* * *
"Do you see this?" Arvil San Gerxon and his chief of security stood behind the one-way glass in his office, staring down at the casino floor below. "And this is better than most of the others," he snorted in anger. Few clients were gambling downstairs, and most of them worked on the wrong end of the law. That meant Arvil had to make sure they won regularly. His profits had gone down dramatically, all because of Le-Ath Veronis.
Several of his competitors on Campiaa had applied for and received approval to move their casinos to the vampire planet. While that might have made Arvil quite happy since he'd ended up with additional property, the ensuing reduction in visitors to Campiaa, added to the loss of payments from those former competitors, meant the money was only trickling in, now. Arvil became furious every time he thought about it. His guests were abandoning Campiaa in droves, preferring to visit Le-Ath Veronis' casinos instead.
"I hear Black Mist has thrown in their lot with Solar Red, and they're all out to get the Queen bitch now," Arvil's chief of security noted. The man's face was scarred from too many fights throughout his lifetime, and his name was several generations past the one he'd been born with.
"What's that, Jos?" Arvil turned back to his chief.
"Black Mist and Solar Red are out to get the Queen Vampire," Jos paraphrased his prior statement.
"You're sure about this?"
"Absolutely. I wouldn't have brought it to you, otherwise."
"Do you have contacts? I might be willing to pay a little, just to hurry this up."
"I can put out an offer. If it is sufficient, I know Black Mist will be interested."
Arvil wanted to shiver at the mention of the Assassin's Guild. They weren't anyone to cheat or mess about with. Jos seemed sure of himself, however. "Fine, put the word out that fifty million will go to the one who can bring her down."
"That seems a reasonable sum," Jos grinned, his platinum caps gleaming in Arvil's artificial lamplight.
* * *
"He's offering fifty million?" Prylvis lifted an eyebrow at Viregruz's words.
"Yes. And it's to accomplish something we are already planning," Viregruz chuckled.
"What do you say, brother," Ringolar began, "to offering this amount to any would-be assassin out there—and letting them know that Black Mist is making the offer?"
"Are you suggesting that we make it look as if we don't want to dirty our hands with this, and allow anyone with the desire to put fifty million credits in their pocket to provide a distraction for us?" Prylvis wanted to laugh.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," Ringolar agreed. "Let them weary themselves fending off attempts by amateurs, while we plan the real assassination."
"Is it decided, then?" Viregruz asked.
"Oh, yes," Prylvis agreed.
* * *
I hadn't seen or heard from Roff for six days. I wanted to ask Flavio about him, but dreaded what I might learn if I did. I didn't
Look
, either, for the same reasons. Aurelius and Garde were flanking me as we walked down the hall toward the first Council meeting I'd attended in six weeks. The media wanted to come calling, too, and I just wasn't in the mood. They'd have to settle for the feed from the Council meeting.
Kyler was in her usual corner; she gave me a nod as I walked in with my escorts. Giff was depressed and refused to see anyone, and that wasn't doing her any good at all. I’d sent Rolfe to stay with her—I had other personal guards, after all, and Giff’s child was coming. There was no way around that. Kyler announced our business for the day—increasing security around the perimeter of Casino City. We'd beefed ours up; they needed to do the same.
Adam and Merrill had come, with most of the casino owners following suit. Some of those owners had transferred from Campiaa. Erland, Adam and Merrill had advised me on which applications to approve. Honestly, I hadn't been to Casino City since the first day it opened. I wanted to sigh as I looked over the crowd of vampires. Fifteen cities were now represented, and the members who'd died in the chaos earlier had already been replaced.
It was a well-known fact that solar-powered hovercraft provided transportation between the vampire cities and Lissia. Many Council members had drivers or assistants with them, now, posing as bodyguards. I can't say I blamed them—there hadn't been any guards except mine when vampires had died inside these walls. I wondered if we'd need a football stadium before it was over, just to seat the members and their hired muscle.
Giff wasn't the only one depressed, either. I automatically searched for Toff every time I sat at the dinner table. One of my favorite memories had been of Roff trying to get him to eat with a fork, while Toff had been busily shoving spaghetti into his mouth with his hands. That, however, was before Shala had tried to kill me; she'd staked Roff instead. And it was before Gabron showed his true colors. Briefly, I wondered where he was before putting him out of my mind.
"If we provide two-man hovercraft, we can patrol the walls faster and easier," a casino owner stood up in the back to make a suggestion. We were allowing all of them to speak today, since their taxes would be used to pay for this.
"Is there a feasibility study available?" I asked.
"We are putting one together," Adam said. I saw Crane and Dragon sitting next to Adam and Merrill—they'd folded in. They had a hefty interest in one of the casinos; they'd invested with Lynx, Russell and Will. Weldon, Martin, Daniel and David owned half of another one, with Radomir, Rush and Lisster. Yeah, members of the Saa Thalarr, including my new Crown Investigators, owned casinos.
"How quickly will we have the information?" I asked.
"In four days, I think," Adam replied
"Should we buy a couple of vehicles in the meantime, just to give it the practicality test?" I suggested.
"If you want," the casino owner who'd made the original suggestion was grinning.
"The crown will put up half the money," I said.
The next item on the agenda was how many wall climbers had been caught since the last meeting. That was a total of sixty-four. Too many.
"Are they doing it just so they can boast of it later?" someone asked.
"About half are," Lisster came in the room with a comp-vid that he handed off to Garde. Garde frowned at the message he was reading, and smoke curled from his nostrils. That wasn't upsetting or anything. I couldn't allow it to distract me, however, so we didn't interrupt the meeting.
