Chapter 4
"What happened?" Merrill and Adam stood behind the two Larentii as they worked on Breanne's burns.
"It is most fortunate that we placed a tracking device when we altered her appearance," Reemagar said softly. "If we had arrived only a few seconds later, she would be beyond our help."
Adam watched in silence as clothing and burned skin floated away from Breanne's body, leaving red, angry muscle behind. "It looks and smells like burned meat," Adam muttered.
"That is exactly what it is," Reemagar agreed.
"Lissa was worse," Merrill sighed.
"We are cooling her body, and her vampirism will regenerate the skin. At least she did not lose her hair or appendages," Connegar said as more bits of clothing and burned flesh floated away and disappeared. "We have removed the disguise. It is a disservice to her anyway."
"What the hell are we supposed to do in the meantime? There's a Council meeting in the morning," Gavin exploded.
"Fuck the Council," Merrill hissed, his eyes turning red and fangs pricking his lower lip. "If you want, I'll bend time and get her back to your fucking Council meeting. She needs help. I'll have Karzac contact Kevis."
Gavin cursed in Italian as he flung open the door and slammed it behind him.
"I'm going to Kiarra," Adam growled. "He'll be without his talents soon enough."
"Agreed," Merrill said. "We'll carry her to NorthStar tonight. Kevis can be there in the morning. I'll ask Wlodek and Flavio to remove her from Gavin's care."
"Which of you wishes to give her blood?" Connegar turned to Merrill. "She is dying, even in my care."
"What?" Merrill stepped forward to examine Breanne's body. Her small form had become ashen.
"I'll do it," Adam held his wrist out to Merrill, who sliced it carefully.
"My blood is a gift to you," Adam chanted as he held his bloody wrist over Breanne's mouth.
* * *
"I need her help with something. Where is she?" Kooper and Trevor had come to the palace. When they hadn't found Breanne in her office, the Queen's office or the Queen's suite, they'd gone to the kitchens. Cheedas was so upset they couldn't get coherent answers from him, so they'd gone looking for Gavin.
* * *
"Burned. Went to The Line." Gavin was drunk and sitting in a booth at New Fangled, the vampire lounge owned by Flavio.
"You'd better be joking." Trevor had Gavin's jacket in his grip as he snarled in the former assassin's face.
"No. Connegar says that Adam Chessman had to save her. She was turning to ash. Never meant that to happen." Gavin hiccupped.
"What the fuck did you mean to happen, then?" Kooper was angry and his eyes were going strange.
"Already have a mate. Don't need another," Gavin slurred.
"Where can we find Adam Chessman?" Kooper did his best to hold his anger back. Trevor's claws tore Gavin's jacket as he tossed him away.
"Come on, he's drunk. We'll find Flavio. He can get to Wlodek and Wlodek can get to Adam and Merrill." Trevor pulled Kooper away as he stalked out of New Fangled.
* * *
"She's all right; she's just sleeping off a draft of Adam's blood, that's all. He says she'll wake in the morning. He has a specialist coming in the morning to talk with her. We need to know why she went to The Line." Flavio nodded at his comesula servant, who'd placed cups of coffee in front of him and Kooper after serving a bottle of blood substitute to Trevor.
"How does he know that?" Kooper stared at Trevor.
"Mindspeech," Trevor took a drink from his bottle.
"I contacted my sire, who sent the message to Adam Chessman. He is watching over her carefully, as her first sire should have done," Flavio explained.
"Gavin should have been watching when she got away and went to The Line," Kooper growled.
"Not to worry," Flavio's smile was almost blinding. "Adam's blood will ensure that sunlight will no longer harm her."
"Must be pretty damn special, then," Kooper drank from his cup.
"It is," Flavio agreed. "Why is it that you need her help?"
"This." Kooper pulled a comp-vid from his pocket. "Teeg San Gerxon captured this one a few hours ago. They can't get him to talk, and that's unusual. Those warlocks Teeg has can convince just about anybody to talk."
