Famished Read online

  “There’s only one problem with that,” Halo said dryly. “There is no leader of the authoritarians. Not if Danton is stepping aside like he says.”

  “Leave that to me,” she said firmly. “You aren’t likely to find Draz with any immediacy. That gives me time to replace Danton.”

  “Ha! You obviously don’t know me very well,” Halo said. “I’ll find out where he is. And I’ll do it by the end of the week. So you better get to picking.”

  He turned to head back out of the room but she recalled him momentarily with, “You are gong to do this alone…right?” She glanced with concern at Felice. This was not the situation for an untrained human to be caught in the middle of.

  “Do I look like I ride the short bus to school?” he asked her rudely. “Of course I’m not taking her!”

  “I was just making sure. Don’t get hostile with me because I care.”

  Halo grumbled and Felice stroked his biceps soothingly on his right arm, which she had hooked in hers. She spoke very softly as she stroked him.

  “It’s all right,” she said gently. “They mean well.”

  “I know how to take care of you,” he said, surly.

  “No one is saying you don’t. She was just making sure I don’t do anything foolish.” Felice turned a soft smile on the room. “Thank you for your concern. I’ll be fine. Trust me, he handles me with kid gloves.”

  It was hard to imagine Halo handling anything that gently, but she supposed there was someone for everyone to take care of.

  Everyone except, perhaps, her.

  But that was not a thought for the moment. She returned Felice’s smile.

  “I’ll take your word for it of course. And I’ll replace Danton by the end of the week. You’re not to move on Draz without help.”

  “I already said I wouldn’t,” Halo groused.

  “I’m just making sure. Have a good night, Halo,” she said softly. Soothingly. It was like dealing with an angry bear.

  Halo turned away at Felice’s insistent pull, and they left the apartment. She sighed, not realizing she had been holding her breath as he had left, and turned to Rafe.

  “Put out word that I am interviewing candidates to take over for Danton temporarily,” she said to him. “Make sure it’s known it’s only temporary.”

  “I will. Now maybe you should get some sleep. You look tired. It’s been a long day.”

  “They’re all long,” she said with another sigh. Rafe held out a hand to his lover and Renee moved to take it readily. He led her to the edge of the room before turning back to face Simone.

  “Go to bed, Simone. We’ll handle things in the morning.”

  She nodded and they left her apartment. She turned and looked back out of the glass and onto the dark vista of the city. As the city that never slept it was full of lighted windows no matter what time it was.

  There was something lonely about that. Even though all of those other people were out there, she was here, isolated, out of reach…where no one could see of hear how vast and empty her penthouse apartment was.

  She reached out and pressed a hand to the cold glass. It was snowing lightly just beyond that glass and the city would be dusted in the morning. She closed her eyes and weariness ran through her from head to toe, but she wouldn’t let it get the best of her. She would sleep and in the morning she would feel better. Sleep didn’t provide them with any energy, but it did help them to shut down for a little while. She had not hunted that night so she wouldn’t be supercharged and unable to sleep. That would be tomorrow night.

  And thinking of that long, sleepless night ahead, she turned away from the glass and made her way into her bedroom.

  Chapter Two

  Simone didn’t start holding interviews for Danton’s position until after she spoke to Danton herself. She wanted to know straight from his lips why he was stepping down.

  “It’s not forever,” he had said. “I just want a little less responsibility for a little while. I want someone else to sit on the committee. I want to focus on bringing people to justice rather than handing down the sentence of that justice. I grow weary of deciding between life and death for my people.”

  She understood. Their laws were simple…and absolute. To break the law meant to risk censure and even death. They had no jails. The logistics of feeding prisoners had forced them to act with decisiveness. But everyone knew the laws and it was their own choice whether they broke them or not. Some laws were more serious than others, but most were simple and straightforward and a matter of survival for their species. There was no need for gradation of laws among their people. There was no theft, as all essentials were provided to all vampires, and there were no laws to cover petty crimes like assault. Fights were settled between the vampires themselves.

  There were other similar departures from human law, but there was also the fact that they were subject to human law as long as they lived in the human world. That meant lawyers. Powerful lawyers whose sole job it was to keep vampires out of human jails. When that failed them, the vampires took flight from one jurisdiction to another…remaining hidden away from human justice.

  There were no drug dealers…drug dealing was inherently about money and, again, vampires had no need to make that kind of cash when the opportunity to live in comfort was provided for every vampire. If a vampire broke a law like that…a human law…they were subject to vampire justice long before they were subject to human justice, and vampire justice was far more absolute than human justice…so punishable things were avoided at all costs.

  Vampires were not fools.

  Until they were. Until they crossed over from vampire to sycophant. Then they were lost and subject to immediate and final justice, on the spot, at the hands of whatever lawful vampire came across its path. But again, sycophants tended to roam in packs, so it was usually a very dangerous situation for a vampire to be caught alone with a sycophant. There were only a few vampires, like Halo and perhaps Rafe and herself, who could take on more than one sycophant at a time. The older the vampire the more powerful, so age had something to do with that ability.