* * *
"This is the message that was intercepted." Erland paced angrily inside my office. He referred to the message Lisster passed off to Garde during the Council meeting. Garde was there with Aurelius, Lisster, Radomir and Rush. In fact, all of my mates except Tony and Gavin had come. Thurlow, the Alliance representative, was also there. I hadn't taken the time to meet with him before. He seemed a patient sort, thankfully, and he was poring over the message, just as the rest of us were.
The message indicated that some sect that called itself Black Mist now had a bounty on my head. They were a clan of assassins that would accept money to off anybody. Well, if they were offering, it meant that somebody else had offered them more and they were farming out the work. Fuckers.
"I hear from reliable sources that Arvil San Gerxon may have put up part of the money," Erland said. I was beginning to learn that Erland worked as a spy for my grandfather. Oh, he kept that fact hidden very well; everybody thought Erland was wrapped up in Erland. Except he wasn't. Not really. I think that's why he had a casino on Campiaa, originally. What better place to hear rumors one might not get elsewhere? The criminal element certainly flowed through Campiaa. It made me wonder whom Erland still had there, working for him.
"How much?" I asked. Well, I thought I should know how much they were willing to pay to do away with me.
"Fifty million," Erland sighed. "This means that with all contributors, the Black brotherhood has been offered at least four times that much."
"So they're probably pooling their money." I sat back in my chair and rubbed my forehead. "And the nutcases that come here and try to climb the wall may be trying to get to me so they can claim the biggest jackpot ever."
"Unfortunate, but true," Adam agreed. Well, the objections I'd raised about making this a gambling planet and open to space travel had certainly come home to roost.
"Lissa, you are welcome to come to Kifirin," Garde said. "Jayd and Glinda have already offered."
"Lissa should not have to leave her world. I made this for her. Others are taking it over, now, although she raised her objections in the beginning." Kifirin wasn't happy with the current situation; I could see that right away.
Lissa, I didn't know this would come
, Adam apologized mentally.
None of us did
, I sent back to him. When I raised my objections, it had been because I didn't want the peace of Le-Ath Veronis interrupted.
"I will file this report with the Alliance," Thurlow had a handheld computer out and was tapping away on the screen. He copied my security team on the message, too. They were going to have a security pow-wow right after this impromptu meeting. That was fine; I had a couple of things I wanted to do myself.
* * *
"Corent, how are things working out for you?" I found him walking among the apple trees, putting his hands on this trunk or that. I envied him at that moment—walking through the orchards with no price on his head, no meetings to attend, no missing child, no puzzlement over how that child had been taken to begin with—he might miss Redbird, but he'd offered to come. I hadn't forced the issue. Today, his hair was a bright blue, reflecting the sky over our heads.
"Things are very well, here; the comesuli have a great respect for the land and the trees." I nodded at his assessment—Roff had it, too, when he'd been one of them. I wondered again where he was.
"Are you happy with your home?" He'd been given a small home for himself, and payment for his work—Kyler and Davan had taken care of it. He and the comesuli had access to computers and vid screens, too, and could either go to one of the cities to buy clothing and luxuries or order them on computer.
"I am happy with my home. I am learning new things as well, and that pleases me."
"Well, we're about to build more schools on this side," I said. "With all the pregnant comesuli we have, we'll need them in a couple of years."
"The children are a joy," he actually smiled when he said it. "There were few births among my kind." I nodded, not mentioning the real reason we were standing there, having our conversation. "I did not expect to be visited by you, or treated as an honored guest," he went on. "And I wish to ask you where the Indis-Banuu came from."
"Indis-Banuu?" I asked, puzzled.
"The light-gathering crystal. Indis-Banuu means holder of the sun in my language. It is with sadness that I admit we drained most of what we had and destroyed some of it in the taking of your child. We could not get the sun to recharge nearly half of what we had on Vionn." Well, there it was. I wanted to weep at his admission. I worked to put it out of my mind.
"Oh. That stuff," I said as cheerfully as I could. "That came from Surnath. The crystal just litters the ground, there."
"There is such a world?" Corent drew in a sharp breath.
"Well, yeah," I shrugged. I had no idea why that excited him so much.
"Is there more here, that you are not using?" he asked. "I can use it to help trees and plants grow." Now I knew how they'd taken useless land and turned it into a garden. The crystal held sunlight and operated as a focus for their power. They'd used it to kidnap Toff, too.
"I don't know," I replied to his question. "If there's not, I'll get some for you if that's what you want." I didn't get any bad vibes from him—he wasn't planning to misuse the stuff.
"I do want some, if it's no trouble."
"I'll see you get it. Let me know if you need anything else. You're not in prison, you know. As long as you follow the laws here, you're as free as anyone else."
"I'll try to remember that. How should I address you, when I see you again?" he asked when I turned to leave.
"You can call me Lissa, unless you prefer something else. Bear in mind if you use profanity instead of my name, some of my mates may take exception."
"You would allow me to use your name?" He gave me a puzzled look.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"I would imagine I am not in good grace, at the moment." Corent hung his head.
"You didn't cause this mess on your own. If you hadn't volunteered to come, I would have left you where you were."
"I understand that. Now."
I nodded to him and folded away before I started crying again. Toff wasn't coming home to me. I had to get used to that.
* * *
"Child, are you well?" Tiearan waited for Lissa to disappear before making himself known to Corent. "Your mother worries."
"Father, did you hear what she said to me?"
"No, child. Was she abusive?"
"No, Father. The opposite, actually. She treats me kindly, as do the comesuli. They have not been informed why I am here. They treat me as one of them. The Queen has offered to bring me Indis-Banuu—which they use here to help supply power. I do not understand this at all."