His gambling dens were still getting business from the ones who couldn't get permission to visit the casinos on the vampire planet, but many of his regular customers had deserted Campiaa in favor of Le-Ath Veronis. He was still making money but his profits had been cut in half. Arvil wanted to damage Le-Ath Veronis. He wanted to hurt its Queen, too. His hands clenched in anger.
"We will send in one more and see how that goes," Arvil snapped. "After that, we try other measures. Have we gotten approval for this one to travel?"
"Yes. We have the ticket already," the Chief replied. Arvil walked around the woman. She was quite lovely. Just the thing to seduce any vampire.
"This will work," Arvil was convincing himself as much as anyone else.
I was making a habit of going to energy early in the day, before breakfast. I made a point to cover different worlds so I could send information to Kiarra. It was my own brand of spying and if it got my Falchani back to me sooner, so much the better. Today was off-day and I toyed with the idea of taking Giff with me and going to do some shopping. She was depressed, though Rolfe was doing his best to bring her out of it. She missed her parent and was weighed down with Toff's care. The other thing I knew, even if she barely knew herself, was that she was going to become a parent herself. Perhaps she'd ignored the tiny knob growing on her left side but I knew—her scent had changed. I was going to order some of those carry sacks the comesuli wore to support their baby pouch so it wouldn't be dead weight on her left side through the pregnancy. Giff didn't need to be worrying so much about Toff when hers came.
I'd talked to Grant about it and he was more than willing to help, but he was so busy it was frightening. I needed to hire a second assistant, I just didn't know where to find one I liked and trusted. Charles had gone off with the others—he was a Spawn Hunter, just as Drake and Drew were. Glinda hadn't been called out since her children were so small and Grace wasn’t going either, since she was scheduled to have her baby soon, as was Amara.
I went to the roof of the palace, just so I could think things over. Roff flew overhead, his winery the likely destination. I was very surprised when he circled around and came back to settle on the dome five feet away from me. It was fascinating to watch him fold his wings. He sat down and looked over at me.
"You fly, too?"
"I don't have wings—I have to turn to mist. I can fly that way."
"Why didn't I know you before?" He was watching me carefully.
"Roff," I sighed his name while my shoulders drooped. "We did know each other." I wondered what had happened to the ring I'd given him—it wouldn't fit now, but he'd had it on when he was staked. It had disappeared sometime in all the commotion and nobody had brought it back to me.
"I don't remember everything," he gave a slight shrug.
"I know. How are your lessons coming?"
"I hated the one on eating."
"I hated that one, too. I got sick."
Roff moved closer, until he was two feet away. "The one who I fed from first was very drunk. And then Flavio made me eat a meal at one of the casino restaurants. I felt very bad after that."
"I know. Merrill wouldn't let me get rid of it for more than an hour. That's what made me sick."
"I was nearly so. Flavio made me wait until we got home before he would allow me to rid myself of it. It smelled terrible."
"Yeah. That's really awful. I like the way you dress, now. Flavio has really good taste."
"He said that I must look fine from now on, since I might be going out with him to check on the casino that he owns or dealing with some of his business associates or friends. Sometimes I go with him and Kyler, when they meet with Cleo and her husband Harvel."
"Harvel is a Grey House Wizard, like Shadow," I said.
"I want to visit Grey House someday—but Flavio says I have to ask you for that favor."
"Then I'll take you sometime, if you want to go," I said. "Shadow is Glendes' Grandson. Glendes is Eldest of Grey House. We have to get his permission, first."
"Harvel and Cleo explained that to me. Cleo and Kyler are Glendes' daughters."
"Yes they are," I smiled. "And they are my nieces—did they tell you that? That their mother was my sister?"
"No. They did not tell me that. What was she like?"
"I don't know; she died before I was born. I wanted to meet her, though. I just never got the chance."
"People stare at my wings when I go out," Roff said.
"Because you're the first of your kind to come along in a long time," I said. Roff lowered his honey-brown eyes and studied his hands for a moment. It bothered him, I could tell, that he was the only winged vampire. "A few others are like you and they'll have wings when they're made vampire too."
"So I won't be alone?" He lifted his head, his eyes searching mine for the truth of that statement.
"No, you won't be alone. Other winged vampires will come. It just may take some time. As of now, the oldest winged comesula is only four hundred years old. Unless he is involved in an accident, it may be two hundred years before he is turned."
