Page 306 of Dragon Slayer

Hand shaking, Edwin reached for his glass. “Suspect?”

He grinned with teeth. “Mortals can always be turned. But I doubt that will happen to you.”

“Yes. As do I.”

Liam lifted one elegant hand in a speaking gesture. “Your daughter on the other hand…”

“My daughter,” Edwin said, firmly, “has agreed to undergo treatment. And frankly, she doesn’t concern you.”

“Yes, yes, of course not.” A toothy smile. “Let us hope not, to be sure. In any event, we should be talking aboutmydaughter.”

Edwin sighed. “We’re searching for her, I assure you.”

“If she’s joined up with Locksley and his crew, you won’t find her.”

Curiosity got the best of him. “About that. I always assumed Robin of Locksley was a myth. I never suspected that he was not only real, but an immortal and a werewolf as well.”

Liam’s smile was cutting. He flicked his wrist and conjured a palmful of fire. “Really? You find out there’s actual magic in the world? You raise Vlad Tepes from his slumber, but you doubted Robin Hood?”

“Well…”

He laughed. “Rest assured, Doctor, I don’t think anyone suspected he was still alive. We did know he existed, though. He might not be the most powerful, and certainly not the most ambitious, but Locksley is the wiliest creature to ever walk this earth.” He grew pensive. “I wonder where he’s been hiding all this time. And if he’s still got Richard stashed somewhere.”

Edwin stared at him; his face was beginning to feel heavy with exhaustion, the bones of his jaw hard to move as he spoke. This conversation had gone completely off the rails. And yet, his curiosity was still piqued. “I’m sorry, Richard who?”

Liam dropped his hands into his lap, expression alive with disbelief. “Richard the First? Tell me you’ve heard of the Lionheart. The Crusader King of England.”

“Yes. Of course.” He made a mental note to Google that later.

Liam’s gaze drew inward, faraway in the past. “Truth told, I think the Western historians gazed upon him too favorably, having never met him. But hewasresplendent. It was a personal sort of majesty, not merely the vampirism. A king in all ways. And,” he added, conspiratorial, “I heard it said he was insatiable in bed. Man, woman, he didn’t care so long as you were beautiful and you could keep up with his appetites. Not that I ever cared to test that theory firsthand, mind you.” He chuckled.

Edwin took a deep breath and willed himself to speak calmly. “Liam. When we first sat down twenty years ago, I asked you for a list of the immortals you knew who might be able to help us in this fight.” He opened the upper righthand drawer of his desk and pulled that list out now, laid it on the desk. He’d laminated it, so it was perfectly preserved. “There’s not a king of England anywhere on it.”

“And indeed there shouldn’t be. I have no idea whether Richard is still alive. Up until your phone call a few weeks ago, I had no idea Locksley was still alive. I thought you wanted concrete information, Doctor, and not speculation.”

“You know that I do–”

“Doctor.” Liam sat forward, a sudden burst of movement that left Edwin shrinking back. The mage braced his hands on the edge of the desk and leaned in, his smile more a baring of teeth, his carefully smoothed hair shaking loose into untidy curls that framed his narrow face and turned its edges razor-sharp. His words came slow and precise, dripping with threat. “I admire the work you’ve done here. You’ve made great strides, for a mortal, and you have, perhaps for your own selfish reasons, given me children, when I never thought I’d be able to have any. But you are in so, so far over your head, and the water continues to rise.

“You want to save this world – humanity – and that is admirable. But you understand nothing of its history. Of the monsters that have shaped it down through the centuries. How can you hope to control a threat that you can neither understand, nor recognize? Do you think you can go around waking vampires and be thanked for it? That you can control them? Do you think for a second thatVladanswers toyou?”

His voice had grown higher and louder, and he seemed to realize that now. He paused. Sat back, raked his copper hair off his face with both hands. “Forgive me, I – I have so very little patience with mortals these days.”

Edwin lifted his glass and drained it. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you’ve made a good start, all things considered. But that I won’t allow you to fritter that away now, because you fail to grasp the enormity of your undertaking. I’m saying I’m taking charge of this Institute, Dr. Talbot, whether you like it or not.”

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