Clean Sweep

Arland nodded toward the door to the kitchen. "You opened the doorways. Does this mean you've decided I'm trustworthy?"



"No, I just want a cup of tea." I rose and walked over to the kitchen. "Would anyone like anything?"



They shook their heads. I made myself a cup of Earl Grey and came back to my seat.



"A number of our friends and allies had been invited to the wedding, including House Gron," Arland continued. "Our Houses had been on peaceful terms for a long time, and three years ago we signed the Pact of Brotherhood."



"Pacts of Brotherhood are rare," I said for Sean's benefit.



"Yes," the vampire confirmed. "Treaties are forged and broken all the time. A Pact of Brotherhood is a binding thing. We swore to the alliance in a Cathedral of Chains and Light. This isn't something that can be dismissed with a casual stab in the back."



"Why would you bind yourself in this manner?" Caldenia asked. "Attachments of this sort tend to drag you down."



Arland sighed. "It's a complicated matter involving trade routes, mutual enemies, and an illegitimate child. I could detail it for you, but suffice to say that an alliance was in our best interests. We are involved in an operation that hinges on a great deal of joint planning. The wedding was meant to underscore our Houses' continued commitment to one another."



"Let me guess," Sean said, his face dark. "Someone was murdered."



"The Band Bearer," Arland said.



"They use armbands and bracelets instead of rings," I told Sean. "The Band Bearer safeguards the bands during the ceremony. It is an honor to be one."



"The Band Bearer was a knight of significant renown and extremely difficult to kill," Arland said. "Someone ambushed and murdered her in a rather gruesome way. We found her on the morning of the wedding. When the Cathedral Gates were opened, the entire wedding party saw her bloody corpse hanging from the ceiling, the sacred chains wrapped around her throat." His eyebrows came together, his face hard. "She was my youngest aunt. Our House was dishonored, our Holy Place desecrated, and the DNA and blood of a member of House Gron was found on her body."



The insult had been monumental. Not only had someone slipped into the heart of House Krahr territory, but they had murdered a knight at a wedding in a church. The House of Krahr had to deliver swift vengeance or lose their reputation within the Anocracy.



"What did you do?" Caldenia asked.



"We kept the results of the molecular analysis to ourselves or we would've had an immediate bloodbath on our hands. Only a handful of people know. Privately we met with House Gron and they denied all charges. They couldn't explain the presence of the foreign blood on Olinia's body, but I've known Sulindar Gron since we were four. We are the best of friends and brothers-in-arms. He swore his people didn't do this and I'm inclined to believe him."



Caldenia narrowed her eyes. "Why, because of sentimental childhood attachment?"



"No, because Sulindar is an insidious, conniving bastard. It was too obvious for him."



Vampires. "Did you ever find the primary crime scene?" I asked.



Arland shook his head. "No. But my aunt did draw blood from her attacker. He'd used a vaporizer to hide it; however, we found traces of an unfamiliar fluid on her teeth. It took three precious days before we identified it as belonging to the dahaka. Their species is rare and he would have been noticed, so he hadn't come through by normal channels. We don't know how he got in or how he got out."



"The plot thickens," Caldenia said.



"It was an assassination." Arland bared his fangs. "That in itself is weak. What vampire needs to hire an assassin? But more importantly, it was designed to create a rift between Krahr and Gron. You have no idea how long we had worked on that joint offensive. This entire situation is a hissot."



"What does that mean?" Sean asked.



"A knot of poisonous snakes that is epic in its vileness." Frustration vibrated in Arland's voice. "Two seasons of planning, gone. There are fifty thousand Krahr followers demanding the guilty be punished, whoever they are, and about as many Gron cohorts placed on alert because their leadership thinks we are preparing to invade them in retaliation. It isn't enough for the dahaka to die. We must find who hired him. He could be working for our enemies, for some third party, perhaps even for Gron. This is the reason my uncle was injured. He wasn't trying to kill the dahaka. He was trying to capture him."



Sean leaned forward. "I saw what it did to your uncle's men. Trust me, we don't have the resources to hold it."



"Spoken like a sergeant," Arland said.



Sean gave him a flat stare.



"Don't get me wrong, sergeants are the backbone of the army. A good one is worth his weight in gold. But they do not concern themselves with the bigger picture. It's not just about revenge. It's about the stability of two Houses. The dahaka must be taken alive."



