FAMISHED
Prologue
Draz contemplated the glass of brandy he held in his hand, looking at the amber liquid as he tipped the glass back and forth, watching it climb the glass then drift down over it again as he tipped it another way.
“I-I’m sorry sir,” the man before him said.
“Indeed, you are,” Draz agreed. “Very sorry. A sorry, sad excuse for a vampire.”
“I can do better!” he insisted quickly. He held out a placating hand to Draz. “I just need a little more time.”
“Time. Why not? I’ve waited this long,” he said negligently.
His underling exhaled, his shoulders relaxing. “You won’t have to wait much longer,” he promised Draz.
“You said this before. Perhaps I ought to turn the responsibility over to someone else?” he suggested archly.
“No! That isn’t necessary. I’m close. Really close. We’ll be able to move on the queen by the end of the month. She’ll never know what hit her. Especially now that Danton is leaving.”
This perked at Draz’s attention.
“Danton is leaving?”
The underling nodded vigorously. “He quit. She’s looking for his replacement. The transition will be the perfect time to hit her.”
“This is very good news. You might have led the conversation with that instead of groveling.”
“Yes sir. I’m sorry sir.”
Draz sighed with exasperation. “Yes, yes, you’re always sorry.”
He was silent as he mulled this news over in his mind. Danton had quit? He had never thought the queen’s loyal dog would ever think of abandoning her. She had been nigh untouchable with him by her side, thwarting Draz by providing him with little opportunity to catch her out.
He could have attacked her at any time with a full force of men, killing her and anyone she had watching her, but he didn’t want that. What he wanted required a little more finesse. However, the surgical precision he needed required opportunity…and that had been lacking.
“You will plan to attack her right at the peak of the transition between Danton’s departure and the new authoritarian’s arrival. They are guaranteed to overlap, Danton not leaving until the new man…or woman…is in place. But as soon as he is gone…that moment is the moment we have been looking for…when the transition is raw and new. It will leave her completely vulnerable.”
The underling nodded vigorously.
“I’ll make plans immediately.”
“You should have already been making plans,” Draz snapped. “You shouldn’t need me to point out the weakness and the opportunity. I was depending on you to figure it out on your own…clearly you are incapable of doing so.”
Draz snapped his fingers and two of his personal guards stepped forward and grabbed his underling by each of his arms. The man…what was his name?...began to struggle violently.
“No! Please! I can do better! I promise you! I’m already in place. Putting in someone new will only weaken our position. Give me another chance. I won’t let you down!”
The vampire’s voice grew shrill as Draz’s guard began to drag him from the room.
“Wait,” Draz said with a sigh. “He has a point.”
The guards stopped and the man they held sighed in relief once again. It annoyed Draz. Maybe he could still make an example of the fool. After all, he couldn’t let any of his underlings think it was safe to disappoint him.
“Take him to the chamber. Teach him a lesson. Only…don’t leave any visible marks,” Draz said.
“No! Please!” the vampire squealed. He knew, just as all his underlings knew, what went on in the chamber. He made sure they knew. Made sure it was advertised. Sycophants and turncoat vampires were an unruly bunch…and as their sovereign lord he was required to keep them in line…by any means necessary.
Then again, he did enjoy his work.
“I’ll come myself in a little while. Make certain he’s ready for me. And do shut him up,” he added with impatience as the vampire’s high-pitched pleading began to drown out Draz’s thoughts.
They dragged the flailing vampire from the room and the door slammed shut in their wake. The relief of the sudden quiet washed over him as he took a swig of the brandy. There was a female on her knees at his feet—he couldn’t remember her name either—her cheek resting adoringly on his thigh. He contemplated fucking her to get the disappointment in his underling out of his present thoughts. He knew that she…like so many before her…would very much be willing and open to it. But…sometimes they were too willing. It grew tedious.
“Bring me a cow,” he commanded.
“How can you be hungry?” the female at his feet asked. “You fed just this morning.”
