“Are you serious?”
“It’s like the planet was slowly driving him mad, eroding his soul piece by piece. I didn’t even recognize him anymore. He took that blood money and he had the audacity to tell me he was doing it for me and Helen. That I, horrible witch that I am, accused him of not caring for his wife and daughter and when he took the money, he was thinking of us and where we would be if he died in battle.”
I tried to reconcile the Melizard I remembered with that and couldn’t.
“According to him, House Kor was too weak to win anyway and all their victories were temporary. But he’d trained them too well. They won and after they figured out what happened, they hired a gang of raiders and tracked us down in another province. They arranged for a local House to offer a lucrative job and when Melizard took the bait, they killed him. I watched it happen.”
Her voice lost all emotion, as if she were talking about something completely unimportant.
“I was supposed to come with him but at the last minute he told me to stay back, almost like he had a premonition. Helen and I were laying on a nearby hill when they cut him to pieces while he was still alive and then burned his body. They put his head on a stake and stuck it on the House wall.”
“Did Helen see?”
“No. I covered her eyes. But she saw the head. There was no way around that.”
Maud glanced at her. “She surprises me. She’s my daughter. She came out of me; I was there. But there are times she does weird things and I don’t know if it’s human weird or vampire weird. This was one of those times. You’d think a child that young wouldn’t be able to understand death, but somehow she figured out that her father wouldn’t be coming back and that a blood debt had to be paid. I thought she would be heartbroken, and she was for a few days, then she bounced back like it never happened. Maybe it’s because Melizard spent so little time with her in the past two years. We were either on the job together or he was on the job on his own. She got used to him leaving. I don’t know.”
Neither did I. I was the youngest child. No baby brothers or sisters and a five-year-old was brand new territory. “What happened after he died?”
“Then a blood debt needed to be paid. So I found them, one by one, and I killed them all. Took me most of these last eight months.”
That was my sister. She watched her husband murdered and then hunted his killers against impossible odds, all the while trying to protect their daughter, and she summed it up like she was describing going to a grocery store on Tuesday.
“By the time I was done, I had a list of relatives howling for vengeance a mile long and two offers of marriage.” Maud took another cloth from the kit, sprayed some black liquid on it and polished the breastplate.
“Didn’t take them up on it?” I winked at her.
“I’m done with vampires. Hell will freeze over before I let another one anywhere near me or Helen. They’re all the same. Anyway, there is no future on Karhari. You were my last hope.”
“Why send a message with a Ku?” I asked.
“Well, I didn’t have a lot of choices,” she said. “And this Ku was hitching a ride on an Arbitrator’s ship.”
“Really?” Why did I have an odd feeling about this?
“An Arbitrator stopped at a Lodge where Helen and I were hiding.”
“What?” It couldn’t be.
“No idea what he was doing on Karhari. I’ve never seen one up close before. Beautiful man, golden blond hair. Walked with a cane.”
George. Just like I thought. The man who’d orchestrated the peace summit.
“Anyway, he paused by my table and said that I looked like someone from Earth and how odd it was to see someone like me and Helen in that wretched place. And I said that I was from Earth and still had family on the planet. He told me that he wouldn’t be going to Earth for a while, but that he would be stopping in the vicinity to drop off some clients and that a Ku in his party liked delivery jobs, so if I were to write a message, he would see that it reached my family. It was a shot in the dark. I never thought it would work.”
George knew exactly who she was. Of course he did. He probably wanted something in return, if not now, then later. That man never did anything without calculating all the variables. And I didn’t care. From now on he would stay free in the inn as long as he lived.
“Thank you for coming to get me.” She reached out to me and I hugged her.
“It will be okay,” I told her the way our mother used to tell me when everything was bleak and all I could do was cry about it.
“It will be okay,” my sister echoed and hugged me back.
CHAPTER 4
I paced back and forth before the circular summoning gate. We were due to arrive in range of Earth at any moment. When we did, the empty space defined by the gate would become blood-red, I’d step into it, and then I would be home. If home was still standing.
