Warded? The property was warded? What had Merrill done for Griffin, that he merited such preferential treatment? And Merrill had a basement? That was a surprise, though it shouldn't have been. I misted off the roof; Gavin floated down. Not only were there three vehicles now parking on the wide drive in front of Merrill's manor, but each van was towing a trailer. Wlodek had been busy, looked like. Tons of records had to be moved, with all of Charles's computer equipment. It made me wonder what Wlodek had done with all his priceless antiques, in case Xenides and his remaining horde showed up again.

Merrill came out, as did Deryn and Paul, and we pitched in to unload trailers. Charles grinned at me; I realized he was looking forward to this. Russell and Radomir were there, too, helping.

Merrill had six bedrooms in his basement, complete with private baths. Color me stunned. A locked door was hidden inside the butler's pantry, and that's why I'd never seen it before. I hadn't gone in there very often and the doorway was located behind the last shelf of canned goods. That shelf was shoved aside, revealing the wide entrance downstairs.

Everything in the basement was clean; Franklin must have kept it that way. Charles and Wlodek were moved in and set up first, Rolfe was set up last. Rolfe was just as happy as Charles was with their change of venue. Wlodek had the usual, unreadable expression on his face, so I couldn't tell how he felt about the move.

"We have a Council meeting tomorrow evening," Charles informed me later as we were getting the last of his things put away and his computers connected. "Wlodek wants you there; we have two vampires you need to check."

"Are we giving baseball signals so he'll know what I find?" I was doing my best impression of a third base coach. Charles stared at me for a minute before bursting into laughter.

"If we bring Brock, he'll know exactly what you're doing," Charles snickered. "He's a huge baseball fan."

"You will touch your hair when each prisoner is led before me, to let me know if they are Saxom's," Wlodek appeared from nowhere, I think. I had to keep myself from jumping at his sudden appearance.

"All right," I nodded. I was about to get the hell out of the basement. Things just weren't that comfortable between Wlodek and me at the moment, and in all honesty, he still scared the bejeezus out of me.

"Charles, do you have all the paperwork copied?" Wlodek asked. One of the things carried into the basement earlier was a portable copy machine.

"All done, Honored One," Charles nodded. I turned to go; they had work to do.

Chapter 2

When I woke the following evening, I found Roff and Giff in bed with me. Roff was curled up at my back; Giff snuggled against my chest. Both of them were about five-five or so, with honey brown eyes and thin builds. Both were still dressed, but they'd taken their shoes off to climb into bed with me.

"Were you here when Gavin woke?" I asked as Roff placed his arms around me, snuggling closer.

"No, my Queen. We waited until he left and then climbed in with you." Giff was talking now and nuzzling my chin.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked.

"Oh, yes," Giff was doing his best to press against me.

"Lissa, you must rise soon, we have a Council meeting," Charles burst into the room, receiving a shock at finding Roff and Giff in my bed.

"Charles, have you eaten tonight?" I sat up in bed and smiled at Wlodek's assistant.

"Yes, earlier," he nodded, a puzzled look in his hazel eyes.

"Might you be peckish in the least?" I went on.

"Well," he shrugged.

"Which one of you would like to go to Charles?" I asked my two sleeping buddies.

"Is he kind?" Giff asked.

"I would imagine so," I nodded. "If he isn't, you should tell me." I smiled at Giff.

"Then I will go to him," Giff slid off the bed, going to Charles and leaning his head over, exposing his neck. Charles was shocked, I think, at so blatant an invitation.

"This is the only way they can have sex," I informed Charles. Charles pulled Giff against him, held his neck in his hands, breathed on Giff's skin and then sank his fangs into the comesula's throat to drink. Giff received a nice climax and hugged Charles before it was over.

"That's the best blood I've ever had," Charles complimented Giff when he let the comesula go.

"We can only drink from them every two weeks," I said. "Even if they beg." I handed Giff a stern look. He smiled at me.

"My turn," Roff was scooting under me on the bed.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" I gave Roff a kiss.

"I like it very much when you kiss me," he said.

"That's good, honey," I said, kissing him again before leaning over his throat and taking my dinner. He was quite pleased with the result, moaning in my arms while his body writhed beneath mine.

"Now, both of you go drink some juice or find something to eat," I shooed them out of my bedroom. Charles was still standing there, a look of shocked wonder on his face.

"There was an entire planet of them?" he sighed happily.

"That's what Kifirin says," I nodded. "Give me two minutes to get dressed and brush my teeth. I'll be right down." Charles left me alone so I hurried through my dressing, then brushed my teeth and did my hair before misting downstairs.

* * *

"We are driving across my property and going out through a hidden side entrance," Merrill informed me when we were ready to leave for the Council meeting. "Lissa, will you ride with Radomir and the Honored One in case an attack comes anyway?" Merrill was worried we'd be seen if we exited the property at the gates.

"Of course I will," I said. I just needed to be prepared to go to mist and take the occupants of the car with me as mist if anything happened. I ended up in the back seat of an SUV with Wlodek; Radomir was driving and Gavin sat up front with him.

Wlodek spoke after a bit, surprising me. "Lissa, I hear you were involved in quite a fight when you were offworld." Uh-oh. Merrill must have spilled the beans. Wlodek was waiting as I hesitated before answering.

"I was," I admitted. "But there wasn't anything else I could do unless we wanted to hand the entire planet over to the Ra'Ak. Do you know what they are?" I watched Wlodek's face; he was attractive without a doubt; his olive skin was flawless, his nose straight and his dark eyes concealed centuries of secrets. He didn't seem to care that he was handsome and always dressed as if he were going to be photographed for a men's fashion magazine. He had impeccable taste—I don't think anyone else made his clothing choices for him.

