"Reah is related to you," Lissa said, putting an arm around Glinda's shoulders. "One of your brothers fathered Reah's mother, I think."
"How did I miss this?" Aurelius moaned. "Reah looks very much like Glinda in her humanoid form."
"She's related to the royal family?" Jayd was blowing smoke. Tendrils of it curled from his nostrils. "How did one of Glinda's brothers escape?"
"Jayd, calm down," Glinda glared at him. Jayd made an effort to get himself in hand.
"You should not expect this one to pay for her father's sins." Kifirin appeared next to Lissa and pulled her into an embrace. "Avilepha, I have missed you. You should have called me before now."
"But which brother was it?" Glinda had reason to despise her brothers—they'd killed her parents before her oldest brother took the throne for himself, as shouldn't have been. Glinda had been named heir and betrothed to Jaydevik Rath barely a month after her birth. Her oldest brother wanted the throne for himself. Female High Demons were extremely rare and one born to the High Demon King was destined to have the throne instead of one of the males.
"Your youngest brother, Denevik, fathered Reah," Kifirin replied. "And he left the others shortly after your parents were killed. He wanted no part of that and argued with your oldest brother before striking out on his own. Reah is his only remaining heir and grandchild."
"Denevik is still alive?" Glinda's voice was almost a whisper.
"Yes, little Queen. You are the youngest as you know, but Denevik is only five hundred turns older than you. I would have hunted him down if the crimes against your parents had been his responsibility. They were not. I have not prevented him from moving about freely. Should he commit any crimes, he will answer to me or one of mine. As it is, he feels he is outcast and does not attempt to return to my planet for that reason."
"You are sure he was not involved in the murder of my parents?"
"Little Queen, of course I am sure. Your eldest brother assured him it would be a peaceful takeover. As you know, it was not. Denevik was on the southern continent when the coup occurred." A bit of smoke curled from Kifirin's nostrils.
"Why did they lie to him?" Jayd muttered. He knew not to push Kifirin. The High Demon planet was named after the god who'd created not only that world, but all the dark realm. Sometimes they forgot who Kifirin was.
"Most likely so he wouldn't give them away," Lissa intervened. It was never wise to upset Kifirin too much.
"My mate is correct," Kifirin agreed. "What have you done to our youngest here?" He nodded toward the cell and Reah's body, still in full Thifilatha.
"We assumed she was rogue. We netted her." Gardevik offered, directing Kifirin's attention away from Jayd and Glinda. "If we had asked questions first, this would not have happened, High Lord." Gardevik bowed his head slightly toward Kifirin.
"How was the net removed?"
"Kiarra destroyed it." Aurelius also bowed his head slightly to Kifirin.
"She has enough power to do so," Kifirin agreed. "I will be watching how you treat our little one from now on. Be careful not to make too many mistakes." Kifirin disappeared swiftly.
"That's my great-niece." Glinda looked inside the enlarged cell at the winged, sleeping figure now lying on thick mattresses upon the floor. Her scored and burned wings drooped about her, her short white hair spiked and tousled upon her head as if she'd sweated while she'd burned under the net.
"I know not what to do," Garde sighed.
"What would you do, if someone netted your mate?" Aurelius was now displaying his anger—something that seldom happened.
"Kill, most likely," Garde nodded and skipped away.
"Aurelius, you know not to start this," Lissa crossed arms over her chest. Gardevik was hers, just as Gavin, Aurelius' oldest living vampire child was.
"Yes, I know not to start this," Aurelius muttered. "Yet Garde just said he would kill for you. How do you think I feel?" Aurelius folded away, leaving Lissa, Gavin, Jayd and Glinda behind. Renegar had stood by, watching the entire exchange.
"The next three days will be difficult. Something must be brought for her to eat when she wakes, but I do not think she will eat. That will make things worse." Renegar folded away.
"What do High Demons eat while they're Thifilathi? Or in this case, Thifilatha?" Lissa asked.
"What wolves and the others eat when changed," Jaydevik replied, raking a hand through his hair. "Raw meat. We do not have to kill it, but if we eat at all, it must be raw. The prisoners we have held in the past have been offered live cattle or sheep. Failing that, freshly butchered meat was brought. They usually consumed that if not the other."
