Immortal Confessions (20 page)

Danial bared his fangs. “I do not know you,
vampire. Of all the creatures I have met in my long life, I trust
vampires least of all. Forgive me if I wish not to touch.”

“Of course,” Quentin said, clearly taken
aback. “Dev, come out with your brother when you are ready. I’ll be
out in the hall waiting.” He nodded to Anna, then left.

“How are you associated with him?” Danial
asked softly to me. “He is not the type I would have thought to
have found as your friend.”

“He was and remains useful to me,” I replied.
“Try to be civil. He may be a fop, but he means you no harm.”

“That’s truth,” Uther said snobbishly. “He
wouldn’t hurt a fly. Now me, I’ve killed over fifty vampires
singlehandedly. Am I more your type, Dan?”

I held my breath. No one, including me, had
ever called Danial “Dan” to my knowledge since he was a small boy,
when my father had taunted him with that name.

Danial glared at Uther for a long moment.
Then to my surprise, he laughed, and offered his hand. “Yes, you
are, Werebat. Please use my full name when you address me, if you
will.”

Uther clasped his hands. “Good to meet you,
Danial. I hope to be your friend, as I am your brother’s.”

“Yes,” Danial said, nodding. “But tell me; is
no one going to introduce me to this lovely lady?”

I blushed scarlet to realize that I had not
yet introduced Anna. Before I could say a word, she herself stepped
forward.

“I am Anna, Danial. I have heard a lot of you
from Devlin. It is good to meet you.”

“Yes,” Danial said seductively, kissing her
hand. “It is good to be met.”

Anna gently took it back, moved closer, and
then hugged him. Danial was momentarily shocked, then he gently
hugged her back.

“It has been a long time since I embraced
anyone,” he said softly, as she drew back. “Forgive me.”

“Come,” I said to Danial. “We must go.
Refreshment, as we call it here, awaits.”

Danial nodded. “I understand what you refer
to.” He kissed Anna’s hand once more. “I’ll hope to talk to you
again soon, Anna.”

We walked outside to meet Quentin, who was
waiting in the carriage. After settling in and giving the driver
directions, Quentin turned to Danial.

“So what are your plans, Danial?”

His question was not aimed at me, but it gave
me pause nonetheless. I hadn’t thought beyond getting Danial back
with me, so we could be together. Where did we go from here?

Danial was unruffled. “I will visit with my
brother for the foreseeable future. As I’m now second here, I’m
sure there are duties that come with that title.” His eyes shifted
to me. “Does the title come with recompense?”

Quentin nodded. “Yes, but not much. If you
live with your brother, you’ll be able to live in style. If you do
not, day guards and blood will eat up most of your earnings.”

“Of course he is staying with me,” I said
crossly. “He is not used to this time, or this city. Besides, it is
additional security for my house.”

“Glad I could be useful to you,” Danial
laughed.

“You will be,” I retorted. “In fact, Levi has
been struggling with some murders in the worst part of town. If you
would give your attentions there first, it would be a great help.
You were always good with puzzles.”

Danial nodded. “I’ll talk to him when I
return. Now, what is this refreshment?”

“We are nearly there,” Quentin said in
relief. “I’ve been dying for a lay all night.”

The carriage stopped, and we climbed out.
After paying the driver, the three of us went inside.

The women here were accustomed to us now, and
the addition of Danial intrigued them. They clustered close
immediately, all asking to be the ones we chose that night.

“My new acquaintance gets first choice,” I
said loudly. “Danial?”

Danial looked over the women, and then
selected the most homely of them, a girl Quentin and I had never
been with. “Her, please.”

The woman came to him quickly, and they went
into a room together, Danial shutting the door behind them.

“Will he know what to do?” Quentin whispered
to me. “Not to heal her, I mean?”

“Not a problem,” I said, handing a large
purse to the madam, who took it greedily. “He picked the ugliest
one. Her loss will not be hard to bear, if he is overzealous.”

“He must not care about looks.” Quentin
laughed. “That’s wonderful for us, Dev.”