“Did I say I wanted to feed from her?” he snapped. “And what business is it of yours what I do?”
He kicked her aside and got to his feet. He paced the room, his thoughts churning. He could abuse others all he liked, but nothing would satisfy him. Only one thing would.
And that one thing was having the queen of the vampires at his mercy at last.
“I’ve got you now Simone,” he muttered under his breath. He raised his glass to the absent queen. “It’s been a jolly chase,” he said, “but it’s over now. You’re as good as mine.”
He tipped his glass, draining it of its contents. He slammed the glass down upside down on the end table by a sofa containing two of his favorite sycophants. Now their names he remembered.
“Alina…Corbin…come. Let’s make certain our inside man learns how very much we’re depending on him to get this right."
Alina smiled, her wickedly painted red lips curving becomingly. She rose from her seat gracefully. She was such a hauntingly beautiful creature…for a sycophant. Sycophants tended to grow wan and tired looking over time, becoming thin and clearly suffering from their addiction to poisonous resources. Alina wore her slenderness and paleness well, looking fragile and bold all at the same time. Draz found her incredibly appealing and compelling…and not just in looks. She had a coldness in her that went straight to her soul. She was just the perfect sort to enjoy the torture of another creature.
It was nice to be able to share the experience with others of like minds. Corbin was his right hand man. He counted on him for just about everything he didn’t want to do himself. All of the little menial things that were beneath Draz were Corbin’s domain. Corbin was not a sycophant. He was a vampire. The difference being that a vampire was not tainted from drinking from unclean or addictive resources. Or…at least that was the distinction the high and mighty vampires made. Draz was a sycophant… he enjoyed feeding from any source…some more than others. Clean or ‘dirty’ he had a taste for it all. He especially preferred to feed from addicts. He could essentially get a contact high. There was nothing like the feeling in the world. He had resources peppered all about the room for himself or his closest companions to feed from. Like an opium den they lounged about, reveling in their highs and paying court to Draz…their king.
He called himself the king of the sycophants even though his influence presently only extended to most of the eastern seaboard. From Main to Georgia he was in command and organized all of the sycophants who were looking for direction and guidance. They were like children, wallowing in their pleasures aimlessly, in need of a guiding hand. He provided that hand. He had lieutenants in every state…just like Simone had princes peppered throughout her realm. He was just as powerful as she was, he thought with a mental growl. She thought she was so all-important, that only she was capable of a solid rule. Well, he was proving her wrong. Before long he would be the king of all the sycophants everywhere…and he would take her place as well, leading the vampires into the world of sycophanthropy.
For he believed vampire purity was unnatural. They were meant to feed from any and all sources. Just as a human was meant to feed from resources that were considered less than stellar…like fast food was less ideal than a healthy meal. Yet they could still live off of it, could still enjoy the pleasure of consuming it. Draz believed there was nothing wrong with the contact high they got off of feeding from ‘tainted’ sources. They were meant to feel the pleasure of it…otherwise why make it feel so good? It was an evolution in his mind. Just as they had evolved into the need to feed off of human energy, they had evolved into being able to feed from all forms of that energy.
But now was not the time to mull over his philosophies. He had work to do. Preparations must be made. Assurances must be had.
He reached to take Alina’s hand and she flowed into step beside him. Corbin did likewise on his opposite side. Their instant instinct to obey him pleased him. It was one reason why he kept them so close. Also, Corbin was a wickedly powerful fighter, able to sneak into vampire strongholds and pass for a lawful vampire. He had guarded Draz’s safety and carried out some of the most critical missions in Draz’s scheme for a better vampire world. He trusted him just about as much as one could trust a ‘lawless’ vampire.
Alina was no slouch either. For all her pale and tragic looks she was a perfect reaper of souls. Lost souls. Lost human souls. She organized the humans who allowed themselves to be fed from. Their food and pleasure resources. She provided them with housing and drugs and anything else they could need. She groomed the humans to be the perfect resources. Druggies and addicts who would normally be lost to the streets found a home and a haven with Draz and his people. He was doing them a service, acting the humanitarian. He didn’t see the high and mighty queen of the vampires taking in hundreds of lost souls and giving them purpose and safety and direction.