"And if she doesn't eat?"
"She will be emaciated when she wakes," Glinda said. "What are we to do, Lissa? That is my kin." Glinda's face looked drawn and weary as she stared at the creature inside the cell. "I thought all my brothers dead. I have only vague recollections of Denevik. I have hated my brothers—all of them—for a very long time." Glinda skipped away, leaving Jayd behind.
"You know that all her needs will be provided by the crown of Kifirin," Jayd offered stiffly.
"I think all her needs will be provided by my sire," Gavin replied almost as stiffly.
"Nevertheless, the offer stands." Jayd skipped after his mate.
"Gavin, this is the worst mess," Lissa looked up at her first mate.
"Yes, and I have never seen Aurelius this upset. We must attempt to smooth things over, somehow. Let us go find Norian. He holds the records on our High Demon there," Gavin nodded in Reah's direction.
"Yes. Let's go find Norian," Lissa sighed.
* * *
A noise woke me. It took several ticks for me to realize that it was my own moaning. My body felt as if it were still on fire. I remembered that much—I'd been burned by a net of some sort. Two tall, dark creatures had tossed it over me, causing intense and immediate pain. My screaming I also remembered and Aris' shouting. He'd been using a language I didn't recognize. Had he ordered this done? When I'd become whatever it was that I had become in order to fight off the monster, this had happened. Oh, they'd waited until most of the enemy was down, but they'd done it.
Blinking my eyes open, I worked to get them to focus. What I found had me rising off several thick mattresses placed upon a stone floor. I knew what surrounded me—a cell to hold prisoners. A large cell, but I was now quite large as well. My prison had me swallowing with difficulty—my throat was dry and the sobs when they came were also dry—I had no moisture within my body to produce tears. Rising with difficulty, I crept toward the thick metal bars that prevented me from escaping—I tried them with my hands just to see.
Fear drove my sobbing now, and a loud keening came from my throat. All I could see was a bare white wall opposite my prison, with a washed stone floor extending from the back edge of my cell to the white wall. Nothing else lay down a long, brightly lit corridor. It did nothing to stay my fears—I'd been somewhat claustrophobic for as long as I could remember. Closed spaces had me worried if I wasn't sure I could escape my surroundings easily enough. My room at the military station had been windowless, but the door was near my bed and that led to a hallway and a simple escape if I needed it. The bars and walls of my prison kept me from escaping. My keening and my fright grew.
* * *
"What's that noise?" Lissa sat straight up in bed. Winkler, her werewolf mate had gone to bed with her and he sat up as well. "Oh, my gosh, it's coming from the dungeon." Lissa flipped covers aside and rose in a blink. Any vampire could move faster than sight and Lissa, as the Vampire Queen, could move faster than most. Winkler was right behind her, his sharp ears picking up the noise as well.
"Get Aurelius and call for a Larentii," Lissa shouted at Winkler as she took off at a run. Moments later Lissa was pressed as far against the white wall opposite Reah's cage as she could get—Reah, still in full Thifilatha, was beating her wings against the bars of her cage and when that failed to work, she hurled her body against the bars instead. M
any of her burns had broken open and were now bleeding.
"Reah!" Aurelius shouted the moment he arrived. "Reah, stop! You're hurting yourself!" His words fell on temporarily deaf ears; Reah failed to notice anything or anyone.
"Little one." Renegar's father Pheligar appeared out of nothing, standing within arm's length of Reah as she continued to crash into the bars of her cage. He held out a hand while light formed around it. Reah blinked at this, stopping her assault against the bars for a moment—long enough for Pheligar to touch her forehead, sending her sliding to the floor, unconscious.
"I forgot to tell you, her records say she's slightly claustrophobic." Norian Keef appeared with Thurlow, another of Lissa's mates. Lissa had seventeen in all and occasionally had difficulty keeping them all sorted out.
"She's claustrophobic and we put her in a dungeon. That makes so much sense," Lissa muttered sarcastically and tossed up a hand.
