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"Solar Red has approached and asked for help taking Vionn. Tetsurna Prylvis says a shield has been placed around the Green Fae lands and the key to his target lies behind that shield. This shield only holds back humanoids. Your kind may breach it easily. I wish for one of our brothers to assist the Tetsurna and his forces. If we combine his strength with that of Solar Red and The Red Hand, at least in appearance, how easy will it be to attain our long-term goals?"
"Very easy, my brother," Ringolar grinned. "And the shield? As good as gone," he waved a hand in dismissal. "It will take much to keep even one of our brothers out."
"Good. I believe Prylvis will not object if you take Vionn as your feeding grounds afterward."
"As I had hoped, brother," Ringolar grinned.
* * *
"Child, I had no idea that this would trouble you so much, since your memories were gone. I might have asked Lissa to hold off telling you."
"Like you asked her to hold off telling me that I had children?" Roff was angry with his vampire sire—for the first time.
"Child, our intentions were good; you were a new turn and fragile. The circumstances surrounding your turning were less than ideal and quite traumatic. I held that information back. Lissa had nothing to do with this; in fact, she was quite upset that we decided to withhold the information for a while."
"Because she cared for me. Giff, too. And Toff."
Flavio didn't want to tell Roff that all three of those mentioned had wept grievously because he didn't remember them. He held back, choosing to nod at Roff's assessment instead.
"So Lissa was going to adopt my child because she cared for him, and his own father didn't recognize him any longer. Is that the truth?"
"Yes, child."
"Father, I am extremely angry over this. I am going to work at my winery for a while. I do not wish to be disturbed." Roff stalked from Flavio's study; Flavio heard the front door slam after a bit and sighed.
* * *
Paulin dawdled, as if he were putting off going to see Ibbitt. Gavin was now glad that Lynx had come with them—he was capable of shielding all three of them, rendering them invisible as they silently tailed Paulin. Paulin had his portfolio of drawings slung over a shoulder as he stopped at a fruit stand, one of many small shops lining the streets amid the poorer sections of Hraede's capital city. The drawings of the palace, the wall surrounding Lissia, as well as other key locations that Paulin had drawn were all incorrect—Aryn, Lynx and Gavin had seen to that. Even if these drawings fell into the wrong hands, they wouldn't be getting anything close to accurate information.
Smells of cooking wafted past them as they followed Paulin when he continued down the cobblestone street, eating his fruit and glancing about. Gavin was becoming impatient, but Lynx placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. Gavin nodded and calmed himself.
A baby's cries disturbed the near-silence as they passed through an alleyway. Children raced past them on the street when they emerged, playing games with one another. Paulin stopped before a doorway half a block away, adjusted the portfolio hanging from his shoulder and knocked on the door. Lynx folded Gavin and Tony inside the home, shielding them from sight.
The tiny reception area was barely big enough to contain all of them, but Lynx found a way. "Do you have what I asked for?" A short, ancient man with a bald head and wrinkles covering every bit of exposed skin asked Paulin.
"I do, Master Ibbett," Paulin slipped the portfolio from his shoulder and handed it to Ibbitt.
"Ah, let us see, then," Ibbitt led the way into the rear portion of the home, where the kitchen lay. He set the portfolio down on the tiny table and unbuckled the clasp.
"I knew I could trust your skills," Ibbitt crowed softly, holding up drawing after drawing. "I recognize this from the vid feeds." He held up a picture of the Council chamber. It was the only one Lynx hadn't altered. Everyone who lived on an Alliance world had seen that Council chamber. More than likely, others had as well. Things tended to get passed along on the black market, and that included information and images.
"Here," Ibbitt shuffled toward a small cabinet against a wall and pulled out a drawer. A pouch of coins was tossed to Paulin. "I appreciate your talent and the fact that you didn't get caught. They're locking people up everywhere, you know, over their paranoia," the old man said.
Paulin nodded and Ibbitt led him toward the door. Lynx, Gavin and Tony stayed behind with Ibbitt. They knew where Paulin lived and had arranged for him to be picked up when he got home. Their focus was now on Ibbitt and what he planned to do with the drawings.
* * *
Wylend stared across the table at his son, who was focused on his breakfast. Erland had also come. "Brenten," Wylend said, causing Griffin to look up from cutting a slice of ham.
"Yes?" Griffin placed the ham in his mouth and chewed.
"What do you think Lissa will do when she finds out?"
"Be furious," Griffin stared at his plate.
"With whom?"
"Me, mostly."
"Child, you are wrong."
"Why do you say that?"
"She will be hurt and angry with all at this table. You know that, don't you?"
Griffin didn't answer for several seconds. "Yes," he nodded uncomfortably.
"And how angry do you think she will be, child, when she discovers that you were the one who removed Roff's memories?" Griffin looked up in shock at his Karathian Warlock father.
* * *
"Do you see this?" Arvil San Gerxon and his chief of security stood behind the one-way glass in his office, staring down at the casino floor below. "And this is better than most of the others," he snorted in anger. Few clients were gambling downstairs, and most of them worked on the wrong end of the law. That meant Arvil had to make sure they won regularly. His profits had gone down dramatically, all because of Le-Ath Veronis.
Several of his competitors on Campiaa had applied for and received approval to move their casinos to the vampire planet. While that might have made Arvil quite happy since he'd ended up with additional property, the ensuing reduction in visitors to Campiaa, added to the loss of payments from those former competitors, meant the money was only trickling in, now. Arvil became furious every time he thought about it. His guests were abandoning Campiaa in droves, preferring to visit Le-Ath Veronis' casinos instead.
"I hear Black Mist has thrown in their lot with Solar Red, and they're all out to get the Queen bitch now," Arvil's chief of security noted. The man's face was scarred from too many fights throughout his lifetime, and his name was several generations past the one he'd been born with.