Draz once again shook off his hostile thoughts toward the vampire queen. She would get hers…and soon. He would teach her and all those other so-called ‘lawful’ vampires not to look down on the sycophants like they were second-class citizens. He was going to prove that they were superior, full of strength and perfect in their unfettered power. The lawful vampires’ denial was unnatural. He would show them that. He cooled his temper by savoring the coming session where he would ensure and correct his errant associate’s behavior. Really, it was for his own good. By learning how important his role was he would better be able to carry it out and commit himself to the role he must play.
Draz walked out of his presence chamber with his two most treasured companions, passing by others in the halls that immediately bowed their heads at his passing, acknowledging him for the superior creature that he was. Simone’s followers didn’t bow to her. They showed her no deference or visible respect. She didn’t garner or demand such tribute. It just proved his theory that she was inferior. She must be brought down. It was for the best of all vampires everywhere. It was time the sycophants took their place as the superior creatures they were, and Simone was in the way of that.
It was time. Time she learned who really had all the power.
He did. He was destined to be king of all vampires and sycophants alike. He was destined to break down the walls of prejudice between the two factions. Like Martin Luther King he would stand for the equality of his people. Someone had to. Someone with strength and perseverance.
That someone was him.
Chapter One
Simone had reached the midpoint of her ascendancy to the throne of the e-vamp world, that is, the world of the energy vampires, and she had already negotiated world peace between all of the vampire factions and city-states all over the world.
At least she had on paper.
Getting all of the city-states to forget years of contention with other bordering states due to any number of reasons…be they religious or otherwise…was not as easy as it sounded in the treaty all the princes had signed. Princes, both male and female, had signed at the bidding of their queen. People falling into line and following their princes’ example…now that would be a massive undertaking.
Just the thought of it made her feel tired.
She was among the oldest of her kind. She was among the exemplars…the few remaining e-vamps who had been among the original group of aliens that had landed on this planet so many hundreds of years ago. She could count on both hands those that were left of the exemplars.
She remembered those first days on earth without any fondness. She didn’t imagine any of the exemplars did. The day they had landed their ship had been caught in a terrific lightning storm, the hull of the ship and everyone in it being electrified in one fell swoop. It had taken half of them starving to death before someone had figured out that their alien physiology had been changed on a molecular level, and that the only way they could survive was by feeding off of the clean energy of the humans that populated that planet.
They had dismantled and hid their ship in the mountain range they had crashed in, somewhere where no one would look for it or find it, and had gone about the business of fitting into the primitive world they had landed in. It had taken quite an adjustment learning to live in Elizabethan times. It had served them best to be at the hub of human activity, and that had meant large cities like London and Paris and the cities of Spain. These were the places where the most food sources could be found. At first they had travelled together as a whole…supporting one another, breeding with one another. Expanding their population. Their children were born energy vampires as well, their reproductive systems having been changed on the same fundamental level as the rest of them had been. But it hadn’t taken long for the first energy vampire to fall in love with a human, forcing them to come up with all new laws about how to integrate humans into their society. Cross breeding had expected effects. Half were born human and half were born energy vampire. Purely genetics.
But for the most part energy vampires and those that knew about their existence were an insular bunch. They knew of the risk if any of the primitive humans found out what they were. Their superstitious ways would mean an all-out witch hunt. So they protected themselves above everything else.
Of the original four hundred to land, half had gone on to survive and reproduce. Enough to seed the world with energy vampires until now, generations later, they were everywhere. Cross breeding had been kept at a severe minimum, the act frowned upon by their society as a whole. But again, there were exceptions. However the rules stated that half-breeds had to mate with full breeds in order to keep them from being too diluted. This was how arranged marriages had come about. In the beginning there had not been arranged marriages. There had been no marriages period. If they wanted their species to survive they had to breed with as many other mates as they could. It didn’t help that it was incredibly difficult for them to reproduce at all. Their alien physiology was very different from humans. Women did not ovulate every month. It was more like every three months. However, they muddled through somehow. Enough to perpetuate themselves. Arranged marriages had come later, as a way of keeping cross breeds all in the family…so to speak. To keep human DNA from diluting their gene pool too much.
