"No idea," Griffin grunted softly as he pulled broken bits of granite together with the ability that he held. The base of the island formed with a thought and a solid piece of granite flopped down on top of it. The hole in the wall came next; dust and tiny chunks lifted off the floor, reformed, then slapped against the wall. A broken beam was made whole again. Cracked tiles healed themselves. The light fixture was once again in one piece and shining over the island.
"If you'll tell me where she is, I'll go get her." Tony's voice was hesitant.
"I can go," Charles offered.
"I'll go, I'm her father," Griffin sighed. He'd been stalling by putting the kitchen back together. "Bear in mind, I will not intervene on your behalf." He looked at both Merrill and Wlodek. "Not this time. I did after she tried to kill herself, but those days are over. You have two weeks before your Annual Meeting. I suggest you try to smooth things out as well as you can between now and then." Griffin disappeared.
* * *
"What is he talking about?" Gavin growled.
"Griffin did something—healed something or planted a suggestion that you and I weren't her enemy or some such," Merrill raked a hand through his black hair and glanced at his kitchen—put together perfectly by Griffin's power. "She'd have tried to kill herself a second time, I think, if he hadn't done it."
"She loves you, Gavin, or you wouldn't have been able to hold onto her this long," Charles spoke up. "Although all this might have been handled with a bit more finesse and tact. Honored One, we only deal with males on assignments. You've never had a female to send out—not really. I've read Sarita's files. She chose her own targets and went after them. She accepted information from you but you didn't control her. Not like this." Charles blinked at Wlodek, surprised at his own outburst.
Wlodek glanced at Merrill before turning back to Charles. "Young Charles, I had not realized you'd gone through all the files. You are correct, but Sarita is not a subject to bring up with me."
"Of course not, Honored One." Charles hung his head in embarrassment.
"Sarita was never as gifted as Lissa." Gavin spoke again. "Are we still planning to make the announcement at the Annual Meeting, though Xenides is still out there?"
"I believe so. He must realize that he is going against a Queen. We have crippled him now, as he is turning to the Elemaiya for help with this instead of depending solely on vampires. We are backing him into a corner. The idea that she is still susceptible to compulsion has outlived its usefulness. We will send the message that she is strong—very strong—and willfully hunting him and any minions that remain." Wlodek nodded at Charles. "Come, Charles. We have work to do."
Gavin watched as Wlodek strode toward the doorway inside the pantry. Charles closed it behind him as they made their way down the stairs. "Lissa will be angry if she comes back at all." Gavin muttered.
"She'll come back—Franklin is still here," Tony observed. "I don't think she'll abandon him, even if she wants to leave the rest of us behind."
* * *
Rain dripped off dead leaves as I huddled against the oak's trunk, the icy drops falling down past my collar and making me shiver as I sat there. The sobs had quieted to hiccups now. My emotions had run from anger to sorrow to depression and back to anger. How could they do this? How? Were they so devoid of love or any other emotion that they didn't recognize it in other people? I failed to understand any of this. Right then, I think I hated all of them.
"Hate is a strong word." Griffin stood beneath my tree. "I know you don't truly hate Gavin. Or Tony. I can't say for sure about Merrill and Wlodek. Poor Charles has no choice but to obey—he is too young."
"They knew what would happen." My voice was sullen and angry.
"They knew—in a way. Their mistake was in thinking they might make it up to you afterward. That you are a child that can be placated with promises or the lure of possessions. You haven't believed in promises for a very long time, have you, little girl? As for possessions, those mean very little to you. They should have realized this by now." Griffin had his face turned up to me. I wiped tears off my cheeks with my right hand while holding onto the trunk of the oak tree with my left. Why did I think I even needed that security? I could turn to mist if I fell. It comforted me, somehow, to have an arm wrapped around something solid.
"Lissa," Griffin went on, "you'll want to be at the Annual Meeting. Xenides is still out there and you must cooperate as much as you can with Wlodek and the others until he is eliminated. That seems to be your quest. After that, perhaps your decisions will be your own. I know that you will certainly have more leverage if you can take him down. Come back with me now, Lissa. You don't have to talk to any of the others if that is what you want. Find a dress, hold your head up and go to the Annual Meeting. Find out where Xenides is and dispense justice. That is the only way to bring any semblance of peace to the vampire race on Earth. Come back with me, little girl. Franklin needs you."
