"How did this get past us, all this time?" Kiarra shook her head, perplexed over the news.
"I wouldn't object, normally, since they keep their humanoid shape—the transferred DNA increases speed and endurance." Belen heaved a sigh. "But the sad truth is, once they're infected, they can no longer reproduce in the traditional sense. They can only turn others; they will have no young after the turning. And they die sooner, after the turn. I estimate forty years is the longest that any of them will survive. This has built-in obsolescence for all the humanoid races, if it is allowed to spread unchecked. Lissa can scent them, and the rest of you must create an alternative method of finding them. The wolves and vampires may be able to track them by scent as well."
"I already sent Kyler to destroy everything left on Beliphar," Kiarra nodded, pacing. "Lissa was wise to pick up the uninfected ones and then destroy the starships so the others couldn't get off-world."
"Yes, she was. But this cancer is spreading elsewhere among the worlds of light. The Saa Thalarr must pull together and go out searching for these creatures. It is my command. The Larentii Liaisons have been recalled and they will assist with this. I am asking you to coordinate, Kiarra." Belen wanted to pace while in corporeal form. "And since Grace is pregnant, I may choose a temporary replacement for her."
"Any help will be appreciated," Kiarra agreed.
* * *
"This should get them through the next six months; they can begin to plant their own crops by that time." Weldon and I had bought necessities for the werewolves on Harifa Edus; shoes, jeans, coats, hats—plus all sorts of supplies, including flour, sugar, oats, dried meats, canned vegetables and manual can openers. Daniel, Mack, David and Martin were all there with us. Erland wanted to come but Wylend asked him to do a few things for him instead, so he'd stayed on Karathia.
"We have to do this quickly; Kiarra wants to have a big pow-wow when we get back," Weldon sighed. He folded the supplies and the rest of us to Harifa Edus. We unloaded everything, talked about the canned goods and supplies and told the werewolves we'd check on them again soon. They'd already butchered some game, so things were going as well as could be expected.
"Where are you going now, little girl?" Weldon flipped my braid.
"Home, I guess," I sighed. "I'll go face the music. I figure Gavin is going to start shouting and cursing the moment I get back."
"Well, it's been six months."
"I know. Grace and Amara should be ready to pop soon," I muttered.
"Lissa, we don't always get what we want. Do we?" Weldon pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head.
"Yeah. You're right," I nodded against him and folded away.
* * *
"That's the only vampire I ever called Pack," Weldon sighed when Lissa folded away.
"I remember—I signed her certificate," Martin grinned. "Come on; let's go see what the big news is about."
* * *
I'd been going about during daylight for the past six months. Landing on the central dome of the palace on Le-Ath Veronis was a bit of a shock—it was twilight there constantly. I was still mist when I caught the movement, not far from where I'd landed. I would have gasped, if I could have. He was more than beautiful. I'd said long ago that Roff would be a winged vampire and that I wanted to see it for myself. I was seeing it for myself. His wingspan was at least twelve feet, stretched out.
I could also see how the rumor had gotten started of vampires becoming bats—his wings resembled those of a huge bat, only they were beautiful—the color of soft brown leather. Roff's skin was darker, too, and his black hair was slightly longer than he'd kept it before. He was now more than six feet tall, incredible to look upon and didn't remember a thing about me. I didn't materialize until he leapt away from the roof, allowing his wings to lift him in an updraft. He glided away for a long while, flapping lazily as if he enjoyed his flight. I sighed at the beauty he'd become and sighed again for myself, because he was no longer mine.
* * *
"I'm going out looking for her." Gavin cut into his steak so viciously I was surprised his knife didn't go right through the plate. His claws certainly would have, if he'd used those. I'd misted into the dining room, just as dinner was being served.
"And where are you going to look?" Shadow asked. He didn't sound happy either. Drake and Drew weren't saying anything—they were eating and not talking, which was out of character for them. Tony was prepared to go with Gavin, I could tell. Gabron was missing. I had no idea where he might be and I was still upset with him anyway.
"You don't have to go anywhere, Gavin. I'm right here," I said, materializing at my place at the head of the table.
