Norian plopped onto the floor and crawled toward his cubicle, reappearing a few minutes later in humanoid form, dressed and ready to go. "Where would the vampires be, if they were in the city?" he asked as we left headquarters behind.
"They could be anywhere, as long as they were convinced they were safe and away from sunlight," I said. "We used to stay in hotels; we just had to make sure the staff wouldn't disturb us during the day. We'd stop breathing once we went into the rejuvenating sleep, and we had to make certain we wouldn't be in danger of exposure to sunlight."
Norian had his communicator out quickly, talking to someone just as fast and asking if any hotel guests had requested they not be disturbed during the short, Darthinian days. We had a list of six hotels in very little time and were on our way to the nearest one in five minutes. Norian also had agents on their way to other hotels, vampire cuffs in hand. Together, we hauled in eight unconscious vampires and ten humans. Norian wanted them all taken to an underground facility, so that's where we ended up. When night fell, I sent mindspeech to Gavin and he, Tony, Aryn and Rigo all showed up to question rogues.
The vampires didn't want to talk, but none of them were stronger or older than Rigo and Aryn. They were talking as soon as compulsion was laid and Norian had Lendill and several others recording all of it.
"This is the contract your deceased son-in-law signed with us," Kenderlin, monarch of Cloudsong pushed a copy of the contract across the table toward Marid. "As you well know, when the safety of a Cloudsong monarch is concerned, if there is evidence of treachery or treason on the part of the wizard's family, then the head of the family must offer his life in exchange, if the death of the ruling monarch or his heir occurs as a result of the treason. We require your life, Marid of Belancour. You signed this contract with us, as did your son-in-law, before he came to protect Brandelin. We have evidence that Findal, your daughter's husband, threw in his lot with Black Mist in order to kill my son and secure the throne for the opposition."
"Under normal circumstances, if your evidence holds up in court, you might have required my life. But since you are no longer in possession of all the facts, then your ignorance may be excused," Marid pushed the contract back toward Kenderlin. "My daughter was recently taken to wed by Shadow Grey of Grey House, and all debts were signed over to them as part of the marriage contract. Glendes Grey is now considered the head of the family in question. Feel free to present your claim for the life of the head of household to Glendes Grey himself."
"Is this the truth?" King Kenderlin's Prime Minister and his legal counselor both stared at Marid.
"Oh, yes. I can provide a copy of the marriage contract for you quickly, should you desire to pursue the matter."
"Was Grey House made aware that something of this nature might be presented to them?" Kenderlin thought to ask. Grey House was extremely powerful and they might not have been made aware of the circumstances.
"I was not even aware myself, so how could they be?" Marid huffed indignantly. "You will be forced to provide unquestionable evidence, before Grey House will submit to any demands."
"Send a copy of the marriage contract immediately," Kenderlin's legal counsel, an ancient and graying stork of a man, demanded. Marid nodded and stood, prepared to leave immediately.
"We cannot demand Glendes' life—Grey House had no part of this," Kenderlin's Prime Minister hissed as soon as Marid was out of hearing range.
"But we can demand payment, and that payment will be substantial," a slow smile spread across legal counsel's face.
"This was just delivered by courier." Cleo dropped the box in front of her father, Glendes of Grey House. "It's addressed to you and Shadow, from Kenderlin of Cloudsong."
"What is it? Some of Findal's effects after the attack?" Glendes was busy putting the monthly accounts together at his desk and barely spared a glance at the package.
"That might be the logical thing to assume, but I don't think that's it, Daddy. I have a feeling you should open this right away."
"Are you going to stand there until I do?" Glendes looked up at the youngest of his twin daughters.
"I think I should, Daddy. Kyler said to."
"The same Kyler who refused to come to the last family dinner?"
"That's the one," Cleo nodded.
"Fine," Glendes grumbled and reached for the package.
"It's probably the sire-child bond—nobody can get past that," Tony attempted to explain to Norian why the information regarding the bombs and who'd ordered them set wasn't coming. I watched Norian from my seat next to Rigo. He'd settled beside me after his bout of questioning vampires was over and now held my hand in his, refusing to let go.