His last statement was what got me out of the tree. I think I sobbed as I dropped out of it, too. Franklin. He'd lost his mate. Not just a close friend—a mate. How much pain had he suffered? Merrill and Wlodek had more than likely stopped him from communicating with me and that made me even angrier. He'd gone through this with support from Merrill only. Merrill was definitely on my shit list.
"I can get myself home." I didn't allow Griffin to touch my arm. I was still out of sorts with him—he'd manipulated my birth, after all. I was the answer, he'd said, to so many problems. Well, that didn't make me feel special. Not one little bitty bit.
"Very well," Griffin sighed and disappeared.
* * *
"Don't bother trying to talk your way out of this," I flung out an arm at Gavin. Merrill was close behind him when I'd appeared in the kitchen after misting home. "Where's Franklin?" I asked, heading toward his suite.
"Sleeping," Merrill replied softly. "He'll wake in four hours."
"Good. I'll see him then. In the meantime, leave me the fuck alone." I walked away from all of them.
* * *
"Father, we can't get through to her. None of us can." Charles placed a glass of wine in front of Flavio and sat beside him at the kitchen island.
"Child, this is not your fault," Flavio sipped his wine. "I was angry with father because he withheld the information that she was a Queen. He still has not informed the rest of the Council. They may be angry as well, although my sire believes his reasoning to be sound."
"The Council will never admit they're angry," Charles looked away.
"Of course not. It is the way we are taught—to be friends and enemies during our lengthy lives."
"I think Lissa has a right to be angry over this. She wanted to say goodbye." Charles still refused to look at his vampire sire.
"Child, while I agree with you on this, things of that nature are a luxury that we as vampires do not receive. I wish it could have been otherwise. We will need her in the coming days and we do not desire her enmity."
* * *
"Frank?" I had a milkshake ready when he woke. Franklin raised a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes and sighing.
"Lissa?" Franklin blinked at me. There was such sadness in his eyes I almost started crying again.
"Frankie, I brought you a milkshake; it's strawberry—your favorite," I said. "How are you feeling?"
"Awful."
"I know, honey. I am so sorry." Franklin reached out to take my hand and surprised me by kissing it. I helped him sit up in bed before handing the shake over.
"He never woke after the first week," Franklin sighed and sipped his shake.
"Frankie, that's awful," I reached out and smoothed his hair back.
"Lissa, you're one of the few people who understands what that's like," Franklin ran a finger down the glass, wiping away a bit of condensation. "I know your husband was in a coma and on life support for a long time."
"Yeah. I know what that's like," I said, smoothing out Franklin's blanket. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. Or for Greg."
&
nbsp; "Lissa, don't apologize, I know exactly why you weren't there. You would have been, if you'd known."
"Yeah."
"Try not to be too angry with Merrill, okay? He loves me."
"I know he does. That's why I destroyed the kitchen instead of him."
"Is my kitchen still destroyed?"
"No. I think Griffin put it back together."
"You won't call him father, will you?"
"So far he hasn't done much in the father department."
"Come here, Lissa, and lie down with me." Franklin set his glass down on the nightstand and scooted over. I lay down beside him and snuggled against his side. "This is good," he sighed over the top of my head and closed his eyes.
* * *
"This one," Charles said. Charles and Flavio had come to Paris with me. Franklin wasn't up to it. Frank wasn't up to much of anything, nowadays. I cooked for him as often as not, or he might not have eaten anything. Depression is an ugly word and one I understood all too well. I looked at the gown shown to us.
"It's white," I pointed out. There's nothing like being a fluorescent light bulb around a bunch of old, moth-eaten vampires.
"You look good in white." Charles bumped my shoulder with his. Flavio was standing nearby, allowing Charles and me to decide on my ball gown. If Griffin hadn't told me I ought to go, I would have given Wlodek and Merrill a rude gesture and refused outright.
I asked them to hold the white dress so I could try it on and went on to the rest that they had. I said no to the gold one, the yellow one and the red one. Not good colors for me. A dress made of aqua silk was brought out, which I loved, and another in black was set aside to try.
