Steal the Night (28 page)

The shower was already on, and Neil had pulled out clothes for me. I opened the door to the shower after a long gulp of some really good coffee. “What’s with all the help?”

Neil shrugged. “That Diana woman asked if I was your Lad in Waiting. I thought it sounded like fun. She explained it was like a body servant.”

“These Brits take the whole queen business very seriously,” I commented as I washed away last night’s overindulgences. “Bris is back.”

“Yeah, we got that. All the houseplants grew like three feet and then there was that lust magic that never seems to stay contained in your little room. I’m getting a T-shirt, Z.
Secondhand lust can be hazardous to your health
.”

I cringed a little. That magic really could be hazardous. If you weren’t ready for it, there could be some serious morning-after regret the next day. “How pissed off is Lee?”

“We went pub crawling when he realized what was happening,” Neil explained. “He drank a lot of beer and charged it all to Dev. I think he’s okay with it.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Lee would have been super pissed if he’d found himself in bed with some stranger because he got caught up in Dev’s lust magic. “So if Lee isn’t pissed off, why did he feel the need to drag me out of bed?”

Neil lit up a little. “We thought you might like a chance to ask our Aussie friend some questions before Daniel gets a hold of him and all he can do is cry and pee himself. Zack’s out running errands, so the timing is perfect.”

I took the towel he offered me and smiled brightly. No one ever let me ask questions. “That is a brilliant idea.”

“Lee has noted in the past that you get left completely out of interrogations even though it’s usually your butt on the line,” Neil explained as I started getting dressed. “Who would have guessed he would be a champion of women’s rights?”

“Or he just wants to piss off Daniel and Dev because he got his ass shot again yesterday.”

“He doesn’t like that,” Neil agreed. “Either way, I think it’ll be fun.”

I concurred and proceeded to get ready for my stint as badass interrogator.

* * * *

I peered into the small room in the basement and wondered exactly what Hugo Wells was into. The basement of the townhouse contained three small rooms, each with steel reinforced doors and small bars over the little windows in the doors. On the wall opposite the rooms was an arsenal. Guns covered the stone siding along with long lengths of silver chains. Off in a corner was a coffin, and I knew what it was reinforced with. Silver was the only way to go when one wanted to keep a vampire under control.

Diana walked down the stairs, carrying the keys to the containment room. The British woman appeared younger and very energetic this morning. I was sure she and Hugo had a raucous good time last night. She had the look of a woman who had been well loved.

“Here we are, Your Highness.” She nodded to Lee and Neil as she moved past them. “It would be safest if I locked the three of you in with the prisoner.”

“Don’t worry, darlin’,” Lee said. “Neil and I can ensure your safety.”

“I wasn’t worried.” I trusted him implicitly. He would never allow me to get hurt.

I shot Diana an anxious look as she moved toward the door. “Was everyone…all right after last night? Did anyone warn you about...?” I left the question hanging out there because I wasn’t sure exactly how to ask if she had known orgies kind of followed my faery prince around.

Her small, satisfied smile told me she didn’t consider it a burden. “The gardener is going to have a fit. The back garden is dreadfully overgrown and the houseplants look like they exploded. Marcus explained what was happening just before he retired with the females of his household. Does that happen every time you..?” It was her turn to be a little evasive.

“No,” I said, not sure how much to share. “It’s not usually that strong, but we were a little emotional last night.”

“Hugo said the magic was amazing.” Diana’s hand went to her throat, which was smooth. I was surprised at that. I assumed vampires only shared their blood with companions. Hugo must truly care for the human. “I couldn’t feel it the way he did, but he looked like he’d gorged himself on companion blood. He looked almost human last night and his skin was so warm.”

“It’s a little like that,” I agreed. Vampires fed off of sexual energy, and Dev’s was unique. He was part Green Man and with Bris inside, he had the powers of an ascended god. It wasn’t the sex energy vampires got on a daily basis.

“The rumors are wrong about the three of you, aren’t they?”

“I don’t spend much time in vampire society.” I knew a little bit concerning the rumors about us but found myself very curious as to what Diana would say. “I don’t know what they say.” The assistant seemed wary about pressing on, but I wouldn’t let her back down now. “Please, I would rather know than wonder.”

