Blood Rebellion (Blood Destiny #7) (23 page)

"Granddaughter." Wylend Arden had come. Griffin had probably told him about Roff—father and son were becoming close. Except for the day I'd discovered he was my grandfather, Wylend and I hadn't spent much time together.

"Em-pah." I borrowed Kyler and Cleo's term and hugged him when he sat beside me. Roff lay on my bed, as still as death, though his body was still intact.

"My father explained to me once why the Karathian Witches and Warlocks have no power over death," Wylend settled more comfortably in his chair after I let him go.

I turned to look at my grandfather's face when he spoke. His eyes were slightly unfocused, though they didn't change as I'd seen Griffin's do. "Death is not the evil that many believe it to be," my grandfather said. "So many of us do whatever we can to avoid it as long as possible." He drew in a breath before continuing, as if he were carefully choosing his words. "We even grasp at straws, sometimes, to keep death away from us," he said. "But death is not the enemy. It takes us when our bodies are no longer prepared to carry on in our current lives. Brings us peace and freedom from pain. It is life that is often the enemy. The siren that convinces us to hold onto it as long as we can, even though we are filled with pain or have lived long past our usefulness. My father always said that we should let our life leave us when it is time and do it gladly, instead of with sorrow and bitterness. Something else awaits us and when we arrive, we will wonder what it was that held us back from it so long."

"Em-pah, right now might not be the best time for that lecture," I wiped tears away. I was surprised I had any left.

"I know," he lifted me from my chair as easily as any vampire might and settled me on his lap. "I didn't get the chance to hold you when you were small. Or kiss your scraped elbows or skinned knees. So many things are owed to us, Granddaughter. I hope your little comesula lives, because I do not wish to see my granddaughter's heart broken."

He sat quietly with me for the rest of the night. I had hope when the night ended, although there was no dawn and never would be where my palace lay. Roff's body was still intact, albeit pale and still. It could take as few as three days and as many as seventeen, in Wlodek's experience, to make a full turn. My hopes had risen the barest of fractions when my Larentii put me to bed.

* * *

I'd been sleeping in Reemagar's suite, but they'd put me in with Drake the night before. I woke with a very amorous Falchani beside me. Drake took care of me and took care of business. I was clean and dressed, too, when I went to sit with Roff.

"Why is Roff lying on his stomach?" Flavio was waiting when I walked into my suite and asked the question as I settled on a chair beside him.

"Kifirin came and said we had to do this, to allow his wings to grow if he lives and thrives." Flavio looked tired as I explained what I knew. I recognized that weariness.

"Lissa, you must call me if he begins to wake at any time. A sire must be there—it is not only the law, but for the welfare of the new vampire. They feel the connection with a sire and I must feed him the first time—it establishes the bond. Do you understand?"

I thought I did, although nobody had been there for me when I woke the first time. There were no reassurances for me when my eyes had opened in an unfamiliar place. A frigid cellar had greeted me, along with a signed cocktail napkin lying on a desk, indicating my status as the source of a bet between two vampires.

"Lissa, don't go down that path." Flavio was watching as those emotions played across my face. "My vampire father has wished many times that he might have been there to welcome you when you rose the first time. Many of us would have given much to watch your eyes open. That was not to be, my Queen. I beg you not to regret your turning. It has become a blessing to all of us."

It didn't feel like a blessing at the moment as I gazed at Roff's nude body, now lying face down on my bed. "Flavio, you look exhausted. Go eat something and get some rest. I promise to send for you if he shows any signs of waking. I want Roff to have the best of care."

"I will, little sister. I will answer your call immediately if you send mindspeech." I nodded to him and he folded away. Kyler had done this for him—given him that ability plus mindspeech and a few other things, although he was still mostly vampire. I sat down to keep watch over Roff. Giff came in after a while with a breakfast tray. Toff had not been allowed inside the room, lest he reach for his father. I understood that feeling all too well; I wanted to reach for his father as well. I'd been told it was better not to disturb the body. I did talk to him once in a while; they hadn't told me I couldn't.

