Page 65 of The Vampire King's Victory

The moons and stars beamed down upon them, bathing them in their magical light, as Nightvallen came more and more alive.

IN YOUR SOUL

“Do you think it will work?” Christian asked Balthazar. “The plan against the other Kalys?”

His Master was stalking around their bedroom suite. They’d dropped Caemorn off in his rooms just a hallway away from them. Caemorn had swept past them with a curt, “goodnight”. But, even without reading Caemorn’s mind, Christian knew that even that much acknowledgement from the Kaly Vampire washuge.

“Sleep well! Sweet dreams! Call if you need something!” Balthazar had called after Caemorn who hadn’t acknowledged the teasing.

But now that they were alone in their rooms, Balthazar seemed agitated. He’d bounced on the gorgeous, dark wood four-poster bed. Sniffed the high-count cotton sheets and the fluffy duvet. Gone out onto the large deck where there were countless pots of roses in between the comfortable loungers and the extra-large hot tub that bubbled away and let out a pleasant haze of steam.

Balthazar had poked into one of the huge closets that was a whole room in itself. It smelled richly of cedar and looked to have a place not just for tops, bottoms, sweaters, shoes, butalso for cufflinks, watches and wallets. Once more, evidence ofmodernsensibilities. He’d gone out of the closet. Gone back in again. Back to the bed. Back to the closet. Back out onto the deck. Then he’d repeated the course about five times.

Meffy had left his shoulder in a huff because Balthazar kept moving. Meffy was now curled in a tiny ball on a large pillow on the couch by the fireplace in a sunken sitting area Christian scratched between the kitten’s ears and a faint, rumbling sound rose up.

“You seem a little anxious,” Christian remarked. “The plan sounds very complex. Or, not exactly complex, but--”

“Damn difficult? Near impossible? Why would I doubt that I can control each of the other Kalys? I mean it’s not like thelasttime I tried to do that I nearly got shredded!” Balthazar let out a shrill laugh. “But oh, wait! I’m not just supposed to control just these other Kalys, but change all of their minds that joining together under Daemon’s banner is a good idea. Their idea! Yes, what would be easier than that?”

Christian winced at Balthazar’s very accurate description of what the letter had said in regards to instructions of what to do next. “But you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you.”

“Oh, no, you will not!”

“You can’t do this alone. You’ll need backup. If not me…” Christine grimaced, “then Daemon, of course.”

“It won’t work if it’s Daemon. Letter said that. Seeyr is so unfun!” Balthazar sighed heavily as he circled a chair, unable to stand still, let alone sit down.

“I wonder if it helps us knowing the future or just is stressful,” Christian murmured.

“If we were to actrationally, without Seeyr’s visions, we would leave everything up to Daemon. But that would hardly be fair!” Balthazar’s hands flew up in the air like a startled flock of birds before falling abruptly to his sides. “Besides, it's not rightthat he should do everything. This is the doing of the other Immortals. It should be handled by us.”

“Can’t we just hunt the other Kalys down and have Caemorn absorb them like he did with Artemis-Kaly?” Christian suggested.

He’d only caught parts of the letter from Balthazar’s mind. But from the way that Balthazar shook his head fiercely, he obviously had missed the important bits.

“The other Kalys have gone mad. Unless their minds are fixed before Caemorn absorbs them, eventually, he will start to fracture like them,” Balthazar explained and his hands tightened into fists. “He really would become mad and evil.”

Christian shivered. “Having him absorb them at all seems wrong.”

“I think he has to,” Balthazar said. “Because if he doesn’t that might lead to another kind of fracturing. He’s not complete. He needs to be.”

Christian nodded and petted Meffy some more to calm himself. “Then you and he will make this happen. The two of you are worth all of those other Kalys.”

Balthazar bussed his cheek with a kiss before stalking outside again. Balthazar undid the laces on his shoes to stick his feet into the hot tub. Balthazar frowned at the bubbling, steaming water.

“How can there be a hot tub here?” Balthazar asked. “Or electricity for the lights and all when there are no power plants or whatever there should be?”

“Magic,” Christian deadpanned.

Balthazar’s head shot towards him at warp speed and his Master’s mouth opened in shock. “You--my little scientist--are just going to saymagicand not tell me how such magic apparently has no rhyme or reason or--”

“Oh, I will investigate this,” Christian assured her. “But that is something that can wait. I can take eternity to investigate it. But you can’t take an eternity to help Caemorn against Kaly. So that is more important to focus on. Though I admit this is all quite perplexing and exciting.”

Balthazar slipped off his socks, tucking them into his shoes, before carefully rolling up his pant legs. It was Christian’s turn to frown.

“Why don’t you just take off your pants? Or all of your clothes?” Christian asked.

Balthazar paused in his careful rolling. He opened his mouth then shut it then opened it again. “Because I didn’t… because…”

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