"Teeg can convince them to talk," Trevor muttered. "Most of the time."
"How can Breanne help with this?" Flavio was extremely curious.
"She led me straight to Weren Kele and his partner, Shale Parc. I have a feeling she can tell these things, somehow, without asking any questions."
"That would be a useful talent," Flavio agreed. "Father?" Flavio said the last word to empty air. Wlodek appeared in a blink.
"What is it, child?" Wlodek asked.
"These two need to see Breanne, as soon as she wakes."
"She won't wake until tomorrow morning. That eliminates our vampire Sheriff from being there."
"No," Trevor shook his head. "I know about the blood thing. The Queen gave me hers years ago. Said I might need it to track scum on the light side of Le-Ath Veronis. I can go."
"How did you manage to keep that secret?" Flavio's dark eyes studied Trevor with guarded interest.
"Nobody important enough asked before." Trevor grinned as he rose from his seat. "When and where do you want me tomorrow morning? Kooper and I have a date with a sick friend."
"Meet here at eight bells. I'll take you," Wlodek said.
"Good enough. Thank you, Honored One." Trevor inclined his head respectfully to Wlodek.
* * *
"Has he said anything?" Teeg San Gerxon leaned against the wall opposite the prisoner's cell.
"Not a word, boss." Stellan Starr shook his head. He couldn't understand it, either. They had a rogue warlock sitting in the cell—they knew that much at least, but he refused to talk and neither Teeg's compulsion nor anything the Starr brothers had attempted could bring a word to this one's lips.
"If we hadn't intercepted that ship, we wouldn't have him, either. Any word on its destination?"
"No, boss. Just found drugs on board, and only a few boxes of that. I get the idea that information was the most important cargo they transported; that's why he won't—or can't—talk." Stellan nodded toward their prisoner.
Their captive didn't look capable of holding anything back; Stellan thought him rather weak as a warlock, otherwise he might have escaped his captors, who were regular CSD—Campiaan Security Detail. Instead, the agents had received a few burns from feeble fireblasts before they'd managed to knock him unconscious with a laser tazer. They'd hauled him to Campiaa for questioning afterward.
"We can hold him two days for questioning on the drugs, but we have to let him post bond after that," Teeg sighed. "Kooper Griff says he has somebody who might help, but tomorrow morning is the earliest they can arrive."
"I hope whomever he has can tell us something. There's a problem here, I can smell it," Stellan grumbled.
"Yeah. Me, too, Stell. Me, too."
* * *
Breanne's Journal
"Sweetheart, people are waiting for you to wake."
I blinked at the face hovering near mine. Oddly enough, Adam Chessman's gray eyes were filled with concern. I blinked a few more times, just to bring his face into focus. I knew all sorts of things about him when my vision finally cleared. Yes, he'd been vampire. Yes, he'd killed. And finally, yes, he was a kind soul. I wanted to weep at the last revelation. Not only was he a kind soul, but some of that kindness was pointed in my direction.
"Who's waiting?" I touched my forehead—my brain felt fragile for some reason. It hit me, then. Sunlight filtered through an unfamiliar window beside my bed and I wasn't frying. I remembered my suicide attempt in the sun on Le-Ath Veronis—I'd barely kept the screams of agony behind my teeth as natural light melted my skin.
Adam smiled gently at me. "Well, Trevor and Kooper say what they have can't wait, and then Kevis wants to speak with you when you're done with those two," Adam interrupted my thoughts. He was a handsome man—there was no doubt of that. He was also mated to a beautiful woman; I'd seen her in my reading of Adam. I even had her name and the names of her two other mates.
"I'll walk you to the kitchen so you can have breakfast and listen to what Kooper and Trevor have to say." Adam smiled gently at me as he helped me off the bed.
"How am I still alive in daylight?" I wobbled precariously as I stood.
"We had to perform a second turn last night, after you went to The Line," Adam said, slipping my hand through his elbow to steady me. "My blood has something extra in it." I already knew he was special, as were the others I'd seen in his reading.
