as Emissaries for Osiris. Noph and Montu had offered to stay but Aleksei graciously assured them that they could go with a clear conscience.
Daed and Kimber were wrapping up their little Russian expedition with the earthquake survivors and planned on joining the rest of the party at Castle Rachlav. The reality that no one from the various governments, the IPPA, and the newly formed Alliance had any semblance of a plan was driving Gillian into a highly agitated state. Aleksei was, for the most part, a rock, an anchor, in the subliminal chaos, but Gillian couldn’t find it in herself to lean on him to any extent. That made Aleksei irritable.
Centuries-old Vampires had difficulty mastering flexibility. They tended to hang on to their old ways, old habits, old ways of thinking. Aleksei, while fairly progressive for a four-hundred-year-old Vampire and newly evolved Lord, still clung to some rather inflexible ideas. One of them being the notion that Gillian needed to be sheltered and taken care of—a concept she refused to entertain. She continued to see clients, meet with the local brass of the various councils, go hunting for Dracula’s associates, sometimes alone, and she wouldn’t take a dime from him to meet her own expenses. That most of all got under his luminous skin. He wanted to take care of her, and she wasn’t having it.
When she saw they were getting on each other’s last nerves, Gillian often left, taking Trocar, Jenna, Tanis or Pavel with her, on scouting expeditions around the province. It deflected a lot of arguments, caused more than a few, but usually accomplished easing tension between the Romanian Lord and herself. She was on her way out on just such an excursion, when her thigh vibrated and she had to fight not to scream.
Stupid cell phone. She’d forgotten she’d left it on vibrate. The damn thing felt like a rattlesnake in the loose pocket of her olive khaki cargo pants. Already annoyed, she yanked it out and flipped it open with an expert snap of her wrist.
“Key here.”
“Gillian? It’s Helmut. I have a rather delicate question to ask you, if you don’t mind.” Her mentor, boss and friend’s voice sounded pretty clear.
“Jeez, Helmut, I’m not a fragile flower, just ask the question.” Shouldering her backpack and balancing the phone between chin and collarbone, she hurried down the stairs toward Trocar, Dalton and Pavel. They were about to head East, toward another small village, deeper into the Carpathian Mountains, and Gillian had her mind on the road trip.
“Very well.” He sighed audibly into the phone.
Dr. Helmut Gerhardt had been her professor, committee chairman, mentor and friend for years. He knew her better than she knew herself, but he still hated to stir up her ire. “I need to know if your certification credentials from the Miller-Jackson Center for Intimacy are up to date.”
That stopped her dead in her tracks. “What? What the hell do I need that credential for, here and now? Wait, hang on a moment.” Her voice dropped into a low, hissing whisper as she turned on the stairs and bolted back up to her room and away from prying pointy ears. Reaching the safety of her room, she locked the door, turned on the shower and the bathroom fan, then asked again, “Okay, I’m back. What do I need that for?”
Helmut’s voice was calm and level, a sure sign that he was going to ask her something that she wouldn’t like one damn bit. “I have a client for you, Gillian. Well, actually several, but this one individual, I believe, can benefit from your expertise in this area.”
Dead silence. He waited, knowing it was better not to speak too much, too soon. “Helmut, you do realize Aleksei and I have been trying to have a relationship, right?”
“Of course, Gillian. I do pay attention when you share with me, dear.” Helmut’s gruff voice softened a little. He’d been a father figure for her in many ways. Not having a good relationship with her own male parent, she relied on Helmut to be a rock of support and encouragement whenever she faltered in her belief that a former Marine Captain could make an outstanding psychologist to the Paramortal.
“What the hell am I supposed to tell him about this? He’s four hundred fucking years old, Helmut! He’s going to have a Vampire heart attack, if that’s possible!” She was pacing back and forth in the sumptuous bathroom, tapping her teeth with the nail of her index finger.
“Gillian, you are a trained professional. If you don’t want to take the case, that’s one thing. But you cannot refuse a client merely because your boyfriend might get jealous.” That was an admonishment. She could recognize them with astonishing regularity anymore.