Giff and I sat and ate breakfast, though neither of us was hungry. It was something to do—a distraction. I warmed our tea several times using the power that I had, though I seldom used it. Meetings with the Council had been canceled. Thank goodness, another tour of the palace would not be coming through for a few more days. Drake and Drew had guards arranged to check every tourist that came to the palace from this point forward.

We'd learned that Shala had rubbed herself against the tour bus driver, promising him who knew what, and was allowed on the bus. The driver now faced charges and sat in an underground cell, wearing the cuffs that could control a vampire. Yes, a vampire had aided my would-be murderer, for the promise of sex. The whole thing sickened me. I was afraid to turn my thoughts to Gabron. I still wore his ring but thought many times of flinging it away or sending it back to him, wherever he was. I thought about shouting at him and telling him we were done. Yet there the ring was, still on my finger. I sighed.

Giff left me after a while—Rolfe had come for her. He lifted her in his arms and carried her from the room. Grant crept in with papers for me to sign and other things that desperately needed my attention. We spoke quietly together, I signed and read and dispensed the Queen's words and wisdom.
Wisdom
. What a useless word to me at the moment. I didn't have any. It had floated away from me the moment I saw the light beginning to die in Roff's eyes.

"Grant, who turned you?" I looked at him. He was one of the hundred thousand or so from Earth and I had never met his sire. Grant was more than nine hundred years old—that's all I knew about him.

"Sarita turned me," he sighed. "I was barely twenty and dying of an infection. I was really sick. I think she hoped I would be the child she couldn't have. I was a disappointment to her, when I woke. She walked into the sun a week later."

"Who helped you after that?" Grant now had my full attention.

"Someone named Victor. You won't know him; he gave up his life when I was two hundred years old. Victor was old, Lissa. Really old. But he knew so much. Sometimes I thought that if I stared into his eyes long enough, I could see the origins of everything."

I sent mindspeech to Merrill, who was there in a blink. "You never told me Sarita sired a child," I looked up at him. Perhaps it was the Saa Thalarr blood in him that had confused the scent, since he'd be Grant's grandparent, after all. I hadn't known until I'd gone sniffing for it after Grant told me. It was so faint it almost wasn't there but I found it, once I knew what I was looking for.

"She didn't," Merrill started to deny and then went
Looking
. I saw the confusion on his face after a moment. "She got away from us, there at the end. Wanted time alone, she said. Barely a month later, she gave herself to the sun. The aristocracy was only beginning to meet and come to agreement on the laws and such. The Council had yet to be. Child, Sarita was of my making." He smiled at Grant.

"Someone named Victor raised him," I offered.

"I knew Victor. He was ancient when I knew him. Tired of life after a while and gave it up." Merrill shrugged. "Child, if you need anything, all you have to do is come to me." Merrill nodded to Grant and folded away.

"That's your vampire grandfather," I patted Grant on the back. "He was my surrogate sire for a while. We're practically related."

* * *

Ten days it took. Ten long, worrisome, excruciating days. Roff's wings formed but they looked weak and small to me, pressed tightly against his back. They resembled a new butterfly's wings—soft and moist in appearance. They were a light brown as was his skin, now—almost a latte color. He'd grown taller in the turn, too, but it was difficult to gauge his height as he lay on the bed. A soft moan escaped his lips and I was off my chair swiftly, calling mentally for Flavio and anyone else who could come. Wlodek, Merrill and Flavio answered my call and the worst thing in the world happened. Flavio went to Roff and I was hauled from the room by Merrill and Wlodek.

"But I want to see Roff!" I struggled against their hold.

"Lissa, you cannot. Not for a while. You will confuse him when he does not need to be confused. He needs to focus on his sire and what his sire will be teaching him. You will not interfere with this." Wlodek was laying down the law, just as he'd always done before. Giff was crying in the hallway nearby—Adam and Gavin were holding her back. I started cursing.

