The Vampire Queen's Servant(49)

However, for now they would no doubt exercise every possible way to know all of Brian Morris's weaknesses and strengths and exploit them. She shifted her gaze to him. Young, just over eighty years old, but with a brilliant scientific mind, Brian had already acquired multiple degrees in different fields. One of the attractions of her area was a research facility in the Tuscaloosa area that focused on issues related to vampires behind its facade of an engineering research company.

The other thing that afforded him a measure of regard and rank he wouldn't have otherwise to protect him was that he was a born vampire. A half-breed, with a vampire father and human mother. As she'd told Jacob, his father was an important Master of a Region in Britain. The human mother was the vampire father's servant. Most couplings between humans and vampires did not result in offspring. The rarely occurring child was always a vampire, however.

Brian had an earnest intensity reminding her of a young Thomas. His thirst for learning and ability to think beyond the lines of known scientific thought meant he had a good chance of achieving and even surpassing Lyssa's age.

While his neatly cut blond hair and pleasant hazel eyes suggested an easy mark, the solidly cut chin and the shrewdness of his gaze as he assessed and measured Tara and Richard told Lyssa the vampire who tried to intimidate him would be making a mistake. He might not be as worldly and experienced as the two overlords of the Alabama territory, but he could think on his feet. His father had apparently taught the boy well.

Boy. She almost winced. She thought of the eighty-year-old Brian as a "boy," but Jacob, fifty years his junior, elicited no such maternal compulsions.

"I understand Carnal was in your Region recently." Richard was addressing her. "Do you suspect he's of a matrimonial bent?"

"He'll be disappointed if so," Lyssa replied neutrally. "I won't marry again."

Richard and Tara exchanged glances. "But it was assumed—"

"Yes. But I won't. There's no one of royal blood left, not a direct descendant. Rex was only distantly connected at best, and no one would expect me to condescend to marry beneath my station."

"There are some Council members—"

"They've accumulated their wealth and standing through power, not blood. So what is the research project you will be doing in our area, Brian?" Lyssa pointedly made the subject change.

I think Lord Richard is mightily disappointed, my lady. I suspect he would have liked you to entertain a suit from him.

I was lucky enough to survive one marriage in a millennium. I'm not strong enough to survive two.

You're very strong, my lady. I have the bruises.

She'd kept part of her mind open to Jacob for much of this night so he could follow her thoughts and understand more about her guests and the politics involved. He'd been quiet and listening without comment for the most part, but now she bit the inside of her cheek to hide a smile. He had an amazing aptitude for the mind play. Thomas had needed far more time to accustom himself to the feel of her in his head, to overcome the seasick feeling. After only a few days, Jacob interacted with her easily on the link. But true to his promise on that vulnerable night, he did not try to probe her mind, so she did not have to expend energy to ensure her shields were holding against him. She knew she could trust his word on that, as much as she knew she could trust he'd rebel against her in other ways because it was in his nature, no matter his resolve.

She looked forward to it.

"I'm working on the Delilah virus."

Lyssa's gaze sharpened on Brian. "I thought you were pursuing your latest degree."

"I am, my lady. But I'm also here to work with the scientists at Tuscaloosa Techco on the virus. We were fortunate. One victim of it—the Russian vampire—agreed to be preserved. I'm bringing his body here because they've agreed at Techco to help with the research. Truth, I may get so immersed in it, I may put off the degree another decade. Thirteen vampires in five years…" He looked pensively into his blood-laced wine. "There are not many of us. It strikes without discretion. It can take someone as exalted as yourself, my lady." He sketched a bow in Lyssa's direction. "Or someone barely out of boyhood that no one would miss, like myself."

Tara lifted a brow. "Sounds more like those thirteen should have been far more careful. Why should we expend effort on vampires who have unscrupulous and careless dietary habits? It's a weeding out, in my opinion. Darwinian."

Brian's expression hardened, but before he could find words, Richard spoke. "Easy to say, love, until you have it. I visited with Antonio a month before he succumbed. Headaches, vomiting of blood, sudden weakness at very inopportune and unpredictable moments. Those aren't even the worst of the symptoms at the end." He grimaced. "I can only imagine what that body you're carrying looks like."