“Yes, it is,” I said, beckoning to my
favorite two whores. “Come, my dears. The night is wasting.”

An hour later, Quentin and I emerged to find
Danial had left without us.

“Did something happen?” I said, worried,
looking around for the girl he’d been with.

“Nothing unusual,” the madam answered slyly.
“Justine said he’d been a perfect gentleman. She was very weak, and
I’ve got her in her bed straight away.”

“Good,” I said, handing her more coin. “Make
sure she is available for him whenever he asks for her. She is to
be his exclusively, understand?”

The madam nodded, surprised. “As you say,
sir.”

“Let’s go,” Quentin said, yawning. “I’m
tired, and it’s close to dawn.”

“Yes,” I said, yawning myself. “It’s been a
long night. Let’s go home.”

We journeyed home, where Quentin excused
himself at once. I greeted Levi in the kitchen, eating his dinner
with Eva.

“Where is Uther?”

“He left an hour ago, when Danial returned.
He said he had a lot to do tonight.”

I nodded. “Did you have a room readied for
him?”

“Anna did. She is with him now. I believe
they are in the library.”

I felt a pang of worry, then brushed it
aside. “Thank you.”

The library was empty. I looked for Anna and
Danial for many minutes, finally finding them in my bedroom. Danial
was sitting in the chair, Anna on the loveseat, L’Amour on her
lap.

“Devlin,” she exclaimed as I entered. ”Danial
healed L’Amour. It is so wonderful. She was crying so piteously and
now she’s sleeping.”

I’d not even thought of that, yet it made
perfect sense. I’d never used my blood to heal anything but a
human. “You’re a savior,” I said gratefully. “Thank you,
brother.”

Danial got to his feet. “You are welcome. Now
that you have returned, I’ll go to my quarters. Good day, Anna.” He
left quickly.

Anna and I got ready for bed.

“How was his mood?” I asked her quietly. “He
seems unnaturally calm.”

“He was very polite and kind, but not warm,”
Anna said finally. “He’s likely in shock, coming from what he knew
for so many years. He’d been there a century at least, Devlin. He
wouldn’t say much more than that.”

“Did he say why he’d been there? He mentioned
there was penance he was doing, that there was ‘much still to be
done’.”

She shook her head. “Only that he found peace
there among the monks. I thought it might have been because of a
woman, but he didn’t divulge anything.”

“I’ll ask him when a moment presents itself,”
I said, getting into bed and spooning her. “He needs time to settle
in. Just wait, Love, things are going to be wonderful.”

* * * *

Teaching Danial about the vampire world was
an experience, to put it mildly. He was amazed that there were so
many vampires in this country, though he admitted he had met others
previously in his travels. In fact, it became obvious quickly that
he knew them as a species better than I did.

That next night, Danial and I met with Uther
to discuss strategy for dealing with Louis. I was worried Danial
might be apprehensive, or think he should leave, and came prepared
with arguments to get him to stay. He put my fears to rest
immediately.

“I think we should declare to Louis that I am
here as your second. Having him find out on his own and summon me
would be a death warrant.”

“Yes, but announcing your presence also is
risky,” Uther answered. “He will think your courage comes from
surety that he will be unable to stop you from staying.”

“He is powerless to stop Danial from
staying,” I said slowly. “Isn’t he?”

“He can declare him a traitor, or a rogue,
and have him hunted down.” He turned to face Danial. “He can do
this on a whim, Danial.”

“I have something to say about what goes on
in my own lands,” I said angrily. “Samuel himself told me how well
I’d been doing. Besides, we can downplay Danial’s role in my
cabinet. My brother is not one to indulge in either excesses or
stupid mistakes.”

“Yes,” Danial mused. “However, I give
credence to Uther’s advice. I think it would be best to wait for a
month, and let me contribute some good deed to your credit, Devlin.
Then we should go to Louis, and tell him I am here. Once he meets
me, with that basis, he should agree to let me stay.”

“Why should he do that?” Uther rasped. “He
could just as easily squash you.”

“Men in power who stay in power are those who
don’t over-react, or under-react,” Danial answered. “Louis came to
power some time ago, as Quentin said. He should have stabilized by
now.”

