"Lissa would give us anything," Greg nodded. "It's just the way she is. But I'm still only borrowing the bag." Franklin walked over and kissed his mate.
* * *
Dragon and I sat in the small office inside Dragon's dojo. The local constabulary had come calling to check our IDs. Our wrists were scanned, the computer records checked and I was doing my best to emulate the vampire mask of indifference. My cleaning had been interrupted for this and now the cop was asking Dragon questions. He couldn't find a thing wrong with our IDs or computer records; Dragon sent mindspeech, telling me that Pheligar the Larentii was very efficient at this sort of thing.
"So, you purchased this business three months ago? Where did you live before then?"
"My records indicate that I was off-planet. My birth planet is Falchan, as I'm sure you've been made aware. I'm obviously not local," Dragon pointed out. There wasn't any doubt about that; his Asian good looks weren't Refizani by any stretch of the imagination.
"And your reasons for relocating here?" The local cop wasn't giving up. I wondered if he were on Solar Red's payroll, mentioning that to Dragon in mindspeech. He didn't even bat an eyelash when I sent him my question.
He is, good catch, Dragon returned. I don't know how he gets his information so quickly, but at least we knew what the local cop was digging for. He was about to get a little taste of compulsion.
"Mr. Tatsuya here has answered all your questions," I put my own mojo on, looking the cop in the eye. "He saw a business opportunity and took it. He doesn't do much besides providing eye candy for the women he teaches. I'm his cleaning lady. That's it. Goodbye, Mr. Streetbrick." What a name, but it was on his badge.
"Thank you for your time," the man nodded, his eyes still clouded by my compulsion. He gathered his data recorder, placed it inside a pouch he slung over a shoulder and left us.
"That was outstanding." Dragon gave me a hug as he and I stood. I went back to my cleaning and promised Dragon I'd lock up so he could go home and eat something. Changing later after a quick shower in the locker rooms, I headed toward Gabron and Blue Desire.
"Little Queen." Gabron smiled and tucked my hand in his arm. He led me through the same door that Briden had taken me through before, only we took a different route this time. The vampires held the entire underground beneath the Refizani capital city. Karzac informed me it was called Ordinandis and was quite surprised when I told him I didn't know where I was. Well, Pheligar hadn't handed me a road map or an atlas to the place when he dumped me in Dragon and Karzac's apartment.
"There are more than thirty ticks of solid ground beneath the streets and nothing under the buildings has been tunneled through," Gabron informed me as we traveled a path through warrens and passageways. Every few feet we passed a massive column of natural rock or concrete, supporting the ground above us and holding everything in place. Seems the Refizani vampires had some talented engineers among their numbers.
"So the vampires have created most of this?" I watched Gabron's face. We were currently on level ground so he turned and smiled at me a little.
"Yes. Over centuries we have done this; being careful, always, to make sure there is enough support for the upper ground. If something new is placed and we determine that it isn't solid enough beneath, we either fill that in or convince the authorities to build elsewhere."
"Where are we going now?" I asked.
"There are other meeting places besides the Council theatre," Gabron replied. We walked for nearly an hour before coming to a narrowing and then to a wide, formal-looking doorway. There had to be at least six hundred vampires inside the hollowed-out chamber beyond, all there waiting for us.
Is every vampire here? I sent to Gabron, who turned and absolutely beamed at me when he received my mindspeech.
Little Queen, it has been thousands of years since I was able to mindspeak someone, he returned. No, not every vampire is here. These are the eldest and our elite. They all wanted to meet you.
This brought to mind the annual meeting that I'd gone to last year in London, emerging from it engaged to Gavin. I hoped this wouldn't turn out to be something similar. I was given so many names as we made our way into that huge, hollowed-out chamber that I stopped trying to associate names with scents after a while. "This is one of our hosts," Gabron introduced me to the next one and I held my hand out automatically before getting his scent. Thankfully, the automatic gesture probably saved us—for the moment, anyway—the vampire was radiating nastiness and it was all I could do to smile and say it was a pleasure to meet him. His name was Mirazal and I was sending mindspeech as quickly as I could to Gabron as I took Mirazal's hand. He kissed my palm, making my skin crawl and then itch furiously.
Gabron, something's wrong and Mirazal knows what it is! I was desperate for him to believe me. The vampires at home would have brushed it off with an are you sure, Lissa? Or just given me a stare while ignoring what I'd said. Gabron did neither. Instead, he smoothly intervened.
"Mirazal, you will tell me now just what evil you and Farimak have planned." Mirazal could no more ignore that compulsion than he could walk in sunlight without being fried.
"Solar Red is coming. Farimak is leading them in," Mirazal parroted. I could tell the words came against his will and Gabron was about to gather the other vampires and get them away when the lights went out.
The lights going out wouldn't hamper vampires, but it was what the sputtering of the lights heralded that created the panic. The caves surrounding us were being imploded; we could all hear the booming sounds of detonations, along with the crashing of rocks and earth as they collapsed around us. Then the floor beneath our feet began to shake and dust and dirt sifted down over our heads. Chaos was now prevalent inside the chamber and we were in danger of being trampled. Grabbing onto Gabron as quickly as I could, I went to mist and lifted both of us over the heads of six hundred frightened vampires. The shaking around us became worse; rock, dust and the occasional brick or small boulder fell among those still standing on the floor, so I sent mindspeech to Gabron.
Are they going to blow this one, too, do you think?
It is possible. He was doing his best to remain calm, even though he was mist and unable to do anything for himself. Many vampires were being trampled underfoot trying to get out the one wide doorway, which had nearly disappeared beneath rubble from the outside cavern. Once the door was completely blocked, the floor beneath the vampires began to buckle. Time to take action.