"Your dungeon was one of the few places we could keep her confined," Gardevik appeared. Someone had called him—most likely Thurlow.
"I don't think she should wake up in a dungeon again," Aurelius moved to the bars and stared at Reah. Kneeling down, he peered at her face.
"Where can we move her? Any High Demon in full Thifilathi, or Thifilatha, in this case, is dangerous. You cannot depend on reasoning with them."
"Move her to my beach house. Surely Reemagar and Connegar can shield the entire place so she can't escape." Lissa named her two Larentii mates.
"And if she destroys the whole house?" Garde folded his arms.
"Then I'll build another," Lissa snapped. "If Reah hadn't been there, Aurelius would likely have become a snack for the Ra'Ak on Mandil. He's not Saa Thalarr and doesn't have enough power to fight off one of those things. He's only spawn hunter for them. The Ra'Ak were probably looking to kill him and a few other spawn hunters there, don't you think?" Lissa glared at her High Demon mate. "Reah recognized that piece of crap and killed him for us. Then she got netted—and by relatives on top of that."
"We're only in-laws," Gardevik huffed.
"We're only in-laws," Lissa mimicked, slapping Garde on the upper arm.
"Ow." Garde held his arm. Even a High Demon knew not to pick a fight with a vampire while in humanoid form. Garde knew not to pick a fight with Lissa, even while he was Full Thifilathi. Lissa had killed too many rogue High Demons. Garde knew better.
"We will move her." Reemagar and Connegar appeared. They knew when their mate mentioned their names. Nexus echo, a talent employed by the Larentii, enabled them to hear their names when spoken.
* * *
"Two more days." Aurelius buried his head in his arms on Gavin's desk. Gavin and all Lissa's mates were members of her Inner Circle and worked in some capacity or other to keep the palace and Le-Ath Veronis running smoothly. Gavin, along with Anthony, another of Lissa's vampire mates, oversaw the palace guards.
"Father, they meant to kill you on Mandil." Gavin observed. "They have gotten cocky after killing Rolfe. They saw that as their victory and not as his intended suicide. Had you not made use of the wizards already there, you might not have survived."
"If Reah hadn't been there, the wizards wouldn't have survived either," Aurelius muttered. "Child, this wait is killing me. How is she going to forgive this? How?"
"Father, what is there to forgive?"
"I used her. For my own purposes. Cut her hair and disguised her as a common soldier. Sent her into danger many times when I did not go myself. And then failed to get the proper message to the High Demons. She might have been killed."
"High Demons are difficult to kill, father."
"But Lissa says Reah isn't full High Demon. She has human traits. She must void as any other humanoid must."
"If you give her blood, that will cease."
"But will it have any effect upon someone of that race? Even a partial one?"
"I do not have the answer to that, father. Perhaps you should approach Kifirin when he is in a more charitable mood."
"Only Lissa can expect an answer when she calls out to him."
"He is her second mate."
"As Roff says, that is a technicality. Kifirin is her most powerful mate."
"All the dark races are his children. He created the vampires, the werewolves, the High Demons and the Ra'Ak. The shapeshifters and many others are also his. Had he not slept for a time, we would not be dealing with the Ra'Ak and their spawn now. As spawn hunters, perhaps he owes us answers, father."
"As one of Lissa's mates, you may not worry over approaching him," Aurelius sighed. "I am not so well-connected. He is not obligated to me in the least, I think."
* * *
"I'm not going to toss this meat in there like she's some wild animal." Lissa glared at Garde. Lissa and her vampire mates could stand on the bright side of Le-Ath Veronis. Any other vampire could not unless they were spawn hunters or Saa Thalarr. The planet rotated on its side, leaving half in constant darkness, the other half in perpetual light. Lissa's beach house was on the light half of the planet. Reah now slept in the large, well-lit foyer. The Larentii had shielded the house so Reah couldn't escape in her Thifilatha form.
"That's how we feed prisoners," Garde grumbled.
"She's not a prisoner. She's healing. There's a difference."
