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Helga, Mason and the vampire he assumed was Carola were seated at the table. Carola spoke with an accent that suggested she was of German descent, like Helga. But where Helga was blond and buxom, Carola had a short dark bob around distinct cheekbones and mink-lashed gray eyes, a feminine, foxlike face. An array of sampler-sized food selections and a bevy of wine choices were laid out on fine china settings. The vampires' servants stood behind their chairs or, more exactly, a few feet back, against the wall. They were standing at respectful, silent attention, except when one was summoned by their Master and Mistress, as Torrence currently was. He was leaning over Helga while she spoke quietly to him. Her fingertips slid inside his shirt to caress his chest, tug on the hair there, before he nodded and she released him to step back again.
Apparently, no one had noticed Cai's crazy moment. Standing at the head of the table, Lyssa was involved in conversation with Mason. At Lord Greenwald's, Cai had been distracted by having the shit kicked out of him. Taking a closer look at the male vampire now, he realized Mason wasn't passing as human by anyone's standards. He had that fixed stillness the really old ones did, and his amber-colored eyes had the focus of a hunting tiger. He wasn't a vampire Cai would meet at the mall anytime soon. His sleek copper hair, tied back with an elegant pewter clip, was like rippling silk over his shoulder. Different from the thick mane of his wolf shifter, but Cai still liked Rand's more.
This was all good. He could handle it.
Stop being a chickenshit, Cai told himself, and stepped fully into the room, no matter that he was a little too relieved to have Rand at his back. Lyssa looked up, her reserved smile crossing her face.
"Thank you for joining us, Mordecai. If you will take the empty seat, the house servants will pour you a drink. You can add your servant's blood to it, if you prefer."
He noticed each setting came with a sharp curved knife, probably for that purpose. Cai wondered if that was a standard inclusion in flatware for vampires. Ooh, I want the military grade knife with rose print handle, so it matches the rest of my china pattern.
He thought of Jacob's warning. He wasn't usually the type to heed warnings, but just this once, maybe he would. Maybe he was mellowing. Or anticipating that he should save it up for when someone deliberately did something to piss him off, which would likely be soon in this group.
Any group. You're not really a people person.
Aren't you supposed to be standing against the wall, looking meek and subservient?
Which was a joke, on a couple levels. First, Rand couldn't look meek and subservient if his life depended on it. Second, every servant in here looked as if he or she could throw down with a ninja and come out on top.
Jacob headed that list. However, as he entered the room and moved to his Mistress, Cai was reminded of what John had said. Their eyes locked and a million things passed between them, the humming energy of a connection with so many threads, it was a rope that would never break. Jacob came to Lyssa, his hand grazing her lower back before he pulled out her chair for her. After she was seated, he caressed a strand of her hair, letting it slide between his fingertips before he stepped back to the wall. A position not of meekness nor subservience, but reflecting what was between them.
It was Mistress and servant, but the brand of power exchange between them said it was also love. Too obvious for even a cynic like him to deny.
"Cai, have you ever attended a social gathering like this?" Lyssa's question was posed with pleasant courtesy, so he tried not to feel self-conscious. She'd mostly focused on the don't-rip-your-servant's-soul-apart stuff in their pre-Goddard heart-to-heart; not so much on what to do at formal occasions. Probably didn't figure there was any point to giving him that lecture unless he survived. He appreciated her pragmatism, though now he wished he had eavesdropped on Jacob's impromptu instruction course with Rand.
Regardless, honesty seemed to be the best course, so Cai quelled the "do I look like a vampire you'd find at a social gathering" vein of sarcastic commentary and shook his head.
Wise. And you actually look pretty hot.
Yeah, him and his one fang. But the amused comment from his servant helped him relax a little. Same goes. They should change the arrangement so servants are across from their vampires. That way I could look at you.
"Dinner is a sampling of things for us, along with wine and discussion," Lyssa said smoothly. "Servants eat a full meal of the same later in the kitchen, but you're welcome to offer your servant food by hand if that gives you pleasure. After we eat, there are often entertainments with our servants. It's fortunate yours is male, because we are down one male servant tonight. Lady Carola has both a male and female full servant, but she left Wilhelm at home. Shondra is attending her on this visit."