“Maybe,” Uther said, getting to his feet.
“Are you ready to go?”

Danial got to his feet as well. “Yes, let me
get Levi.”

I looked from one to the other. “Where are
you going?”

“You asked me to investigate that murder,”
Danial answered, as he headed to the door. “I’ll be out most of the
evening doing that, then heading to drink, then coming back here.
I’ll be available to watch Anna after about 3 am. Likely that will
be my usual schedule.”

“That sounds good,” I said quickly. The door
was already closing on my last words.

Quentin came in a moment later. “Are you
ready to go over your investments? I need a few decisions from you,
after I make my reports.”

“Yes,” I said absently.

“Danial seems to be settling in quickly,”
Quentin said, shuffling papers from his briefcase.

“Yes,” I said, snapping myself out of it.
“Let’s get to work.”

* * * *

Danial quickly fell into our routine. He
liked Levi, and Uther, as I’ve said. He even got along with Rip,
though Danial was still sanctimonious from his months as a man of
God, and remained standoffish at best. Rip told me privately, being
a demon, he understood and would keep his distance, that it wasn’t
going to be a problem.

Quentin he seemed not to like, but I
suspected that was because he was vampire. Danial seemed to have a
hearty distrust of vampires, and did not want to be around them at
all, save when he had to be. I got that completely, knowing the
ones I did, but I wondered that there wasn’t more to it, something
that had happened to him in those years we’d been apart. He never
spoke of that to me or of our past together. Figuring the time
would come for that, I did not speak of it either.

Anna...well, Anna he seemed to like on sight.
It was true he was always polite to her, but he also paid her many
compliments, which I knew she had a fondness for. I believed it was
good that he felt both protective and fond of her, as I needed
someone to watch over her, as more and more business matters were
consuming my waking hours.

My investments were growing larger each
month. For example, I now owned not only the brothel which kept me
in blood, but all the brothels in the city. The problem was my
illegal dealings came with more than a fair bit of violence, which
increased in tandem with my profits. In the beginning, it had been
easy: the spilled blood came chiefly from men who’d made their
living from dark means, and their deaths were easy to disguise as
simple murders. Every city had its share, and mine was no
exception. But what once was easy to hide was growing difficult
now.

I wasn’t worried Louis would discipline me
for the dead humans. He likely had his own illicit rackets to bring
him income in these troubled times. My worry was the human deaths
would bring my business dealings to his sight, and then he would
want his share of my earnings. Quentin had said there was nothing
written in vampire law about the money any ruler made, only that
each level was subject entirely to the one directly above.

Samuel had many troubles to deal with.
Likely, he commanded income from all the countries under his thumb,
France being one of the largest and richest. Louis would be glad to
learn of a new source of revenue, especially as he could then keep
a much larger profit share for himself.

Danial proved his worth in that regard. He
had an uncanny knack for ferreting out the truth of mysterious or
puzzling matters, be they murders, disappearances of people or
goods, or just random ill acts. With his help, I was able to solve
the murders that had been giving Levi so much trouble.

Women were being assaulted near the main
market at night. The first three had been prostitutes, nothing but
rapes. Abhorrent though that was, it was to be expected. In
response, Levi had put more guards on the areas where attacks had
taken place. That didn’t work; new attacks happened in new places.
The market was too big an area to guard all at once, not to mention
the prostitutes were reluctant to have guards near them, as it
discouraged customers. That the guards weren’t human and the
hookers were was another obstacle.

Then the fourth woman was not just raped, she
was killed afterwards. Worse, this was no streetwalker; this was
the wife of the owner of the largest nightclub in the city, who’d
been on an errand. Her husband knew of me from shared dealings and
demanded lividly that something be done.

Danial studied the attacks, talked to the
girls who’d survived, and set a trap. He caught the man the next
night, using Eva as bait, taking him alive.

I contacted Louis that night via Rip, asking
him to come at his earliest convenience, that a human needed his
judgment. He arrived in two hours, his composure absolute. Danial
brought in the man, quivering and shaking, to stand before him.