Blood Double (12 page)

"I know."

"Look, I have to go. I'll take you to dinner when I get back. We'll talk about this latest woman wonder."

"Yeah. Have fun."

"Always, bro."

"Is that sarcasm?"

"Probably. Bye."

* * *

Breanne's Journal

I met Rylend Morphis on that day. He was beautiful, just like his father. I hadn't seen it in Teeg, but Rylend was mated to the same woman as his brother—Reah. She'd stayed away from me the night I'd seen her—deliberately, I think.

Rylend took a seat in the Council Chamber; the meeting was over at a decent hour and then he and his father approached Gavin. Either Rylend or his father provided a sound shield; I couldn't hear the conversation they held with my sire. I understood quickly, however, what they wanted. I was to go with them.

"We'll get you back in a few hours," Erland Morphis promised as his son, the King of Karathia, focused on my eyes.

"You can look away if you want. Most people do," I told him.

"Dad says you can see through anyone." He was just as baldly honest as I was.

"Yes. For the most part," I agreed.

"Who have you been unable to read?" He was curious.

"I've read everyone, until recently," I said. "I can't read Sheriff Trevor, Kooper Griff or Stellan Starr. I can read Stellan's brothers, though, so it's almost the same thing."

"Frightening," Rylend shook his head. "What are you thinking at this moment? Normally I can detect the thoughts of just about anyone who doesn't have shielding ability. I can't detect yours."

"I was thinking how lucky Reah is, to have you," I replied honestly. "Teeg has mistreated her, and he doesn't deserve to kiss her shoes."

"Great gods," Rylend breathed, staring at me. "I'll keep that to myself."

"I don't care if you tell your brother," I said. "He ordered someone to punch me in the face, and then I was fool enough to save his life. And mine," I added. After thinking about it, I realized I could have ended everything in the tunnel on Campiaa, if I'd just kept my warning to myself.

"Little beauty, never regret that," Erland Morphis took my hand and tucked it through his arm. "Teeg has had many troubles and he can be too rough at times."

Yes, I wanted to say he was exactly like his father. I didn't. Instead, I said nothing and allowed Erland Morphis and his son, the King of Karathia, to fold space.

* * *

"So, this is the one, then?" Two men waited in the King's private study when Erland landed us there. I knew immediately who they were, and it made me tremble. One was the former King of Karathia, Wylend Arden. The other was Wylend's only son, Brenten Arden. He was also Lissa's father, I saw that immediately, and there I stood, still wearing Lissa's face. Ry had worked a spell to see past it, but these two didn't bother. I didn't say that—or several other things I read in Brenten's face. Holding back an almost hysterical moan at what I saw, I turned away from the one many called Griffin.

"Mind you, I've never seen one. The last one died in my grandfather's time," Wylend Arden sighed. "I can't say, one way or the other, you know."

"Breanne, tell him. Tell him what he is," Erland urged. I blinked at Erland. He wanted something from this meeting. I wasn't sure what that might be.

"Former King of Karathia. Abdicated before an uprising. Twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred eighty-six years old. Took the throne from usurpers after the death of his father in a coup against the throne. Currently in a female phase. Would you like me to continue?" I asked. "I warn you, many of the things I haven't said may be embarrassing or damaging."

"No, that's enough." Wylend Arden, looking much like his son Griffin with light-brown hair and hazel eyes, stopped me with a wave of his hand. He was tall, too, just as Griffin was—nearly six-six. Rylend, his great-grandson, bore no resemblance to the former King of Karathia. Ry gave a nod to me—he was King and ultimately in charge of whether I continued. I was grateful he didn't ask me to go on.

"What do you know about your heritage?" Griffin asked. I did my best not to shiver. "My mother was serving a prison sentence when I was born. She gave me up for adoption. She had no idea who my father was."

"It doesn't matter; she's not a Q'elindi, I'm certain of it. She has strong mind-reading ability or something. Perhaps some empathic talent as well. A Q'elindi would not stand there and cower as this one does. And she wears no veil. All the Q'elindis wore veils unless they wanted to read someone. Otherwise, the gift was too painful to baldly face everyone like that," Wylend Arden was certain in his judgment.

I didn't point out that he'd made some very great mistakes in his past, along with a stumblingly terrible misjudgment that cost him love. Briefly, I thought about telling him it would take centuries before anyone would come to love him. I didn't.

"I'm sure you know best," I said and turned to Erland. "I'd like to go back to Le-Ath Veronis now."

"Are you sure you don't want a meal first?" he asked. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to say please give me decent food—vegetarian food—that tasted good and nourished me. I didn't. Shaking my head, I carefully examined the Queen's shoes that covered my feet. I wanted to get away from Wylend Arden and his only son as quickly as possible. Sighing deeply, Erland Morphis transported me home.

* * *

"I know you had your hopes up, but there's little chance she has any Karathian blood. You know as well as I that our warlocks never visit Earth. It holds no appeal," Wylend accepted a glass of wine from a servant.

"I can't read her," Griffin shrugged. "But there's little chance she's anything other than a talented empath."

"It would have been so useful to have a Q'elindi in my court," Rylend murmured. "Still, I may borrow her from time to time; Teeg has already benefitted from her talent."

"Then do that. Borrow her. There's no need to support her in any way, after all. She's a new vampire and not allowed to take money for her services. A true Q'elindi always came at a great price."

* * *

"Boss?" Trajan stared at Ashe as Ashe studied his surroundings. "Why are we here?" Trajan continued.

"We have to put up a shield, but we have to make it so it's not apparent," Ashe murmured. "Nobody here can fold in and out, so that's a blessing. We'll have to do damage control, though, if anybody who can fold space tries to get onto the planet."

