"Follow the money, eh?" Merrill nodded at Erland.
"Precisely. Information and any illegal negotiations will always be near the funding. You can count on that. These gamblers may look legitimate—on the surface, at least. We know better." Erland agreed.
"Lord Morphis, I'll bring in the cleaning crew if you're ready," an employee approached Erland cautiously. The Warlock now seemed calm enough to speak without blasting something to bits.
"Yes. Get those walls replaced by tomorrow."
"Of course, Lord Morphis."
I was doing my best not to get chocolate cake crumbs on a blue silk tunic. It was embroidered around the hem and cuffs and had matching trousers. I knew Giff wouldn't mind finding clothing to replace my outfit if I ruined it, but this was one of my favorites. I was forced at times to wear dresses, and that was something I didn't like at all. They were such a pain and bother, since most of them were long and dragged the floor. I was constantly trying to move my skirts out of the way. Drake and Drew laughed whenever I growled after nearly tripping over the damn things. Now I was sitting in the kitchen, eating cake while three comesuli cleaned up after a long day.
We'd entertained a committee from the Reth Alliance earlier—they were considering our application to join. We were jumping through the usual bureaucratic hoops, too. We had to have a working space station orbiting Le-Ath Veronis, and it was nearly finished and already operational. We didn't tell the Alliance representatives that Larentii were putting most of it together for us. We'd hired work crews and some of our newly arrived vampires had expertise in that area, so all were working away to bring us into compliance.
Membership with the Reth Alliance would bring space travelers to Le-Ath Veronis and make it easier for the vampires living on Alliance worlds to come to us and petition for citizenship if they wanted it. Kifirin, Connegar and I were in charge of the citizenship applications from Alliance worlds. Those worlds recognized vampires as citizens in their own right; they were entitled to the rights granted by the law, just as any other citizen. The Alliance worlds also had methods of tracking and controlling vampire criminals and they were treated just as any other criminal might be. Most of those worlds still had a hidden Vampire Council of some sort and they policed their own—up to a point.
We had nearly fifty thousand comesuli living on Le-Ath Veronis and many of them had become pregnant the moment they'd stepped onto the planet. Kifirin said the comesuli somehow recognized the need for more of their kind, as well as recognizing the fact that there was plenty of space and sustenance for them.
Merrill, Adam and Wlodek had (rather quickly) built a blood substitute manufacturing facility, to make up for what the comesuli couldn't provide to the resident vampires. They'd worked on the blood substitute itself, making it better—not just in taste but in nutrition. Our resident vampires were happy with what they were getting—fresh blood a couple days a month and a decent blood substitute the rest of the time.
The comesuli, too, had to be watched—they were a race that hadn't had sex before. Now they were anxious to have it (along with a vampire's bite), as often as possible. We'd been forced to give them bracelets with two numbers. The months on Le-Ath Veronis were twenty-eight days in length and the two numbers on each bracelet indicated the two days a month a comesula could be bitten—giving them a two-week interval in between. The taking of blood more often than that could weaken them. The pregnant ones were off-limits, too, both prior to the birth and for two months after. There were plenty of grumbling comesuli as a result.
Jaydevik Rath, King of Kifirin, the High Demons' planet, had brought Glindarok, his pregnant Queen, to stay at my palace. He didn't feel she was safe on Kifirin during her pregnancy. The High Demons were having quite the trial getting their former Ra'Ak, High Demons and Elemaiya—Bright and Dark—to follow commands. None were willing employees, that much was certain. Many had deserted the city of Veshtul right away and Garde and Jayd had sent out hunting parties. When the deserters were found, they didn't live long.
Seventy thousand had been left on Kifirin when I finished with them, but now that number had been whittled down to sixty thousand. I got the idea that some of the newly humanoid inhabitants of Kifirin didn't take to cooking, cleaning, herding and farming.
Glinda, on the other hand, was about to deliver any day. Karzac, my Refizani mate and healer for the Saa Thalarr, was watching her like a hawk. Jeff, Merrill's son and several other healers were doing the same.
"Is there any more of that?" Glinda waddled into the kitchen, rubbing her swollen belly with both hands. She was craving chocolate, so I'd instructed the cooks to make chocolate desserts as often as possible.
