Blood Rebellion

"But I look like crap," I said, sliding out of Connegar’s lap, still wiping my face with the handkerchief he’d given me.

"It does not matter. Hold your head up, as the Queen that you are. We will do this, you and I."

Kifirin is the most beautiful male I have ever seen. His angel’s face now looked worried, though, as I took his hand. He tucked my fingers into the crook of his elbow and folded me to dinner.

Conversation hushed as we walked into the dining room and the servants—vampire and comesuli, rushed away to bring out the first course.

Dinner conversation dealt mostly with casinos, the Reth Alliance, Campiaa and the current conditions there. "I want this so bad I can taste it," Erland said. "We’ve been dealing with San Gerxon scum for a long time. I’m hoping that if we leave the planet and take at least half the gamblers with us, they’ll feel the bite after a while."

"Well, it’s a cinch the San Gerxons aren’t coming here," I grumped.

"I thought we had the head off the snake when we took Divil San Gerxon down a while back," Adam said. "Unfortunately, it was a hydra and not a snake. His brother Arvil has taken over and he’s just as bad as Divil was." Adam was angry over this, I could tell. I also got the idea that Adam weighed everything carefully before he made important decisions, and this was an important decision.

"Then we’ll do our best on this," I gave him the biggest smile I could, attempting to hide my concerns for Le-Ath Veronis.

"I’m just worried about what they’ll do if things don’t work out for them. I know we’ll cut into their profits, if not take the business away from them. They could get nasty over this." Adam was still frowning.

"Well, we can always send my newly formed Enforcer Squad out after them," I said.

"What newly formed Enforcer Squad?" Drake lifted an eyebrow at me.

"The one I’ll form if I need it," I said, wrinkling my nose at him.

"Just so you go through channels," Tony teased. "I think Gavin and I would have to approve the recruits."

"I have some out of work Enforcers, now," Flavio offered. "And an Assassin who’s about to go stir crazy. Trevor asks every day if there’s anything he can do."

"We’ll work this out," I sighed. "In the meantime, do they like to play baseball or football or anything?"

"Get Brock, bubby loves baseball," Grace said.

"Bubby?"

"Grace and Brock knew each other before he was turned," Merrill coughed into his hand. "They worked together and are like brother and sister. She’s the reason I had to chain him up for two months after I turned him."

"Of course," I nodded, although most of it defied my understanding. "I hope he had a shower within easy reach." Both times, my prison cells had been decidedly lacking in the area of personal comforts.

"And a fridge full of blood," Adam agreed.

"Lissa, we can issue a formal apology for locking you up. Twice." Flavio smiled.

"Too late, dude. That boat left the dock long ago. How would Trevor feel about being Sheriff?" I asked. "I mean, we have to have a lock-up—you can’t expect everybody to behave one hundred percent of the time."

"Yeah, sending in the palace guards or the army might be a bit much," Tony agreed.

Flavio whipped out a communicator and had Trevor on the line in no time. "How does the position of Sheriff sound to you?" Flavio didn’t waste any time.

"That sounds perfect," Trevor replied. Yeah, we all listened in.

"Have him check in with Gavin," I said.

"Tomorrow," Gavin nodded. "In my office." Gavin and Tony shared a good-size office, Drake and Drew did the same. Kyler had her own, as did Roff, and he was very pleased with it. He was already complaining that he needed artwork for the walls.

"Do we have vampires with artistic talent, architectural experience or anything like that?" I asked. "The palace needs decorating and I’d be happy to share any plans they might come up with on the whole casino city thing—both light and dark side."

"I wouldn’t mind looking at a few ideas," Adam said.

"Good, you’re in charge of that. Is Griffin still here?" We’d moved to the drawing room, for lack of a better title, and coffee and dessert were passed around.

"I’m still here, baby." Griffin came forward.

"Your brother that Narissa mentioned is here, with the Belipharan vampires," I said. "Davan is his name and he’s being instructed by an older vampire. I just thought you should know."

"Lissa, that makes him your Uncle," Griffin came to hug me. "How long have you known about this?"

"Since Kifirin and I brought them in. I just didn’t want to interfere with his instruction—he’s brand new as a vampire. Turned because somebody framed him for a crime. He’s a quarter Bright Elemaiya, as is his sire, Jeral, and both have mindspeech. I wanted to talk to both of them, though, and see if they have other talents."

"I want to be in on that meeting. You don’t know who his father is?"

"No, Daddy. I don’t. I didn’t try Looking, either."

"Perhaps I should pay another visit to your grandmother," Griffin leaned down to kiss my forehead.

"My murderous bitch grandmother? I can’t believe she killed her own parents," I shuddered at the thought. "I mean, I might have wished Howard Graham dead lots of times, but I couldn’t do it."

"I know, baby." Griffin gave me a squeeze before he let me go. "I’m taking Amara home—she’s had a long day."

"Sorry I let the cat out of the bag, Mom," I waved at her across the room. She just laughed as Griffin folded her away.

* * *

"Jeral," he smiled as I acknowledged him the following morning.

"Thank you for the clothing order," he said.

"We pulled you out of there without an extra stitch to your name—it was the least we could do," I said, as he and Davan made their way to assigned seats. The Belipharan Council held seven members and Davan came along to keep records for them. He’d been an accountant before, after all. I wondered if he’d liked his job. We might be able to find something for him, if he were interested.

"My Queen, many of our vampires grow bored," Jeral said as I gave the indication that it was all right to sit in my presence. Making somebody stand was just dumb.

"Well, that may be about to change—the Reth Alliance has approved our membership and we’ll need crews to work shifts on the space station. I woke this morning and found more than ten thousand requests from Reth Alliance vampires waiting on my approval, for either visits or relocation. And this is just the first day." I breathed a troubled sigh.