Maud and Helen went to the stream to look at the colorful fish, but not before Maud told me I had turned into our mom and then laughed. At least she could still laugh.
“If you keep pacing, your shoes will start smoking from the friction,” Sean said.
I almost jumped. I hadn’t heard him come up behind me. I turned around and there he was, dressed in his usual jeans and a T-shirt, clean-shaven. His hair was still slightly damp. He must’ve recently taken a shower. The heavy duffel rested on his back, the small duffel was in his hands. The subcutaneous armor he had gotten from Wilmos had shrunk into swirls of tattoos and their dark edges peeked out from under his sleeves and above his collar.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” he said.
I realized that I hadn’t even thanked him yesterday. I’d just grabbed Maud and walked away and then didn’t leave the suite for the entirety of the trip back. Not that it was very long - about twelve hours or so - but still.
“Thank you for coming to rescue my sister.”
“You’re welcome.”
It would help if I stopped staring at him like a fool.
“How is she?”
“Maud?” Yes, who else would he be asking about? Ugh. “She’s resilient.”
“Look at the way she stands,” Sean murmured.
When you picked up a child and held her, it was natural to pop a hip out and sit her on it. I’d seen Mom do it in the pictures where she held me or Maud. When I picked up Helen, I had unconsciously done the same thing. Maud was holding Helen so she could see the fish better, but her hips were perfectly straight. She supported her daughter’s entire weight with her arms and Helen wasn’t light. I had no idea what the average weight for a five-year-old girl was, but Helen was probably forty, maybe forty-five pounds.
It’s hard to pop the hip out while wearing armor. Maud stood like a vampire.
“It will wear off,” I said. I sounded like I wanted to convince myself.
Sean didn’t say anything.
“Are you going to stick around?” And why did I just say that?
“Where would I go?” he asked.
I was making a spectacular idiot out of myself today. I had to get to the inn. Worrying about it was driving me crazy.
“I don’t know,” I said. “The galaxy is a big place. A certain werewolf once told me that he wanted to open his eyes and see it.”
“I saw it.”
“Learn anything interesting?”
Sean’s eyes flashed with amber. “I learned that sometimes what you go looking for isn’t as important as what you leave behind.”
My face felt hot. Did I just blush? I hoped not. “What did you leave behind?” Oh, I was such an idiot.
He opened his mouth.
The doors in the far wall opened and Arland marched out. He was in full armor. His blood mace hung at his waist. He carried a large, black bag slung across his shoulders and an equally large bag in his right hand. Another male vampire, russet-haired and a few years younger, followed him, distress plain on his face.
Arland stopped by me. He didn’t look at
Maud. Maud pretended she didn’t see him.
“Lady Dina.”
“Lord Arland. Thank you again for rescuing my sister and for letting us ride in this amazing ship.”
“It was a small matter,” he said. “I wanted to speak to you concerning a promise you made to me.”
What promise, when, where? “Yes?”
“You once told me that I would always find myself welcome at your inn.”
Oh, that. “Of course.”
Arland smiled, baring the edge of his fangs. “I find myself… stressed.”
“Stressed, my lord?”
“Stressed by the burdens of House matters. I find myself bending under the weight of overwhelming responsibility.”
Sean chuckled. “You live for that shit.”
Arland valiantly ignored him. “I desire a sojourn. A brief respite from the many matters requiring my attention. I do believe I’ve earned it.”
The russet-haired vampire stepped forward. “Lord Marshal, your uncle was most specific—”
Arland bared his fangs a little more. “My uncle is, of course, concerned for my well-being.”
The male vampire looked like someone had slapped his face with a fish.
“He knows the many pressures I face and he would be delighted to know I’ve taken steps to remedy my condition, isn’t that so, Knight Ruin?”
“Yes, my lord,” the russet-haired vampire said, resigned. “Lord Soren will be delighted.”