"Tiessa, you should have brought me with you; I can help with this," Rigo told me softly as Norian asked other questions that Tony was doing his best to answer.
"I know, honey," I replied, squeezing his fingers. All we'd gotten from the captured vampires was that the bombs were scheduled to be detonated in two days. I had no idea what the leader or leaders of Black Mist intended to do when their bombs didn't explode according to schedule. Alliance bomb squads had been dispatched to Tykl to disarm what I'd dropped off there.
"If we notify the local authorities that Black Mist is attempting a takeover, it will cause widespread panic. If we don't notify them and an attack happens anyway, lives will be lost. This is the worst kind of mess," Norian raked hands through his hair in frustration.
"They need to know, boss," Lendill walked over to stand next to Norian.
"I suppose you're right," Norian sighed. "Get the Chancellor on the communicator—see if he can come down here himself." Lendill nodded and pulled out his communicator.
"It isn't just vampires—it's humanoids and possibly rogue wizards as well," Norian and Lendill were trying to get the Chancellor to calm down—he was about to condemn all vampires, even as he was surrounded by them at the moment. We weren't about to alert him to that fact. The Chancellor was still railing several minutes later when I tired of listening to his rant.
"It is in times like these that we learn what our leaders are made of," I barked at him. He was so shocked he shut up for a moment. "That's better," I said. "Now, this could have been any world under attack by Black Mist. They chose yours, for reasons known only to them. What do you intend to do about it? How are you going to keep your people safe? Now is the time to act, Chancellor. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may be too late." I watched as his mouth worked for several seconds—he wasn't bad looking or particularly old and I wondered what his qualifications had been for his election. Of course, none of that mattered now—it was what he did from this point forward that would define him and his rule.
"We will not succumb to these threats," he said finally. "I must tell my people that Black Mist wants our world and we must stand strong and refuse to let them take it."
"The Alliance already has three legions on the way, but you must have your security personnel ready to coordinate and get the population involved. We will invite the media in, too, and this story will be spread across the Alliance. All will know that Black Mist is attempting to take control of Darthin." Norian nodded with satisfaction.
Put all the Alliance worlds with long nights on alert, I sent to Norian, who nodded discreetly to acknowledge my sending. And alert the other cities here—the ones we caught didn't have information on other attacks, but that doesn't mean there won't be any.
"Already on it," Norian muttered, knowing I would hear. That's how we ended up in two more cities later that evening; Norian's agents had found twelve more vampires and sixteen humans. They'd all been taken into custody before the sun set; the agents were waiting for Norian and the rest of us to arrive and question the vampires after nightfall.
We also found the bombs set in those city sewers, and they were shipped offworld to the bomb squad on Tykl. Gavin and Tony began their questioning after I told them that the oldest of these vampires was barely two hundred. That had Norian raising an eyebrow and hauling me out of the questioning tank, Rigo right behind.
"Do not harm my Queen," Rigo eyed Norian's hand, which gripped my upper arm.
"Do you think I would?" Norian gave a snort but dropped his hand anyway. "You can tell the ages?" We were back to that again.
"Norian, I have no idea what you've learned about me or whether any of it is true. Maybe we should get together later and discuss it. In the meantime, you and Rigo should try to get along. You have some things in common, after all."
"And what would that be?" Norian snapped. He was about to get hissy, I figured, and that didn't need to happen with so many others close by.
"I think you could have a long conversation about poisons," I grumbled and attempted to move past Norian.
They were both staring at me now—Rigo and Norian—as if I'd let the most important cat out of the biggest bag ever. "Look," I said, "If both of you think you're going to end up in my bed, then all my mates need to know. Therefore, 'fess up."
"They have already guessed about me, after Satris," Rigo grumbled.
"You did that? Then you have my support and admiration," Norian clapped Rigo on the back. "I couldn't have done better myself."
"He almost killed my tiessa," Rigo defended his actions.
"You think I don't know that?" Norian displayed one of his famous grins. "I might have hunted him down myself. You saved me the trouble."
"See, you do have a lot to talk about. I need a drink." I moved away from them but they caught up almost immediately. Neither of them was satisfied with sitting on the opposite side of the booth at a nearby bar, so I was wedged between Rigo and Norian while I sipped a fruit drink.