Sean crossed his arms.



"By myself, I'm outmatched," Arland said. "However, we share common interests. You want the dahaka gone from your planet and so do I. Together we have a fighting chance."



"We don't have enough people to capture it," Sean said. "This is a simple fact. If you think about it for a moment, you'll come to the same conclusion."



"We could lure it onto the inn grounds."



"It won't work," I said.



"What makes you so sure, my lady?" Arland asked.



"I spoke to it."



The vampire stared at me. I'd seen this precise expression on Sean's face before.



"When was this?" Arland asked quietly.



"When Sean brought Lord Soren in. I felt a disturbance, went outside, and saw it on the lamppost. We had a conversation."



"And you didn't feel the need to tell me?" Arland asked.



"No."



Sean already knew --he'd seen the dahaka running away. But since the vampires hadn't been forthcoming with information, I'd kept it to myself.



Arland opened his mouth, but no words came out. Some sort of monumental struggle seemed to take place. Finally some words emerged. "That was extremely unwise."



"Not telling me your purpose on this planet was even more so."



Sean smiled his handsome-devil smile.



Arland considered it. "Very well. That I deserved."



Sean looked at me. "I've been meaning to ask you, what did it want?"



"Lord Soren."



Sean frowned. "Why?"



"Bonus," Caldenia murmured.



We looked at her. She waved her hand with an elegant flourish. "Ignore me."



"The dahaka struck me as smart and vicious. It holds us in complete contempt --it called me meat. But it didn't attack and none of its stalkers made a serious effort to rush the inn. It knows what I am, and it's very careful not to enter the grounds."



"Could you restrain it if it did?" Arland asked.



"On the grounds, possibly. In the house, definitely. But it's not likely to let itself be lured to the inn."



Arland rocked back and exhaled, venting frustration. "There has to be a way to trap it. With all due respect, you are just an innkeeper, my lady. You have no experience with hunting prey."



Okay, then. Glad we decided to clear that up.



"Perhaps we could flush him out," Arland said.



"Not without attracting attention," Sean said. "Attention is the last thing we need."



"Agreed." The vampire bared his fangs.



They stared at each other, then looked at me.



I shrugged. "I'm not a mighty hunter. I'm just a Southern belle who stays home, bakes cookies, and possibly serves mighty hunters iced tea if they happen to drop by."



Arland blinked.



"You broke it, you fix it," Sean said.



The vampire leaned forward and focused on me. His eyes turned warm, and a charming, self-deprecating smile lit his face.



Wow.



"I didn't choose my words tactfully, my lady. I'm only a man, after all, and a solider, unskilled in the way of polite society. I've dedicated myself to the service of my House. My business is that of blood and slaughter, and I haven't been fortunate enough to be refined by a woman's gentle touch."



Sean coughed into his fist. One of the coughs sounded suspiciously like "bullshit."



"I ask humbly for your forgiveness. I neither deserve nor expect it and therefore appeal only to your compassion. Should I be fortunate enough to be forgiven, I promise to never repeat my transgression."



Unfortunately for Arland, I had encountered a few vampires before. "A vampire of a different House once told me something very similar. He even knelt on one knee while he said it."



"Did you forgive him?" Arland hit me with another smile. Vampire smiles should really be outlawed.



"While I was busy thinking it over, he leapt at me and tried to break my neck with his teeth, so no." I'd been fifteen years old at the time and it was an excellent lesson in vampire manners. Despite their beautiful faces, their religion, their ceremonies, their charm, vampires were predators. If you forgot it even for a second, you risked your life, because they always remembered.



Arland opened his mouth.



"I'm not upset with you, my lord. I just have no ideas on how to trap the dahaka. Or how to kill it."



"May I have some tea?" Caldenia asked.



"Of course." I went in the kitchen and took her favorite mug from the cabinet.



"Would a high-power rifle do it?" Sean asked.



"What sort of rifle?" Arland asked.



"Stealth Recon Scout," Sean said.



"Does it fire a metal projectile?"



"Yes."



"How fast?"



"Fast enough to kill a man from two thousand yards away."



"I don't believe so." Arland grimaced. "The dahaka is likely to have magnetic disrupters in addition to armor, helmet, and an extremely thick skull."