Lord Soren popped into my head in all his burly, grim-faced, older vampire glory. “I didn’t know the Knight Sergeant knew the meaning of the word.”
“His grizzled exterior hides a gentle heart.”
Knight Ruin nearly choked on air.
“You’re welcome to spend as much time at Gertrude Hunt as you need, my lord. We are honored by your presence.”
“It’s decided, then.”
The summoning gate turned crimson.
“And we’re here. How fortuitous.” Arland stepped into the red light. Sean laughed under his breath and followed him in.
Maud approached, leading Helen by the hand. “You’re letting him stay at the inn?”
“Of course.” Considering that he just flew his destroyer halfway across the galaxy for her sake, it was the least I could do.
Maud said nothing, but I could see the sigh on her face.
“It’s a big inn,” I told her. “You will hardly see him.”
She grinned at me. “I was right. You did turn into Mom.”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes.
She grabbed her bag, squeezed Helen’s hand, and stepped into the crimson glow.
I followed her.
Vertigo squeezed me. A strange sensation of flying but without moving rolled through me, rearranging all my organs, and then I landed on the grass in the orchard. Early morning colored the sky a pale pink. Against the light backdrop, Gertrude Hunt stood out, with all her endearing Victorian oddities: the balconies protruding in strange places, the tower, the sunroom, the eaves, the spindle work, the overly ornate windows, and I loved every inch of it.
The trees shivered, greeting me. Magic pulsed from me through the house to the very edges of the property and the house creaked, reconnecting. If Gertrude Hunt were a cat, it would’ve arched its back and rubbed against my feet, purring.
Still standing. Nothing out of place. I took a mental tally of the beings inside. Caldenia, Orro, Beast, and the nameless cat. Everyone is present and accounted for. Oh phew. Phew.
Maud bent over, squeezing her eyes shut for a second. “I hate those things.”
Next to her Arland stood straight, like an immovable mountain of vampire awesomeness immune to silly things like nausea. Sadly for him, my sister completely ignored him and his iron stomach. She shook her head, probably trying to shake the last echoes of the summoning gate out, straightened, and saw Gertrude Hunt.
“Dina, this is lovely.”
Helen gaped at the orchard.
The back door burst open and Beast exploded onto the lawn, black and white fur flying.
Helen’s eyes went wide and she hid behind Maud. Beast jumped into my arms, licked my face, wiggled free, and dashed around in a circle, unable to contain her canine glee.
“It’s a dog,” Maud said. “Remember the pictures?”
“Her name is Beast,” I told her. “She’s nice. If you make friends, she will guard you and keep you safe.”
The ground by me parted and my robe surfaced, the plain gray one. The inn was trying to make sure I didn’t leave again. I picked it up and slipped it on over my clothes. See? It’s okay. I’m home.
“Your face is different,” Helen said, looking up at me.
“It’s because she’s an innkeeper,” Maud said. “This house is magic and she rules it. She is very powerful within the inn.”
“You’re part innkeeper, too,” I told her. “Does it make you feel a little funny being here?”
Helen nodded.
“That’s because you’re my niece. The inn will listen to you, if you’re kind to it.”
Helen turned and hid her face in Maud’s jeans.
“Too much,” my sister said and ruffled her hair. “It’s okay, little flower. It will be okay. We’re home.”
Sean was walking away with his bags.
“Sean,” I called.
He turned around and kept walking backward.
“Come have breakfast with us.”
“When?”
“At seven.” Orro always served breakfast at seven. The least I could do was feed Sean.
“I’ll be there.”
He turned around and kept walking. He never told me what he left behind.
I watched him stride away for another breath and turned to Gertrude Hunt. The back door opened.
“Gertrude Hunt welcomes you, Lord Arland,” I said. “Please follow me to your rooms.”