It hadn’t been easy to find matches for half-breeds. Energy vampires were nothing if not purists and incredible snobs. But there were those who were willing…for the right price…to take on the duty of lessening the damage caused by the original cross breeding.
In the end, the influx of human DNA had been part of what had saved them…though few of the exemplars would admit it, the fresh DNA had allowed them to keep from too many instances of cousins being forced to mate with cousins in order to survive and perpetuate their species. Of course, inbreeding had happened, all vampires could trace their roots to one of only two hundred exemplars after all. It was bound to bring more than a few instances of kissing cousins. But that had been true of human matches in history as well.
But that was all history. And now Simone was trying to make new history. As queen over all the princes she held ultimate power, although she risked not being re-elected if she exercised her power against the will of the people too much. So, instead of vetoing policy, she made up new policies. She helped construct new laws, negotiating the sensitivities of those princes and vampires that had grown to be hostile toward one another. Not an easy task. However, it was done. The treaty was signed. In it was the agreement that they would stop all of their infighting and instead focus on the true enemy.
The sycophants.
The sycophants—or phants as they’d become more commonly referred to—were vampires that had crossed over from clean and lawful to dirty and lawless. Meaning…vampires who chose to feed from tainted sources in order to obtain a high—like the high a human would get from drugs—and whose behavior became increasingly lawless and savage, even to the point of killing their food sources, which was strictly forbidden in the clean vampire world. In the beginning this had not been a problem. For all their questionable bathing habits of the time, Elizabethans had been relatively clean in the majority. At least their energy had been. Drugs had not been rampant…although there were taints like too much alcohol, but that wasn't enough to cross them from lawful to unlawful resources. However, laudanum and use of the poppy plant had been another story. Opium had been the true taint of the times, but still had not been a widely used drug and so was not much to worry about.
However, all it took was a couple of feedings from tainted food sources and the cross over to sycophant would be permanent. Nowadays tainted food sources outweighed the clean. They had to hunt for clean sources. They could only feed from the same source once every two weeks at minimum, and most vampires could only go four or five days without feeding. That meant having multiple clean sources…and respecting the sources of others so there was little in the way of shared sources. It was obvious to tell when another vampire had tapped a source, so they avoided sharing of sources unless it was given as a gift to a vampire who might be in need for whatever reason.
Feeding too often from the same source brought down that sources immune system, making them more vulnerable to common illnesses…as well as more serious ones. Cancer being one of them. So it behooved the vampires to respect their sources. In fact, it was law that they do so. By disrespecting a source or taking from an unclean source…i.e. a drug user or a source of slovenly personal eating habits and drinking habits…they were breaking one of their most fundamental laws…and must be punished for it.
After about a week of feeding from tainted sources, a vampire was irrecoverable. They were lost to sycophanthropy. If it was caught in time there was a hope that they could be detoxed and brought back to lawful behavior and clean feeding habits…but that rarely happened. Sycophanthropy was a choice…and once that choice was made there was no coming back from it morally; or rather there wasn’t any desire to come back from it.
At least…that had been the case until recently. Recently there were instances and reports of vampires being taken against their will and forced into sycophanthropy. An example was Halo, a powerful hunter who, although he flirted with bad habits and behaviors, was loyal to a fault. Lawful to a fault. He despised phants. As a hunter it was his job to hunt down the worst of the worst. Of course all vampires everywhere had permission to kill a phant on sight, but the hunters purposely sought them out…usually under a directive from the authoritarians, the vampire’s law keepers.