Charles liked the white, but fell in love with the aqua dress when I slipped it on. It was strapless and hugged every curve I had, falling to a full skirt that swirled around my feet. I thought about wearing the same shoes I'd worn last time, but Charles just shook his head. "Good memories, remember?" He tapped his head. Well, there was that. The black dress looked good too, so Flavio tossed down his credit card and we walked out with all three, along with six pairs of shoes. We'd only come for the evening, so we loaded right back into Merrill's jet, which Brock had piloted for us.
Flavio drove us straight back to Merrill's after we landed in London, and I found Franklin moping around the kitchen. The Annual Meeting was in three days, and Franklin's depression hadn't improved. Of course, my anger hadn't improved, either, and I didn't see any way out of that, barring a lengthy passage of time. I went to the roof to spend what was left of the night—barely an hour, actually, after convincing Franklin to go to bed. He wasn't getting much sleep. The roof was where Gavin found me after going through lessons with Tony.
"Cara, are you going to be angry with me forever?" he asked as he settled beside me.
"Gavin, you knew and you didn't tell me." That hurt. Really.
"Cara, I know I told you it was dangerous to keep email information on your cell. And it is. Cell phones are easily lost. And I also know I told you that you could borrow my laptop so you wouldn't have to take yours along. I had no idea that things would go in the direction they did, I promise. We have protected ourselves over the years by doing as Wlodek and the Council instructed. I know this has hurt you. You have faced two losses whereas I have only faced one. Anthony has been damaged greatly by this as well."
"Gavin, would they have waited to tell you that René died if it happened while you were on assignment? Would they?" I looked up at him. His face was shuttered, just as Wlodek's usually was.
"Cara, I have been a vampire for a very long time. I have learned to control this."
"Is that what the problem is? I can't control my emotions? That you can't control my emotions? Gavin, listen to yourself."
"Cara, we were worried that the assignment would not be completed."
"Have I failed you or your precious Council, Gavin? Have I? Tell me when I didn't come through—for them or for you. Did I fall apart in that bar in Tampa when I saw you get burned to a crisp? Did I fall in the floor weeping, instead of taking care of Nyles Abernathy? Did I collapse in a heap when Glen was killed in New Mexico? Did I? If Tony hadn't called me back after I killed the vampire holding the First Lady in Washington, I'd have gone after Xenides and taken his ass out, right then and there." I was pissed. Really, really pissed. And shaking, too, I was so angry.
"Cara, I have seen you depressed and moping about the house. Tell me that was not the case when you learned six men were dying after receiving your blood." Gavin was giving me tit for tat, now.
"And I got sent off-world, right in the middle of all that. And I did what I was supposed to do there, too. Were we on some sort of time limit in Kansas City? Would it have been a big deal if we put it off for a day or two?" I watched his face and drew in a breath. There had been a designated time and place. More than likely, it had been set up by Xenides himself, after he'd killed Don's brother, David. And since Gavin and the others had the time and place, somebody knew that Tony would be there. He'd been the target in Kansas City, I was sure of it. Who might know he would come? Who?
Gavin looked away from me as soon as he knew I knew. They'd kept that away from me. That's why he'd asked me to go as mist—so Xenides or his minions wouldn't see me. That was just fucking wonderful. "Cara, you are young. So young, as a vampire. Yes, I know we have had this argument before and yes, I remember where that got us." Gavin held up a hand.
"Gavin, I can't help that. And I guarantee that no matter how old I get, I'll still be pissed."
"Lissa, I came up to make things right between us, not fight with you." He pinched the space between his eyebrows as if he had a headache or something.
"You sure as hell go about things strangely," I muttered. I missed Roff at times like this. If he were here, I'd have misted away and settled in bed beside him, I think. Gavin and I hadn't slept in the same bed since we'd come in from Kansas City.
"Lissa, what I'm trying to say is that I love you. Overlook my age and rigidity, I beg you." Gavin was attempting to pull me against him, his deep brown eyes begging me to allow his touch.
"I will if you'll overlook what you insist is youth," I muttered. "I can't help it, Gavin. I cry when I lose somebody. I get depressed if six people are dying because of me. Honestly, I don't know why you want me. We don't have that much in common."