"I think so," I said, waving a hand at the comesuli, letting them know I'd get the cake—I didn't want to interrupt them. I pulled the keeper door open and pulled out the remaining cake and a knife. I set a plate with a generous slice of cake on it in front of Glinda as she heaved herself onto a stool at the island. She was expecting twin girls and Jayd was a wreck whenever he was around her. Two female High Demons were cause for celebration, actually; they were almost as scarce as female vampires.
"I should have known," Karzac shuffled into the kitchen, closely followed by Rolfe.
"Do you want cake before I put it away?" I handed a glass of milk to Glinda; she was busy dipping into her cake.
Karzac pulled up another chair so I set a slice of cake in front of him with another glass of milk. Rolfe grinned at me and sat on the island. He was tall enough that it was like a bench to him.
"Do you need anything, Rolfe?" I asked while I was up.
"I've fed," he waved my offer away. I sat between Karzac and Glinda to finish my cake. No—I still hadn't gained all my weight back; Karzac grumbled about it, but my workdays were sixteen hours long. I didn't see how my situation might improve in the near future.
"How was your day?" I rubbed Karzac's back. He spent a few days every month with Devin and Grace; I had a calendar inside my closet with his schedule listed. With as many mates as I had, it was better to have a calendar. Otherwise, I'd never keep them sorted out. Karzac always made sure I knew when he'd be spending the night. He was thorough about everything, I discovered. When he was with me, he was thorough about that, too. I held no doubts about his love for me. He was also running a training program for the comesuli healers and was forced them along slowly; they'd not had many improvements in their health care methods while they'd lived on Kifirin.
"The books Connegar supplied in the High Demon language are a big help," Karzac sighed. He and Jeff were working their tails off getting the medical facility built and supplied while they taught and oversaw others who were teaching. Merrill's last turn, Joey Showalter, who'd worked as a healer for the Saa Thalarr, was teaching classes in anatomy and medical terminology, as well as computer technology. A few vampires were helping with that, in addition to many others who were taking the classes.
I'd even had a meeting with Griffin, Amara, Kiarra, Conner, Lynx and a few others, about building a university. Well—we had vampires here who had lived through quite a bit of history—who better to teach something like that? Gabron could give lessons on Refizani history with his eyes shut, I think. Lynx sounded interested in putting the school for the arts together.
Jayd skipped in while we were talking and eating chocolate cake, Garde right behind him. Jayd lifted Glinda up the minute she finished her cake and took off with her. Garde sat in her vacated spot.
"I think there's one slice of cake left," I looked at him.
"I'll take it, but how about a sandwich first?" he begged. His dark hair was ruffled, as if he'd had a difficult day and hadn't stopped to worry about his appearance. I got up and put a leftover meal together for him—it was roast beef and he was eating as if he were starved as soon as I set the plate down. I put the cake out for him, too, with a glass of wine.
"Let me guess—the kitchen help isn't all that great," I said.
"It's terrible—they burn everything," Garde grumbled around a mouthful of food.
"Maybe they'll improve when they get tired of eating it themselves," I said as I sat down again. Garde just snorted and kept eating. Jayd came back in a few minutes, so he received a plate of food. Karzac and I left them in the kitchen—we were going to bed together and it was late already. Garde had a room at the palace if he wanted it, but I figured he'd go back to Kifirin when he finished eating—Jayd stayed with Glinda most nights and Garde wouldn't leave Kifirin untended.
"Karzac, do you think we should try to do something about the former Ra'Ak and Elemaiya on Kifirin?" I was yawning as I pulled pajamas out of a drawer in my closet.
"Lissa, we don't need the pajamas," Karzac was already undressed and putting his arms around me, nuzzling my neck.
"You look awful good," I turned in his arms and put my hands on his chest—it was lightly covered in crisp, brown hair.
"You'd look better without clothing," he murmured, letting a hand drop to the small of my back.
"Brenten, are you sure this is a good idea?" Amara studied Griffin's face. He seemed grimly determined about the idea, once he'd suggested it. Amara attempted to divert his attention, but he was obsessed with the whole thing. He was now claiming that his granddaughters and daughter should know as well. "Brenten, you may not like the information, once you have it."
"Love, I think they deserve to know, while she's still alive."
"But she treated you so poorly," Amara didn't finish her sentence.
"I know that better than anyone," Griffin ran fingers through his thick brown hair. "I tried to tell her when she was turning me out of camp that things would end badly for her. She laughed at me."
"There was no love in her," Amara came to put her arms around his waist. She gazed up into her mate's eyes. "Do you think it will do any good now, to take your daughter and granddaughters to see her?"
