The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires do-5

by Кейти Макалистер

  Yes. I kidnapped Milo Lee's wife and brought her here.

  A soft sigh echoed in my head. Portia, do you have any idea how the Court is going to react to you kidnapping a mortal and bringing her here? As if we weren't in enough trouble—

  Carol Lee took advantage of my distraction with Theo to twist herself out of my grip, racing toward the doorway that led back to the land of reality.

  "Oh, no you don't!" I took a leap that would do a broad jumper proud, flinging myself at Carol, just catching the heel of her shoe as I fell. She went down just as my head cracked the cobblestones, but I didn't let go of her despite the stars that seemed to weave around in front of me.

  "Such an entrance you apparently desire to make," a male voice drawled as I got to my knees, shaking my head but keeping a firm grip on Carol's kicking foot. "I could almost imagine you were trying to get my attention."

  "Think again," I ground out as I got to my feet, hauling up my still-struggling prisoner.

  Gabriel the cherub pursed his lips as he eyed first the woman bound with silver-grey duct tape, then me. I blew back a strand of hair that was sticking to my lip, and lifted my chin, trying to look poised and in charge of the situation.

  "I see you've added abduction to your resume," he said, the corners of his mouth crooking upward. "As if murder wasn't enough?"

  "Portia didn't murder anyone," Sarah said, coming forward to give me a hand with Carol as she continued to fight her bonds, her eyes wild. "If you knew her, you'd realize that she's incapable of something so immoral."

  Carol flung herself backward, her head knocking into mine as she tried to kick my legs out from under me. I sidestepped the back kick, yanking her bound arms up and hissing in her ear in as mean a voice as possible, "You try that again, and I'll break both your arms."

  Gabriel's eyebrows rose.

  "There are, naturally, different interpretations on the word 'immoral'," Sarah said, looking as if she was about to explain the whole circumstance to Gabriel.

  "Don't bother trying to make him understand," I interrupted. "Gabriel has his mind already made up about me."

  "Gabriel?" Sarah's face took on an awe-struck cast. "Gabriel?"

  "Not that Gabriel," he said, looking annoyed. "What is it with you mortals? Is there only one Gabriel you know?"

  Sarah nodded, disappointment rife in her eyes.

  "This Gabriel is a cherub," I said, catching sight of a familiar form skulking along the edge of a building, staying well into the shadows. "And not a particularly nice one. Come on, Carol, we have a little business with some friends of yours."

  "I could make a comment about your niceness as well, virtue," Gabriel called after us as we left him. "But I am too much a cherub to do so!"

  "What's his problem?" Sarah asked in a whisper, glancing over her shoulder at him.

  "He's a bit pissed that I refused to let him seduce me. Or so I gather—honestly, it could be just about anything. I may have breached some sort of Court etiquette or something, and offended him. I've never felt so out of my depths in my life."

  "I wouldn't worry about it." Sarah gave me a reassuring pat on the arm. "Gabriel may be a handsome devil, but he's no Theo."

  "Indeed he isn't."

  Theo's eyes were shaded by the brim of his hat, but I could see the light color of his irises even before I got up close to him.

  Not a good sign.

  "I don't suppose you'd care to explain just why you felt it necessary to kidnap someone when we're attempting to clear your name of a murder charge?" Theo asked.

  "I told her it wasn't a good idea," Sarah piped in. "But you know how Portia is—once she has a goal in mind, she moves heaven and earth to achieve it. It must be all that science stuff—she's so linear in the way she thinks."

  "She can be," Theo said, his gaze darkening into something expressing less displeasure and more thoughtfulness. "Which leads me to believe that I might owe her an apology after all. It's been my experience that Portia doesn't look before leaping, so to speak."

  "Thank you, I will graciously accept your apology. Is there a mare or two around we can speak with? I think they're going to find Carol very interesting."

  Theo gave the bound woman a long look. Who is this?

  Milo's wife, Carol Lee.

  Theo waited for more. I smiled into his head. Don't you recognize her? She's an old friend of yours.

