"I wish they could keep that quiet," I muttered. Xenides, along with his best buddy terrorist, Rahim Alif, had succeeded in introducing vampire DNA into the flu vaccine, just as I said. Now, I hoped the people most vulnerable would be able to get vaccinated with untainted drugs. I shivered, thinking about what might happen if they didn't. Health organizations across the globe were predicting a serious flu epidemic come the fall season.
"What do you know about that?" Bryan turned sharply to stare at me.
"Bryan, I wish I could tell you, but I can't," I sighed. "How many deaths worldwide do you think might be attributed to an insufficient amount of flu vaccine?"
"There's no way to tell for certain; flu season won't come for another two months," he shrugged. "September is the month recommended to get the vaccine. I've heard some serious numbers tossed about, but they're only guessing at this point. And we don't know how much of the vaccine the manufacturers will be able to replace between now and then." Bryan thanked the waitress when she set a wine glass down in front of him.
"Crap," I said, rubbing my forehead. I was wishing at that moment that the wine I was drinking would have an effect on me. If so, I'd order an entire bottle of the stuff and get blitzed.
"Lissa, this is out of our control," Charles reached for my hand across the table. I hesitated for a few seconds and then placed my fingers inside his. He offered an encouraging smile. "Just repeat after me: I can't do anything about this, so I shouldn't worry," he said.
"That's easy for you to say," I informed him tartly.
"It is easy for me to say," he grinned. "Just watch my lips." He repeated his statement.
"Why are you worrying over this?" Bryan studied my face carefully—he was in the news business, after all. He sensed a story; I just couldn't give it to him.
"Lissa thinks the world's troubles are hers," Charles replied for me, squeezing my fingers gently before letting them go.
"Not all of them," I said, sipping my wine. "I can't do anything about flying saucers or cockroaches. Or even flying saucers driven by cockroaches."
"Seen large alien cockroaches, have you?" Bryan was smiling, now.
"I've seen some pretty big ones. I saw some in Georgia that were filing complaints with the FCC. They were upset because their antennae couldn't get television reception after everything went digital. I hear lawyers are filing class action suits on their behalf." I hadn't felt like teasing anyone in a long time.
"Is that what they use their antennae for?" Bryan chuckled.
"That—and communicating with the mother ship," I said. We talked and laughed a little longer, until I recalled something Bryan said when I'd first met him.
"Bryan, you mentioned the Aristocracy when I met you before," I said. "Can you explain that to me?"
"I can explain it," Charles offered. He looked around, just to make sure we wouldn't be overheard. "More than six hundred years ago, five hundred of the oldest and most powerful vampires decided to form the Council and hammer out the laws," his voice was hushed. "The wolves were reproducing faster than we ever could, and that was part of the reason we formed our own government. The wolves were already organized under a Grand Master and back then, they were based in Europe. The race war was disorganized, at least on our part. The five hundred agreed that we would be annihilated if we kept up our habit of isolation. The Council was formed and the oldest known vampire became its Head. The original five hundred were known as the Aristocracy after that. Of course, some of the original members are dead, so the Council chooses vampires to take the vacancies when they occur. Gavin is one of the original five hundred."
It didn't surprise me a bit that Gavin was one of the five hundred. He was older than dirt, after all. And as Wlodek and Merrill were older than Gavin, they'd probably seen the Earth cool. "Does Wlodek have an official title?" I asked. "It's just so hard to say Head of the Council all the time."
"His Latin title is a little easier," Charles muttered. "Sanguis Rex." I hadn't been far off when I'd called him King of the Vampires. I knew what Rex meant.
"Blood King?" I made a guess. Charles nodded. "Geez Louise," I did a little muttering myself. "Does anybody call him that, nowadays?"
"Nope." Charles signaled for the waitress to bring our check. Well, I sure as hell wasn't about to call Wlodek that.
"Lissa, you should email me," Bryan coaxed as we said our goodbyes. I said I'd try before following Charles to his car.
"I wasn't getting you in trouble, was I, when I asked about Wlodek and the Aristocracy?" I watched Charles's face as he drove me home.
"No, Lissa," he turned and gave me a nice smile. "I was just happy to be able to give you information that sires normally pass on. Merrill would have told you, if you'd asked him."
"Sometimes I don't know what's acceptable to ask and what isn't," I said uncomfortably, gazing out the windshield again. Or windscreen, as Charles calls it. He was doing his usual—driving like a maniac. "Does the Aristocracy have special privileges, or anything?"
"You've already had first-hand experience with them," Charles snorted. "The annual meeting, where they put you on display like the prize heifer."
"I would have said ewe, but you're pretty much correct," my voice held a bit of sarcasm. That's how I'd ended up engaged to Gavin. There were others offering with Wlodek's blessing, and Gavin was the one who frightened me the least. That didn't mean he didn't frighten me. He did and still does, for the most part. I'd said that aloud, before I even realized it.
"Lissa, I know that," Charles reached over and patted my arm. "Although I don't think he'd intentionally hurt you."
Maybe someday, Charles and I would have a talk about trust; something Gavin was forced to earn slowly. He'd placed me under compulsion and dragged me in front of the Council in the beginning, so they could decide whether I lived or died. My turning had been the result of a wager, and my sire had never intended to take responsibility for me. Which meant I was rogue (according to the Council), right from the start. Gavin was sent to kill me and was subsequently ordered to stay awhile since I'd been working for William Winkler. Winkler was a werewolf security mogul, working at developing software that would recognize criminals. The vampires were terrified the software might be used to hunt them down, so Gavin was instructed to keep an eye on me and watch Winkler at the same time. Then, when Winkler made the public announcement that the software didn't work and secretly sold it to the NSA, Gavin snatched me up and hauled me off to the Council, expecting them to sentence me to death. Gavin would have performed the execution, too, if he'd been asked. It was lovely to think about, especially since I was engaged to him. I fingered his ring while these thoughts ran through my mind.