Blood Redemption (Blood Destiny #9) (9 page)

"I could eat." Rigo was smiling, too.

"You know I've only been there once," I said, taking his arm. "And I only had blood substitute. What do they have on the menu that's good?" I folded Rigo to New Fangled.

 "I am still getting used to the fact that many of your mates can transport themselves in this manner," Rigo smiled and put his arm around me as we walked through New Fangled's doors.

* * *

"My heir was actually my brother's son—my nephew," Rigo told me later over a plate of spaghetti. "My queen died in childbirth and I had no other wife. A very old vampire came to me as I was aging and voiced his worries regarding Argovarnus' penchant for self-absorption. I agreed with him and he offered vampirism as a solution, so I might guide my nephew's steps. At first I refused, but as Argo continued in his excess and his mistreatment of the population, I had no choice."

Rigo sipped his glass of wine, smiled at me and when I remained silent, he continued. "I hid myself away after my turning, only giving suggestions wrapped in compulsion, to this one or that. Until Halimel came along. He welcomed my advice and ruled wisely. Hal was my first turn. Then Rondival came, Alrenardo after that, and finally Brinelodus and Yandiveri. We formed a vampire army, too—when it was necessary to repel several takeover attempts. We became the Order of the Night Flower upon Hraede—my five vampire children and I. We often wished we could turn females, but after three failures, we no longer made the attempt. We became a living myth to the monarchs who had neither the ability nor the desire to rule wisely, and trusted advisors to the ones who had Hraede's best interests at heart. Over the years, too, we developed our poisons—the ones we used when there was no other way to eliminate evil."

I watched Rigo as he talked—he toyed with his wineglass while he told his story. "That's what happened to Satris, isn't it?" I asked.

"Tiessa, he would have been put to death here, had he not slipped through our grasp under the guise of diplomatic immunity. Therefore, two of your mates and I made sure that his sentence was carried out, by alternative means."

"I know. He took money from Solar Red and then refused to do or say anything when he knew those monsters were killing his people." I didn't add that he was responsible for Davan's death, in addition to the attempt on my life.

"Someone else will take his place in a few weeks. I hope they rule with a wiser head."

"I hope there's someone in line for the throne who
has
a wiser head," I grumped.

"Tiessa, that is not for you to worry about." Rigo lifted my chin in his fingers. He'd insisted we sit together in the small booth against the wall and he leaned down to kiss me. "Someday, love, you and I will be mated. I am content to wait, but do not shut me out again, I beg you," he whispered against my mouth.

* * *

"You mean you're going to lift the specimen away without going through the usual?" I couldn't bring myself to say masturbation out loud. Connegar, Reemagar, Karzac, Jeff, Joey, Franklin and Gilfraith were all there, to either help or observe.

"I will do this—we have the donated eggs already; we took DNA samples from you and the eggs have been prepared. Now we only need sperm from Erland and Gardevik," Connegar smiled. Garde and Erland were both inside the master suite of the beach house on the light half. The two surrogates were in a bedroom down the hall—as soon as the sperm was obtained and the eggs fertilized, they would be placed with Larentii power and know-how into the wombs of the surrogates. Things were happening so fast, now.

I really didn't see anything—the specimens were taken amid blinding light, somehow combined with the eggs that Connegar
Pulled
in from somewhere and then Connegar and the healers folded into the bedroom next door for a few minutes. I didn't even have time to pace before they were all back. "We have a successful transfer and impregnation on both surrogates," Connegar was smiling.

"Wow, honey, that's spectacular," I said, giving him a hug.

"You might repay us by spending some time together," Connegar suggested.

"Right now, you can have anything you want," I smiled back at him.

We did spend some time together—about four hours—before Norian Keef came looking for me.

