* * *
"I desire to keep her safe while I tend to things," Kifirin said later. He'd appeared inside Merrill's study, a sleeping Lissa in his arms. She was dressed again, as was he, but he'd placed a healing sleep after he'd loved her. "Do not confine her; that will be too much. Provide companions or guards if you can and I will return soon."
Merrill was shocked—not only to see Kifirin, but to find Lissa in his arms. So much time had passed since she'd been inside his home. He rarely stayed there now; he had a place at Gryphon Hall, Adam Chessman's old family home, where Kiarra and Adam were and Pheligar came upon occasion. He used his old study for business—to find some time alone, here and there. Griffin and Amara stayed at Merrill's old manor now.
"She won't want to stay; Griffin is here," Merrill whispered as if he were afraid she might wake.
"He will have to make his own peace with her," Kifirin said softly. "She is very angry with him. She does not understand why or how a father could sacrifice his child."
"I don't understand it either." Merrill accepted Lissa's sleeping body into his arms. "I will take her to Grace and Dragon and the others. Radomir is there, as is Karzac, so there are three she knows in that house. Perhaps they can help her somehow. We won't ask anything of her that she isn't prepared to give."
"If she needs funds or anything else, I will reimburse you for whatever you spend," Kifirin said, stroking Lissa's cheek. "She is so pale and thin. I beg you to do something about that, too."
"She will never want for money," Merrill huffed. "Wlodek and I kept her assets before; he couldn't bear to take anything else from her, although we thought her dead. The investments were placed in my name when we forgot about her all those years. The accounts sat there, gathering interest. I invested it as well as I could, too. She will not have need for anything else."
"Tell her I will return before long. I have much work to do." Kifirin disappeared.
"Lissa, I want Griffin to see you while you're sleeping," Merrill leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I am sorry for so many things, little girl." Merrill sent mindspeech, and Griffin and Amara both appeared in seconds.
"Careful," Merrill handed her to Griffin, who had tears in his eyes. "She's quite frail," Merrill went on as Griffin cradled Lissa in his arms.
"This is our baby," Griffin smiled sadly at Amara. "She would have been born to us, if they hadn't decided to do this."
"Why didn't they let her be reborn?" Amara wanted to weep over the way things were. "She wouldn't have hated us then."
"This is our punishment," Griffin sighed. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"
"I want to take her to Dragon's; Grace and Devin can help take care of her," Merrill said. Dragon, Grace and the others had a sprawling villa less than a mile away. Grace and Devin shared eleven mates between them, as females among the Saa Thalarr were rare. Not as rare as female vampires, but rare all the same.
"We'll go with you." Griffin nodded at Merrill. "I want Karzac to take a look—she doesn't weigh anything and she looks so pale. What did they do to her?"
"No idea," Merrill shrugged. "Let's see what we can do for her while she's asleep."
Chapter 6
"I'll set up a transfusion." Those were Karzac's first words after he'd silently examined Lissa. "The vampire is still alive in her and the blood may help. It's possible they gave her fluids only for days and didn't feed her. The common demons don't have anything in the way of feeding tubes, and have no updated training. If they found her unconscious, they couldn't have done much for her."
"I'll donate," Merrill rolled up a sleeve.
"Let me get Jeff, then," Karzac sent mindspeech to one of Merrill's twin sons. Jeff, the oldest of Merrill's twins, had trained as a physician and worked in that capacity for a very long time. He was also a healer for the Saa Thalarr.
"Dad, you want me to take your blood?" Jeff grinned at Merrill when he folded in. Jeff was the only vampire who'd been born vampire, and looked much like his father. His fraternal twin, Franklin, wasn't vampire, although he also was a healer and resembled Merrill more than Jeff.
"Son, get your tubes and bags out, or I'll take yours," Merrill grumped. Jeff knew his father was teasing.
Griffin sat on the edge of the bed; Amara huddled against him as they watched Karzac and Jeff set up the IV to give Lissa Merrill's blood. Dragon came in during the procedure—Karzac sent mindspeech and he'd folded in from Falchan.
"Do we need to get our warrior Queen some leathers?" Dragon peered over Merrill's shoulder as Lissa was given Merrill's blood.
"Wait until she gains weight back," Merrill said. He was sipping a cup of coffee, though Jeff had told him to eat something after donating blood. Merrill had a coffee addiction and wasn't happy unless he had several cups a day.
* * *
"I'm only taking the IV out." The voice and scent were familiar, but I couldn't connect them to where I'd been when I'd gone to sleep. I unglued my eyes and stared up at Karzac. He held my right hand in one of his, removing an IV, just as he said.
"That's great, honey," I said. "Do you want to tell me why the f**k I have an IV to start with?"
"Malnourishment," Karzac muttered, pulling the IV out and placing healing light around the wound. "There, all healed up," he gave my hand back to me. "And I still expect you to come to dinner tonight. If I understood Mike and Jamie correctly, we're having pot roast. It's Kiarra's recipe and very good." Karzac looked much as he had the last time I'd seen him—three hundred years in the past. Same green-gold eyes, same brown hair that looked a bit rumpled, same slight frown as he visually examined me. Yeah—I knew I was as thin as a stick. I didn't know what to do about it, though.
"Who are Mike and Jamie and where am I, Karzac?" I was rubbing my forehead; a headache threatened.
"We will not allow that," Karzac's fingers were cool and careful on my forehead, kneading away the ache. "Little vampire, I want you to find a way to put the incident upon Kifirin behind you. We want you to be happy instead of dwelling on that tragedy. You have been given back to us and that is an amazing gift. Friends are waiting here, if you want them. And a home also, if you desire it. You are at our home outside London, Lissa, and Mike and Jamie are our cook and housekeeper. Merrill tells me Kifirin brought you to him so we could set you to rights again. Kifirin also said he would return when he finished some work or other."