"How does this make you feel?" The reporter stood behind those pressing against the barrier and had to stretch to make himself visible.

"You want to know how I feel?" I snapped. He swallowed uncomfortably and nodded. "I feel betrayed by a man I loved," I said. "That's how I feel. I feel as if I've been punched in the stomach and then kicked a few times. I can't sleep and I can't eat. That's how I feel. A former mate is splashed across all your vid screens while he's screwing one of his employees and you call me the whore. You laugh at me because I was foolish enough to trust him. To believe in him. To think that he cared about me. Well, as you all have so eloquently put it, too many times to mention, in fact, I was gullible. That's how I feel. Gullible. Dumb enough to love somebody. And stupid enough to stand there while he threw it back in my face. That's all for today." I turned and walked away from all of them.

* * *

"They're reappearing on many of the worlds we've cleaned out already." Kiarra wanted to tug her hair out by the roots. "Where are they coming from? How are they getting there? This is driving me insane."

* * *

"Roff, shouldn't you be at home?" I was sitting on the domed roof of the palace, too tired to get off. He'd flown past and then circled around to land and sit near me.

"Flavio says you are harming yourself." His honey-brown eyes displayed concern.

"Flavio means well, I know. But there's no way I can act differently right now."

"What would make this stop for you?"

"Unless you can turn back time for three hundred years or so, I don't think there's anything."

"I can fly you down, if you'd like. Perhaps you will consent to have a bottle of blood substitute with me. There is a lounge nearby, owned by my sire."

"A lounge?"

"Flavio calls it that. It is a place vampires go to socialize while having their evening meal. Or they go there if they need more blood. They stock blood substitute, warm or chilled. And they serve food there, if some of the comesuli come with their vampires. You may even order blood substitute mixed with alcohol if you want, but Flavio says I cannot do that unless he is present."

"What do they call this place?" I smiled for the first time in a long time. Flavio had owned El Diablo on Earth and it was pretty much the same thing. This was a good idea, I think.

"He calls it New Fangled."

That made me laugh. Leave it to Flavio to come up with something like that. "If you feel up to flying me there, then I'll go," I agreed, still smiling. Roff gripped my arms tightly as he lifted off the roof. It wasn't like flying as mist; Roff's wings lifted and lowered us as he flapped along through wind currents. He set us down right outside New Fangled just as rain sprinkles came. New Fangled was spelled out in red and purple neon across the building's facade and the business was quite tastefully constructed. The interior was even nicer, with tables in the center or more private, circular booths lining the walls. The place was nearly full and there were comesuli there, accompanied by vampires. They were eating and talking with the vampires while the vampires drank bottles of blood substitute.

"This is my favorite seat," Roff led me to a booth near the kitchen door. Comesuli were inside the kitchen, chattering away while they filled food orders or made drinks. "I like to listen in," he grinned and jerked his head toward the kitchen door. A vampire waiter sidled up discreetly to take our order. We both asked for a bottle of blood substitute.

"Are you just enjoying the conversation or are you listening for anything in particular?" I asked.

"I just like to listen," Roff said. "I learn many things that way. The comesuli are all cursing someone named Gabron."

"Well, they're not alone," I sighed.

* * *

"You know I have no problem with your business, or with your attraction to some of your girls, Gabron. What I have a problem with is your treatment of Lissa. What your normal practices have cost her. I was the one who brought this to my king's attention, because it involved many things, some of which concern him. My spies found out about Desire nearly three weeks ago—shortly after you hired her. You did not allow Lissa to review the application, did you?" Erland's arms were crossed over his chest. Gabron had been a friend and he was doing this out of respect for the old vampire.

"Lissa was not speaking to me."

"Lissa would have spoken to you if you had asked. If you had bothered to apologize. Yet you did not. Why is that, Gabron?"

"I am old as a vampire—you know this. I allowed my pride to hold me back. I generally know more than most—the experience is there. But I have only dealt with the females who worked for me all this time. I have forgotten that not all women are meant to bow or be subservient to my every whim. And I certainly had no experience with a Queen Vampire. It went right past me that she ruled Le-Ath Veronis instead of me. I am used to being in charge, Lord Morphis. Much of Refizan has been under my influence for a very long time."

"Could you not have loosened that grip, just a bit, for the Queen?"