"You think Harifa Edus will be attacked." Trajan sighed as he studied the open field surrounding them. A forest lay in the distance, and Trajan knew it held deer and game in plenty, and was a favorite hunting ground on any full moon.

"I don't think, Traje. I know."

"Then we have to do it," Trajan nodded. "How close will they have to get before they know it's shielded?"

"Very close. This is delicate business, and I can't leave any evidence behind that I was here."

"Then let's get to it. How long will this take?"

"About ten days. At the least. I have to build this, layer by layer, and make it look like somebody else had a hand in building it."

"Subtle. I like it."

"Yeah. Me, too." Ashe flashed a wide grin in Trajan's direction. "It'll be worth it, too. Too bad I won't get to see their faces—if they have a face, that is, when it's discovered."

"Boss, I think you just scared holy heck out of me."

"I hope it scares holy heck out of the one or ones looking to destroy it."

"I guess we can't help the others, can we?"

"No. It's a punch in the gut, but this is the best we can do."

"Gotcha." Trajan hunched his shoulders and stared at the grass beneath his feet.

Chapter 7
 

Breanne's Journal

"Don't take it as an insult," Erland Morphis said as he dropped me off outside the Queen's suite. "It was only a guess on my part."

"Don't worry, I've dealt with worse disappointments," I informed him. "I know the intent behind his words."

"If you don't mind my asking, what was the intent?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"I've taken some blows in my life. I hope I can handle it."

"He didn't know. He has little knowledge and is afraid to show ignorance."

"I know that about him—I've known him all my life," Erland nodded. "He hates to show any weakness."

"Yeah. I expect you do know that," I nodded. "And we won't go into how that cost him the love of his life, or how Griffin's agreement with his father cost him his son."

"You saw all that, in such a short amount of time?" Erland blinked in astonishment.

"It's like speed-reading. Have you ever read a physical book, with pages?"

"Yes. I'm more than six thousand years old."

"True. Well, imagine that each person I see is a book, and that someone is flipping the pages—as fast as they can be flipped, so the book can be read. I can read that book faster than any pages can be flipped. It's a curse." I turned toward the Queen's door. "The Queen trusts you," I said, my back turned to Erland. "More than she trusts anyone. She knows you'll listen without passing judgment."

"How can you know that? You haven't met her."

"I've seen high resolution photographs of the Queen. Sometimes I can read those, just as easily as the real person. And I can read high definition images on a vid-screen or a comp-vid. It isn't hard. Goodnight, Lord Morphis."

"That's a little frightening, that talent you have, Breanne. Do you have a last name?"

"I don't have a true last name. My adopted name was Hayworth. I hated it."

"Then I'll stay with Breanne."

"Thank you."

"Good night, then."

"Good night, Lord Morphis."

* * *

Breanne's Journal

Cheedas caught me in the kitchen, filching blood substitute. I walked past him, my arms filled with bottles and refused to look at his face as he glared. He was vampire. I was vampire. It might be interesting to see if I might stuff him in the garbage chute before he could get away from me. I almost snickered as I stalked away from him.

My snicker cost me later, but it was worth it at the moment.

* * *

"Get up." I thought Gavin would toss me out of bed before I had time to open my eyes. I wanted to ask if his sire had treated him so badly. I didn't. I'd heard rumors that Aurelius was a sire's sire, and everyone trusted him. Surely he hadn't raised Gavin to be so cruel.

"You'll be inspecting the desalination plant offshore today. Try not to fuck it up." A field trip was planned to consume my day. I did my best to dress appropriately.

* * *

"Is this plant large enough to handle the demand?" I asked the manager later. "For Casino City?"

"We supply Casino City, but we often have problems with the pipes going to the other cities. Those have to be repaired constantly. Some of them haven't been replaced since they were laid," the manager was almost shouting to be heard over the din of whining machinery. "Casino City didn't exist in the beginning, so this plant could handle everything. Then Casino City was built, and the demand kept growing. We can barely keep up."

I had a comp-vid in my hand, tapping in information and researching other items. Gavin stood by, being his usual, surly self. I wanted to smack him. That wouldn't do. "What about the plant that supplies the light side—what about it?" I asked.

"They have an easier job there—the city is smaller and they get fewer visitors."

"What would it take to run water two hundred miles from there—do you think they could supply Sun City and Casino City too?"

"Easily," the manager nodded as we bent over water usage tables on my comp-vid.

"Then we'll see about running extra pipe, that way you can concentrate on replacing pipes and worn-out machinery," I said. I knew the comesuli farms got water from snowmelt in the northern mountains of Le-Ath Veronis—their water supply wasn't brought from the ocean. I could tap into the newly developed rainy-day fund, too, to accomplish the needed repairs.

"My Queen, as always, you are working for your people," the manager bowed and smiled.

"Thank you," I nodded to him, mentally making a note to pass that message along to the real Queen. Whenever she decided to make an appearance, that is.

"We must go," Gavin said, pulling me away. The employees waved and smiled at me as we walked out of the facility and loaded into the hovercar waiting on the pad. I settled into the back seat, Gavin opposite me. He was angry. It wasn't necessary to tell me why he was angry, but he felt compelled to do so anyway, while the driver lifted the car off the pad and flew us toward Lissia.

"You will never be the Queen," Gavin hissed between clenched teeth, his normally dark eyes turning blood-red. It wouldn't do a bit of good to remind him that I had no choice but to do as I was told. Someone else had made my face look like Lissa's. Someone else—usually Gavin—was parading me about as the Queen. I wanted to tell him where he could stuff it. I didn't.