Blood Reunion

"Uncle Shadow said he’d bring them tomorrow—Trik needs more shoes, so we’re going shopping. Sissy said he spilled some of the spelled resin they use to make the gray jewels on two pairs of boots," Ry said.

"I wish I had mindspeech," Toff grumped, tapping the end of a paragraph on his comp-vid with more emphasis than it deserved. He wanted to contact Nissa whenever he felt like it. Ry and Tory didn’t realize what a gift they had.

"Maybe Mom can give it to you. After the baby comes," Tory responded with a grin.

"She can do that?" Toff asked, his eyes wide.

"Mom can do a lot of things," Ry snickered. "When she isn’t pregnant."

* * *

"They didn’t yell that much and I get new shoes," Trik gloated as he accepted a newly created protection jewel from Nissa.

"I’m glad it was enough to make three protection jewels. It was easy to pull the resin off your shoes, but that stuff discolors. Dad already saw that." Nissa’s eyes danced mischievously. "I just want you and Toff to have protection, and I wanted to replace my jewel, too," Nissa proclaimed as she pulled a second protection jewel necklace over her head. It would be keyed to Toff when she saw him the following day. "You’ll be able to protect yourself before long, but this will help until then." Nissa brushed back curly, light-brown hair and leaned against the wall with a happy sigh.

She and Trik had met inside Trik’s new bedroom—Shadow had cleared a space for Trik inside his and Nissa’s spacious suite. They’d settled on the floor at the far side of Trik’s bed, in case Shadow walked in. Again, Nissa had made the protection jewels without her father’s knowledge.

"I know what these are worth," Trik brushed fingers over the dark gray, faceted jewel that Nissa had fashioned from spelled resin. "My grandfather was always angry about these," he added. "The Belancours couldn’t do anything close to this kind of work."

"You’ll learn how to do it yourself," Nissa vowed. "I think Daddy is more than happy with the power you have."

"You think so?" Trik’s eyes held a gleam of hope in them.

"Yeah. Daddy’s happier than I’ve seen him in a while," Nissa nodded.

* * *

Lissa’s Journal

"I can see you’ve already heard we’re going shopping," I lifted an eyebrow at Ry and Tory, who were handing me expectant looks.

"But we haven’t heard where," Ry wheedled. I swear, that child was going to be just as handsome as his father, and could wrap anyone around his nimble fingers already. Erland said that Ry had a future as an ambassador for Karathia—if that’s what he wanted. Wylend, my grandfather, was already hatching a plot to send him to a private school on Wyyld when he was eighteen. That school trained the children of Kings, Queens, presidents, prime ministers and anybody else in charge of anything. It also cost a fortune to attend, and Wylend was prepared to pay.

My only problem with that idea is that I knew Tory would want to go with his brother and Garde was holding back—he didn’t want to send Tory if Tory couldn’t turn Thifilathi. Any position Tory might hold on Kifirin required that he be High Demon in most respects, and that included the ability to become Thifilathi. I assumed Garde also meant that Tory wouldn’t be considered High Demon if he couldn’t blow smoke whenever he got his underwear in a knot.

It made me angry every time I thought about it, and Garde and I had an argument when Garde first brought it up. Most High Demon males turned by the age of twelve. Tory hadn’t. I accused my High Demon mate of being prejudiced against his son because he was only half High Demon; Garde hadn’t defended himself very well against that charge and ended up blowing clouds of smoke before skipping away. It was still a sore spot between us.

"Where are we going, Mom?" Tory was now begging.

"If you must know, we’re going to Hraede again. It’s safe there and Rigo is going with us. Drake and Drew are folding us in and out, but they have training to do tomorrow so they can’t stay with us." I moved forward to hug my High Demon child. He was so tall, I could only put my arms around his waist. "Shadow only gave us tomorrow afternoon to spend with Nissa and Trik, after their lessons in the morning."

"So we have to hurry to make the most of our day," Ry nodded as I pulled away from Tory.

"We’ll have to hurry if we make more than two or three shops," I agreed. "If either of you need shoes or clothing, now is the time to make a list."

"I guess you haven’t changed your mind on tattoos," Tory teased.

"Look," I poked him in the chest with a finger, "If you’re twenty and can’t seem to stop yourself, I won’t stop you either. But if you want good ones, like Drake and Drew’s, then you need to go to Falchan and take your uncles with you."

"All right," Tory high-fived Ry over my head. Rolling my eyes, I walked away from both my tattoo-crazed sons.

* * *

"Do you think I depend upon you for all my information?" Tandias gazed angrily at Zellar. "I managed to place an obsession on one of the Queen’s palace employees. She and her children will be visiting Hraede tomorrow, with only one vampire attending her. We will attack her there. It will be much simpler than taking you past the shield around Le-Ath Veronis. Once the Queen is dead, our goals will be accomplished, wouldn’t you say?"

Zellar stared at Tandias. Now he understood why Viregruz had found this particular Ra’Ak so valuable. An obsession—that ability was extremely rare and difficult to perform. Only a few among Tandias’ former race might have been able to accomplish such a feat. An obsession placed by one of that race could convince the most unwilling to tell all their secrets or happily commit murder.

Whereas compulsion would force the recipient to act as a vampire commanded, it was limited to specific commands. Obsession left the victim willing to volunteer their deeds if they thought the one placing the obsession might be pleased by their actions. Victims fawned over their new master and craved any encouragement. Zellar found himself wondering how many assassinations had been carried out by those closest to the victim, after an obsession had been placed.

Shaking himself to dispel those thoughts, Zellar turned back to Tandias. "I assume you have an itinerary?"

"I know where the Queen is likely to be. That should be enough." Tandias’ pointed teeth gleamed as he laughed.

* * *

"You can keep the old one if you want," Nissa held out the new protection jewel to Toff, who seemed reluctant to remove the old necklace, although the jewel had been emptied when Gren attacked. "This one will key itself to you when you put it on." Nissa smiled her encouragement to Toff, who shyly accepted the gift and slipped it over his head. The gray jewel was carefully hidden beneath his shirt, right beside the first one.