Recently Halo had been kidnapped and forced, against his will, to feed from an unclean source…an innocent girl who had been pumped full of heroin. They had starved him until he had been forced into the choice of either feeding from her or slipping into torpor…a deathlike coma from which there was little chance of recovery without the aid of a powerful vampire. An aged vampire. A vampire like her.
Halo had escaped his fate, but how many others were there being forced to cross over? This was a new threat. A horrifying one. Halo had been chosen because of his singular access to her and all of her movements. They had tried to recruit him in the hopes that he would be able to assassinate her.
It was a flawed plan to say the least. Not well thought out, but not impossible either. When they had failed they had gone for a more direct approach, setting off a bomb in the vampires’ headquarters in New York, killing several vampires and shaking their confidence of being protected in their own secure little building. Vampires tended to, and by most laws were required to, live in a secure building. Live and work usually. Although it was not necessary for a vampire to work, food being free and living arrangements being provided along with a weekly stipend, the stipend wasn't overly generous and although it was enough to live on, it was without extras and without certain material pleasures that could only be bought with larger sums of money in this economy driven human society.
Simone lived on the top floor of the New York headquarters, occupying the enormous penthouse apartment that looked out over all of New York City. The skyscraper was large, although not as large as others. It was also secure from humans entering it, with key-coded doors locking out anyone without a card, and live security that made rounds throughout the entire building as well as monitoring state of the art cameras. No humans were allowed in the building unless escorted by a vampire that could be trusted to keep an eye on them…and even then they were only allowed limited access. The building was a safe haven…a place where vampires could openly discuss their lives and needs without worrying about who was overhearing them. Of course upon seeing a human, vampires knew to edit their speech, but accidents happened and it was up to the accompanying vampire to use hypno to erase that human’s memory if they saw or heard something they shouldn’t.
There were exceptions to this. This included one that was standing beside Simone at the very moment looking out over a snow-covered city, enjoying a moment of silence near the cold glass. Renee Holden was a cop, a NYC detective actually, and had been deemed trustworthy enough to hold on to the secret of the vampires’ existence. She was relatively new to the fold, having been brought into it by Simone’s right hand man Rafe. She didn’t know what she would do without Rafe, and Renee was proving to be just as valuable…although for different reasons. Rafe was both a business and personal friend; Renee was becoming more of a companion. Simone liked the practical, strong woman that she was. She could relate to her on many levels.
Still, there were parts of herself she couldn’t share with either of them. The parts that she didn’t even want to recognize within her. She was a composed, sophisticated woman, but sometimes she wished…
It was impossible, and not worthy of her time and consideration. She was queen. She was responsible for the well being of thousands of vampires all over the world. She would be responsible for them for another five years, longer perhaps if she decided to run for re-election. That was five years from now, however, and she had to turn her attention to matters of the moment.
“The authoritarians are responsible for enforcing the laws set down by this new treaty, and as part of that new treaty we are required to have an exchange program for our authoritarians so that no one city-state can show bias in enforcement to another. It was agreed upon as a way of avoiding prejudice and hostility. But I never thought Danton would want to leave us…leave his position on the committee…in order to pursue work on different shores.”
“I think perhaps he is bored. He may feel…like he is becoming disillusioned due to his work on the committee.”
Simone turned sharply and narrowed her gaze on Rafe. “What has he said to you?”
“It isn’t what he said. It is how he said it. He seemed…weary. Like he was feeling stagnant. Like he needed a change.”
“I don’t want to lose him,” Simone said, unable to keep from pouting. “Egypt is so far away.”
“It’s only for six months. A hiatus really. He isn’t giving up his place permanently…at least not yet. There is always the possibility he might enjoy law enforcement in differing settings. It certainly sounds like what he needs for the moment.”
“You’re only depressing me more,” she said with a sigh. “Oh very well. We’ll let him go. You can tell him tomorrow.”
“I think he would much rather hear it from you,” Rafe suggested.
“An old friend to an old friend,” Renee said softly.