"How many are there?" That was something that Roff could have told me himself, before things changed.
"Eighteen comesuli exist who will become winged vampires, but there may be a nineteenth sometime soon—I think Giff will have a child within the next year and many of the others have not had a first or second child, yet. There could be many, eventually."
"Flavio says that Gavin and Tony will come to me soon to teach me how to fight."
"Well, that's a good skill to have," I agreed. "Every vampire should know how to fight. All the vampires I know fight very well."
"Do you fight, Raona?"
"I do." I nodded. "When I have to."
"I should go; they are expecting me at the winery." Roff stood and shook out his wings.
"It was nice talking to you," I said. I felt like weeping when he leapt off the dome and flew away.
"Father, something strange happened today."
"What is that, child?" Flavio looked up from the reports he was going through on his microcomputer.
"I found the Raona sitting on top of the large dome of the palace as I was flying over, so I stopped and spoke with her. She was very nice."
"There's nothing strange about that—Lissa is nice most of the time."
"But Father, I got an erection while I spoke with her and I was worried that she would learn of it."
"Child, getting an erection near a lovely woman is quite natural—there is nothing wrong with that. It merely means you might like to bed her. It can be controlled, as you most likely discovered."
"Yes, but it was somewhat uncomfortable."
"Your clothing is sometimes restricting and it is quite rude to make adjustments in public."
"You explained that to me before, but it was never necessary until now."
"I am fully trained."
"No. No employee of mine is fully trained unless I say so. Come. When you please me, then I will consider your training complete." Gabron held the door open to one of the pleasure rooms. The new pleasure worker shook her hair and stalked past Gabron, heading for the bed. Gabron closed and locked the door behind him.
I went to check on the werewolves on Harifa Edus on my second off-day. They seemed to be doing well. I'd brought them soap and other toiletries—most everything available was safe for the environment. They were happy to get the supplies and the airtight containers I'd purchased for flour and other staples. I thought insects might be a problem.
Afterward, I went hunting the Ra'Ak-enhanced again. When I sent mindspeech to Kiarra, however, she told me that everyone she had was engaged. "Not to worry," I said and went to get them myself. It took hours, in energy form, to cover the entire planet and rid it of more than fifteen thousand infected humanoids, burying them in mass graves in uninhabited lands. I felt sorry for the ones who would be missing family members, but these were no longer the loved ones they knew. They were programmed, somehow, to pass on the DNA. Their family wasn't safe from infection. Nobody was.
I cleaned out the nest, I sent to Kiarra. She sent a thank-you in return.
Another five days went by, filled with dull and dreary meetings as the rainy season started on Le-Ath Veronis. I didn't know Le-Ath Veronis had a rainy season, but it did. Kifirin came to explain it to me while the newly hired meteorologist was explaining it to the rest of the population. It didn't stop the gamblers, the shoppers, or the visitors to the brothels. I still hadn't heard from Gabron and I was at a loss as to what to do about that, so I went to visit my grandfather.
"Granddaughter," Wylend smiled at me and invited me to have a drink with him in his private quarters. Of course, Erland showed up, beaming a beautiful smile and sitting down with us to share a glass of wine. I wondered where he'd been but didn't ask.
"Em-pah, I came to ask for advice," I said.
"That makes me feel loved," Wylend said, handing Erland a glass of wine. Erland accepted and sat next to me. He put an arm around me, too, pulling me against him on Wylend's sofa. "What advice can I give?" Wylend asked. Erland kissed my temple and his breath against my ear was comforting.
I twisted Gabron's ring on my finger. That was the only clue I needed to give to my grandfather.
"He has not come to you, or offered an apology, has he?"
"No, Em-pah."
"And you find this unacceptable."
"Yeah. There's a chasm between us now and I no longer want to build a bridge across it."
"He has no respect for my granddaughter, or her position as Queen," Wylend huffed. "Imagine how I might feel if I had a mate who insisted to me that her brothels were legitimate businesses, and then insisted that her training of all her employees was purely business. While that might be true on the surface of things, it makes you seem less in others' eyes that you accept it because you are desperate to keep his love and affection. If my mate did this to me, I would end our relationship, Granddaughter. I will not have my subjects laughing at me behind my back, because my mate does this to me in such a public fashion."