Jacob, I think we need more wine.

There's not an empty glass, my lady.

Go to the kitchen.

No.

"Jacob," she spoke out loud, drawing their attention. "We're ready for the next course. Only I've decided I'd like it on the Tannen plates instead of the Dresden. Please go supervise that personally. You know how particular I am about the Tannen."

She was fairly certain she heard his teeth grind together. Richard raised a brow. While she assumed her servant hadn't reached out to choke her, there apparently was some evidence in Jacob's face of the struggle going on between them. She would not attempt to cover it or dissemble. That would be worse, suggesting she thought she needed to cover his disobedience rather than handle it.

"Jacob." A ripple of menace emanated from her. "I will not ask twice."

Her coldness swept over her guests. The vampires were old enough to weather it, though they immediately became still, watchful. Richard's servant, a tall black woman named Seanna who'd been with him thirty years but looked as if he'd made her his servant when she was barely out of girlhood, shuddered, but fought to control the reaction and remain impassive. Liam, the blond male behind Tara, almost mirrored her. However, the two of them stilled almost simultaneously, likely steadied by a mind touch from their Master and Mistress. Brian's servant Debra was a thin blonde woman who looked as if her main purpose was to serve as his lab assistant. She appeared the most shaken of the three, telling Lyssa she was the youngest, or that Brian kept her sequestered in labs more than he took her to ritual duties at vampire functions.

"My lady." Jacob's voice was cordial, no inflection, but the anger and frustration in his mind hit her like the blast from a furnace. But you do yourself no service, hiding this from me.

She met his gaze as he came around her chair and bowed, his blue eyes cool. He left them for the kitchen.

"I can't believe you chose an Irishman, Lady Lyssa," Tara commented. "Overly sentimental one moment. Absolutely bullheaded the next. They take everything too seriously or not at all. Laugh and cry equally easily. He's not really appropriate material for a human servant, is he? Though I will say, he's very easy on the eyes. I can understand your desire to have something for bedsport, as dynamic as Rex was."

Lyssa noted she did not mention Thomas at all. Carnal's reference to him at the mall had been considered highly inappropriate, but of course Carnal's entire presence had been inappropriate. It would be assumed Lyssa wouldn't wish to speak or even think about the servant who had purportedly killed her husband. However, most vampires also wouldn't venture into the subject of her preferences in the bedroom so directly. It wasn't the first time Tara had sought a more intimate footing. Sometimes Lyssa wondered if the woman simply desired friendship with another female vampire, not having much opportunity for a peer in her own territory. But it was far more likely that Tara was seeking the advantages of a familiarity with someone of Lyssa's rank.

"He is appropriate to my needs," Lyssa said mildly. "Just very young. He doesn't understand his place yet. We all know how easy it can be to forget that sometimes."

The woman stopped, her wineglass poised just below her lips. As Lyssa waited silently, she swallowed, set down the glass. "My apologies, Lady Lyssa, if my comments were too familiar."

Lyssa turned her attention back to Brian. "Have there been any advances with Delilah?"

"The lab I worked in out of Egypt had some very intriguing results. That's another reason I've come here. The Tuscaloosa lab has some correlating data. We think if we run some tests together… Well, we'll see. If it's successful, we hope to have a cautiously optimistic report for the Council Gathering. Having the preserved body gives us a unique situation. We can study many things about ourselves we haven't resolved yet. Sensitivity to sunlight, our need to sleep during daylight hours. What our internal organs are like, the composition of our blood… There's more to be gained than just insight into the virus."

"I wish you well, then. Humans are our food source, Tara." Lyssa glanced toward the woman as the catering staff returned to replace the soup bowls with the main course, suitably arranged on the Tannen. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jacob reenter the room and take his position behind her again. "If we can't rely on them without worry of this disease, then we must address the issue before it threatens our extinction. There are only a few thousand of us in the entire world, that we know about."