Immortal Confessions (21 page)

“What is the charge?” Louis said to me.

“Rape of several women, the killing of one
woman, a wife of an important citizen, and the attempted rape of my
Oathed One.”

“Anna?” Louis growled at me, his eyes glowing
red. “How could you have let her get into that position—?”

“Pardon,” I said quickly. “I meant Eva. She
volunteered to help, on behalf of the women who were hurt.”

“Very noble,” Louis said approvingly. “He
must be killed, of course. You didn’t need to ask me here to know
that, Devlin.”

“There is something more. I wanted to present
my new second, Danial, to you,” I said. “He was the one who devised
the trap that caught the man.” I motioned to Levi.” Take him out
and dispose of him. Save his body for Rip.”

Danial came forward, handing off the man to
Levi, who took him outside.

Louis studied Danial.

“You are a friend of Devlin’s,” he said.
“Likely from his human life or directly thereafter. You must have
crawled out of the hole he did, to have appeared so suddenly. Tell
me; are more like you going to appear as the years wear on?”

“No, Sir,” Danial said respectfully. “I
simply got tired of living in seclusion. I wasn’t doing anyone good
there, least of all God.”

“So you are a believer,” Louis said
scathingly. “I myself am not. There is too much evil in the world
for any God to exist.”

“It is hard to stay in faith,” Danial said,
nodding. “Yet I am doing good here. I thought it correct to make
myself known, so you’d know I have no designs for glory.”

“A bold one, aren’t you, to speak so
plainly,” Louis sniped. “What are your intentions—to spend the rest
of your days tracking down human vermin?”

“Yes,” Danial said simply. “It suits me, and
it helps make the world a better place, as God decrees.”

“You have no designs for more?” Louis said
suspiciously. “For wealth?”

“I was born a peasant, and find it easier to
stay one,” Danial laughed. “My only desire is for mentally
challenging work. That is the hardest thing to obtain, to find
tasks that stimulate after living so long.”

The only smile I was ever to see graced
Louis’s face. “Indeed. I hear your belief in your words, not that I
don’t find them painfully true also. You are welcome here, Danial.
Get an Oathed One, if you like. I have only one request: you are to
come if I have need of you. France is a large country, and it has
many murders. Once in a decade, there is usually a string of bad
murders. I’d appreciate your help, when the time comes.”

“Of course,” Danial said, nodding.

“Good to see you, Devlin,” Louis said with a
bared fang. “Give my very best to Anna.” He nodded to his demon,
and they disappeared.

“Do not go,” Uther said immediately from the
doorway. “Not under any circumstances. If he sends for you, Danial,
leave the country. For he won’t want your help, but to separate you
from Devlin, that he might destroy you more easily.”

“I know, but there was nothing else for it
but to say I would,” Danial said wearily. “This way at least I’ll
have warning the moment he plans to move against Devlin.”

“Yes, you will,” Uther said respectfully,
admiration on his rough features. “A well-played hand. You are much
more than you seem.”

“Of course he is,” I said proudly. “He’s my
brother, after all.”

Danial laughed. “I was waiting for that, Dev.
You always have to be the center of attention.”

“I do not,” I said crossly. “I just meant
that you have all of my good qualities, in addition to your own. I
have never been good at mysteries, I admit.”

“Danial, your skill is needed again tonight,
I’m afraid,” Quentin said hesitantly. “A courier came to deliver an
urgent message from the police. An inspector asks that you come.
There is a valuable diamond necklace that has been stolen from Lady
Jezebel’s country home.”

“Of course,” Danial said. “Tell him I’ll be
there shortly.”

Quentin nodded and went out. Danial made to
follow him, but I grabbed his hand.

“I’ve heard of the Lady Jezebel,” I said in a
low voice. “She arrived here only a week ago. Quentin says she’s no
lady at all, but a goblin disguised in pretty flesh. Be on your
guard.”

“I’ve heard of that myself,” Danial replied
quietly. “I think she wants some kind of alliance with you, and
this theft is mere fakery to bring about a meeting. I’ll be
careful, and report to you when I return.”

