"Thank you," I said, accepting the card.
"Dawn will arrive soon," he reminded me, sniffing the air a little. "I must go to my own quarters now. I am very pleased to have met you, Lissa." He bowed slightly to me and then left my side in a blur.
Chapter 4
"Little girl, are you only now getting back?" Karzac was standing in the kitchen, having a cup of tea before going off to work. He was already dressed in his Refizani version of blue scrubs.
"Yes." I flopped down at the kitchen table and looked up at him. His light brown hair was carefully combed, but it might look a little wild when he came home. That's how it had been after he treated the Vice-Governor. "How long have you been a physician?" I asked.
"More than fifteen thousand years," he said, sipping tea.
"Holy crap. Really?" I wanted him to drop his shields sometime, when it was safe. I wanted to see what that scent might be like. "Do you know anything about Blackfan Diamond Anemia?"
"I do," he nodded.
"Is there a cure?"
"Only on a few advanced worlds."
"Dang," I sighed.
"Why do you ask?" Karzac was curious.
"Because an idiot let another idiot take my blood while I was unconscious and it was given to six men. They're dying now."
"They were attempting to recreate your talents in humans."
"Yeah. The schmucks." I was still angry with Tony. Wouldn't mind slapping him into a wall, actually.
"The results are promising for perhaps a month, before the disease makes its presence known," Karzac agreed. "Of course, they should have experimented on lab animals or used computer models before making the attempt on a humanoid."
"They jumped the gun a little," I grumbled.
"I must go to work," Karzac said. "And you must go to bed. I imagine you will not wish to wake in the floor come evening."
"No. It wouldn't be the first time, though." I got up and walked toward my bedroom. Karzac snorted a laugh behind me.
* * *
"How is Lissa?" Gavin watched as Merrill dropped his bag on the safe house floor. Merrill didn't often do this sort of thing—it generally wasn't required. Merrill and Wlodek both determined that Merrill should go—after all, they'd never had this kind of problem before. Saxom's vampire children had been in hiding for a very long time and Wlodek and the Council had no idea how many there were.
Gavin was beginning to realize what kind of chaos might come—Saxom had arranged for his vampire children to surface in the event of his death, in order to extract a terrible vengeance. Tampering with the influenza vaccine would have caused worldwide death and devastation had the tainted doses been shipped and administered.
"Lissa is doing well," Merrill sighed. "I heard from someone yesterday that she is performing above expectations." Merrill wasn't about to say that he'd gotten his information from Adam and Kiarra instead of Griffin.
"She always does that," Gavin muttered.
"I watch her, sometimes, and I know it irritates her greatly that she cannot make her own decisions," Merrill observed.
"It may have been different if her turning sire had been there from the beginning, placing proper compulsion for her to accept the five year confinement. Instead, she was free for several months without the benefit of a sire's instruction or supervision." Gavin set aside the folder of information he'd been studying. He and Merrill were in Barcelona; Xenides had been sighted there briefly and they were hoping to pick up his trail.
"I wonder if he placed any compulsion at all while she was turning," Merrill mused. "Do the Council's records reflect if any members asked that question?"
"I haven't seen them," Gavin said. "Perhaps we should look into that, if Wlodek permits. I only read through Lissa's files, not those of Sergio Velenci."
"I also did not look at his or Edward's," Merrill agreed. "And I have asked Charles to contact the appropriate sources in the U.S., to see if he can obtain her medical records when she was a child."
"You wish to delve further into the abuse at the hands of her father?"
"Among other things," Merrill agreed.
"Will you allow me to see what you find?"
"Of course. Perhaps it will help us know her better."
* * *
"Mr. Hoffman, you understand that this information is personal and confidential," Jennifer Stanfield informed Charles. She'd worked for Gerald Michaels for thirty years as his legal secretary, but Gerald was getting quite old and would be retiring soon. Charles offered a tidy sum of money for the records from Gerald Michaels' legal representation of Howard Graham, Lissa's father. Charles told Ms. Stanfield that he was writing a book about Howard Graham as a fictional account. The fifty thousand he'd offered her, with half paid in advance helped make up her mind swiftly. The files were copied while she worked late and she'd just put the box in the mail, marked for next day delivery to a post box in London. She felt better that the duplicate files were leaving the country, after all.
"The rest of your fee will be delivered in two days," Charles assured her, hanging up. Charles learned that Gerald Michaels had obtained all of Lissa's and her mother's medical records before Howard Graham's case had gone to trial. Mr. Michaels didn't obtain all of them legally, either—he'd paid for some of them under the table. This was a big case for Gerald Michaels and it was a major coup for him that Howard Graham had avoided the death penalty. Charles would have the information by the following evening.
* * *
"Child, you should come with me, I think," René studied Aubrey's face carefully. "It may not be safe here—after all, I expect Bartholomew to carry my message to Xenides swiftly."
"Father, I don't believe I'm in danger," Aubrey replied. "And this is my native country, after all. I'd like to stay for a time, should you permit."
"Of course I permit," René sighed. "I only worry for you." René and Aubrey sat on the wide porch outside René's villa in Spain, watching a sliver of moon rise over the trees. René didn't often visit the villa; he'd bought it a century before so Aubrey could comfortably stay in his country of origin.
Bartholomew had been in Barcelona briefly and René still knew how to contact him. Bartholomew dealt in information—for a fee, of course, and had contacts everywhere. René had no doubt that Xenides would have the information soon—René was claiming Blood Vendetta against Xenides for the death of Aurelius, his and Gavin's sire. René desired to see Xenides die at his hand. Aurelius had been respected by all vampires. Aurelius, Wlodek, Merrill and a handful of others had laid the groundwork for the current laws governing the race. He'd been a founding member of the Council, but his death had come shortly after its creation. René wanted to growl every time he thought of his sire's murder, and cursed himself for doing the odd theft for Xenides. All arranged through Bartholomew, of course.