"We have trouble on Darthin—my agents believe the capital city of Darthough is being infiltrated by Black Mist. This may be the vanguard for a complete takeover. That's how they took Phraxes years ago." Norian had such hope in his eyes—hope that I'd take him and see what we could discover on Darthin. His fingers itched to clutch the throats of criminals, I just knew it. And, if he could corner Black Mist, he'd like it even better.

He'd mentioned Phraxes, too; it was now a dead world, located just outside the Alliance. Phraxes was a haunted world, filled with ghosts and little else. Somehow, Black Mist had managed to kill the entire planet before relocating. The ASD had struggled to track Black Mist ever since.

"Do I need to pack?" I asked, resignation plain in my voice. Norian was determined to drag me away from Le-Ath Veronis.

"Well, since we don't know what is going on, you probably should." Norian's green eyes searched my face.

"How much are you packing?" I'd been sitting with my Larentii near the pool—we'd had sun lamps installed in case anyone wanted to use them. Normal vampires stayed away from my pool and hot tub, but Connegar and Reemagar were happily soaking up artificial sun.

"At least a week's worth," Norian replied, doing his best to hurry me without being obvious about it. He had the nervous energy about him again, as if he wanted what he wanted, at least two weeks ago.

"Fine." I got up, kissed both my Larentii and followed Norian, who was talking while he led me toward my suite. I learned the name of his main operative and second-in-command—Lendill Schaff—who would meet us on Darthin. Norian also filled me in on the numbers of murdered Darthinians, which now stood in the thousands in less than a month. I sent my mates mindspeech, telling them I might be gone for a few days. I heard quite a bit of grumbling as a result—apparently, Garde and Erland wanted to celebrate impending fatherhood. I told them we'd do it when I got back.

Norian was still talking while I threw clothes into a bag with the help of Taff, one of my new assistants. I packed mostly jeans—then braided my hair, tossed in shampoo and toiletries, closed my bag and asked Norian where his bag was. He was still blathering about something and hadn't realized I'd tuned him out long ago.

"Norian, do I have to put a hand over your mouth?" I stood before him with hands on my hips. He grinned. "My bag is in my office," he said. I folded us to his office, he picked up his bag and we were off to Darthin.

* * *

"This is the headquarters for the ASD on Darthin," Norian explained as we dropped our bags off in the cramped sleeping quarters. Four small, low-walled cubicles painted white with no doors lay before me, coupled with two undersized, tiled showers, a single toilet and two sinks. A supply of extra towels, sheets and blankets were hidden inside a cramped closet, and all of it was fronted by a tiny kitchen area located behind an outer office with a desk. The building was hidden in a business complex, too, and had a fake sign out front. Go figure.

"I'm hungry. Feel like going out?" Norian hefted his bag onto the small bed inside his cubicle. "Go ahead; you get the one next door." With only a low wall separating each bed, there would be no privacy. I wasn't sure I was up to seeing Norian in his undies, or letting him see me in my PJs. It shouldn't worry me, though; I'd already seen him naked once, when he'd climbed into the hot tub with everybody else. Norian was compact and muscular, no doubt about that.

"Have you been here before? Where are we going first? What do we have to investigate?" I dumped my bag on the bed next door. I could see Norian's head and shoulders easily over the low wall that separated our cubicles. Yep—no privacy. Or anything close, even.

"Lissa Beth, you'll just have to trust me."

"Honey, I don't trust many people, and nobody calls me Lissa Beth."

"Lissa Beth, we'll be eating local cuisine first. I'll let you know our next move after that. Get used to the name," Norian's eyes crinkled around the corners when he smiled.

"I can put you through a wall, I'll have you know."

"Yes. I know that about you. Come on, stop being a grump."

"I wasn't being a grump," I grumped as I followed him out the door.

* * *

"This is a type of hare that is raised here for meat," Norian ordered for both of us. We ended up with pocket sandwiches stuffed with spiced meat, lettuce and vegetables. The food was good, as long as I didn't think about little, fluffy bunnies while I ate. Another man, carrying a plate of food, walked up and sat across from us at our outdoor table—it was late spring on Darthin, with perfect weather for dining outside.