“Thank you,” I said, wanting to embrace him
but feeling too ill at ease to make the attempt. “I appreciate all
you are doing. Please let me know if you need anything.”

Danial gave me a faint smile. “You’ve done
enough, really.”

“No, I haven’t,” I said seriously. “Feel free
to ask me for anything.”

Danial raised his eyebrows. “Even Anna?”

I blinked quickly, thinking he could not have
said what I’d heard, or if he had, he hadn’t meant it the way it
sounded. “You want my Anna?”

Danial didn’t move, he just continued to hold
my gaze.

“What are you proposing?” I said, trying hard
to keep anger out of my voice.

Danial held my gaze for one more moment, and
then his face split into a wide smile. “You see how it is, when the
shoe is on your foot, Dev. Remember asking me, years ago on my
wedding night, if you could stay with Beaulah and me to ‘keep us
company?’”

A faint blush suffused my face. I had said
that and more, being stupendously drunk and rather randy at the
time. “I am sorry for that. I’m sorry for a great many things—”

“Relax, brother. It was just a joke,” Danial
said quickly. “I really need to go. I’ll talk to you when I get
back.” He left, striding out of the room.

Quentin returned, his face looking tired.
“Let’s go for a drink, Devlin. Seeing Louis wears my nerves to
rags. The investments will keep for another night. We have the
opera tomorrow and the playhouse the night after.”

I nodded, and walked out with him, after
kissing Anna goodbye.

En route, I asked him, “What have you heard
of Lady Jezebel?”

Quentin snorted. “That one is no lady. She is
a goblin who seduced an old lord, then fucked him to death.”

I gaped at him. “To death? That isn’t
possible.”

“For her it is,” he replied distastefully.
“Don’t get me wrong, she is lovely to behold. But inside dwells a
monster.”

“Could she be useful to us?” I asked after a
moment.

“No,” Quentin said shortly. “She is more
trouble than she’s worth. Have nothing to do with her. She’s long
been trying to involve herself with powerful beings to gain more
power for herself in Spain. She recently moved here, probably
hearing you are newly ascended, in hopes of making an
alliance.”

A woman after my own heart. Perhaps I’d
arrange to meet this Jezebel after all.

I’ve explained how Danial helped me with his
deductive skills, but it does him disservice to make that seem all
he was good at. For all Danial had been poor, living the life of
the cloth, he knew a great amount about what it took to get things
done in higher circles. For example, he made alliances with the
police, arranging for a certain few murders to be buried in
paperwork in exchange for his help solving crimes of more
importance to the police force. He also made the acquaintance of
several lawyers who were able to influence some of my business
deals favorably.

For all he was doing, I thought he deserved
more recompense. Therefore I turned all of my legitimate dealings
over to him—most of the mines, real estate, and crop
futures—leaving myself to concentrate on the gambling, brothels and
opium dens. These would provide Danial a steady source of income,
even if his dealings were not the more profitable ones.

Despite all his talk of how he had enough
pay, Danial welcomed this. He had a knack for management, and took
control of more and more of the business dealings, until it was he
and not I that was meeting with Quentin, visiting factories and
mines abroad. As this gave me back more time with Anna, I was only
too happy to comply. Besides, I had my hands full with running the
department, and also helping Uther with some troubles he had with
neighboring werebat colonies. They were disgruntled that he and his
bats were allied with a vampire lord, and so had combined forces,
to try to pressure him into abandoning me.

Our lives entered a happy time there for a
year, or maybe it was two. Danial and I worked together, Levi and
Uther helping us, Rip guarding our backs, and Quentin advising us.
If Danial was melancholy sometimes, or spent some evenings by
himself, indulging in his old love of painting or stargazing, I
thought it only natural. I had Quentin to socialize with. In fact,
I even convinced him to begin to teach me some of his tricks for
staying power with the opposite sex, which Anna appreciated very
much. I had moods myself at times, especially after disciplining my
subjects, or quarrelling over strategy with Uther, or worst,
fighting with Anna.

We had never fought before this, never raised
our voices to each other.

It escalated quickly.