  His eyes narrowed as he looked her over more closely. She jerked convulsively, trying to break my hold on her bound arms, her eyes all but spitting hatred at us.

  I knew the instant Theo recognized her. His eyes widened as he took a step toward her.

  "I think we should let that wait for the mare," I told him. "Are they in the library, do you know?"

  "I have no idea where they are, but we will find out," he said, stepping past us, careful not to leave the shade of the building as he hailed a young girl passing on a brightly colored bike. He had a few minutes' discussion with her, then gestured to us to follow him. "The messenger says that two of the mare are in the sanctuary."

  Carol flung herself on the ground, shrieking behind her gag. Theo simply hoisted her onto his shoulders and carried her to the area of the Court containing the offices and grand apartments.

  "We have an audience," Sarah said as we marched along. I glanced back to where she was looking. Just about everyone who had been in the town square was following behind us, with others streaming in to swell their ranks as we proceeded to the other section of the city.

  This should prove to be interesting, Theo said as we waited for the same dapifer who had taken care of us a few days before to determine if the mare would see us. Added to what I found out while you were so industriously occupied, I believe we may have a solution.

  Oh, I can't believe I didn't ask you about that! Did you talk to Terrin? What did you find out?

  "Their graces the mare Irina and mare Disin have granted you an audience," the dapifer said, his lips moving soundlessly as he eyeballed the gathered crowd behind us. "I believe the ballroom will be best. This way, please."

  What did Terrin tell you?

  Have you ever heard of renascence?

  Renaissance? Sure.

  No, renascence. He spelled it for me. The concept is similar to renaissance in that both essentially mean rebirth, but in this instance its usage applies solely to the Court of Divine Blood.

  In what way? I asked as we were led to an entirely different area of the keep from where we'd been before.

  It is the method by which the entire Court hierarchy is remade. The sovereign allows one renascence per millennium.

  What happens to the people who are remade? I asked, my skin crawling as thoughts of concentration camps and ethnic purging danced through my head.

  They take new positions under the reformed hierarchy. It is not a mass extermination, sweetling…although the results can be nearly as devastating.

  "Do we get to see the sovereign?" Sarah asked in an awe-hushed voice, drawing my attention from the dark path my thoughts had taken.

  I looked around us as we made our way into the depths of the castle, noticing the surroundings with growing amazement. The word "grand" was an understatement when applied to the reception rooms. Rich ebony-edged lapis lazuli furniture jostled for room with crimson and gold chairs, settees, and opulent drapery. The walls looked like something out of an art museum, with objects adorning almost every free space: everything from chunks of rocky walls bearing faded cave paintings, to wooden triptychs depicting the medieval idea of religion scenes, to icons, both old and new.

  The dapifer leading the way stopped before a pair of rococo double doors. He turned back to us, giving Sarah a frown. "The sovereign is never seen."

  "What do you mean, never seen?" Sarah looked confused. "Not seen without an appointment?"

  "No, I mean that the sovereign is never seen. That is, the sovereign does not appear in the Court of Divine Blood. Their graces are waiting for you," he continued, giving Theo and me a no
d.

  "Wait a second," I said, stopping him as he was about to open the door. "Are you saying that the person running the Court doesn't bother to put in an appearance once in a while?"

  The dapifer's face reflected mild annoyance. "The sovereign does not choose to make its physical form known."

  "How incredibly convenient," I said, shaking my head. "Why?"

  "Why?" The dapifer's eyebrows went up. "Why what?"

  "Why does the sovereign choose to not make its appearance known in the Court, its own home, if I understand the premise correctly. Is it afraid of something?"

  The murmur of conversation that had accompanied the crowd following us hushed into a pregnant silence.

  Portia, you are treading on very thin ice, Theo warned as the dapifer's eyebrows rose in startled surprise at my question. I urge you to discontinue this line of conversation. It can do no good to you, nor does it have any bearing on our situation.

  No, but surely I can't be the only one here to find it more than a little suspicious that the almighty sovereign, the supreme being of everyone here, doesn't bother to pop in now and again and see how things are going.