  But Danton wasn't talking about sycophants. He was talking about vampires. Fellow vampires. They didn’t consider sycophants vampires any longer. Sentencing a vampire was heavy business and responsibility. It could wear on a soul. And if there was one thing Simone could sympathize with, it was the weight of enormous responsibility on a soul.

  So she had granted Danton permission for his hiatus and gave him his pick of assignments. She knew him. He wouldn’t be able to tolerate a slow pace for very long. He would be back. He was a lot like her. He might need a break to recharge, but he would feel useless in a position of little power and less effect.

  So she had Rafe send out an email to all princes in the world announcing the opening on the committee and at her left hand. They would in turn filter it down to those who would be interested in the position that that princes felt were worthy of the shot. The only prerequisites? They had to be a high-ranking authoritarian…and they had to be trustworthy enough to serve the queen. That meant selecting their offerings carefully from a limited pool. She would have responses by the end of the day…and they would be of a select few. Rafe would do background on each candidate and provide her with a dossier. She would review them that night and line up interviews the next day. She should have her choice by the end of the workweek. Since it was Monday, she figured that to be an impressive turn around. Of course it could be sooner. She might like someone on the spot.

  That was doubtful. Choosing someone to be her left hand would be like choosing a brother or sister from a pool of strangers. Trust would not come instantly. It was the possibility of trust she would be looking for. That was why she was depending heavily on her right hand man, Rafe, to do all the necessary work for her…so she could focus strictly on her senses and feelings on the matter and not the necessary qualifications and experience. She would interview as far as that was concerned of course…but she would get most of h
er security and information from Rafe.

  The responses to the call for an aide to the queen were actually many more than expected. Not that she doubted the ambition of her people, but that so many would be recommended. Of course, each prince would have motivation for sending their best and brightest to her. They could be using a loyal authoritarian to spy on her. She could hardly trust that all the motivations for serving her were pure. Her selection would be more likely to come from a prince she trusted…which numbered in the few rather than the many. But Rafe would take that into account as well. He knew who could be trusted…and who would be suspect.

  Rafe did all he necessary legwork, researching the candidates and selecting the top ten that, in his opinion, would suit her. He notified each and told them to get on the next plane to New York for their interviews the next day. She would start interviewing around six tomorrow evening, giving them plenty of time to arrive and settle in.

  She took home the dossiers that night and, after pouring herself a healthy glass of chardonnay, she kicked off her shoes and settled onto her couch, her feet tucked up off the floor. She was aware of Darcy in the kitchen, her live in maid of all trades preparing her night meal. It wasn't necessary for vampires to eat food…they gleaned all their sustenance from the taking of energy, but eating was a pleasurable experience and most vampires partook of at least one meal a day. She had her vices as well. Not only was Darcy an excellent chef, she brewed the best coffee in town…a dark elixir Simone could barely get enough of. Caffeine did not affect vampires adversely, it was not addictive as it was in humans, but she did so take pleasure in it in its many forms.

  She began to read through the dossiers, studying the faces pictured in each, seeing who appealed to her sense of trustworthiness in their expressions as best she could. It was silly of course, pictures told her nothing, but she tried to get a sense of who had a good face. Not an attractive one, but an honest one.

  By the time she went through half of the pile it was time for dinner. Darcy set out a gorgeous spread of food, veal saltimbocca on the menu that night, and Simone brought the files to the table with her in spite of Darcy’s scolding frown.

  “I suppose I should just be thankful you’re eating. But you really should relax,” Darcy said to her.

  Darcy, a fair haired, slight figured woman of about 5’6’’ was pretty in her special way. She was gentle natured, nurturing and caring, which she would have to be in order to serve Simone in such a personal way. She worked very hard as both her maid, chef and personal assistant. Originally her personal assistant had been a separate position served by a separate person, but when the position had come open a bout a year ago, Darcy had begged her for the work. Since she had come to trust Darcy and Darcy had proven herself to be a hard worker she was very compatible with, she had given the woman a chance. That had been a year ago. Darcy’s devotion to her and her jobs astounded Simone. She would be lost without her and she made certain Darcy was well compensated for her work and that she showed her appreciation for her at every possible opportunity.

  They had also become friends. It was hard not to grow that close to someone you spend most of your day with every single day. Especially someone you installed in a position that required a lot of personal exposure and private trust. Darcy knew things about her that no one else knew. She did her laundry for goodness sake. It didn’t get much more personal that that.

  Simone refused to let Darcy overwork herself too much, so once a week she had a girl come in from the outside to help her with the more heavy duty cleaning of the week. This usually was on Saturday, when they weren't spending the day downstairs on the lower floors of the vampire business headquarters.