"Lay it on a tray beside her sleeping pad and I will wake her." Reemagar was listening to the verbal sparring between Lissa and Garde. As Larentii, he would not touch raw meat. Larentii fed mostly on sunlight, although any energy source would work. They preferred the light of a sun and often had lengthy discussions over red, yellow, green and blue-tinged sunlight. Most of those conversations occurred in mindspeech, so no humanoids had ever entered into that debate.
Garde seemed reluctant to approach the sleeping female, so Lissa took the tray that held the steak, turned both herself and the tray of meat to mist and left it beside Reah, reappearing beside Garde in seconds. Reemagar went to wake Reah.
* * *
My body almost refused to obey my command to move. I was stiff and still in some pain. I was no longer locked inside a cell, however. Sunlight shone around me as I sat up stiffly. Windows were all around, with light shining through the clear glass. Moaning as my head pounded after sitting up, I reached up and held it with both hands.
"Young one, you must eat." One of the Larentii stood before me. "We have done as much as we can for your pain—your body needs to heal itself. Except for this headache." Blue hands reached toward me and touched my temples. The throbbing pain went away quickly.
"Did you think I wouldn't be civil?" I looked up into his bright blue eyes as he drew his hands away.
"You speak in this form?"
"Was I not supposed to?"
"Most do not—they merely growl or roar."
"Well, I didn't know what I was. Therefore, I didn't know what I was or wasn't supposed to do."
"You need to eat." Two more people moved into my line of vision. The male had dark hair, dark eyes and was tall and handsome. The female was much shorter, had red-blonde hair and was very pretty.
"Who are you? And I'm not hungry, thank you." I wasn't—I felt as if I were about to heave, if truth be known.
"Reah, you must eat or you'll be weak when we allow you to turn back," the Larentii said.
"You're keeping me from turning back now? I thought I was going to be this from now on." I held a huge, clawed hand in front of me. Scores and blisters remained on my skin and I was naked, I discovered. Most likely, there wasn't clothing to be had off the rack to fit my enlarged frame, and I worried that it would burn, anyway—all the spawn had when they'd touched my scales.
"Clothing will merely burn off your body, were you to wear it," the handsome man confirmed my fears. "The net was a mistake—we thought you were a rogue High Demon," the man coughed into his hand, as if he were embarrassed.
"You keep saying High Demon. What is that?" I blinked at him now.
"What you are," the woman spoke. "I am Lissa, Queen
of Le-Ath Veronis. Although you're only a quarter. You've inherited all the High Demon gifts, though."
"They don't call us High Demon inside the Alliance—it's just what we call ourselves," the man spoke again. "The Alliance calls us Kiffs."
"From Kifirin? That's what that race is?" I'd done research in my dayschool classes—Kifirin hadn't belonged to the Alliance long. "So, who made the mistake and did this to me?" I held out my left arm—it was laced with burns down its length. Some of the burns looked more raw than others.
"Jayd and I did. Aurelius sent out the message that he needed help bringing a High Demon back in Full Thifilatha, and we mistakenly assumed you were rogue." The male backed up immediately when smoke curled from my nostrils.
"Who is Aurelius?" I hadn't heard that name before.
"Aris—that was the name he used," the Queen spoke again.
"He helped do this to me?" I looked at my other arm—it was just as bad as the first.
"Not intentionally, and he's been upset with us ever since." Those words brought a smoke-filled snort from me as I rose from my bed on the floor, my head nearly scraping the tall ceiling as I bent down to look out the windows. I'd never seen an ocean before, yet one stretched before me, the blue of the water something I'd only seen in vids until now.
"I can call him—he wants to see you—talk to you," Queen Lissa said.
"What if I don't want to talk to him?" I sat on the floor so I could have a better and more comfortable view through the windows.
"Reah, that will break his heart, I think," Lissa said softly.
"He wasn't worried about that before." Yes, my pain was probably talking for me right then and I felt light-headed and dizzy. "How long before sir Larentii here lets me become myself again? And since this is an Alliance world, is the military going to come calling and haul me back into service? I have to tell you I haven't gotten the best of treatment at their hands so far. And don't even suggest I contact my family. I want to separate myself from them—legally." I could—I was old enough and had reason enough. I just didn't have the courage to do it before now.
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