The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires

"I don't suppose you'd care to explain just why you felt it necessary to kidnap someone when we're attempting to clear your name of a murder charge?" Theo asked.

"I told her it wasn't a good idea," Sarah piped in. "But you know how Portia is—once she has a goal in mind, she moves heaven and earth to achieve it. It must be all that science stuff—she's so linear in the way she thinks."

"She can be," Theo said, his gaze darkening into something expressing less displeasure and more thoughtfulness. "Which leads me to believe that I might owe her an apology after all. It's been my experience that Portia doesn't look before leaping, so to speak."

"Thank you, I will graciously accept your apology. Is there a mare or two around we can speak with? I think they're going to find Carol very interesting."

Theo gave the bound woman a long look. Who is this?

Milo's wife, Carol Lee.

Theo waited for more. I smiled into his head. Don't you recognize her? She's an old friend of yours.

His eyes narrowed as he looked her over more closely. She jerked convulsively, trying to break my hold on her bound arms, her eyes all but spitting hatred at us.

I knew the instant Theo recognized her. His eyes widened as he took a step toward her.

"I think we should let that wait for the mare," I told him. "Are they in the library, do you know?"

"I have no idea where they are, but we will find out," he said, stepping past us, careful not to leave the shade of the building as he hailed a young girl passing on a brightly colored bike. He had a few minutes' discussion with her, then gestured to us to follow him. "The messenger says that two of the mare are in the sanctuary."

Carol flung herself on the ground, shrieking behind her gag. Theo simply hoisted her onto his shoulders and carried her to the area of the Court containing the offices and grand apartments.

"We have an audience," Sarah said as we marched along. I glanced back to where she was looking. Just about everyone who had been in the town square was following behind us, with others streaming in to swell their ranks as we proceeded to the other section of the city.

This should prove to be interesting, Theo said as we waited for the same dapifer who had taken care of us a few days before to determine if the mare would see us. Added to what I found out while you were so industriously occupied, I believe we may have a solution.

Oh, I can't believe I didn't ask you about that! Did you talk to Terrin? What did you find out?

"Their graces the mare Irina and mare Disin have granted you an audience," the dapifer said, his lips moving soundlessly as he eyeballed the gathered crowd behind us. "I believe the ballroom will be best. This way, please."

What did Terrin tell you?

Have you ever heard of renascence?

Renaissance? Sure.

No, renascence. He spelled it for me. The concept is similar to renaissance in that both essentially mean rebirth, but in this instance its usage applies solely to the Court of Divine Blood.

In what way? I asked as we were led to an entirely different area of the keep from where we'd been before.

It is the method by which the entire Court hierarchy is remade. The sovereign allows one renascence per millennium.

What happens to the people who are remade? I asked, my skin crawling as thoughts of concentration camps and ethnic purging danced through my head.

They take new positions under the reformed hierarchy. It is not a mass extermination, sweetling…although the results can be nearly as devastating.

"Do we get to see the sovereign?" Sarah asked in an awe-hushed voice, drawing my attention from the dark path my thoughts had taken.