Gavin lifted me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me. "I remember when I was introduced to you," he whispered against my hair. "I saw your perfect little mouth and I was lost. Forever lost. If it were possible to go back and revisit a time, ever, I would go back to that moment. I would hold your face in my hands, cara, and kiss you. Your scent is an aphrodisiac to me—didn't you know? I thought I would have to contact Wlodek and ask him to get me away from you that first night."
"You would have killed me if he'd asked."
"And that would have killed me. I don't know how long I would have lasted, cara, if you'd died at my hand. Now, when I hold you, I can't say how fortunate I am—or how grateful. As if something precious was meant for someone else and it was handed to me by mistake. That's how I feel. Of all the important vampires in the world, the little Queen belongs to me. Wears my ring and sleeps in my bed. How many envy me already? How many more will envy me when they learn what I have?" He tipped my chin up and settled his mouth over mine. "Take us to bed, cara mia," he broke the kiss to whisper the words.
* * *
When I'd attended the last Annual Meeting, it had been on Merrill's arm at some location in Great Britain. This year it was held in France, and I couldn't help thinking of René as Gavin helped me out of the limousine we'd ridden in. Wlodek and Merrill had come separately, thank goodness. I wasn't in any mood to talk to either of them. And I hadn't talked to either of them. Not for days.
"Cara, you are lovely," Gavin kissed me lightly and tucked my hand inside his arm. We walked toward the entrance of an expansive chateau, with neatly trimmed grounds and gardens surrounding it. Water tinkled in fountains
, the scent of flowers floated past and hectares of land surrounded us as we walked toward the brightly lit structure. There wasn't another home, chateau or village anywhere in sight. Thank goodness, this chateau wasn't René's—that would have been sadness on top of sadness. For Gavin and me.
Wlodek insisted that Tony stay in England. He was too young, according to Wlodek, although Gavin thought highly of his fighting skills. Gavin informed me quietly that he imagined Wlodek would allow Tony to come next year, to help the Enforcers guard the meeting.
Vampire guards nodded respectfully to Gavin when we walked through the doors. After passing through a grand entry, Gavin led me into a huge ballroom, decorated in Louis XVI style. Russell, Radomir and Will were already stationed around the ballroom's perimeter, carefully watching the guests. I wanted to go to all three of them and say hello, but that wasn't acceptable. I was supposed to be more circumspect.
"Come this way," Merrill drifted silently beside us, leading Gavin and me toward a knot of vampires. It was the Council; I learned that quickly enough. I had to be civil and respectful to Merrill, Wlodek and the others. I hated that I had to be there. Hated that I had to act as if I were enjoying myself. I wondered briefly how many others felt exactly the same. The males were all dressed in expensive tuxedos, either white or black. A few had ventured into the fringe of fashion and worn a bowtie that wasn't black or white. Female companions dotted the floor like colorful snowflakes, fallen onto darker ground.
"Follow me," Radomir was there suddenly, Wlodek and Charles right behind him. Charles carried his laptop case, so there would be minutes taken. We were going to a meeting. All of us were led toward a doorway at the back of the ballroom, every other vampire present stepping aside to allow us passage. Most bowed to Wlodek as we passed.
It was a small room, designed perhaps for more intimate gatherings. Still, it was large enough to hold all eight Council members, Wlodek, Merrill, Radomir, Gavin, Charles and me. Radomir closed the door behind us and stood guard there.
"Lissa, this is Montrose." Merrill was introducing me to the Council. Montrose lifted my hand and kissed it. "Ilaisaane." The Asian female that had voted against me. I schooled my face and muttered pleasantries. "Nestor. Cecil. Jarl." The three males who'd voted against me. Two of those were tainted, along with Ilaisaane. Did I think anyone had paid attention to me when I'd said that before? Of course not. Jarl was the only exception. He was shorter than most vampires I'd met. "Oluwa," he actually smiled at me, his beautiful, white teeth a contrast to darker skin. His black eyes danced as he kissed my hand. "Susila," the second female Council member. She didn't smile but her eyes sparkled. "And Flavio, of course," Merrill made the last of the introductions. Flavio kissed both cheeks in the European style. Still the handsomest male I'd ever met on Earth. I'm sure he knew it, too, although it didn't seem to affect him at all. Charles's laptop was set up and waiting before the introductions were ever completed.
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