Blood Double (8 page)

"He handed me a comp-vid. He explained nothing. I only saw him three times before I was sent to Council meetings."

"Do you know why that is?"

"He was angry. At me. At someone else, because he felt obligated to turn me. The one called Flavio said he should have allowed another vampire named Casimir to turn me. Gavin said Casimir would only coddle me, and that wouldn't do." I wanted to weep at that memory—they'd discussed me as if I hadn't been in the room.

"Have you ever been coddled?"

"Not once in fifty-nine years. No."

"What are your earliest memories?"

"I said I wouldn't discuss that."

"Yes. You did say that."

I had to give him an A for effort, though. He was doing his best to bring those things out; it just wasn't working. We spent another hour, dancing around the topic of my past and only discussing what had happened since I'd been dropped off at the Queen's palace on Le-Ath Veronis.

"I have to go, but I'll be here again in two days." He was a bit frustrated at my lack of cooperation, but managed a smile anyway. He had other patients waiting at an exclusive clinic and couldn't stay to sort out my difficulties at the moment. People paid a great deal of money for therapy sessions with Dr. Kevis Halivar.

"Thank you for taking the time for me," I sighed. I wasn't sure any of his hard work might pay off in the end, either. There were reasons to keep my past in the past. I wasn't the only one threatened when I'd been abducted.

Chapter 5
 

"I have to bend time a little to get you to the Council meeting yesterday," Adam said as I was dressed in what the Queen might wear and my hair put up by a smiling servant after lunch. NorthStar had several people who worked there and this one, named Dria, was a kind (and damaged) soul. I knew Adam, Merrill and Kiarra had hired her, knowing she needed a comfortable home with little stress. She'd had plenty of difficulty in her life and required peace. She'd found it at NorthStar.

"That's perfect," I nodded at Dria as she took her hands away from my hair. The Queen's coronet sat on my head and my hair was styled nicely around it. It was a shame I'd look like the Queen the moment a Larentii arrived to change my features.

A Larentii came, but this one wasn't Connegar or Reemagar. Pheligar, Kiarra's mate, had come. "It aggravates me a great deal to do this," he muttered as he knelt beside my dressing bench.

"It aggravates me, too," I said as he placed long, blue fingers on my face.

"You will always be the same here." He placed a hand over my heart. I wanted to weep at his statement. Weeping was a luxury I couldn't allow myself. Nodding instead, I rose from the bench and accepted Adam's offered arm. We disappeared in a blink.

* * *

"High One," Pheligar nodded respectfully to Ferrigar, Head of the Larentii Council.

"Your visit is unexpected but welcome," Ferrigar said. Ferrigar was the oldest living Larentii, but still looked as young as he had when he'd gained his adulthood nearly three million years before. "What brings you to me?" Ferrigar asked.

"When did you last see your son, High One?"

"Kalenegar? It has been fifty thousand turns or more. Many young Larentii do not know he exists, he has been absent so long."

"I think you should try to contact him, High One."

Ferrigar stared in surprise at Pheligar. Surprise was an emotion Ferrigar seldom experienced. "Why is that?"

"I believe he needs to see someone."

* * *

Breanne's Journal

The budget. That's what we were discussing. And yes, it is just as boring as it sounds. It had gone on for hours, with arguments made for this improvement or that new project, until they arrived at an area that irked me. Had Gavin known how I felt about it, he would have slapped a hand over my mouth. As it is, he didn't and that's how things turned out as they did.

"The money from the palace tours cannot be budgeted elsewhere," I snapped, when discussions began on that particular item. Several vampires wanted to build information kiosks throughout Casino City with the money. "That money currently comes to me. I budget it as needed to the comesuli," I added.

"That is a drain on us," another vampire stood and whined. "It would better serve Casino City if we pumped that money back into its economy."

"Really?" I asked. He was aggravated at having to pay taxes on his casino. Those taxes were currently ten percent—a bargain in my estimation. "The tourists aren't paying for tours of your casino," I pointed out, even as Gavin sent profanity-laced mindspeech to me, telling me to shut up.

"Those tourists come here," I said, ignoring the cursing in my head, "So they can gawk at this behemoth." I spread my arms. "Your Council meetings are paid for by the Crown. That blood substitute you're drinking is paid for by the Crown. The comesuli who wait on you hand and foot while you're here are paid by the Crown. The money from those tours goes to pay for equipment needed by volunteer fire departments on the light side of this planet. It pays for other necessities, such as comp-vids for students. Research and field trips for schools. Supplies and equipment for disaster relief. The list is nearly endless," I said. "And that brings us to something else that aggravates me."

The vampire was stunned, I could tell. And it probably wasn't a good idea for any monarch to inform her Council that they aggravated her, even though they did.

"What aggravates, you, my Queen?" Flavio stood. It was probably a good thing he did, Gavin was ready to clap a hand over my mouth and haul me off for another beating.

"A rather large portion of the population has no representation in this chamber," I said. "In all this time, no comesuli members have been allowed. They are the future of Le-Ath Veronis, and I'd like at least one Representative from each of the major cities."

"That would be three seats, Raona. I do not have a problem with that request." Flavio nodded and sat down. If I'd wanted to create a firestorm of debates, however, that's all I had to do to accomplish it. Gavin was scowling the entire time, but eventually it was decided that the comesuli could send a five-member delegation to Council meetings from then on, and have their votes count. The Council also decided that the comesuli could stay or leave if executions had to be performed.

"I still think information kiosks are a good idea," the vampire was in my face as I attempted to leave the chamber. Gavin stood nearby; I could tell he wanted more than anything to snatch me away and yell for a while.