"I know what the Ra'Ak are," he nodded slightly. "One of those creatures came here, four years ago. Saxom made a deal with that devil and nearly killed us all."

"Oh, dear Lord," I whispered in shock. They'd come here? "Those things are awful, Wlodek. They eat people. Or send their spawn out to eat people and then create more spawn." I shuddered at the thought of the Earth being destroyed by those monsters.

"I have never seen one myself, but Merrill has seen them twice and described it to me."

"Their eyes are their weakness," I informed the Head of the Council. "I blinded three of them and got one eye on a fourth, before it was over. We wouldn't have lived through it, otherwise," I sighed, thinking how close we'd come (Dragon and I, along with all the Refizani vampires) to being killed. Kifirin helped, killing the last two Ra'Ak after I'd gotten injured.

"Lissa, why am I only now hearing of this?" Gavin leaned over the back of his seat, a frown tugging at his mouth.

"It wasn't supposed to be that way, Gavin. There was only supposed to be one Ra'Ak. They broke the rules; that's what Dragon said."

"Were you injured, Lissa? And I would very much like the truth," Wlodek said. I knew he wanted to place compulsion, but he also knew better than to make the attempt.

"A little," I shrank down in my seat.

"Lissa, I can tell it was more than a little. I know those things hold a deadly poison." Wlodek wanted an answer and he wanted it to be the truth.

"I ran into the forehead of the last one I tried to blind," I said softly. "I got poisoned, but Karzac and the Larentii came and took care of it."

"Father, we're being followed." Radomir made the announcement; we'd bounced off Merrill's property earlier and were now on one of the country roads.

"Are you certain, child?" Wlodek leaned forward, turning to look behind him. I did, too, and there was a car behind us with no headlights on.

"I'll get it," I said and misted out of the car before Gavin could grab me.

The two vampires in the car behind us weren't Saxom's; I could tell by their scent. I misted out again and flew forward, dropping into Merrill's Range Rover. "Merrill," I said, flopping into René's lap; he was in the passenger seat, after all—Tony and Charles were seated in the back.

Thank goodness, Merrill remains calm most of the time. "What is it, Lissa?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the road.

"There's a car with two vampires in it following Wlodek, but I don't recognize them and they aren't Saxom's. I don't know whether they've had compulsion placed or not. One is about seven hundred years old; the other is less than that, maybe four hundred."

"If I stop the car, they will realize we know they are following," Merrill thought for a moment. "Why don't you take Gavin or René with you?" He turned to me briefly before concentrating on his driving. "Either should be able to place compulsion easily on these two and discover why they are following us."

"All right," I nodded.

"I will come, little rose," René held me on his lap and seemed quite content doing so.

"Fine, but René, if I see them doing something they shouldn't, I may be picking you up again as mist and hauling you out of there."

"I understand," René smiled. He was looking forward to being mist—I could see it in his eyes. Well, René was more of an adventurer than Gavin, it seems.

"Be careful, Lissy," Tony shouted as René and I turned to mist.

I dropped René in the back seat of the pursuing car as gently and noiselessly as I could, but both vampires realized we were there in a blink, by the scent. "You will do as I say," René placed compulsion as they turned with a hiss. The vampires were nodding quickly at René's orders. "Pull over," René commanded. The driver pulled over. Radomir stopped ahead of us and began backing his SUV in our direction as René ordered the two vampires out of the car.

"They're not Saxom's," I informed Wlodek as he inspected the two, walking around them and getting their scents. The two were terrified.

"What are your names?" Wlodek barked, causing both vampires to jump.

"I am Thaddeus," one of them replied, his voice shaky. Wlodek definitely had that effect on people. Vampires, too. I'd certainly been there.

"Lorenzo," the other said.

"Why are you following us?" Merrill had come and was now asking questions.

"We seek the Council's help," Lorenzo admitted. "Our brother, Dominic, was taken by one calling himself Xenides. We have become concerned, because our brother does not answer his calls and we are afraid that Xenides may come for us as well."

"Why has Xenides taken Dominic?" Wlodek demanded.

"Dominic has mindspeech," Thaddeus hung his head. "Our sire, Maxwell, always told us that Dominic would be taken by the Council, should this be revealed. Therefore, we kept it secret. Now, Xenides has taken him instead."

"How long ago?" Merrill asked.

"Ten days," Lorenzo admitted.

"Have you been placed under compulsion? Are you doing this at Xenides' bidding? Or one of his minions? Answer truthfully," Merrill's voice held the Command.

"No. We swear, we only want our brother back," Thaddeus begged. Lorenzo agreed with his sibling. They weren't true brothers, but they did have the same vampire sire and they certainly looked enough alike to be brothers, with brown hair and green eyes. They just hadn't been related as humans.

"Maxwell has been dead for more than fifty years," Wlodek observed.

"We know. We do not wish to lose Dominic as well." Lorenzo was clearly upset.

"How did you know where to find us?" Wlodek asked, pacing down the narrow lane between vehicles.

"We were looking for the one called Merrill," Lorenzo admitted. "Our sire told us that if there was ever trouble to find him—he might be willing to help those with difficulties and gave us a general location where he might be found. We have been searching the area for three days. We hoped Merrill could take us to the Council."

"I am Merrill," Merrill identified himself. "We will discuss your troubles presently. Gavin, will you drive their vehicle and bring them?"

Gavin nodded. Tony had been busy searching their car while the others talked, declaring it free of weapons and explosives. I guess it was good to have him around after all.

That's how we ended up at the Council meeting a few minutes late, with two extra vampires who had to be blindfolded before being led inside the cave.

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