Simone sighed and looked back out of the window. She actually envied Danton. She might like a change of scene and society herself. But it was so huge an undertaking to relocate her headquarters…and wherever she went she would be usurping the position of the prince in whatever city-state she decided to settle in. True, that prince would relocate to New York and be prince over the largest concentration of vampires in the world, so it was hardly a demotion. But princes preferred to rule their own people…the people that elected them. Also she would be relocating an elected official to a position he technically had not been elected to. There were provisions for this in their laws of course. She was free to live and rule from wherever she wanted.
But NYC was the hub of the vampire world. Almost everything of any importance came through this city-state. It was the pulse of vampire society, and she needed to be on it. She needed to be able to feel it.
So no, there would be no relocating for her. Not anytime soon anyway. But just because she couldn’t go it was no reason to deny others the opportunity. Only, she so depended on Danton, almost as much as she depended on Rafe. He was a wise, strong-willed man, and she needed as many of those around her as she could manage. His movement would cause one other complication…the jockeying for the chance to fill his vacant position. She would have to choose a temporary substitute to manage not only the upper echelon of law enforcers of the largest city-state, but his place on the committee would fall vacant as well. Everyone was going to want to apply to the position, even if it was labeled “temporary”. There were few better positions in the vampire world than a seat on he committee. It would be quite a line on a résumé. So she could expect applicants to number many and to contain a large amount of ambitious people. It was also a position she had to fill personally. Only the queen could appoint someone to the committee.
As a part of their governing, the committee play a crucial role in the legal process. It acted as a sort of grand jury. There were five members total, so that there was never a tied decision, and once the committee passed sentence on you, the decision was final. There were no appeals in a vampire court.
It was a huge responsibility, choosing the right person for the job. It was also a daunting one. But she would face it like she faced everything else in her life…by plowing straight ahead and through. Simone wasn't afraid of duty, nor was she intimidated by it…not much anyway. However, replacing a friend and selecting a new person to serve in her inner circle…that would require opening up parts of herself to someone new. Trusting someone new. That part would not come easily.
Also, she didn’t envy anyone who served a position close to her. It was hard work. It required someone being available at all times. It had the potential to ruin their personal life. Danton had no close connections. No wife. No kids. A hard thing to find. As long-lived as they were, there were usually kids to be found in at least a few generations of their lives. Usually when they were young. She, Danton, and Rafe had shared that same lack of familial connection, the exception being her cousin Leopold who was the prince of London. But he had his life and she had hers. It had been part of why her close companions Rafe and Danton had found family within each other. They had all been looking for someone to hold onto with their hearts and their loyalty. It hurt that Danton wanted to extricate himself from that.
“It’s only for a little while,” Renee said softly, the sensitive human female intuiting her distress. “He’s not abandoning you forever. He’ll be a mere video chat away.”
“Of course,” she said quickly. “I know this. It is just such an undertaking to replace him.”
“I will assist you of course,” Rafe said readily.
“I know you will,” she said with a smile. “I always know you are here for me. I greatly depend on you and I deeply, deeply appreciate you for it. I hope you know that.”
“I do know that,” he assured her. “Very much so. I am never starved for gratitude from you.”
“Is Halo still out there?” she asked, nodding toward the front of her apartment. Her living room, where they were presently seated, was cut off by only one room. It was the foyer by the front doorway. It was closed off, allowing a buffer between those that arrived and Simone in her personal space. She could either leave them where they were or bring them in. Either way she could make the choice in private. She was actually surprised Halo was waiting so patiently. He was like a child; impatient and demanding; a bully of sorts…albeit a goodhearted one. He was also devoid of all good manners. He had no respect for things like personal space. But as she focused her attention on the area of the closed off foyer, she was able to detect two energy signatures beyond the double doors.
Ah. Suddenly his patience made sense. He was very likely with his new sweetheart, who had proven to be a good influence on him. Not a perfect one, but definitely a good one. She could only control him so far, so it would behoove Simone to not let him wait any longer.
“Rafe, will you let him in?” she asked him.
