Christine, my husband’s first long-term girlfriend, had been a centuries old revenant—one of the mad vampires who results when a Change doesn’t take properly. They’re considered extremely dangerous because they attack with no provocation or concern for their own well-being, like rabid dogs. They can do a boatload of damage even to older vamps as a result.
There’s a whole story there about the fact that Christine wasn’t really Louis-Cesare’s choice, that he was guilted into a relationship he didn’t want, and which had ended up saddling him with Tomas, as well. He was the first-level master Louis-Cesare had kept in thrall for so long. Another consul—Alejandro of the Latin American Senate—had gotten control of Christine, and used her to blackmail Louis-Cesare into fighting a duel against Tomas for him.
Louis-Cesare had won—surprise—but he’d felt sorry for Tomas, who hadn’t challenged for wealth or power, but out of a justified, seething hatred of Alejandro. The consul was a piece of work and Tomas wanted him dead, and was willing to risk his life to achieve it. Louis-Cesare had therefore refused to kill Tomas at the end of the duel, probably sympathizing with his point of view. And in retaliation, Alejandro had refused to release Christine.
That was a problem since revenants were to be killed on sight by senate law. But Louis-Cesare had been the one to Change Christine—another long story—and felt responsible for her affliction. He was afraid that, if he didn’t get her back, eventually someone would realize what she was and destroy her, but he also couldn’t kill the innocent Tomas. He had chosen, therefore, to keep Tomas in thrall so that he couldn’t hurt Alejandro, although it drained his power and weighed heavily on his conscience. In return, Alejandro was supposed to guard Christine.
Of course, he’d ended up letting her escape instead, and the whole, massive cluster fuck had only ended with Christine’s long overdue death at my hand. It had been in defense of others—the bitch really was dangerous as hell—but it hadn’t been in time to keep what she was a secret. Louis-Cesare had lost his senate seat as a result, which he’d only gotten back due to the war, but he’d also acquired a reputation.
I mean, I knew how it looked: one girlfriend a deadly, centuries old revenant, the next a five-hundred-year-old dhampir . . . people were bound to make the connection. Both were the kind of things that gave good little vampires nightmares, both were legal to kill on sight, and both were deadly. Add that to keeping a first-level master vamp as essentially a house pet, and Louis-Cesare started to look like he really did have a danger fetish.
It was bullshit, but things kept conspiring to add to it, because people like a salacious story. Like the vamps last night had probably reported that Louis-Cesare and his dhampir were getting busy amidst the flames of hell, or some such. When in reality, the fire had been well away from us, and was being handled by the room’s sprinkler system. We just hadn’t wanted to pause what we were doing to clean up right then.
But to people who di
dn’t know the truth, it probably sounded pretty convincing. And judging by the looks Hassani had been giving Louis-Cesare all week, he hadn’t appreciated him bringing his latest freak to court, even if she had been named a senator due to her father’s influence. I’d never met a vamp prude before, but I kind of thought I was looking at one now, and he clearly didn’t think much of me, either.
Just as well I was leaving, then.
“White would be a better choice,” he said, after a brief pause. “It reflects the sun and will keep you cooler.”
“Keep me cooler where?”
“Djeser-Djeseru, the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Hatshepsut.” I stared at him blankly. The tiniest of frowns creased the sun bronzed skin of his forehead, which even death hadn’t managed to fade. “It is on the day’s schedule?”
I finally caught a clue, although I found it hard to believe. “You’re going ahead with that?”
“Of course. Why would we not?”
“You were attacked?”
“An unfortunate interruption.” Hassani brushed it away. “My apologies for any inconvenience you were caused.”
“Inconvenience?”
“And my condolences on the loss of your . . . assistant . . . Raymond, I believe his name was?”
“Raymond was—is—my Second,” I said sharply, wondering why he hadn’t mentioned Dorina. “And we don’t know what happened to him. That’s one of the things I need to find out.”
Hassani shook his head sadly. “One no more powerful than he, and with such wounds . . . he is likely lost to us, as were many of my own people. But they will be avenged, I assure you. In the meantime, if you would care for breakfast before we leave?”
“I’m not hungry. What I want is—”
“It is a long way, even by air,” Hassani protested. “A good breakfast is essential—”
“Consul—”
“Teacher, please. I prefer it as a title.”
“As you like. But I don’t need breakfast because I’m not going anywhere. At least not into the desert.”
“You are mourning for your assistant,” he said. “It is understandable, but in these difficult times, the best we can do for those who look to us for leadership is to show them that nothing has changed. That we are proceeding as normal.”
“But things are not normal,” I said, struggling to hold onto my temper. “And Ray wasn’t my assistant, he was—is—my Second! Now, I will need some information, everything you have on what happened last night—”
“But that is not technically true, is it?” Hassani broke in, scratching his beard.
I stopped mid-sentence. “What isn’t?”