"So I won't cook when I go to The Line again?"
"I don't want you to go back to The Line. In fact, I'm begging you to never consider it again." He was speaking metaphorically—we both knew that.
"A second turn. That means I'm a half-child, doesn't it?" I looked up into clearly concerned gray eyes.
"Yes. I'm surprised you knew that."
"Gavin gave me information on a comp-vid and told me to read all of it. Half-children are only mentioned once in all of that. It said they're rare."
"They are very rare. I hope you don't mind that I volunteered to be your second sire. Merrill wanted to do this, but I beat him to it." Adam was smiling again. Nobody had smiled that much at me in well, forever.
"You're a good man. Why would I mind?" I shook my head. "Gavin hated me from the beginning."
"Hate is a strong word," Adam said, patting my fingers. I was currently holding onto his arm as tightly as I dared—I was shaky and concentrated my efforts on staying upright.
"Gavin didn't want anything to do with me."
"Sweetheart, do you know that for sure?"
"Yeah. I know it for sure," I nodded. I'd seen it every time he'd stood in front of me.
"Thank God." Trevor spoke first and rose from his seat at a huge kitchen island. "Baby, are you all right?" Kooper Griff, who sat next to Trevor, nodded at Trevor's words.
"I'm okay," I whispered, shocked that he'd called me baby. Nobody called me that. Had never called me that.
"She's shaky as hell," Adam said, telling everyone present what I was trying my best to hide. Several sat around the large island—it wasn't just Kooper and Trevor. I recognized Kiarra and Merrill; I'd seen them in Adam's reading. Reading Franklin, Shane, Tomas and Trace made me dizzy, but I did it.
"Here," Trevor took my arm and led me to his seat. That's how I ended up between him and Kooper, while breakfast was served.
"I heard you were vegetarian. I am, too," Kiarra offered a smile. She was beautiful, with waist-length, white-blonde hair. She and I were having eggs and fruit.
"Eat as much as you can," Kooper coaxed as I lifted my fork. I understood now that Adam's blood hadn't only enabled me to walk in daylight. Trevor, grinning beside me, accepted a plate of food as well.
"Somebody's not just vampire," I patted Trevor's hand. I might have known that about him if I could read him. He and Kooper were still just as unreadable to me as they'd been the first time we'd met.
"I have to keep up appearances," he smiled. "Can't have the locals thinking Sheriff Trevor is more than just your ordinary vamp."
"I'm glad," I said, dipping up eggs and working to keep my hand steady at the same time. Who says I can't multitask?
"You should have called me last night," Trevor said quietly, and then he put gentle fingers on my spine and rubbed careful circles there. I almost dropped my fork.
"I thought about it," I said, working to keep my breaths from coming out in shaky spasms—Trevor's hand was creating a sensation I'd never experienced before. As for his statement; I'd considered calling him—I'd turned his card over and over in my fingers before deciding he had no influence over Gavin or any other part of my life. I'd made my way to The Line after that.
"You can call me, too, you know." Kooper weighed in on the situation. "I'm glad they removed the disguise, by the way."
"Did they?" I hadn't noticed and hadn't asked.
"We'll talk about that later," Adam promised. "While you're with us at NorthStar, you'll be yourself."
"Where is NorthStar?" I asked. Kooper took the opportunity to place a croissant on my plate. They'd just come out of the oven and the cook was smiling at all of us as he handed out baskets of rolls.
"Avendor," Adam said. "On the Southern Continent. We own the second-largest gishi fruit grove, here."
"Gishi fruit?" I hadn't heard of it.
"Only a hair away from heaven," Shane spoke for the first time. "And the most expensive fruit you'll ever taste. It only grows here and on Kifirin. It's the volcanic soil and tropical rains that make it taste so good."
"The ice cream is heaven," Kooper agreed.
"I love ice cream," I sighed.
"Eat your eggs, sweetheart," Adam nodded toward my plate. I dipped in obediently.