"It's a fucking fine time for you to tell me this now!" I jerked out of their hands.

"Lissa, we did not want to upset you any more than you already were. And we must take this argument out of Roff's hearing." I was folded into the kitchen and offered something to eat. I just stood and stared at Wlodek and Merrill.

"Fuck you. Fuck both of you." I didn't bother turning to mist. I went to energy—something I hadn't done for days, and went so far away with that first angry thought it would have taken the fastest starship light-years to navigate back to Le-Ath Veronis.

* * *

"She has been gone four months. We should proceed with the trial." Kifirin had come to the private Council meeting. Only the Heads of the Councils were invited to these meetings and they were not broadcast over the news channel as the others were. Kifirin had made brief appearances after Lissa's disappearance, assured the others that he knew where she was and refused to give further information. Gossip abounded that she was on retreat after the attempt on her life while other whispered rumors speculated she'd been staked and was now dead.

"I'm all for getting this over with," Flavio agreed. Roff had been left behind at Flavio's home; Kyler had come to keep the new vampire company. Not once had Roff asked after Lissa and Flavio knew that fact alone would have broken Lissa's heart. Roff had no memories of her, his children or several others.  Many more that he'd known were now only hazy memories in his mind. He was progressing very well, otherwise and Flavio was quite satisfied with his fourth and youngest vampire child.

"Then let us do this, while I am here. Bring the first prisoner forth," Kifirin commanded. Drake and Drew folded to the dungeons and brought the vampire bus driver in.

"I didn't know," the vampire begged Kifirin to understand. "I thought she was a tourist that couldn't get in otherwise."

"And yet you had compulsion available and failed to use it," Kifirin wasn't moved.

The vampire hung his head. "I realized this later. I wasn't thinking at the moment."

Kifirin lifted an eyebrow at the admission. "What do you think your punishment should be?" The vampire raised his head and gazed into Kifirin's dark eyes. Smoke curled from Kifirin's nostrils, making the vampire wonder what Kifirin truly was.

"Five years imprisonment," the vampire hung his head again.

"Two years. And something will be found to occupy your time." Kifirin pronounced judgment. There would be no debate in his court of law. The vampire was returned to the dungeon until something could be found for him to do. Elthine was led forward next.

Gabron was present, as Head of the Refizani Council. He'd returned to the palace after learning of Lissa's disappearance. Hardly anyone spoke to him the few times he came to dinner or breakfast. Mostly he drank blood substitute and spent much time in his suite if he wasn't running his businesses. Those had proven to be wildly successful and he and the other Refizani investors were enjoying the boom the entire planet experienced, but it was a lifeless victory for him.

"You will speak only the truth while you stand before me," Kifirin addressed Elthine and she quailed before him. Stars appeared in Kifirin's eyes while smoke poured from his nostrils. Elthine had no idea what he was, either, but power radiated from him and she was terrified. "Tell me your part in this," Kifirin demanded. Elthine wanted to fall at his feet and beg for her life. She was compelled to tell her story instead.

"We worked for Gabron, on Refizan," Elthine's voice quavered. "Shala and I, well, we liked the vampires. Very much. We became jaded with normal sex—even the more deviant types. We would often beg Gabron for the bite. He would give it to us in exchange for sex. Shala wanted this for herself, all the time. She wanted money. She wanted her own brothel. She even toyed with the idea of staking Gabron at times, but somehow knew she would not gain what she wanted with his death. She thought about going to him and asking if he would set her up and then backed away. She was afraid he would refuse."

"And you did not want these things for yourself?"

"Shala said I could be first assistant in her brothel. That appealed to me. I did not want to be in control. That is what Shala wanted. When we heard Gabron was here and looking for employees, Shala wanted to come more than anything. We had been without our vampires for months. This was our chance to be bitten again."