"Then get your fellow casino owners to install them. At the moment, it is my understanding that people walk inside the shops, businesses and casinos for extra information. Can that be a bad thing—that they see what you have as they walk to your information desk? Electronic maps to supply information are already scattered throughout Casino City, are there not? Those give directions and answer standard questions; it only requires that you enter the information you want. It is likely, too, that every visitor has a comp-vid in their hand, with ready information available there. I have no idea what you think manned information kiosks might gain for you."

It would be an insult and perhaps tip my hand if I told him I knew he wanted his lover to be paid to do nothing while the electronic map stations did the work. He was the one behind this idea, and had convinced others to take up his cause.

"You should have listened to the others, Gip," a vampire laughed and slapped Gip on the back as he left the Council Chamber.

"I'm glad you brought up comesuli membership in the Council," Flavio was suddenly at my elbow. I was glad he was with me as a scowling Gavin escorted us to the Queen's suite.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Gavin followed that question with profanity in many languages, once the door to the Queen's suite was shut behind us. It didn't matter the language; I could not only understand it, but could read the meaning in Gavin's face. If he'd been human, he would have suffered a stroke, I think.

"Gavin, consider your words," Flavio interjected.

"I told her to keep her mouth shut unless I instructed her to speak." Gavin wasn't letting up.

"Today, she sounded like Lissa and not a parrot," Flavio pointed out. "Lissa would have lost her temper and treated that fool worse than this one did."

"He wanted to give his lover an income so he wouldn't have to pay to keep him in clothing," I muttered, hugging myself. "He wanted that money to go to his lover for no work."

"Because he's a miserly bastard," Flavio agreed.

"And it infuriates me when I see the comesuli taken advantage of. I'm sorry that it has infuriated you as well, Gavin." I turned and stalked into the Queen's bathroom, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me.

Breanne?
Flavio's voice floated into my mind.

Yes?
I didn't expect it to work. Flavio and I were both surprised.

Adam asked me to tell you that he, Merrill and Kiarra have been called away on assignment. You'll be here for the next few days to attend Council meetings. Contact me through mindspeech if you need anything
.

Thank you, Flavio. If you hadn't come, I think Gavin would have hit me.

If he touches you, I would not want to be him when Adam and Merrill learn of it. I must go, now. Hold your head up. For the moment, you are Queen
. Flavio's mental voice left me, then. I sighed and set about removing the coronet and changing clothes.

Gavin was gone an hour later when I ventured outside the bathroom. More than thankful that he'd taken his anger elsewhere, I walked out of the Queen's suite and wandered toward the kitchen. I was hungry and dinner had passed long ago.

Their voices came to me minutes before I arrived in the kitchen. They were all chattering away about the five Council seats to be portioned out to the comesuli. I walked in to find Cheedas stirring something vigorously with a whisk. The conversation died among at least eight comesuli. I went to the cold keeper, pulled out a bottle of blood substitute and walked out again. Silence reigned for moments after as I made my way to the Queen's suite.

* * *

"Someday, I'll have to figure out how you get in here. You're too big to fit under the door." The friendly snake was back on my bed when I woke. I stroked his head while he blinked sleepily at me. "Come on, handsome, I have to get up and go face ugly vampires again." I pulled away from him carefully—he'd laid his head on my shoulder to sleep. He'd gotten into bed without waking me, too, and that was extremely unusual. I'd been tired, though, the night before, and facing another meeting only added to the weariness.

* * *

"Is there anything you have planned for today's meeting that isn't scheduled?" Gavin hissed as he grabbed my elbow.

"Probably not, but you and that herd of mates the Queen has should consider taking some of the Casino City tax money to fund the palace and pay her a salary. As of now, she's draining the gold reserves beneath the ice cap to pay for everything. I've looked at the expenses. If things continue as they are, even without taking inflation into consideration, that reserve will be drained in less than two hundred years. While that might not matter to most mortal politicians, it should matter to her, and to you and to the rest of her bunch."

"How would you know what matters to us?" he growled.

"You know, that's probably the most stupid thing you've ever said." I stared into his dark eyes. I knew what he cared about; he cared about Lissa—to distraction. He should be worried that her finances might be in disarray in two hundred years, or that she could be destitute before then. He blinked at me, stunned for a moment. Yes, I knew something about budgeting. For forty years, I'd had to account to someone for every penny spent, and little of that money had been spent on me.

* * *

During the Council meeting the following morning, Gavin had sent mindspeech to Flavio, who brought up the subject during more budget discussions. "It has been brought to my attention that the Queen's resources are being depleted, while she continues to pay for meetings here, and for the staff to take care of us and arrange tours and keep records," Flavio began. "We have not broached this subject for the past twenty-five years, but I see that it should be considered again. I suggest that an additional three percent be added to the taxes collected from Casino City and be handed to the Crown to cover expenses."

That set off another session of debates. "What do you think, my Queen?" A vampire, who was just as weary as I was with all the verbal pushing and shoving, asked.

"Three percent is too much. Half that would cover the expenses and leave a small amount for emergencies," I replied.

"Then I suggest two percent," Flavio said. "We need a rainy-day fund."

"Then one-and-a-half to support the Crown and half a percent for a rainy-day fund," I said. Shockingly enough, the measure was passed with only a small amount of discussion. Gavin stood by, his face unreadable to everyone except me.

"Congratulations, you just raised taxes in Casino City by two percent," Flavio grinned as we walked toward the Queen's suite.

"Twelve percent is a bargain," I grumbled. "We have the lowest business taxes in the Reth Alliance. I hope all those grumpy vampires realize that."