It began innocently enough, with my worst
night since taking Guy’s crown. Everything had gone wrong from the
moment I’d woken to Levi pounding on the door, telling me we had a
telegram from Louis advising that he would be visiting in a month.
Next, there was a triple murder: one of my brothel girls, the madam
who ran the house, and a repeat customer of hers. This was the same
madam I’d met with Quentin years ago, a trusted partner. Worse, the
girl killed was Danial’s favorite.

Danial departed at once to began an
investigation, rage barely held in check. Just after he left, Uther
appeared to announce that he was getting mated again. That might
seem to anyone else like good news. I saw it as something that
would divert his attention from me just when I needed one hundred
percent of it.

“Can this mating be put off for a while?” I
said forcefully. “I need you here and focused.”

“She is from a neighboring colony. My flock
is pressuring hard for this union; it will put to rest the
fighting, and solidify us again. I remind you that it was my
alliance with you that has caused this rift in my people—”

“You went into it with open eyes,” I said
scathingly. “Your people enjoy many luxuries now because of our
alliance. You were living in caves, and hunting for your meat and
fruit, barely surviving! Now you can afford the sweetest fruit year
round!”

“I am going to be a father, and I have not
been one for two years,” Uther bellowed back. “I do not have time
to waste guarding you when I must be guarding her. It will be a
difficult pregnancy as it is, she is only seventeen—”

“Eighteen is the limit I have set,” I warned.
“You already have a dozen children and more grandchildren and
great-grandchildren than that. I will not allow this.”

“Consider this my notice,” Uther snarled.
“Find yourself another guard, Vampire.” He stalked out.

Levi watched him go, and then said, “What are
we going to do without him?”

“He’ll cool off, and come back,” I said,
hoping there was prophecy in my words. “What do you need? You are
supposed to be with Quentin.”

“He sent me to find you,” he said
reluctantly. “There has been a late freeze in Spain.”

“And?”

“An inch of rain had fallen just before. All
crops not already harvested are ruined.”

I let out a scream of frustration, then asked
as calmly as I could, “How much did we lose?”

“He had just purchased an additional thousand
bushels for you and your brother. Quentin said the loss will be
close to the last two months profits.”

“Of our field profits?”

“Of your total profits, Danial’s and yours
combined.”

I let out another scream of anger, and then
stalked past him, yelling for the butler to get my carriage
ready.

I drove to my nearest brothel and lost myself
in blood until I was fat as a tick with it. Mollified, I returned
to my home just before dawn. Anna was there waiting for me.

I longed to lose myself in her flesh. But
when I embraced her, my lips seeking hers, she recoiled.

“You smell of blood, Devlin, blood and cheap
perfume.”

“Be quiet,” I said angrily. “I’ve had a
trying day, and I need you. Be a good wife, Anna, and kiss me.”

“I will not, not until you have washed the
scent of other women from your body.”

“I have lain with no one but you, Oathed
One,” I said dangerously. “But that will change if you rebuff
me.”

Anna gave a hitching gasp, and then ran from
the hallway.

I went to our bedroom, calming myself with
some effort. Then I washed my body, making sure to get all traces
of blood and perfume off me. Anna had been right; I was reeking
with the scent.

She came in some time later, as I woke up
with her sleeping beside me. When I kissed her awake, she kissed me
back, and we made love. Both of us enjoyed the act, but something
was missing.

I hadn’t meant to say what I had. But the
words had been spoken, the threat made, and things were strained
from then on between us.

Danial tracked down the man who’d killed his
lover the next night, and killed him. I tried to talk to him about
it, but he replied that there was nothing to talk about, that the
girl had been avenged.

“You will still need blood,” I began
carefully. “There are other women in the city that are available. I
know you preferred her—”

“I have found someone, brother,” Danial
admitted, biting one lip with his fang. “I didn’t want to tell
you.”

“Why the hell not?” I said loudly, clapping
him on the back. “How long have you been keeping this secret?”

“Two months,” he said sheepishly, “I’ve not
been to see anyone else for some time. You know I don’t partake as
often as you do—”