"Any help will be appreciated," Kiarra agreed.
* * *
"This should get them through the next six months; they can begin to plant their own crops by that time." Weldon and I had bought necessities for the werewolves on Harifa Edus; shoes, jeans, coats, hats—plus all sorts of supplies, including flour, sugar, oats, dried meats, canned vegetables and manual can openers. Daniel, Mack, David and Martin were all there with us. Erland wanted to come but Wylend asked him to do a few things for him instead, so he'd stayed on Karathia.
"We have to do this quickly; Kiarra wants to have a big pow-wow when we get back," Weldon sighed. He folded the supplies and the rest of us to Harifa Edus. We unloaded everything, talked about the canned goods and supplies and told the werewolves we'd check on them again soon. They'd already butchered some game, so things were going as well as could be expected.
"Where are you going now, little girl?" Weldon flipped my braid.
"Home, I guess," I sighed. "I'll go face the music. I figure Gavin is going to start shouting and cursing the moment I get back."
"Well, it's been six months."
"I know. Grace and Amara should be ready to pop soon," I muttered.
"Lissa, we don't always get what we want. Do we?" Weldon pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head.
"Yeah. You're right," I nodded against him and folded away.
* * *
"That's the only vampire I ever called Pack," Weldon sighed when Lissa folded away.
"I remember—I signed her certificate," Martin grinned. "Come on; let's go see what the big news is about."
* * *
I'd been going about during daylight for the past six months. Landing on the central dome of the palace on Le-Ath Veronis was a bit of a shock—it was twilight there constantly. I was still mist when I caught the movement, not far from where I'd landed. I would have gasped, if I could have. He was more than beautiful. I'd said long ago that Roff would be a winged vampire and that I wanted to see it for myself. I was seeing it for myself. His wingspan was at least twelve feet, stretched out.
I could also see how the rumor had gotten started of vampires becoming bats—his wings resembled those of a huge bat, only they were beautiful—the color of soft brown leather. Roff's skin was darker, too, and his black hair was slightly longer than he'd kept it before. He was now more than six feet tall, incredible to look upon and didn't remember a thing about me. I didn't materialize until he leapt away from the roof, allowing his wings to lift him in an updraft. He glided away for a long while, flapping lazily as if he enjoyed his flight. I sighed at the beauty he'd become and sighed again for myself, because he was no longer mine.
* * *
"I'm going out looking for her." Gavin cut into his steak so viciously I was surprised his knife didn't go right through the plate. His claws certainly would have, if he'd used those. I'd misted into the dining room, just as dinner was being served.
"And where are you going to look?" Shadow asked. He didn't sound happy either. Drake and Drew weren't saying anything—they were eating and not talking, which was out of character for them. Tony was prepared to go with Gavin, I could tell. Gabron was missing. I had no idea where he might be and I was still upset with him anyway.
"You don't have to go anywhere, Gavin. I'm right here," I said, materializing at my place at the head of the table.
Gavin handed me a dark look. "Lissa, it will be in your best interest if you sit down right now and eat. If we ask you questions, I would appreciate answers." Drake or Drew must have sent mindspeech to Garde and Karzac, because they were both there in a blink. I wanted to tell Karzac to go back to Grace, but I didn't. I sat down, just as Gavin said, and food was brought.
"Where have you been?" Gavin growled.
"Earth, Harifa Edus, Earth, Beliphar, Earth, Karathia, Harifa Edus, Kifirin," I was trying to remember if I'd left anything out.
"Lissa, I am extremely angry at this moment," Gavin said, stabbing his fork into a chunk of steak.
"I know that," I said, staring at my plate. I wasn't hungry anymore. I guess it was too much to ask for them to be glad to see me, and I was depressed about seeing Roff and knowing he wouldn't recognize me.
"Baby, eat," Tony urged.
"Lissa, just a word or mindspeech once in a while would have gone a long way," Karzac weighed in.
"I know."
"Lissa, we were imagining that you were dead or someplace terrible, needing our help and we were helpless to find you."
"I know."
"Lissa, please do not do that to us again. I don't think we can survive that."
"I know."
"Lissa, you have wounded me."
"I know."
"Lissa!" Grant came into the room at a run, lifted me from my chair and spun me around, hugging me and laughing. Well, at least somebody was glad to see me.
"I missed you so much," Grant beamed as he set me down.
"I missed you, too, hon," I patted his face. "Is there a stack of fan mail a mile high?"