Gavin handed me a dark look. "Lissa, it will be in your best interest if you sit down right now and eat. If we ask you questions, I would appreciate answers." Drake or Drew must have sent mindspeech to Garde and Karzac, because they were both there in a blink. I wanted to tell Karzac to go back to Grace, but I didn't. I sat down, just as Gavin said, and food was brought.
"Where have you been?" Gavin growled.
"Earth, Harifa Edus, Earth, Beliphar, Earth, Karathia, Harifa Edus, Kifirin," I was trying to remember if I'd left anything out.
"Lissa, I am extremely angry at this moment," Gavin said, stabbing his fork into a chunk of steak.
"I know that," I said, staring at my plate. I wasn't hungry anymore. I guess it was too much to ask for them to be glad to see me, and I was depressed about seeing Roff and knowing he wouldn't recognize me.
"Baby, eat," Tony urged.
"Lissa, just a word or mindspeech once in a while would have gone a long way," Karzac weighed in.
"I know."
"Lissa, we were imagining that you were dead or someplace terrible, needing our help and we were helpless to find you."
"I know."
"Lissa, please do not do that to us again. I don't think we can survive that."
"I know."
"Lissa, you have wounded me."
"I know."
"Lissa!" Grant came into the room at a run, lifted me from my chair and spun me around, hugging me and laughing. Well, at least somebody was glad to see me.
"I missed you so much," Grant beamed as he set me down.
"I missed you, too, hon," I patted his face. "Is there a stack of fan mail a mile high?"
"You wouldn't believe what I have piled up. You have to come see it."
"Lissa will come see it later," Gavin snarled. Grant gave me a frightened look and left the dining room quietly. "Lissa, what do you have to say for yourself?" Gavin broke open a crusty roll.
"Well, I don't have much to say for myself. I didn't mean to make you suffer and I sure didn't mean to make you angry. That's always such a pleasant experience for me. I might have come back sooner, but I learned that Roff doesn't have any idea who I am. Doesn't remember me in the tiniest bit. How do you think that makes me feel, Gavin? And I still have a mate out there somewhere, I assume, whose employee thought I'd look a lot better with a stake through my heart. Have I gotten an apology over that? Has Roff? Because he stood in front of me and took that blow—for me. And somebody let that witch into my palace to begin with. Explain that to me, Gavin. Who dropped that ball? If she could get in, then anybody can just waltz right in here and do me in, or anybody else, for that matter. I was promised that those tours were foolproof. Except they weren't. Were they?" I slapped my napkin on the table. "I'm not hungry," I snapped and walked out.
* * *
"That's been building for a while," Tony said softly.
"Six months," Drake agreed.
"We failed to do our job." Gavin stood. "Where do you suppose she is, now?"
"I hope she is in her suite. I'll take food and try to get her to eat if she is." Shadow stood and went to pull Lissa's plate off the table.
"I'll come with you." Karzac rose from his seat.
"We're coming." Drake and Drew stood.
"You're not leaving me behind," Garde said.
*
* *
"Lissa, we brought your food." The door to my suite opened and nearly all my mates trooped inside. I was sitting on my bed, my knees to my chest. Yes, I was sulking. I was fine, flying through the universes, but the moment I got home things went straight to hell in a hurry.
"Lissy, we missed you. A lot. We should have been checking those tours before. We are, now." Tony was attempting to set things right. Shadow held my plate in his hands and he brought my bed tray over, setting my plate on top of it.
"You need to eat, love," was all he said.
* * *
"She's back?" Gabron looked up at his vampire assistant.
"The word just came down from the palace. She'll be at the meeting this afternoon."
"Thank you, Heathe." Gabron dismissed him. Heathe left Gabron's office, closing the door softly behind him.
* * *
"I'll take him with me to the meeting this afternoon, but it will likely do no good at all. He was extremely curious about his new genitalia and asked me why he woke with an erection after sleeping. I took him to one of the brothels—not one run by Gabron, by the way." Flavio was having lunch with Wlodek and Merrill. Roff had been allowed to go to the winery by himself—Flavio knew he wouldn't stray from there—he loved his business. The earnings were placed in an interest-bearing account for him.
