"That's what Wlodek and I both think," Merrill walked into the kitchen. "We just can't seem to put our finger on what that is."
"The other thing I wonder is if Saxom managed to turn any females," I added.
"That's a frightening thought," Merrill said. "I'm hoping it's unlikely, since they're so difficult to make."
"Our Lissa, one of the few, the proud, the boobed," Greg smiled.
"Like you don't have ni**les?" I went after him.
"I don't have to wear a bra unless I want to," Greg huffed, hopping out of my way.
"Those are free range ni**les, then," I said, trying to tickle him.
Merrill and Franklin were both laughing while I half-heartedly chased Greg around the kitchen. No way did I want to tire him out.
"Want something to eat?" I asked when things settled down.
"I want pancakes and bacon," Greg said, plopping down onto the barstool next to Frank.
"Coming right up," I said. Greg and Franklin got pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, along with crispy bacon. While they ate, I went to send a few emails on my new computer.
Weldon, I wrote, how's the baby? I thanked him for getting Paul to help on the kidnapping case and told him I wouldn't mind meeting Paul someday, if the opportunity came along. The email to Thomas Williams was just a quick hello to him and his family, letting him know I was fine. As fine as I could be, anyway. At least I wasn't wallowing in self-pity now and my appetite was back. I have no idea what or how Griffin does what he does, but it works. I even sent an email to Winkler, asking how he was and how things were going. Kellee was five months pregnant now and had to be showing. It probably irked her, since she was pregnant with twins and might be huge before it was all over. When Winkler knocked somebody up, he was serious about it.
The last thing I did was call Gavin.
"Cara, are you feeling better?" I hadn't been doing very well when he left.
"I feel better," I said. "I'm still worried over what's going to happen to all those people, but there's really nothing I can do about it now. I did as much as I could do already."
"Those people would have died," Gavin agreed. "Now, there will be a shortage of vaccine and only the high-risk cases may get it, but it will be better than it might have been."
"I know." I sighed a little.
"Cara, if you will go down to the bedroom where my things are and look in the top dresser drawer, you will find the gift I purchased for you," Gavin went on. "I didn't give it to you before because you were not in the proper mood."
Proper mood was Gavin's tactful way of saying depressed funk, I guess. "I'll go down there now, while you're on the phone," I said, and trotted down the hall to the bedroom that Merrill had given him. Of course, he only used the closet and the chest now; he spent his days in my bed while he was here.
There was a small box inside the drawer, and I lifted it out. "Is it the little box?" I asked.
"Yes, cara. Open it." I opened it. Nestled on the satin was a beautiful sapphire ring. It wasn't huge and wasn't just for dinner parties or special occasions—this ring I could wear every day. It had small diamonds surrounding the oval sapphire. I pulled it out and slipped it on my right hand.
"I love it," I said. "I can wear this all the time and not just once in a while." I admired the ring for a moment.
"That is what I wanted when I purchased it," Gavin said. "Now, I have a question for you. I did not mention this earlier, since you were not in a good place."
"What is it, darlin'?" I asked.
"Did they mix up my money clip with someone else's, when you bought it? These are not my initials, although the clip is very nice."
I nearly slapped my forehead; I'd just handed the box over to him and hadn't explained anything. "Honey, that's your money clip," I said. "Those are the initials I asked the jewelry store to engrave. LLM, right?"
"That is what is engraved on it," Gavin acknowledged.
"It means Lissa Loves Me," I said. "In case you forget."
Gavin didn't say anything for a moment and I figured I'd offended him or done something truly dumb. Finally, he chuckled. "Cara, I would never have figured that out," he said. "But now, it will be a reminder."
"Do you like it, otherwise?" I asked.
"Very much. My old one was asking for retirement." We talked for a while longer, and he told me he loved me. I told him I loved him, too, and missed him. He likes to hear that, I think.
* * *
"I cannot have him killed—for obvious reasons," Wlodek paced behind his desk. Merrill sat in one of Wlodek's guest chairs. Wlodek's Monet was back on the wall after a lengthy and expensive repair job.
"He has done everything in his power, in an attempt to bring her back," Merrill said, holding Lissa's old iPhone in his hand. It contained voice mails and emails that Anthony Hancock had sent. Her old computer had also been in Merrill's possession and he'd destroyed the thing himself.
"Kenneth White has informed me that each of the six subjects was infected not only with her blood, but with the ash of two others. A dead vampire cannot perform a turn, as you know," Wlodek growled. "And a full turn is the only way to save any of them now. If it had only been Lissa's blood introduced into their systems, I might have looked into their backgrounds and made a decision on an individual basis, even if it is unorthodox. As it is, with another vampire's DNA in their systems, it is impossible. They are doomed. Lissa cannot successfully turn any of them."
"That's not the only reason Hancock wants her back," Merrill said. "He claims he loves her."
"We have enough trouble with her attempts to trust Gavin, after what they have been through. This is too much. I fear for her emotional stability."
"She is stronger than you think, in that respect. She became depressed when she discovered that six innocent men had been sentenced to death, using her blood as a weapon." Merrill watched his sire pace. Wlodek had no idea, when he turned Merrill, just what Merrill would wake as or that Merrill would never be susceptible to his or any other vampire's compulsion. A true Vampire King had that ability; along with the power to place or remove compulsion on any human or vampire, except a Queen. Wlodek had known, however, shortly after Merrill woke as vampire. Merrill had such a strong sense of right and wrong, along with the capacity to see justice done without letting his emotions play a part. A Queen was notoriously emotional. That was why they were good together, two halves of a whole, for the most part. In the history of the vampires upon the Earth, there had only been two pairings, a King and a Queen, living at the same time.