Here Be Sexist Vampires(82)

“A snob,” I offered.

“But she won’t be snobbish to you because she’ll think you’re my consort and she’s never snobbish toward the consorts which I think is weird.”

“She obviously just doesn’t feel threatened by the consorts.”

“You mean the way Joy feels threatened by you?” His smile was cute, inviting and playful. His eyes raked over me again.

I gave him a pointed look. “Oi, we’re talking about these High Master vampires, nothing else.”

“I know,” he said innocently like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

I tapped the photograph. “So what’s this Rowan like with regards to Antonio? A fan or...?”

“He’s not exactly chummy with him but I can’t see him ever betraying Antonio. He thinks that highly of himself, he’d never associate or align himself with any vampires who were challenging Antonio. That kind of thing is beneath him. His gift is pretty cool. He can mimic any non-living substance just by touching it.”

Although I could feel Jared’s eyes on me I forced my concentration onto the photograph, memorising the face, before flipping to the following one. The first thing I noticed about this bloke was his nose; long, wide and turned up. His cropped hair was a reddish gold and his tiny beard was a few shades darker than his hair. There was a large ring of red around his grey eyes, meaning not only was he a Pagori but he was angry, hungry or horny when this photograph was taken.

“Curran. Don’t know his first name.” Jared paused to open another NST. “He kind of keeps himself to himself at any gatherings, but he’s alright once you get him talking. He’s not High Master over many places. Mostly just Canada and Alaska.”

“That could go in our favour. He’ll figure that after the battle there’ll be enough casualties to mean that some countries are without a High Master. If he wants more territory he might join Antonio.”

Jared nodded. “Very likely. But I’d say that the other side will try to coax him to betray Antonio because his gift is pretty impressive. Duplication.”

“So...He can create duplicates of himself or others and scatter them around to join the battle to replace any casualties.”

Jared nodded again. “I can’t see him betraying Antonio though. I’m not saying he’d definitely join the battle, he might want to sit it out completely.”

I knew the bloke on the next photograph. I recognised his chubby face, the thin coal-black moustache, the smarmy expression, and it was impossible to forget the way he combed his dark hair to the side of his head, covering his bald patch (not so well).#p#分页标题#e#

“Bennington,” I said.

“That’s right. You’ve met him, right?” I nodded. “Creepy guy. He might want to have a catch up if he sees you.”

“Or try to employ me.”

“He tried to take you off Victor?”

“Yeah, a few times. Out of the two of them, Victor was the lesser evil.”

Jared tilted his head, conceding that. “He’s High Master over Greenland and Iceland as well as Britain. Out of all the High Masters, he’s had the most challenges to his role.”

“I’m not surprised, he makes enemies pretty easy. Bennington’s gift wouldn’t exactly help him in a battle. He can sense people’s gifts, but he has to be extremely up close to do it.”

“I hope he gets up close to me. Decapitating him would be the highlight of my year.”

“Be careful, I might beat you to it.”

“Bennington’s mine,” he insisted with a smile.

I gave him a ‘whatever’ shrug and then slung the photograph to examine the next. Whoa, they were the bushiest eyebrows I’d ever seen – they joined in the middle, making the bloke look like he had a caterpillar hanging above his round dark eyes. His coppery hair was quite tousled, sticking out here and there and tickling his long ears.

“That’s Winston Jones, but he changes his name near enough every time the wind changes course. He’s High Master over Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia and all the little surrounding islands. Older than Antonio by a couple of decades. He’s known mostly for having the largest harem.”

“Go on, how many consorts?”

“Over eighty.”

I grimaced. “That’s bad, worse than man-boobs.”

Jared laughed. “Don’t talk about tits. I’m having a hard time ignoring yours.”

“That’s because you’re perverted.”

“No, it’s because I want you, and you’re making it really hard to resist you when you come here dressed like that.”