"How did he react?" Merrill asked.
"He refused to allow any of the women to put their hands on him. The whole thing distressed him greatly." Flavio sipped his glass of wine.
"He prefers men?" Wlodek asked.
"I called Lucas back in and he offered. Roff backed away from him faster than he did the women." Flavio shook his head. He didn't understand any of this.
"So, now what?" Merrill said.
"Lucas showed him how to masturbate—you know that vampire has absolutely no shame or shyness about him. Roff now handles things himself, every morning," Flavio didn't bother to hide the smile.
"You may want to keep him near the back, in case there's trouble with Lissa at the Council meeting," Merrill suggested. "It might not be a good idea to let the cameras find her bursting into tears when Roff doesn't recognize her."
"He doesn't recognize Giff or Toff, either; we've tried that already," Wlodek shrugged. "That I find unusual. Karzac thinks it is some sort of Systematized Amnesia—where he's lost all memories of the ones closest to him. He vaguely recalls Gavin, Tony and some of the others, but not all. He also can't remember anything about the stabbing, or at least he hasn't brought it up. Karzac thinks his memories may return eventually, but where will we be in the meantime?"
"Lissa is fragile enough at the moment. Karzac tells me that she blew up last night, after she returned home. She knows Roff doesn't remember and she was upset that Gabron hasn't come forward and offered an apology or an explanation." Flavio was angry enough about that, on Roff's behalf.
"Griffin has gone Looking and he says that Lissa placed Shala and Elthine's applications in the pile not to be considered. Gabron pulled them out and hired those girls anyway. Lissa knew, according to Griffin, that they were unsuitable with that talent she has to recognize such things. Gabron overrode her decision." Merrill had talked at length with Griffin over the entire thing. Griffin refused to tell Merrill what the outcome was likely to be.
"I must go pull my youngest away from the winery," Flavio rose from the table. Flavio owned a grand mansion in Lissia, as did many other vampires who'd paid for upgrades. There was plenty of space and Flavio had plenty of money.
"We'll see you at the Council meeting; we're going, just in case," Wlodek nodded.
* * *
"Giff, I don't know why your father doesn't remember us." I wanted to cry again, but I had a meeting with the full Council and a few guests in less than an hour so I was doing my best to hold the dam up. Grant had Toff in the usual sling, but the baby was already trying to walk—or in Toff's case—run. Grant was up to that challenge, though—no normal baby was going to outrun a vampire. Toff smiled and laughed at me as I made faces at him. He'd sat in my lap during breakfast and I'd fed him off my plate. He loves ham.
Giff was the one in tears, now. She didn't understand what had happened to her parent. Well, I didn't understand either.
Giff talked and wept while she'd gotten me dressed in a plum silk tunic and pants, the tunic glittering at neck, cuffs and hem with jewel dust. Yeah, I don't know how they get it to stick, either. She'd done my hair next and placed my coronet carefully afterward. I might look like a Queen in the mirror, but I wanted to curl up somewhere and feel sorry for myself. I wanted Roff back and it didn't look like that was going to happen.
Drake and Drew were acting as guards today, even though they were my military and not my palace guards. Maybe they won a bet with Gavin, but I didn't really see that happening. They were dressed in full leathers and had both blades strapped to their backs. Four more vampire guards joined us as we neared the Council Chambers. The media had arrived in full force and was crowding the main hall, all of them attempting to record images of me. Somebody, it seems, had failed to tell me that my return to palace life was going to be plastered across vid screens everywhere.
I saw Tony and Gavin off in the distance, holding the news crews back behind a barrier. Reporters were shouting questions; I ignored them as I was herded to the left and down the hall leading to the Council Chamber.
I thought I was getting there early, but I was wrong. Everybody was already there and the place was packed. They all rose as I entered the room.