* * *
Maud crossed her arms and examined the bedroom. The floor and walls were a pale cream stone. A shaggy rug, a deep comforting brown with reddish streaks, stretched by the bed. A large floor-to-ceiling window opened onto the orchard. Lamps of frosted glass shaped like inverted tulips dotted the walls. A plain bed protruded from the wall, furnished with white linens and fluffy pillows.
Maud’s bedroom in our parents’ inn was a dark place, filled with books, weapons, and oddities we all collected either from excursions to Baha-char or from regulars who occasionally brought us gifts. Dad used to joke that Maud never grew out of the cave phase. The bedroom she just made could’ve belonged in any of the vampire castles. She did add some human touches to it - the lines were softer and less geometric - but overall, if we had large delegations of vampires coming in, I’d make her fix up their quarters.
“Told you,” I said. “Like riding a bicycle.”
She frowned. “I’m rusty.”
She was a little rusty. It took her nearly half an hour to figure out what she wanted and when she pushed the inn to do it, it moved sluggishly. Maud wasn’t one hundred percent connecting to Gertrude Hunt. That was okay. It would come with time.
“Mama?” Helen stuck her head through the doorway. “I made my room.”
I’d formed adjoining rooms for them.
“I can’t wait. Let me see.” Maud hurried over.
I followed and stopped in the doorway. Helen had made a pond. The entire room was lined with stone and filled with about a foot of water. A stone pathway led to the middle of the pond, where a large simulated tree bent to form a crescent shaped structure, a backward C. A small bed rested in the lower curve of the crescent, black sheets, black pillows, and a fuzzy pink blanket. Small, narrow windows punctured the dark walls, showing a glimpse of the orchard on all three sides. Helen must’ve wanted to see the orchard on every side, so she bent physics without realizing it. Dad always said that it was much easier to teach a child to be an innkeeper than an adult, because a child had no preconceived notions about what was possible. She’d kept the windows small, t
hough. Trees were still a little scary.
“I can’t make the fishes.” Helen’s face looked mournful.
“The inn can’t make the fish,” I told her. “But we’ll go out and buy some, okay?”
“Okay.”
Magic chimed in my head. “Time for breakfast.”
I led them down the stairs. In the kitchen Orro dashed about. Helen had already seen him and didn’t bat an eye. For some reason, trees were scary but a seven-foot-tall monster hedgehog with foot-long needles and sharp claws was totally okay.
Caldenia was already seated. Her platinum-gray hair was impeccable, as was her makeup, and her sea-foam gown. She looked every inch a galactic tyrant ready for her morning meal.
“Is that who I think it is?” Maud murmured next to me.
“It is. She has a lifetime membership.”
“I remember when we went to camp and you wouldn’t go past your waist into the lake because you were convinced there were brain-eating amoebas in there. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore. When did you lose your mind?”
“When Mom and Dad disappeared. You were married and far away. Klaus wanted to keep searching. I had nothing and then the Assembly gave me this inn. It had been dormant for a very long time and it needed guests.”
“I’m so sorry,” Maud said.
“I’m a Demille.” I smiled at her. “We always manage. By the way, I didn’t forget that you dunked me into that lake. Payback is coming.”
“Bring it on.”
“Arland is coming down the stairs,” I warned her. I’d reopened the vampire wing I had built during the peace summit. The inn hadn’t absorbed it yet, so Arland had the entire palatial suite to himself.
She turned subtly.
I tracked Arland with my magic as he descended the stairs, walked through the hallway hidden from us by the wall, emerged into the front room, and finally entered the kitchen. He was out of his armor, the sign of highest trust from a vampire knight. He wore loose fitting black pants and a textured brown tunic pulled up on his forearms. His blond hair was carelessly pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Arland wasn’t just handsome, he was striking and when he smiled, it was the kind of smile that could launch a vampire armada. He was also built like a superhero: massive shoulders, defined arms, and a powerful chest, slimming down to a narrow, flat waist and long legs. Watching him walk toward us was an experience.