She nodded briefly. “The rumor is that the king prefers the company of the faery to that of his companion.”

Lee belly laughed. “They think Donovan’s gay?”

Neil slapped at Lee’s arm. “There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”

“In vampire society, there is something wrong with preferring anyone to your companion,” Diana explained. “It’s why vampires who prefer men to women tend to never take a companion. Companions are rare and treasured. It upsets a vampire when he thinks a companion isn’t being treated well by her master.”

“I don’t think Marini treats his companion very well,” I pointed out, remembering Rose’s sad face.

“No one questions the head of the Council. It’s a sad fact of our lives. He can do what he likes and then turn around and accuse Daniel of the very crimes he commits. It’s obvious to anyone who has spent more than a few moments with you that both the king and the faery prince are enamored of the queen,” Diana said. “They both seemed very much in love.”

“We love each other. That’s all that matters, and no one else’s opinion should come into it. How much trouble are we going to have once Daniel takes the throne?”

“It won’t be easy,” the more knowledgeable woman admitted. “You’ll have to get to know the influential vampires. You’ll have to do some work to bring them into line. There will always be some who won’t approve.”

I supposed that wasn’t going to change any time soon. I didn’t like to contemplate the fact that Dev and I caused Daniel trouble, but we made up for it. Daniel wouldn’t be anywhere close to happy without us. He wouldn’t have nights like the one we just had if we weren’t around. I had to believe we were worth it.

“And just what are you up to,
cara
?” I heard from the stairs.

I frowned. “Do you ever sleep?”

Marcus entered, looking immaculately casual in slacks and a royal blue polo. “I slept very well last night. I was well fed and my body was exhausted from all the pleasure. That magic is more intense than the last time I felt it.”

He was referring to the time he, Marini, and Chad had snuck up on us. Chad was an illusionist. He could make you see things that weren’t there. When he wanted, he could make you look right through what was standing in front of you. Dev hadn’t integrated with Bris at the time, and though his magic had fed the vampires, it hadn’t rocked their world the way he could now.

“He’s better at it now, I guess,” I replied.

Marcus shook his head. “Or perhaps the fertility god, Bris, managed to reintegrate with his host last night.” I must have looked surprised because Marcus sighed. “Daniel trusts me, Zoey. He tells me almost everything. He could have warned me just how powerful that lust magic was going to get. I would have brought along more females.”

“How many did you have?” Neil was always curious and never let little things like tact get in his way.

The Italian seemed to count in his head. “Four, no, I’m forgetting that little blonde, so five. With so few to see to my needs, I was forced to send the men in my retinue away.”

“You had five women and you couldn’t share?” I asked, a little shocked.

Marcus waved away the thought. “That is a perverse impulse of Daniel’s.” His lips turned up in a naughty smile, and I was actually happy that Marcus hadn’t let our deep talk from yesterday affect our weird flirtation. I would have missed it. “Of course,
cara
, I would put aside my distaste for sharing if it means getting my fangs into you.”

I put a hand on my hip. “I’ll let you know the next time I’m accepting applications.”

“You do that,” Marcus replied, invading my space a little. Vampires liked to do that. “Now, you will explain to me why you are down here when you should be upstairs doing your hair or taking tea.”

He got the full force of my index finger poking right into those rock-hard pecs of his, that I was pretty sure he’d done nothing to earn. “You see, Vorenus, every time I start to like you, you just have to turn into a caveman. I’m not taking tea while we’re in the middle of a war. And my hair looks fine.”

“Actually,” Neil piped up, “it could use a flat iron.” I moved that pointy finger in his direction and he quickly backtracked. “Or we could go wavy. Whatever you like, Z.”

Diana looked from Marcus to me, and I could see she was confused as to which one of us had the real power here. She’d been more than amenable when I had asked her to let me in to speak to the prisoner, but now I could see she was faltering. Marcus was a Council member. Women in vampire society didn’t have a ton of power. I needed to establish dominance and I needed to do it quickly.