Kyler was there as well, calling out the topics of discussion for the day, which was what to do with the excess profits from the casinos, brothels and other business taxes. The floor was open to suggestion. Someone wanted wider streets to handle increasing traffic. There was a call for more solar energy farms to be put up on the light side to supply the demands of Casino City. There was a consensus on that item, so it was put to a vote and passed. But that only accounted for a fraction of the funds. Someone else stood—someone I didn't recognize. He was the newly elected Head of the Council for a city of vampires pouring in from Alliance worlds. Someone else in my absence had made decisions on those applications.
"I have been approached by exclusive clothing designers, shoe designers and jewelry designers," he began. "They are all willing to pay for the opportunity to open shops here and sell their work to tourists and residents alike. I propose that we clear ground on the eastern edge of Casino City and build those shops between there and Lissia."
I didn't like that idea at all—they wanted to build inside the buffer space I'd demanded between Lissia and Casino City. It would continue to creep in this direction; I just knew it, until the two became one. And it was more retail, on top of that. I wasn't opposed to fancy dresses, shoes, or jewelry, but I wanted a public library and a university, too.
"I was hoping to spend some of the money on a public library and a university," I said, causing everybody to go quiet.
"My Queen, those things should be discussed in time, but the designers may lose interest if we do not act on this quickly." The vampire was pushing his agenda. It seemed that most of the crowd was behind him on this.
"Call for the vote on whether we should consider this proposal, or go on to other things," I snapped. Kyler called for the vote and (no surprise) sixty percent wanted designer clothes and jewelry. I wanted to walk out of the meeting right then and there, but I sat there instead while a list of retail shops was discussed and a letter was drafted, inviting interested parties to submit applications to open shops here.
"I do not want those shops between Lissia and Casino City," I said, when we got to the part on where to put them. "I was very specific on my requirements when the proposal for Casino City was discussed. I required a buffer zone and I wish to keep it. I do not want tourists wandering into my city, without permission."
"My Queen," the vampire was standing and talking again, "we all realize that you have experienced trauma, but you cannot keep the visitors out
of the city forever. They are paying taxes to support you and your palace. You cannot deny them access."
"What is your name?" I stood up as I asked.
"Xandus, my Queen. From Villius, an Alliance world."
"Kyler, how much of the taxes brought in from Casino City are going toward supporting me and the palace?"
Kyler Pulled a handheld electronic device into her hand and searched the records. "That would be nothing, Raona. In fact, the mining concerns you have set up under the ice cap are paying for the public vid screens that have been installed throughout Casino City, as well as paying for the water treatment and desalination plant that supplies water to Casino City and her sister city on the light side. Those funds also pay for repairs to the electrical lines that run from the solar energy generators on the light side."
"Now, Xandus, what did you say again about the taxes supporting me and my palace?" I was so angry by that time that I wanted to mist right in front of him and make him bleed. Xandus gulped; I think he was getting that idea, too.
"Please pardon me, my Queen, I was misinformed."
"If you will hand over the source of your misinformation, I will be pleased to set them straight."
"Raona, I wish to propose that the crown cease paying for all those items mentioned earlier—I had not guessed that anything provided to Casino City was being subsidized by the crown." Merrill stood near the back of the room.
"The invoices came to me, Merrill, what did you suggest I do with them? You all seemed oblivious to the fact that they existed at all."
"That will be rectified quickly, Raona." Merrill nodded and sat down.
"What do the taxes go toward, that come to the city?" Another vampire stood.
"Flavio is in charge of the Lissia city government, I suggest you ask him," I replied as coolly as I could. I was afraid my fangs would slip out and my eyes would go red. And since this was being recorded and fed to the public, that probably wasn't a good thing.
"Those records are available and open to the public," Flavio stood. I could tell he was angry as well, simply by the stiffness in his body. "We recycle as much as possible, which is near one-hundred percent, but we have to pay employees to accomplish this, as well as repair and maintain the water and sewer lines, the water treatment facility, pay for the expenses of getting information out to the citizens, street maintenance and repair; the list is quite long," Flavio huffed. "How long have you been involved in government, or was your election merely a popularity contest? Many of us here have acted in public office for the vampire race for a very long time. If you have complaints, I suggest you go through the proper channels instead of tossing them into the Queen's lap, when you haven't even begun to exercise your options."
Blood Rebellion (Blood Destiny #7) Page 20