  I turned to the people filling the hallway as far back as the eye could see. "Doesn't anyone here wonder about the fact that sovereign has never been seen? Doesn't anyone question that policy?"

  Sweetling, you must stop before this goes further.

  So free thought isn't allowed here? Is no one allowed to question the existence of a supreme being that no one has ever seen?

  The existence of the sovereign is not in doubt by any members of the Court, he answered, and I could feel how carefully he picked his words.

  "Is there any empirical proof that the sovereign is even here now?" I asked, amazed that something so basic had escaped everyone. "Does no one even wonder if the whole idea of a sovereign is…untrue?"

  "No," the dapifer said, his face once again bland and emotionless. "It is a matter of faith."

  "Faith? Because you believe the sovereign exists, it follows that such a being must be?" I shook my head again.

  Theo turned so Carol's foot whapped me on the arm. Sweetling, cease. We have more important things to take care of, and you arguing the logic of faith will not help our case.

  He was right. I had met fanatics before—I'd lived with them for eighteen years—and I knew well that such people were not often open to logic and reason. This would be a battle for another time.

  Sarah was watching me closely, concern in her eyes. I gave her a weakly reassuring smile and waved a hand at the dapifer. "Sorry to hold you up. We're ready if the mare are."

  The dapifer opened both doors with a grand gesture, sweeping in to make a bow to the dais at the far end of the room.

  "Hol-ee cow," Sarah said, her eyes huge as she spun around looking at the ballroom.

  I had to admit, it was a pretty impressive sight. The walls were paneled in a warm, amber oak, with two rows of long windows running the entire length of the room. Sunlight poured into the room, leaving bright pools dappling the glossy, polished parquet floor. More pictures were on the walls between the windows, portraits this time, beneath each of which sat a silver and blue upholstered chair.

  "They're going to need a whole lot more chairs than that," I said softly as we proceeded into the room, Theo carefully making his way around the pools of sunlight.

  "Will you look at those chandeliers?" Sarah's mouth hung open just a smidgen as she ogled the ornate silver pieces of art that hung from the ceiling. "Are those swans in them?"

  "Looks like a whole mythology theme going on in this room," I answered, unable to keep from looking at the mural on the ceiling. Although at first I thought it was the sort of allegorical painting one normally found on a castle ballroom ceiling, closer inspection showed elements of mythology rather than religion. Satyrs and fauns romped with sylphlike women clad in gauzy gowns in a sylvan setting, while on the far side of the room, nearest the dais which we were approaching, the scene changed to one of black and red, with figures of leering men, and small brown humanlike beings that I took to be some sort of demon.

  Clustered to one side, between the woodland paradise and the fiery depths of Abaddon, but part of neither, stood a small cluster of men and women with downcast eyes, their expressions and body language depicting shame and remorse.

  "Those are the nephilim," Theo said, nodding at them.

  "Right. It's brass-tacks time," I said, squaring my shoulders as we stopped in front of the raised dais. Three chairs sat on it, two of which were occupied by the elderly mare named Irina and the acerbic Disin.

  Theo set the struggling Carol down. I moved around to her far side, keeping a possessive hand on her arm. Theo bowed to the mare. I thought fleetingly of curtseying, but the fact that I had no idea how to perform such a move, coupled with an independent spirit that rejected such notions as someone being "better" than me, left me with the decision that a head bob would be sufficient to show respect.

  "Good afternoon," I said, nodding to both the mares. "I am sorry to disrupt you without warning, but—"

  "Portia Harding," Disin interrupted, her voice booming like thunder as it rolled down the room. People were still filing into the ballroom, but at her bellow they froze, a good half of the large ballroom filled with a solid mass of apparently lifeless bodies. "You have defied the judgment of the Court of Divine Blood by returning here without first being summoned to do so."

  Theo moved closer to me. Overhead, a small dark cloud formed. I willed it away, taking Theo's hand instead.