Exasperated, she wilted against the expensive wallpaper and slid down, legs extended, until she wound up sitting on the tiled floor. “I know, I’m sorry.” Her free hand raked through her gleaming golden hair. “I don’t have the certificate on me, Helmut. As far as I know, they mailed it directly to IPPA for my permanent file, where it’s been ever since I got it.”
“I will obtain a copy and bring it with me when I come so that it and you are in the same location,” Helmut replied.
“Why are you coming here?”
“There are several clients who requested you. One is the gentleman I spoke earlier of, who is French; one gentleman travels a great deal but heard about you by referral; and one says she knows you from your Russian expedition.” He paused a moment. “Perhaps ‘says’ is a misnomer. The poor creature, when she is able to communicate verbally, made it clear that she wished to have you as a therapist. She’s convinced you can work a miracle with her.
“I am bringing the lot of them down to you. It’s far too dangerous right now for you to go country hopping. The Board met and decided that it would be better to bring what clients were willing to travel to you. The nonlocals anyway.” Helmut sounded like he always did, calm and matter-of-fact.
“Fine,” Gillian bit off.
“Gillian . . .” Helmut allowed a slight warning tone to enter his voice.
“I said, fine.” Her voice was strained. “When are you coming?”
“Day after tomorrow. We’ll take the train into Brasov, then I’ll rent a van or SUV to drive down to you. Do you have a place for them to stay in the area? And a place for private therapy with the French gentleman?”
“All right, I’ll see you then. Just come straight to the castle. Make sure you arrive in daylight. No wait, I’ll have one of my former Lieutenants come pick you up; it’ll be safer. I’ll notify the pack not to rip your heads off, and yes to both: we have accommodations and I have a private bungalow I can access.” All business, Gillian was mentally already making notes and trying to figure out what the hell she was going to tell Aleksei about this.
Helmut said his good-byes and hung up. Gill snapped the phone shut and swore, “Fuck.” This wasn’t going to go well, she already knew that. Climbing to her feet, she turned off the shower, light and fan and went off to find Aleksei and a very private room.
After telling Trocar, Dalton and Pavel to go on without her, she found Aleksei, discussing the resurveying of the province for patrols with Finian, the Twilight Court Prince, and the two Wood Elves. The silvery light in his eyes when he saw her should have been chilly but it was warming and filled with immediate interest when she entered the room.
Watching him cross the room toward her after she beckoned to him, she was amazed how he rivaled the Fey and the Elves in sheer physical beauty. Vampires were generally stunning but Aleksei was certainly in a class by himself. His smile was warm as he kissed her hand formally, the gleam in his eyes
betraying his decorum. Gillian could have just contacted him mentally now that they shared a blood bond again, but she wasn’t comfortable with that level of intimacy on a regular basis. He knew it and left her alone about it. He didn’t want to do anything to spook her in this relationship. They’d waited nearly two years before consummating their relationship, and he didn’t want to push her faster than she was ready to go.
“I am yours, angela. What is it?”
“Let’s go somewhere private, I have to tell you something and I would rather our aesthetically eared friends not hear everything we discuss.” She let him take her hand and guide her to a private area in the little-used kitchen.
Vampire senses were firing with alarming rapidity. Something was wrong. Gillian’s blood pressure was slightly elevated; she was tense and her hand was a bit damp where he had held it. She moved a little away from him and turned back, putting the corner of the stainless steel island between them. Frowning slightly, Aleksei leaned a hip against the island, folded his arms and tried to appear casual while he waited for her to speak. Being a six-foot seven-inch, drop-dead-gorgeous Vampire made it difficult to appear casual, but hey, he gave it a shot.
“What is it, piccola? You know you may discuss anything with me.”
Gill swallowed hard and met his icy gray gaze head-on. “You know, you would think I could, but this might be stretching your tolerance level just a little.”
That got his complete attention. “My tolerance level?” An elegant eyebrow rose. “And what could you possibly tell me that would stretch my tolerance level further than it already has been?” He smiled warmly at her.
That warm and wicked smile that made her go all gooey inside. Shit. She had to focus and not let him affect her or she’d never get this said.
“Helmut called and is bringing a van load of clients down for me tomorrow,” she ventured, trying to stay as far away from the actual point as she could for a while.
Key to Redemption Page 1