"You wouldn't believe what I have piled up. You have to come see it."
"Lissa will come see it later," Gavin snarled. Grant gave me a frightened look and left the dining room quietly. "Lissa, what do you have to say for yourself?" Gavin broke open a crusty roll.
"Well, I don't have much to say for myself. I didn't mean to make you suffer and I sure didn't mean to make you angry. That's always such a pleasant experience for me. I might have come back sooner, but I learned that Roff doesn't have any idea who I am. Doesn't remember me in the tiniest bit. How do you think that makes me feel, Gavin? And I still have a mate out there somewhere, I assume, whose employee thought I'd look a lot better with a stake through my heart. Have I gotten an apology over that? Has Roff? Because he stood in front of me and took that blow—for me. And somebody let that witch into my palace to begin with. Explain that to me, Gavin. Who dropped that ball? If she could get in, then anybody can just waltz right in here and do me in, or anybody else, for that matter. I was promised that those tours were foolproof. Except they weren't. Were they?" I slapped my napkin on the table. "I'm not hungry," I snapped and walked out.
* * *
"That's been building for a while," Tony said softly.
"Six months," Drake agreed.
"We failed to do our job." Gavin stood. "Where do you suppose she is, now?"
"I hope she is in her suite. I'll take food and try to get her to eat if she is." Shadow stood and went to pull Lissa's plate off the table.
"I'll come with you." Karzac rose from his seat.
"We're coming." Drake and Drew stood.
"You're not leaving me behind," Garde said.
* * *
"Lissa, we brought your food." The door to my suite opened and nearly all my mates trooped inside. I was sitting on my bed, my knees to my chest. Yes, I was sulking. I was fine, flying through the universes, but the moment I got home things went straight to hell in a hurry.
"Lissy, we missed you. A lot. We should have been checking those tours before. We are, now." Tony was attempting to set things right. Shadow held my plate in his hands and he brought my bed tray over, setting my plate on top of it.
"You need to eat, love," was all he said.
* * *
"She's back?" Gabron looked up at his vampire assistant.
"The word just came down from the palace. She'll be at the meeting this afternoon."
"Thank you, Heathe." Gabron dismissed him. Heathe left Gabron's office, closing the door softly behind him.
* * *
"I'll take him with me to the meeting this afternoon, but it will likely do no good at all. He was extremely curious about his new genitalia and asked me why he woke with an erection after sleeping. I took him to one of the brothels—not one run by Gabron, by the way." Flavio was having lunch with Wlodek and Merrill. Roff had been allowed to go to the winery by himself—Flavio knew he wouldn't stray from there—he loved his business. The earnings were placed in an interest-bearing account for him.
"How did he react?" Merrill asked.
"He refused to allow any of the women to put their hands on him. The whole thing distressed him greatly." Flavio sipped his glass of wine.
"He prefers men?" Wlodek asked.
"I called Lucas back in and he offered. Roff backed away from him faster than he did the women." Flavio shook his head. He didn't understand any of this.
"So, now what?" Merrill said.
"Lucas showed him how to masturbate—you know that vampire has absolutely no shame or shyness about him. Roff now handles things himself, every morning," Flavio didn't bother to hide the smile.
"You may want to keep him near the back, in case there's trouble with Lissa at the Council meeting," Merrill suggested. "It might not be a good idea to let the cameras find her bursting into tears when Roff doesn't recognize her."
"He doesn't recognize Giff or Toff, either; we've tried that already," Wlodek shrugged. "That I find unusual. Karzac thinks it is some sort of Systematized Amnesia—where he's lost all memories of the ones closest to him. He vaguely recalls Gavin, Tony and some of the others, but not all. He also can't remember anything about the stabbing, or at least he hasn't brought it up. Karzac thinks his memories may return eventually, but where will we be in the meantime?"
"Lissa is fragile enough at the moment. Karzac tells me that she blew up last night, after she returned home. She knows Roff doesn't remember and she was upset that Gabron hasn't come forward and offered an apology or an explanation." Flavio was angry enough about that, on Roff's behalf.
"Griffin has gone Looking and he says that Lissa placed Shala and Elthine's applications in the pile not to be considered. Gabron pulled them out and hired those girls anyway. Lissa knew, according to Griffin, that they were unsuitable with that talent she has to recognize such things. Gabron overrode her decision." Merrill had talked at length with Griffin over the entire thing. Griffin refused to tell Merrill what the outcome was likely to be.