  "I am not aware that the hearing you held constituted a legal trial, complete with judgment," I said, keeping my voice as non-confrontational, while still firm, as possible. "As I recall, you ordered us to find the murderer of Hope the virtue by the new moon." I waved my hand to the bound woman next to me. "We have done so."

  The crowd moved forward a few feet. I recognized a few familiar faces: the nameless boy proctor who'd taken me to the Akasha, Gabriel, the messenger Theo had stopped. Probably another two hundred people had joined them, filling half the ballroom. Each and every one of them turned to look at Carol Lee.

  "Your cruel and callous treatment of this woman is yet another slap in the Court's face," Disin said, her voice flinty and hard-edged. "Release her immediately."

  "I realize that kidnapping someone is an extreme action, and one I do not undertake lightly. However, given the circumstances, there was no alternative. I could not have convinced her to come to the Court on her own. If I release her now, she will simply escape."

  The crowd made murmurs of disbelief. Disin drew herself up until she seemed a good three feet taller than normal.

  It began to snow inside the ballroom.

  "Your impertinence is beyond all bounds. Release that woman immediately, or I will have you jailed for contempt."

  She looks mean enough to do it, I muttered to Theo as I pulled out a small pair of nail scissors from my purse. Keep an eye on Carol. She's going to bolt the second I have her hands free, I just know it.

  Have a little more faith in the security of the Court, sweetling. Despite appearances, the mare will not allow anyone to leave if they do not desire it.

  I cut the duct tape on Carol's wrists while Theo untied the gag. The second her hands were free, she attacked me, knocking me down to the ground, both hands clutching my hair while she banged my head on the ground.

  Theo pulled her off me while Disin yelled for order.

  "I told you," I said softly as Sarah helped me up to my feet.

  "There will be order," Disin yelled, her hands gesticulating wildly toward us. "You will, all of you, display the respect due the Court, or I will take such measures as to ensure you will not darken our presence again!"

  As a threat, it had sufficient punch to calm Carol down. She jerked her arm out of Theo's grip, but limited herself to a couple of murderous looks my way.

  The snow moved to fall only on Carol.

  "You will cease with such unsee
mly dramatics," Disin ordered, pointing at me.

  "I would if I could, but I don't seem to have a very good grasp on weather control," I said.

  Irina shook her head, her all-seeing eyes on me. "Child, child. This is not worthy of you."

  I cleared my throat as a little blush warmed my cheeks. "I hope that once I am formally accepted as a virtue, I'll be able to learn how to control the weather effects a little better."

  Sweetling, you will never be an actress.

  I smiled at the soft brush of Theo's mind.

  "Such an event is not yet in your grasp," Disin answered with a distinct threat in her voice. "Nor will it be, if your present actions continue."

  I made an effort to dismiss the cloud, arranging my expression to be something a little less antagonistic, folding my hands together and waiting for Disin to continue.

  "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm late I know, but I was held up in the mortal world. Goodness, is it snowing? How interesting." Suria, the third mare, pushed her way through the crowd, giving the snow-covered Carol an interested look before taking her seat on the dais. "What have I missed?"

  "Portia Harding has effected an act of violence against an outsider, and brought her to the Court without either permission or the knowledge of the mare." Disin's glance flickered over to Sarah for a second. "Two outsiders. Such an inconsiderate disregard for the laws of the Court of Divine Blood is not to be tolerated!"

  "Portia has little knowledge of Court etiquette and laws," Theo said, moving closer to me. "We ask your graces to show the leniency for which you are so well known in regards to her accidental violations."

  "Accidental?" Disin asked, her face tightening. "Do you consider kidnapping a woman accidental?"

  "It would, perhaps, be prudent to allow Portia Harding to explain her reasons for conducting such an…extreme act," Irina said softly.

  Suria nodded, her normally sunny face pinched and worried. "I will confess that I, too, am curious as to why Portia would go to such lengths. Who exactly is this woman you have abducted?"

  "She goes by the name of Carol Lee, and is wife to Milo, who conducted the fourth trial."