"Have fun?" Merrill was reading a newspaper at the kitchen island when I got home. He likes to keep up with the stock reports and his subscriptions to business magazines alone were staggering.
"I did and we liked the movie," I said.
"I thought you might be interested in the fact that René de la Roque is moving to his London home," Merrill said, turning the page of his newspaper.
"No way," I said. "Please tell me he isn't coming because he found out I—you know."
"I think he's past that," Merrill said. "René has issued an invitation to visit with him after he arrives."
"And what will Gavin say?" I was trying to wiggle out of the whole thing.
"Why don't you call and ask?"
"I don't want to see René," I was whining and I knew it.
"Vampires tend to live a very long time," Merrill reminded me, lowering his newspaper. "It is never wise to offend any of them, as enmity can last as long as the vampire can."
"Now you tell me," I grumbled. "So, I'm supposed to go and make nice, even if he scares me?"
"Especially if he frightens you," Merrill said. "You should learn not to show any weakness."
"Yeah. I've seen the lack of expression," I muttered. Pulling out my cell phone, I dialed Gavin's number. He actually answered.
"First off, I miss you," I said. I didn't want to start the inquisition. "Second, Merrill tells me René is moving to his London home and expects us to visit. I don't want to see René but Merrill says we should go. He says it's about living a long time and not making enemies or something like that."
"Lissa, you must learn to slow down," Gavin sounded almost happy. "René will not harm you and he is quite charming as a host. Merrill is correct—you should go."
"Gavin, you are not helping," I said.
"Lissa, are we going to waste precious time arguing over this?"
"Gavin, I'd really like to make up my own mind once in a while," I was back to whining.
"I know, love. We will talk about this some other time. I must go." He hung up.
"Well, that was useless as phone calls go," I ended the call and stuffed the phone back in my purse.
"Lissa, be patient with us, please," Merrill pleaded. "I know you feel trapped and smothered, most of the time."
"I miss walking in daylight and not worrying that vampires are going to jump out of every closet and dark alley," I said, walking toward the stairs.
"Lissa, you are vampire, and generally we do not jump from closets," Merrill said softly at my back. I just hunched my shoulders and kept walking.
* * *
René de la Roque's home was not in London proper—it was outside London with stables, a gardener's cottage and various outbuildings. In other words, it was huge. There were even horses in the stables.
"I enjoy riding," René said as the human servant ushered us into a den of sorts. René didn't do anything in a small way, I discovered. We were introduced to other guests, one of whom I recognized from my thieving trip to France. Merrill suggested I wear something nice and mentioned the black dress he'd purchased for me in Paris. I wore it with a heavy wrap since it was low-cut, front and back. The servant took the wrap and my small purse and carried them away.
"You are stunning," René appraised my appearance with a smile. I had to smile back and thank him; that was the proper thing to do. He looked very nice himself; I could see a bit of family resemblance to Gavin in his eyes and the shape of his face. I could also tell by scent that they'd been sired by the same vampire. At least Rene' still had his hair; it was a thick, dark blond, whereas Gavin's was a very dark brown. Gavin's hair was still growing out at the moment.
René invited us to sit in a beautiful, museum quality receiving room, decorated in René's favorite Louis XIV period. This home was furnished much like his chateau in France and none of the furniture was something I'd want to flop down on to read a book. It all smelled old to me and a little horsey. Probably stuffed with horsehair, no doubt, although the chairs, sofas and settees were covered in silks and damasks. Instead of commenting on the scent of his furniture, I complimented René on his excellent taste. He flashed me a dazzling smile. Oh, he was handsome, all right, and he knew it, right down to his little pinky toes. His three other guests consisted of a vampire named Aubrey, along with two other vampires named Devlin and Jacques. Aubrey was the vampire I recognized from France—he was the one who'd gone inside the vault with René. I was going to do my best to stay away from him as well; René trusted Aubrey enough to show him what he'd stolen. Aubrey had been quite impressed with the tiaras.
I didn't know Devlin and Jacques. They both kissed my hand when I was introduced, and I wasn't sure I was comfortable with that. Merrill was as smooth as could be, talking about this or that with all of them while we were served glasses of wine by the human servants. René entertained us with stories about getting caught inside Louis XIV's court. He'd crashed a ball to dance with someone and ended up befriending the French king. René was funny, it was true, and doing his best to make sure I enjoyed myself. He had other things on the agenda, however. While I'd already discovered that René was fond of adventure and liked to steal the impossible at times, (the contents of his vault in France attested to that) he also liked to gamble and not in the traditional sense. He was a master strategist, carefully crafting a plot—just to take what he wanted or to steal something from someone else. I learned that night just how devious he could be to achieve his goals.
He invited Merrill to his bedroom to view a painting that, in his words, was not fit for delicate sensibilities (mine), but was attributed to one of the masters. I was left with Aubrey, Jacques and Devlin. Merrill had only been gone a short while when the trap was sprung. Aubrey moved from his seat across from mine and came to sit beside me. Quite close, in fact. He set his wineglass on the table in front of the small sofa where I sat and breathed a cool breath against my cheek.
"You will look fine on René's arm," he said. "And you must accept his offer over Gavin's, you know. René and the rest of us here know what you did."
He'd made me uncomfortable the moment he sat down and the way he leaned over me was frightening. My cell phone had been taken away inside my purse; I had no idea where it was at the moment. I couldn't send a hasty message to Merrill that way so I attempted mindspeech, begging Merrill to come. He didn't hear and Aubrey kept right on pushing against me, telling me I would regret it if I didn't accept René over Gavin and that Wlodek would be happy to make the exchange, one fiancé over another. "Come, now, you stole from René and you owe him. He is willing to forgive if you accept his offer."