With a sudden uneasiness, Cai noticed Carola and Helga perusing his wolf with sexual avarice. Boy, ladies, are you barking up the wrong tree. But Torrence was eyeing him with equally intrigued speculation. Shondra was an Indian-African beauty, and she was also measuring up the new servant in the room with dark, kohl-rimmed eyes.
Jessica, Lord Mason's servant, had a different expression. More neutral and kind. Perhaps she understood how unsettling this kind of thing could be for people new to it. Which suggested it was still recent enough for her that she could remember how it had felt at first. Now that Cai had more time to get an impression of her, he saw she was a lovely, fragile-looking thing with lots of silky brown hair and a light scattering of freckles across her fair skin. However, noting the set of her jaw and tilt of her head, the sharp, intelligent gray gaze, Cai expected that fragility, while real, covered a core of steel. She looked as ninja-capable as any of them.
Picking up a whiff of danger, he shifted his gaze toward it and met Lord Mason's tiger-like stare. A clear warning lay in the amber depths. Look but don't touch, and if you look too hard, I may stab out your eyeballs with my fork.
Cai had made a neutral sound at the information Lyssa provided, so she smoothly moved on to another topic. "Daegan has covered a great deal of what happened in the mountains, but can you give us your accounting, in case there are relevant details that happened before he arrived on scene?"
He wasn't sure how much she wanted, but he needn't have worried. As he hit the high spots, the Council asked him questions, a lot of them focused on the capabilities of the Trads, how they lived, what their resources were. It made sense, so they were better prepared for any future female vampire snatchings, but Cai still felt a little unsettled by the depth of the inquiry. The Council members weren't just a bunch of figureheads.
"Very well," Lyssa said at last, sweeping her gaze over the table to ensure no other questions remained. "If we're done, let's enjoy our dinner now, and we can take our dessert out into the garden."
There were plenty of things Cai knew he didn't excel at. Small talk headed that list. Fortunately, with him being the "junior" vampire, no one thought it all that odd for him to stay mostly quiet unless addressed. He was perfectly cool with that and focused on
the food. Rand was interested in the meatball things. The rare cooked beef had tomato and spices in them.
Do not throw one of those over your shoulder for me to catch in my mouth like a trick poodle.
Spoilsport. Cai scowled, because he'd thought about doing just that. He was becoming too predictable.
You could kneel at my side and I could handfeed you, he retorted. The meatballs are really good.
His servant's interest stirred, which provided Cai a hidden smile. Rand couldn't completely squelch those wolf instincts.
Then Carola spoke, and Cai knew his temporary respite from unwelcome attention was about to end.
"I'm curious about your servant, Mordecai," she said, as Shondra replenished her Mistress's wine herself, taking it from the hand of the house servant. "Have you ever enjoyed him in wolf form?"
Before Cai could stiffen in shock, thinking the Council vampires were going in the same direction Goddard had, Helga spoke.
"Like making excellent use of that long tongue?" She purred it with an impish smile. "Perhaps he'll show us after dinner. I'd be happy to be the first volunteer."
Fuck, how had he missed that? He'd been so focused on the whole "debrief and honor" bullshit, Cai hadn't connected the dots, realizing that this would also be considered "that" kind of vampire gathering. But Rand...
What did Jacob tell you about these dinners?
They eat, talk politics, and often indulge in sexual entertainments using their servants.
So why the hell did you follow me in here? Cai demanded. Never mind. He knew the answer to that.
He ignored Rand's half insulted, half confused response. The only thing that mattered was knowing tension had increased in Rand's mind as soon as Helga made the nature of her interest known, and Cai was going to deal with it.
Keeping his focus on his meal, Cai responded to Helga with an indifference he didn't feel.
"That's very generous of you, my lady, but when he's a wolf, he's a wolf. Which means he does what any animal does with his mouth. Licks his ass, eats raw meat, has no dental hygiene. His breath in that form could knock down bowling pins. If you want that near your delicate parts, it's your business." He waved a forked meatball at the house servant who was refilling Mason's wine glass. "These are good. Can I have a few more?"
