Blood Rebellion

"Lissy, we missed you. A lot. We should have been checking those tours before. We are, now." Tony was attempting to set things right. Shadow held my plate in his hands and he brought my bed tray over, setting my plate on top of it.

"You need to eat, love," was all he said.

* * *

"She’s back?" Gabron looked up at his vampire assistant.

"The word just came down from the palace. She’ll be at the meeting this afternoon."

"Thank you, Heathe." Gabron dismissed him. Heathe left Gabron’s office, closing the door softly behind him.

* * *

"I’ll take him with me to the meeting this afternoon, but it will likely do no good at all. He was extremely curious about his new genitalia and asked me why he woke with an erection after sleeping. I took him to one of the brothels—not one run by Gabron, by the way." Flavio was having lunch with Wlodek and Merrill. Roff had been allowed to go to the winery by himself—Flavio knew he wouldn’t stray from there—he loved his business. The earnings were placed in an interest-bearing account for him.

"How did he react?" Merrill asked.

"He refused to allow any of the women to put their hands on him. The whole thing distressed him greatly." Flavio sipped his glass of wine.

"He prefers men?" Wlodek asked.

"I called Lucas back in and he offered. Roff backed away from him faster than he did the women." Flavio shook his head. He didn’t understand any of this.

"So, now what?" Merrill said.

"Lucas showed him how to masturbate—you know that vampire has absolutely no shame or shyness about him. Roff now handles things himself, every morning," Flavio didn’t bother to hide the smile.

"You may want to keep him near the back, in case there’s trouble with Lissa at the Council meeting," Merrill suggested. "It might not be a good idea to let the cameras find her bursting into tears when Roff doesn’t recognize her."

"He doesn’t recognize Giff or Toff, either; we’ve tried that already," Wlodek shrugged. "That I find unusual. Karzac thinks it is some sort of Systematized Amnesia—where he’s lost all memories of the ones closest to him. He vaguely recalls Gavin, Tony and some of the others, but not all. He also can’t remember anything about the stabbing, or at least he hasn’t brought it up. Karzac thinks his memories may return eventually, but where will we be in the meantime?"

"Lissa is fragile enough at the moment. Karzac tells me that she blew up last night, after she returned home. She knows Roff doesn’t remember and she was upset that Gabron hasn’t come forward and offered an apology or an explanation." Flavio was angry enough about that, on Roff’s behalf.

"Griffin has gone Looking and he says that Lissa placed Shala and Elthine’s applications in the pile not to be considered. Gabron pulled them out and hired those girls anyway. Lissa knew, according to Griffin, that they were unsuitable with that talent she has to recognize such things. Gabron overrode her decision." Merrill had talked at length with Griffin over the entire thing. Griffin refused to tell Merrill what the outcome was likely to be.

"I must go pull my youngest away from the winery," Flavio rose from the table. Flavio owned a grand mansion in Lissia, as did many other vampires who’d paid for upgrades. There was plenty of space and Flavio had plenty of money.

"We’ll see you at the Council meeting; we’re going, just in case," Wlodek nodded.

* * *

"Giff, I don’t know why your father doesn’t remember us." I wanted to cry again, but I had a meeting with the full Council and a few guests in less than an hour so I was doing my best to hold the dam up. Grant had Toff in the usual sling, but the baby was already trying to walk—or in Toff’s case—run. Grant was up to that challenge, though—no normal baby was going to outrun a vampire. Toff smiled and laughed at me as I made faces at him. He’d sat in my lap during breakfast and I’d fed him off my plate. He loves ham.

Giff was the one in tears, now. She didn’t understand what had happened to her parent. Well, I didn’t understand either.

Giff talked and wept while she’d gotten me dressed in a plum silk tunic and pants, the tunic glittering at neck, cuffs and hem with jewel dust. Yeah, I don’t know how they get it to stick, either. She’d done my hair next and placed my coronet carefully afterward. I might look like a Queen in the mirror, but I wanted to curl up somewhere and feel sorry for myself. I wanted Roff back and it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

Drake and Drew were acting as guards today, even though they were my military and not my palace guards. Maybe they won a bet with Gavin, but I didn’t really see that happening. They were dressed in full leathers and had both blades strapped to their backs. Four more vampire guards joined us as we neared the Council Chambers. The media had arrived in full force and was crowding the main hall, all of them attempting to record images of me. Somebody, it seems, had failed to tell me that my return to palace life was going to be plastered across vid screens everywhere.

I saw Tony and Gavin off in the distance, holding the news crews back behind a barrier. Reporters were shouting questions; I ignored them as I was herded to the left and down the hall leading to the Council Chamber.

I thought I was getting there early, but I was wrong. Everybody was already there and the place was packed. They all rose as I entered the room.

Kyler was there as well, calling out the topics of discussion for the day, which was what to do with the excess profits from the casinos, brothels and other business taxes. The floor was open to suggestion. Someone wanted wider streets to handle increasing traffic. There was a call for more solar energy farms to be put up on the light side to supply the demands of Casino City. There was a consensus on that item, so it was put to a vote and passed. But that only accounted for a fraction of the funds. Someone else stood—someone I didn’t recognize. He was the newly elected Head of the Council for a city of vampires pouring in from Alliance worlds. Someone else in my absence had made decisions on those applications.

"I have been approached by exclusive clothing designers, shoe designers and jewelry designers," he began. "They are all willing to pay for the opportunity to open shops here and sell their work to tourists and residents alike. I propose that we clear ground on the eastern edge of Casino City and build those shops between there and Lissia."

I didn’t like that idea at all—they wanted to build inside the buffer space I’d demanded between Lissia and Casino City. It would continue to creep in this direction; I just knew it, until the two became one. And it was more retail, on top of that. I wasn’t opposed to fancy dresses, shoes, or jewelry, but I wanted a public library and a university, too.