Rafe got to his feet and rebuttoned his sharp blue suit jacket over his soft slightly pink shirt. It was a color combination few men could pull off, and Rafe did it very well. He let Halo in, who entered the room like a pissed off bull.
“About time,” he growled.
Felice, his new girlfriend…also a human…followed in his wake. She caught up to him and snagged her hand in his, visibly squeezing it. It worked like some kind of soothing charm. His rough temper seemed to soothe as he turned to take her under his arm. But he was frowning when he looked back at his queen.
“We have to do something about Draz. This has gone on long enough. I want your permission to hunt down the bastard. I’m gonna do it anyway, but I figured it’d be better if I had the green light from you.”
Simone smiled a little and shook her head in wonder. Halo was coarse and rough, big and bullish. He took over a room like a drill sergeant. He dictated terms…even to those above him.
“There’s always been a green light where Draz is concerned,” she said, referring to the current bane of her existence, the sycophant crime lord who had organized an enormous network of sycophants on the Eastern Seaboard. Not all of them, but a large number. It was enough to be a distinct threat to all vampires including, and perhaps especially, the queen. Draz had had his eye on total domination for some time. He wanted Simone’s throne…at just about any cost. He was willing to throw any number of sycophants in the way to get to her. In fact, he had been responsible for the kidnapping and attempted turning of Halo a short while ago. It had all been to get to Simone. Simone was Draz’s target.
She wished she could summon up a hatred for a creature that obviously hated her, but instead she simply felt disgust and pity. Draz, like all sycophants, had chosen his descent into lawlessness and sin. He was only compounding that lawlessness and sin by organizing against all lawful vampires everywhere. Halo was right, something must be done about him. He and all of his kind must be routed out. He was setting an example. City-states everywhere were falling prey to organized sycophants led by dynamic men like Draz. It was part of the reason she had been so enthusiastic about getting this treaty signed. It meant they could stop all of the infighting and squabbling between them and start focusing on digging out the evil sycophants everywhere.
Of course, sycophants like Draz saw nothing wrong with what they were. They felt entitled. They felt superior to those around them. They felt that lawful vampires were the unnatural ones; that they were meant to feed from any and all sources and that they were a natural evolution to vampire kind. There were no rules as far as they were concerned, except for the rules the vampires themselves had made up. In their eyes, who was to say what was right and what was wrong? Laws vampires themselves had created? It was just as natural, in their eyes, to feed from a tainted source as it was to feed from a clean one. They deserved the high they got from it. They were meant to enjoy it.
It disgusted Simone just to think of it. To think of the lives the sycophants took or put at risk with their gluttonous ways. It was one thing for a sycophant to feed from a tainted source, and another thing entirely for them to kill that source. The only thing that might save a human from death was that one on one it was almost impossible for a sycophant to drain a source of all of its life energy. Unfortunately sycophants tended to travel in packs for their own protection. It was quite easy for a pack of three or more sycophants to kill a human. These deaths drew attention to the vampires’ existence. They risked all of then, vampires and sycophants alike. The one thing sycophants and vampires could agree on was that it was important that humans remain ignorant of their existence. If humans knew about them it would mean an all out war between them. In their fear humans would no doubt hunt them down and destroy them all.
At least, that was the common belief. Simone had been toying with the possibility that they might be ready. That it was best they reveal themselves before they were actually discovered…a more and more likely event in this day and age where cameras were everywhere and people were tracked at every move. But then she would see how they treated members of their own society when they were perceived as different from the norm, and her thoughts of full disclosure would run away.
“You and I both know you don’t want anyone going straight at him,” Halo said. “You don’t want to provoke him.”
“You’re right. I don’t. But I don’t have that choice anymore. That choice was taken from me the day we discovered he was trying to turn lawful vampires against their will in order to thicken his ranks and come after me.”
