I love you, Gavin, I sent. He kissed me harder and deeper. When his fangs nipped my lower lip and then moved to my throat, I didn't object.
Chapter 9
I didn't wake in the day after Gavin and I continued our lovemaking in the bedroom, but I did dream. Why are my dreams so disturbing, now? If I'd felt comfortable asking Griffin, perhaps he could have told me. I didn't feel comfortable with that so I was left with a conundrum of sorts. I saw the High Demons' palace in my dream, but somehow I knew that the time in which I saw it was far in the past. The High Demon King presided over what I imagined was his Council.
"The Ra'Ak have taken Harifa Edus, Raoni," a High Demon informed the King. "Only Le-Ath Veronis now stands out of all the worlds in the Dark Realm."
"Are you willing to go and help the vampires?" The King snorted, blowing a bit of smoke from his nostrils. "We are safe here, are we not?" He looked like a king, his face handsome and stern, his eyes a deep blue as he gazed out at his Council.
"I would go, if you asked it of me," The High Demon backed down, muttering.
"Nedevik, I think you would be alone in that venture," the King replied. "My troops do not wish to go. What care have we if the others die? The balance will be maintained as long as Kifirin stands."
"The Veronis Imperea is asking us to accept the comesuli—they are the most vulnerable to the Ra'Ak. She says they will work for us if we offer them shelter." Nedevik's words drew the King's interest.
"Are they willing to work our fields and tend our herds?" the King asked. He was intrigued by the idea, I could tell.
"As well as cook, clean, and manufacture clothing, wine and other necessities; they eat just as we do," Nedevik replied.
"How will they come here?" The King thought of a major obstacle.
"The Queen of Le-Ath Veronis has offered payment to several Karathian Warlocks to accomplish this. They are standing by if you give consent, Raoni."
"What say you all?" The King set the question before his Council. He had a nearly unanimous decision in a very short amount of time. The High Demons saw profit in bringing the comesuli, although they refused the subsequent request to harbor some of the vampires as well.
"We do not need those creatures," the King waved a hand in dismissal and the fate of Le-Ath Veronis was decided on a beautiful afternoon, upon the planet named after a god. I was weeping when I woke at dusk. Thankfully, Gavin was already awake and out of the bedroom. How could I tell him what I'd seen? I was still wiping tears as I had my blood and took a shower.
* * *
"Raona, Gavin said to bring you to the main dwelling as soon as you were up and dressed," Roff was in the bedroom, waiting for me to come out of the bathroom. I nodded at him. He would probably know the answers to the questions I had, but they would have to wait until I could ask them without crying. I followed Roff down the stairs to the ground and then over the green and well-kept yard to the main house. Bill was there with Tony, René, Gavin, Michael, Winkler and a pile of luggage. Gavin or Roff had packed for me while I slept. Bill seemed grim and Tony looked angry. René and Gavin had no expression, which was normal. Winkler didn't really care, I could tell.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Lissy, we need your cooperation on this, even though we know how you feel about him," Tony said, working to get his anger under control.
"Feel about whom?" I was getting a bad vibe about this, whatever it was.
"Lissa, Lawrence Frazier has been taken," Bill supplied the information. The news caused me to draw in a painful breath. Larry—Tony's friend who'd taken blood from me while I'd slept (and that after I'd pulled him away from a boatload of pirates in the Arabian Sea) had been kidnapped.
"Taken by whom?" I was now attempting to stop the quivering of my skin; I had no love for Dr. Lawrence Frazier.
"We think either Rahim Alif's colleagues or those associated with Xenides. Agents White and Townsend said they had both vampire and human scents from his home in Maryland. Lissa, we can't allow his knowledge and expertise to fall into the hands of the enemy," Bill was pleading with me to understand the urgency of the situation.
"You know what he did to me?" I was hugging myself.
"I know, Lissa. I was briefed by Director Hancock," Bill nodded in Tony's direction.
"Cara, think," Gavin said. "If Xenides controls Frazier, he could cause a great deal of damage to all. With Frazier's knowledge backing these rogues, the influenza vaccine could only be the beginning of more terrible things."
"Dear God." I shuddered at Gavin's words.
"Little rose, we will be with you," René offered, his brown eyes smiling kindly and his fingers brushing my neck briefly.
"Lissy, this is important," Tony said. "Larry could be forced to supply a vampire DNA solution to kill presidents, heads of state, diplomats, world leaders—anyone that Xenides or Rahim Alif's contacts and associates desire. It would be easy if vampires were involved. Only a small amount of compulsion and they can get in anywhere. You and I have seen this already." Tony was begging me to get on board with this.
"Fine," I muttered. "Where are we going? I see I'm packed already."
"Maryland first, and then wherever the leads take us," Bill replied. "Our jet is waiting; we just have to get to the airport."
At least the flight was uneventful and we landed at Dulles in four hours, leaving enough time to drive to Larry's home in Chevy Chase to sniff around.
"Two vampires," I said, as we walked inside the house. It was a nice house—a two-story brick that had been renovated. Both vampires had Xenides' scent about them, not Saxom's. Therefore, these would be younger. Three humans were with the vampires; their scent hung heavy in the house. I didn't smell blood or death, so Larry was alive when they'd taken him away. I let Bill know that. He and Tony both breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't sure how I felt about Tony's reaction. The guy must have been a friend, but after what he'd done to me, I wasn't feeling charitable toward Tony or Larry at the moment.
"He was taken yesterday," Bill explained as we concluded our search. It was now Wednesday, September eighth; Roff (and his watch) made sure I was updated as we boarded the plane in Oklahoma City. "As near as we can figure, between two and six in the morning," Bill was giving the particulars on Frazier's kidnapping. "He didn't leave the hospital until after his rounds were finished at midnight, and we have records of an email sent after one a.m. from here at the house."