“Diana, please open the door,” I ordered, my voice a flat monotone that brooked no disobedience.

Marcus’s mouth was a stubborn line of disapproval. “Diana, you will leave the prisoner for the king. The queen has not been trained in methods of interrogation. She will not interfere.”

“Do you think she can’t form a question, Vorenus?” Lee asked, rolling his chocolate eyes.

“I’m sure she would come up with brilliant questions,” Marcus replied sarcastically. “But I have no intention of allowing my queen in the room with a soldier who tried to kill her. You should be fired for standing by and almost allowing her to go through with this insane plan, wolf.”

“Oh, he’s not just standing by,” I commented. “It was his plan in the first place.”

“And I didn’t try to kill her,” a voice pointed out from behind us. “That was Yuri, the wanker, and the faery already blew his brains to hell and back.” Terry stared through the bars of his little prison. He was calm and collected and seemed to be entertained by the show we were putting on.

“We don’t need anything from you,” Marcus snarled in his direction.

“Seems like you do, mate,” the soldier replied casually. “If it helps anyone make a decision, I’ll talk to Mrs. Quinn there.”

“Donovan, she is Mrs. Donovan,” Marcus insisted.

“How about you just call me Zoey.” I wanted to avoid my unfortunate last name problems. I’d come up with the perfectly reasonable plan of keeping my own last name to avoid confusion, but no one would use it.

“Right, Zoey,” the Aussie said. “What kind of questions have you got for me?”

“Diana, if you would please.” I gestured toward the door. She hesitated. “What were your instructions regarding me? I’m not trying to be a bitch, but I assume you were told to obey me, not to only obey me if Marcus says it’s all right.”

Marcus cursed as Diana slipped the key in the door. He seemed to understand I wasn’t budging, so he did what he could. “You will step back, prisoner. Take a seat at the table and keep your hands where we can see them. You will not lay a hand on Her Highness or I will rip your throat out. Is that understood?”

Terry’s eyes were solemn as he backed off with his hands in the air. He sat down in the chair Marcus indicated but kept his hands carefully within our sight. Diana opened the door and Marcus shoved me back, demanding to go in first. I heard Lee say something about vampire drama queens and then he escorted me inside.

Marcus stood over the prisoner, intimidation oozing from his pores. “Soldier, I am…”

“Marcus Vorenus, a venerable member of the Vampire Council, third in line to head, Louis Marini after Niko Rallis and Elof Magnussen. You’re Daniel Donovan’s patron,” Terry started reciting from a file he had probably memorized. “You were born in Rome in 50 AD to parents who were some of the first followers of a prophet named Jesus Christ…”

“Yes, we can see you’re well informed,” Marcus interrupted Terry’s interesting lecture. I could tell he was a little disconcerted. It had probably been a long time since he thought about his parents.

“Not well enough, it seems,” Terry murmured, looking at me in a different light. He bowed his head slightly. “Your Highness, I apologize for my earlier casualness. The Order didn’t believe Mr. Donovan was really a king. It’s been a long time since the vampires had a king and even longer since they had a queen.”

I sat down and sent Marcus a dirty look. “Yes, well, I wasn’t going to mention that since I have no idea what your ties to Vampire are. You could be a spy for Marini for all we know.”

“I’m not,” Terry said quickly. “The Order tries not to take an official stance on these kinds of things, but I can tell you we’ve been watching the Council very closely for the last hundred years. They’re slowly moving toward something we don’t like.”

“If you’re referring to their plans to subjugate the supernatural world, then I would have to agree with you.” Marcus crossed his arms over his chest and a little of his prior stubbornness seemed to flee. “If we can get the Order on our side, it will do nothing but help us,
mia regina
. Will the Order acknowledge Daniel as the King of all Vampire?”

“I believe they will,” Terry said. “If there isn’t a bloody civil war we have to quell.”

“We’re trying to avoid that,” I explained earnestly. “We’re also trying to ensure that the Council never again has the power to subjugate the races. Daniel wants to change the Council, to bring the other races in and form a new government that includes them.”

Terry’s eyes got very wide. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack. Don’t you think it’s time our world caught up with the rest of the planet?”