“There’s no telling how many of those black sites they have,” Halo said, referring to the place where they had imprisoned him, watched him, tempted him and starved him. It had been a very elaborate setup, one that they had gone to great expense to create. None of them felt that Halo had been the sole target to be held at that warehouse. That it had been meant for him and him alone. As important as Halo was to the queen, there were equally important targets around her. Any of them could be at risk if more of these sites existed. Draz might be planning to get to her by whittling away at her inner circle this way.
“You’re right of course. It’s time we took care of this. Now that the treaty is signed we can turn our focus to domestic matters. We need to go after Draz with the full force of hunters and authoritarians we have at our disposal.”
“I work better alone,” Halo said with a dark frown.
“And so you shall. Your job will be to hunt Draz down. Find him. He’s an elusive little bastard,” Simone said, frowning as well. “But once you find him you watch him only and report to me and the leader of the authoritarians where he is located. No doubt he is in a fortified place. He will be protecting himself like we protect ourselves. He imagines himself a king of his sycophantic peoples, and will no doubt use them as buffers to protect himself at all costs.”
“There’s only one problem with that,” Halo said dryly. “There is no leader of the authoritarians. Not if Danton is stepping aside like he says.”
“Leave that to me,” she said firmly. “You aren’t likely to find Draz with any immediacy. That gives me time to replace Danton.”
“Ha! You obviously don’t know me very well,” Halo said. “I’ll find out where he is. And I’ll do it by the end of the week. So you better get to picking.”
He turned to head back out of the room but she recalled him momentarily with, “You are gong to do this alone…right?” She glanced with concern at Felice. This was not the situation for an untrained human to be caught in the middle of.
“Do I look like I ride the short bus to school?” he asked her rudely. “Of course I’m not taking her!”
“I was just making sure. Don’t get hostile with me because I care.”
Halo grumbled and Felice stroked his biceps soothingly on his right arm, which she had hooked in hers. She spoke very softly as she stroked him.
“It’s all right,” she said gently. “They mean well.”
“I know how to take care of you,” he said, surly.
“No one is saying you don’t. She was just making sure I don’t do anything foolish.” Felice turned a soft smile on the room. “Thank you for your concern. I’ll be fine. Trust me, he handles me with kid gloves.”
It was hard to imagine Halo handling anything that gently, but she supposed there was someone for everyone to take care of.
Everyone except, perhaps, her.
But that was not a thought for the moment. She returned Felice’s smile.
“I’ll take your word for it of course. And I’ll replace Danton by the end of the week. You’re not to move on Draz without help.”
“I already said I wouldn’t,” Halo groused.
“I’m just making sure. Have a good night, Halo,” she said softly. Soothingly. It was like dealing with an angry bear.
Halo turned away at Felice’s insistent pull, and they left the apartment. She sighed, not realizing she had been holding her breath as he had left, and turned to Rafe.
“Put out word that I am interviewing candidates to take over for Danton temporarily,” she said to him. “Make sure it’s known it’s only temporary.”
“I will. Now maybe you should get some sleep. You look tired. It’s been a long day.”
“They’re all long,” she said with another sigh. Rafe held out a hand to his lover and Renee moved to take it readily. He led her to the edge of the room before turning back to face Simone.
“Go to bed, Simone. We’ll handle things in the morning.”
She nodded and they left her apartment. She turned and looked back out of the glass and onto the dark vista of the city. As the city that never slept it was full of lighted windows no matter what time it was.
There was something lonely about that. Even though all of those other people were out there, she was here, isolated, out of reach…where no one could see of hear how vast and empty her penthouse apartment was.
She reached out and pressed a hand to the cold glass. It was snowing lightly just beyond that glass and the city would be dusted in the morning. She closed her eyes and weariness ran through her from head to toe, but she wouldn’t let it get the best of her. She would sleep and in the morning she would feel better. Sleep didn’t provide them with any energy, but it did help them to shut down for a little while. She had not hunted that night so she wouldn’t be supercharged and unable to sleep. That would be tomorrow night.
And thinking of that long, sleepless night ahead, she turned away from the glass and made her way into her bedroom.