"I did not think so. And I threw it all away, as you see."

"What do you intend to do now?"

"I do not know. Perhaps I will turn my interests in another direction. In the meantime, I have paid to clear away the graffiti from her statue. I still have some connections, after all. It was the least I could do."

"There were unkind things painted there," Erland agreed.

"I saw the interview she gave two days ago."

"Disturbing, wouldn't you say?" Erland examined his fingernails.

"She looks frail."

"She does. We are at a loss as to what to do about it. She has lost two mates, after all."

"Two?"

"You know Roff doesn't have a memory left in his head concerning her. Or his children. Some effect of the near-death, I assume."

"I know. At least she doesn't despise him, now."

"You have a choice to make, Gabron. Work to forget her, or work to get her back." Erland folded away.

* * *

Flavio had placed a piano in New Fangled, but nobody was playing. I'd gotten through half my bottle of blood substitute and Roff had ceased talking, choosing to listen to the kitchen conversation instead. He didn't notice when I left my seat and walked toward the piano.

I played and performed Follow Me, an old John Denver song. I got a round of applause when I was done, so I followed that with another John Denver song, Seasons of the Heart. Abba's I Have a Dream finished it off.

"I'm going home," I told Roff when I went back to our booth.

"I did not know you could do that," he nodded toward the piano.

"Now you do," I said and turned to mist in front of him. It would have been too heartbreaking to stay.

* * *

"Lissy, come to dinner with me." I was cleaning up in the huge walk-in shower in my suite, which meant that Tony could walk right in. The spray from my shower hid the tears that had fallen. Tony had stripped down to his underwear, but that came off quickly, all it took was a quick rip-through with his claws. Tony doesn't ever have to bite to make me come. He knew me. Up, down and sideways. He knew to cushion my back with his hands against the shower wall. He knew I didn't like the spray in my face. He knew just the right pace to go to make me crazy. He knew to urge me on when the climax started and he liked it if I squealed a little.

Dinner was roast beef and I ate. More than I had recently, anyway. We settled in the library after the meal, having coffee or drinks. Shadow had come—he was splitting as much time between Grey House and Le-Ath Veronis as he could. It was becoming a habit to watch the vid screen in the library to see what new crap was being spouted about me or Le-Ath Veronis. No, gambling hadn't slacked off—the applications were increasing. They all wanted to be near the scandal, I guess. Another vampire had paid the crown to take over Gabron's brothels and they'd become a tourist attraction. Figures. I made sure I was far away when the tours came through the palace.

News travels fast, too, I learned, as footage of me singing inside New Fangled was splashed across the screen during the news. Somehow, either a vampire or a sneaky reporter had recorded all of it. Then the program switched to their version of breaking news. An Alliance world was displayed and an entire city there was on fire after an explosion had destroyed more than half of it. And then the camera turned to show all of us something I hadn't ever expected to see again. My mates were shouting at me as I folded away in a blink.

Chapter 14

Ra'Ak. Copper Ra'Ak—three of them, blasting everything about them with barely a thought. There were no High Demons here to neutralize their power. I figured the attacking Ra'Ak had already eaten as many of the population as they could hold, there on Phericia. Now they were toying with what was left, killing, exploding, destroying. Where had these come from? I'd forced all living Ra'Ak back to their original forms on Kifirin, as well as taking power away from the Elemaiya. Now I was looking at three of the Copper bastards. Well, I knew how to take care of that. They exploded in quick succession. And since the attack on the city was being recorded, the deaths of the Ra'Ak were shown in live vid feeds across the Alliance.

After I eliminated them, I went looking for any spawn or Ra'Ak-enhanced humanoids. They'd taken over an entire island and were preparing to ship out to other parts of Phericia. They died. I went to energy and just blasted them. I was filthy when I got back to the palace. Gavin didn't say a word; he just plucked me from the floor and took off toward my suite.

"Cara, you frighten me more than I can say," he muttered as he scrubbed me. My clothing had gone straight into the garbage.

"Gavin, I know you love me," I put my hands on either side of his face, keeping him from talking for just a moment. "I love you too, in case you haven't heard those words from me for a while. More than I can say. Let it go for now, all right? Just let this moment be good. As perfect as we can make it. You know by now that this is what I am. If vampires could have exploding aneurysms, you would have had one long ago."