Page 22 of Sleeping With the Vampire

“I don’t know if it will come to that,” Sunil objected. “I think we have come too far.”

I thought of Simonis, who had believed that war was a natural state, the only state of being. When all were openly at each other’s necks, not pretending to be getting along and working together. Kill or be killed, she liked to say. It was not a very savory idea, but Simonis was practical and efficient. Until the day she died in a horrible attack at the house of Councilor Lare. It was said a group of demons had been released to try to take out the councilor as a warning. Everyone was torn to pieces, but Lare had managed to escape. It was a brutal attackfor which I demanded retribution. The demons were captured and extinguished. Lare had apologized to me in person and I’d accepted her apology.

“Where is Tempesto now?” I asked Sunil.

“He has a compound outside the capital,” he said. “I’ve heard it is quite big, with fortifications.”

“Have we been able to get inside information on him?”

“His security is too tight,” Sunil shook his head. “I have befriended someone on his inner circle but I have not been able to learn much.”

“Get someone to monitor his compound and see who comes and goes. Make a note of his visitors.”

“Yes, Father. Will you be staying?”

I had the sense that Sunil didn’t want this and I wondered why. I knew his tastes were a bit exotic, but I had no wish to hold him back. If he wanted to fuck rent boys, that was his business.

“I intend going out tonight, but I will be back tomorrow if that is all right with you? I want to spend perhaps another night in the Citadel.”

The crow had given me the location of Izzy in the Citadel and I took care to camouflage my appearance as I went out into the streets. I left my royal guards at Sunil’s house, slipping out the back.

I had received a message from her a short while ago.

It was terse, saying only We need to talk.

But the fact that she had contacted me was significant. It meant that she was ready to see me and was open to further contact. I was delighted at the thought of meeting up with her. Even though I had seen her only days ago, it felt too long.

The crow had followed Izzy and her friend to a shabby place at the edge of the Citadel. This was apparently where they were staying. I waited for her outside, knowing she was on her way back from the meeting she’d had earlier.

I felt her approaching before I saw her.

I could feel it in my body, yearning for her, wanting her. We had shared blood now and she would feel it too. I hung back in the shadows when I saw them approach. When they reached the inn, she spoke to the big man who went indoors, alone.

Then she turned to look for me.

“Over here,” I called to her.

She came to the side alley and I pulled her towards me, kissing her before I could stop myself. She pulled away after a moment, catching her breath.

“A bit presumptuous!” she said.

“I’ve missed you,” I said, unapologetically.

“Where can we talk?” she asked. I took her to a hotel I’d booked into earlier. It was in the Capital but I knew the owners and they’d given me the top floor. I wanted to get out of the Citadel where there were too many eyes on me.

The suite consisted of several interconnected rooms, with low couches and a fire pit and bar with food set out. I encouraged Izzy to try some while I discreetly drank some bottles of product set aside for me. I didn’t think Izzy was quite ready to see me guzzle human blood openly. But I wanted to get my energy levels up. Her reaction to my kiss had been very promising and I was looking forward to a night of uninterrupted pleasure. This was what I needed to take my mind off the intrigue and business problems.

“This place is amazing,” Izzy said, going out onto the balcony and staring out over the capital with its sea of lights. “It must cost a fortune?”

I just shrugged. There was no point telling her that money meant nothing to me. I had so much of it now, Sunil managed most of it in various investments, but it kept growing and growing. I had more money than I could ever think of spending.

She went back inside, looking at the food without much interest.

“Not hungry?” I asked, coming up behind her.

I felt her body against mine and she went still.

“I knew you were there, even before I could see you,” she said then. “Just now, in the street? Is that because of the blood… my blood?”

---