"I beg you to introduce your companion," the Queen was speaking again as she took the cup from Kifirin.
"I do not choose to do so," Kifirin snorted a bit and a tiny curl of smoke came from his nostrils. The man had to be a furnace on the inside. The Queen took that as a sign that he was displeased, backing off a little. "We merely wished to look upon your kind, and we have done so." Kifirin folded space again, pulling me away from the Bright Elemaiya.
"These will not offer anything but they will cower, just the same," Kifirin said, pulling me through a second meadow. This one had recently been mowed and stacks of hay lay here and there. This world not only smelled different, it was in a different season. The Dark Elemaiya didn't have their encampment so brightly lit, but Kifirin led me toward it purposely. The moment we passed the guards at the perimeter, I smelled it. These beings held a portion of the taint that Saxom's misters had. I knew these had the potential for evil within them, like a seed that could sprout at any time with deadly results.
The Dark Elemaiya weren't much different from the Bright ones of their kind—in appearance, anyway. It was the scent of them and the darkness in their spirits that I recognized.
"Have we displeased you, High Lord?" One of the inhabitants came and bowed low before Kifirin. He kept an eye on Kifirin and on me while he bowed.
"No more than your Bright kin, King Baltis," Kifirin replied.
"We will not change our laws," the Dark Elemaiya lifted from his bow.
"That is your choice," Kifirin replied and we folded space again.
* * *
"René, the human who was compelled to murder Aubrey is now dead," Gavin accepted the glass of wine that Devlin held out to him. He and René sat at a small table in Gavin's kitchen. René had agreed to meet Gavin at Gavin's apartment in London. Devlin sat down with a sigh to sip his own glass of wine and looked mournfully at René. René, as Devlin's sire, reached out and rubbed Devlin's shoulders lightly.
"Dare I hope that you accomplished this for us?" René asked calmly, sipping from his own glass.
"I did," Gavin gave the barest of nods.
"Then I thank you, cousin."
"There is something else," Gavin said. "The human did this at Xenides' bidding. She said that Xenides learned that you were hunting him, René. He had Aubrey killed as a message to you."
René cursed softly; first in Latin, and then in French. "I should know better than to convey my intentions to anyone," he breathed. René had no desire to reveal his conversation with Wlodek regarding Aubrey's death—even Gavin had no idea how closely René worked with Wlodek at times. Instead, he turned his head to stare at Gavin's kitchen walls. The room had not been updated in more than four decades. "You should allow your little rose to update your dwelling, cousin," René observed.
"René, do not avoid the subject. Either stop hunting Xenides, or let everyone think you have stopped hunting Xenides." Gavin forced his cousin's attention to return to the business at hand. "After he is dead and turned to ash, I will allow Lissa to do whatever she likes with this place and will permit you to help her select the décor, if she is willing."
"Will you truly allow me to speak with her?" René was surprised.
"Only if she wishes. She was very afraid of you, René."
"I know this and that was not my intention. Much has happened between us, but she was gracious and amusing afterward, don't you think? The French King would have loved her."
"The French King would have died when he put his hands on her," Gavin growled.
"Cousin, I did not intend to raise your ire."
"The f**king French King is dead! Why are you even discussing this?" Devlin rose from the table in an agitated manner and stalked off.
"Cousin, we should go," René rose from his seat as well. "I thank you for what you did."
"Cousin, if you get wind of Xenides, I would appreciate the information," Gavin said. "All of us would very much like to see him die."
"But I want the satisfaction of seeing him die first-hand, cousin." René walked out of Gavin's kitchen.
* * *
"Merrill, I'm sorry I couldn't call earlier, but Hafer is so suspicious, he'll hardly allow me out of his sight." Daniel Carey spoke on his cell while standing on a street corner. He'd left his hotel room and now stood next to a convenience store in London. "I had to tell him I ran out of shaving cream to get away."
Daniel Carey had only recently been transferred to Hafer, at Hafer's request. Shirley Walker was holding Daniel's Second position in the Corpus Christi Pack in the hopes he'd be transferred back. Daniel not only flew planes for the Navy but he'd also operated undercover in the past, under Hafer's command. Hafer asked for him personally and Daniel had no reasonable excuse to refuse. He'd met Merrill four years earlier when the Saxom treachery occurred in south Texas. Daniel and Merrill remained in contact ever since. The minute Daniel learned that Hafer was after Lissa, he'd notified Merrill.
"That's not a problem; Lissa is away at the moment, helping out our special friends." Merrill and Daniel had both assisted in the destruction of Saxom's demon army, with the aid of the Saa Thalarr.
"So, even if Hafer could move heaven and earth, he still might not find her?" Daniel almost laughed aloud. He'd met Lissa briefly, when she worked with William Winkler. He hadn't tried to get close; he didn't want to raise Winkler's suspicions. Daniel also didn't want to get Lissa killed and hadn't informed Merrill either, until later. Merrill understood his reasons very well—he'd have been obligated to inform the Council, although Gavin already had her under surveillance.
"He won't find her at the moment," Merrill answered. "She isn't scheduled to be back for a few days, at least."
"Good," Daniel replied, hanging up.
* * *
"You're not the first one to ask those questions," the bartender at the pub informed the vampire. "I don't know of anyone fitting that description that lives around here and I know everybody, I think. You might want to ask over in Chatham, or Gravesend, there are loads of farms and manors scattered about. They may be travelin' over there to do their business." The bartender wiped the bar off with a cloth as the vampire watched.
"I'll do that," the vampire responded. He'd laid compulsion for the man to tell the truth and the man didn't know anything. He went to his companion, who rose from the booth to go. Ilaisaane left earlier; she hadn't given them any helpful information at all.