"Well?" Norian asked.

"Got two leads—we can track tonight," the man said, lifting his sandwich and biting into it.

"Lissa Beth, this is Lendill Schaff, my second-in-command," Norian introduced us. I nodded to him, assuming he was more than aware of who I was even without Norian calling me Lissa Beth.

"The vids don't do you justice and I thought they looked pretty damn good," Lendill took another bite of his sandwich. I had no idea how to respond to that, so I didn't. Lendill had short, almost-blond hair, dark blue eyes, a slightly crooked nose (as if he'd broken it in a fight or two) and a nice mouth. He was taller than Norian, too—Lendill stood at six feet, even.

We followed Lendill away from the sandwich shop after our meal and hopped onto the public bus, which took us toward the downtown area. The buses all ran on a track and were computer operated—no drivers needed. The workday was over so the bus wasn't crowded; it was only half-full, if that. We got off after a while and walked about twelve blocks until we came to a barricaded building. Lendill led us to the back of the squat, ugly brick structure, opening a door there with a key.

"Three city workers were murdered in this building," Lendill said, leading us inside. I knew that already, just by the scents. Those deaths had been bloody, too; I smelled the blood before we ever got to the room where they'd been killed. Of course, the scents of the killers were now mixed with the scents of the local investigators and medical personnel who'd been called to the scene. I wouldn't be able to sort it all out unless I was introduced to each of the emergency responders, and that would be next to impossible. A buzz and a blurring of images appeared whenever I attempted to
Look
, and that spelled power to me. Could be wizards, warlocks or a number of other possibilities.

"Was there any connection among the three? Did they work together, on the same shift or anything?"

"Sometimes—they worked maintenance; usually on the sewer and water lines." Lendill had done some legwork already.

"Did they work together on anything recently?" I continued my questioning.

"A busted water line below street level, located three blocks from city hall a few days ago," Lendill replied.

"Any fingerprints or other evidence at the scene?" Norian asked.

"Nothing, boss. The victims' throats were slashed; no weapons, footprints or fingerprints were found and we don't know how they got into the building to begin with—the doors were locked and the alarm was set. This is a city-owned facility and the workers can come here during breaks for lunch or to take a quick shower if they've been doing dirty work."

"Somehow, all three of them ended up here, at the same time. The door was shut and locked already—none of the three used their code to get in or set the alarm, and then all of them were killed. The killer managed to get in and out without setting off the alarm or using anyone's code—the employee who set the code last was here two days before the murders. He also has a solid alibi." Norian shook his head.

"Well, if a wizard or warlock is involved, or someone else with power, it would be easy," I muttered. Erland could circumvent electronics and surveillance equipment with half a thought. He could also transport several people at once—without blinking.

"That's a nasty thought—if Black Mist has managed to hire or coerce a wizard." Norian didn't sound happy. "We haven't had any evidence of this before, but then they might be desperate after a bunch of their top assassins were killed not long ago. We're still trying to figure that out."

I
knew, but I wasn't about to let that slip—Erland and Wylend had sent out some of their own and Solar Red, Red Hand and Black Mist had all gotten hit. They didn't know that I knew, but I did. They'd complained, too, that they hadn't been able to find Black Mist's or Solar Red's headquarters—they'd settled for temples on several worlds, and managed to find a few Black Mist operatives who'd moved in with Solar Red or Red Hand at those temples.

I hadn't told Erland, either, but I'd gone
Looking
for Black Mist myself, and what I'd found, or in this case
hadn't
found, worried me greatly. There was a blurring of information surrounding Black Mist, just as there was a buzz blocking information on the murders we were investigating. If Black Mist was able to block me from finding them, then somebody connected to the organization likely held a great deal of power. We'd have to track Black Mist by normal methods. I couldn't find them otherwise, and that was quite aggravating.