"I got a call—Llewellyn and Xenides' latest girl have disappeared," Quentin dropped the obligatory tip onto the table before walking away from it.
Julius, his companion, snorted. "Probably ran off together, if this is the same Llewellyn I know."
"Xenides suspects the same and says he really doesn't care, he'll just find another girl. This one was getting out of hand anyway and he was already planning to kill her." They'd stepped outside the pub; no one else was around to listen in on the conversation. "He just won't get the blood, that's all." They climbed into their rented vehicle, preparing to find a resting place for the day.
"What about Llewellyn?" Julius asked.
"Xenides says to kill him, if we see him."
"With pleasure," Julius smiled in the darkness and started the car.
Chapter 9
Bad news waited for me when I woke. Dragon pulled me down on the sofa and nearly sat on me as Karzac, who'd arrived home early for a change, turned the sound on for the news. "Yes, vampires are no longer a myth," the newscaster announced as footage was shown, over and over again, of Briden, with cuffs on his wrists and ankles, being forced from a building—Blue Desire—andthen screaming and jerking as the rising sun burned him to ash.
"No!" I shouted, struggling against Dragon, but he held on too tightly and whatever he was doing kept me from turning to mist. I was crying before it was all over. "Please tell me they didn't force information from him. Please tell me that," I wept. Gabron and the others were in the caves under Blue Desire and Briden had held that information.
"They were unable to get past the compulsion laid on him," Karzac muttered angrily, turning off the program. "Three others were also dragged out and burned; now the entire city is hunting vampire."
"Poor Briden," I was still wiping tears when Dragon let me go. "Where are they looking? Have they found any?" I was set to go to the rescue if that happened.
"All of them have disappeared; underground, most likely. Most of the brothels in the city have closed—none of the population realized that vampires were running those businesses." Dragon was scowling even more than usual. "I shut the classes down early—people were afraid to walk home in the dark."
"So they think that vampires are just going to kill people now, since they've suddenly been discovered among them?" I said sarcastically.
"They'll come to their senses as soon as Solar Red stops goading them and spreading wild rumors," Karzac mumbled.
"And how many are going to die in the meantime?" I whirled to face him. "The vampire population is small. By design. Poor Briden." I headed back toward my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.
I dressed; I'd gone out before still in my pajamas. I wanted to pay Gabron a visit, to make sure he was all right. I misted away before Dragon could stop me, too.
"Gabron?" He was sitting on the sofa in his library, his head in his hands.
"Lissa, they burned my child."
"I know, honey. It was all over the news." I went to sit beside him, rubbing his back a little.
"Have you ever been burned Lissa?" He turned blood-red eyes to me.
"Yes. I almost died that way. Intentionally." Gabron drew in a breath before wrapping his arms around me and weeping. I misted both of us away after a while, to the banks of the river where I'd been throwing stones the night before. I don't think Gabron understood the English when I sang When the River Meets the Sea for him, so I translated it afterward. A large boat came down the river while we sat in silence afterward.
"Those are Solar Red priests on the deck," Gabron stood to get a better look as the ship floated past.
"So much the better, my friend," I said, turning to mist and turning Gabron with me. He was with me as I turned the large boat and all its occupants to mist and then floated it high above the land nearby, finding the largest and rockiest expanse I could before rising at least five hundred feet and dropping it. The boat hitting the rocky surface made a terrible noise, the metal of the hull groaning, rending and tearing as it struck the ground. A tremendous cloud of rock and dark earth rose around it; some of the stone fragments and dirt hitting the river, it spewed outward so far. None of those sailing aboard the vessel survived, and with only my claws visible, I scraped out a ghostly message on the now half-buried hull. The vampires are not the problem; I wrote in the Refizani language and then misted Gabron back to his library.
I expected a lecture from Dragon and Karzac when I returned to the apartment, but Dragon drew me into a fierce embrace and kissed the top of my head instead. We all watched the news as the authorities and the news crews arrived at the ship, and the message I left was broadcast everywhere. Even several highly placed government officials came out and said the same thing. "Think about it," one of them pointed out. "These creatures, according to legend, were once of our race. Have you heard of them before? Have you been attacked by them before? There is no evidence of this, yet Solar Red are now trying to divert the attention away from themselves, finding a new enemy for you to hate. I hope you all sit down and think seriously about this before hunting down others. I was personally horrified when I saw those poor creatures burn. What was their crime? Is there evidence against them? Never have I seen the Refizani people exact revenge on someone who may very well be innocent. Show me the crime that any of these committed and we will look into the matter. I am much more interested in the tales that the six children from the city of Limrok are telling. They were all held inside the dungeons of the Solar Red temple; we have found evidence of them within those cells. What was the temple's purpose in holding children? Even our Vice-Governor is healing from wounds he claims he received at the hands of Solar Red priests. Whoever is killing these Solar Red monsters, and yes, I am calling them monsters, is a hero, in my mind. We have all become afraid to speak out against them, but that time must end. We must rise up as a people and demand that they leave our planet. They have no place here. Their beliefs are not ours. Do you worship at their temple? What have these priests done for you, other than make you afraid?" The man was standing behind an official-looking podium, making this speech.
"That is the Governor of the Realm," Karzac said softly.
"Can we have him, when you're done?" I asked. "Personally, I think he needs a bodyguard or ten." Dragon and Karzac went to bed shortly after that, while I stayed up for a while. Kifirin showed up out of nowhere to keep me company. This time I didn’t hold back, huddling against him when he sat down on the sofa next to me.