  Business and living was done by the vampires in the same large building. All it took to commute was a trip down in an elevator. The building was more than large enough to house all of the vampires who chose to live and work in New York City. Actually, there were a great deal of vacancies in the building, their numbers not being as great as all that. She could hardly imagine how many vampires were needed to fill the building…and the logistics of having them all hunt in the same hunting ground. Sure, there were millions of people in the city, but there were surprisingly few who led a clean lifestyle…i.e. no drugs, be they recreational, an addiction or a narcotic prescribed. They also preferred they led a healthy eating lifestyle too. Too much junk food meant too low a resource of energy…and people who did not care for themselves and what they put into their bodies tasted unpalatable. They would do in a pinch (not the drug users of course) but they were generally to be avoided. It was a little like dumpster diving, you could find something to eat perhaps, but it was always a last resort and it didn’t promise to taste all that good.

  Darcy looked over her shoulder at the open dossier on the table. She whistled long and low.

  “Oh mama. He’s a hottie. Pick him.”

  Simone burst out in a laugh. “I can’t just pick someone because they look hot,” she scolded her.

  Darcy shrugged a single shoulder. “Why not? You know Rafe has done an excellent job at finding you the best candidates. Why not base it on sex appeal? It’d be nice having that hanging around.” Darcy growled playfully. “If not for you, do it for me.”

  “You’re incorrigible,” Simone said with a chuckle. She looked down at the photo. Darcy was right. The vampire was hot. Unlike most of the other photos, this wasn't a headshot. It was a full-bodied shot, as if someone had taken it when he hadn’t been paying attention as he’d gone about his business on the street. It made her curious. She read it as him not particularly enjoying the time it would take to take a proper I.D. photo. She didn’t know why. Perhaps it was Halo rubbing off on her. He was another who wouldn’t sit still for a headshot. He had to be caught in action when he wasn't paying attention.

  She read the name on the file.

  Marcus Alliene.

  She frowned at the play of his last name. To her he was snubbing his nose at their secret lives by joking around with the word “alien”, which in fact they were. But when she read a little further in his profile she saw he was actually a third generation vampire and so had not chosen the name more than likely.

  Curious. A third generation vampire made him significantly younger than she was. Significantly younger than most of them. There were of course many later generations than that, but since vampires were slow to reproduce for a variety of reasons, third generation made him as unique as first generation. He was a mere one hundred and fifty three years old. So young. But old enough, she supposed, to have earned his position. After a certain point age ceased to mean anything. Well, not much of anything. Except to serve as a reminder of just how long they had lived on the planet.

  Their agelessness had been a result of a combination of the electrification process and their alien DNA. In fact, it was safe to say all of their vampirism was due to a combination of both. However, there were also several instances where humans had been struck by lightning and found themselves in the same predicament…and some who had been suited to purposely crossing over from mortal to immortal by purposefully recreating the conditions that had changed the vampires initially and subjecting themselves to it. This, however, took a great deal of courage and a good deal of compatibility. There were signs that had to be satisfied. In the past there had been a lot of trial and error in learning how to bring mortal loved ones into the fold of immortal vampirism. Now the signs were more easily recognized. It was easier to tell who would survive such an ordeal and who would not. Still, it was a big risk. But many were willing to risk it in order to enjoy immortality with the vampire they loved. Of course, they had plenty of time to decide. They didn’t have to choose to do it in their youth. Upon successful electrification the aging process would be halted and reversed, bringing that human back to a state of youth and beauty during the prime of their adult life. She had known mortal lovers who had waited until they were in their fifties before risking the transition. Sometimes even later. But most who learned a
bout this potential fountain of youth plunged into the risk headfirst when they were at the peak of their youth and were most willing to dare to risk a new adventure.

  She knew of two humans who had made this transition. Neither of them were close friends, merely acquaintances. It was a very rare occurrence and it was likely most didn’t know someone who had gone through the process.

  She knew Renee Holden was considering going through it. Rafe’s woman was showing all the signs of compatibility and potential for transition. They didn’t know what made some genetically more likely than others. Some said it was alien DNA that had been seeded into their genetics a long times ago. Potentially even from some of Simone’s kind. Others said it was simply a matter of serendipity. Chance. A genetic fluke. Perhaps even a mutation. It was hard to tell for sure. They had scientists who had studied all of this on a molecular level, but they were still baffled as to what that special thing was that made some humans compatible with transition and others not. Renee was displaying all the markers of one who could.

  She was skeptical of transitioning, however, and Simone didn’t blame her. What if she tried to transition and she turned out to not be compatible enough? She could be cutting her life short. Also, in Simone’s opinion their relationship was far too young to start thinking about living together for eons. Marriage between vampires was not like it was for humans. People grew and changed too much to think they would be suited to one another through all of time. A look at the divorce rates between the shorter-lived humans was a testament to that fact. And although vampires were less capricious when it came to choosing a marriageable mate, they also tended to be more devoted to one another. Still. Vampire wedding vows had to be renewed every decade according to vampire law. If the vampires failed to renew their vows the marriage would dissolve and both partners would be free to find others. Very affirming, or an easily achieved escape clause. Every vampire knew that a marriage proposal was not necessarily forever, but it was a commitment of ten years. There was no such thing as vampire divorce. After ten years a relationship could naturally be dissolved. Shortening that period was not in their culture. If you weren’t willing to commit at least ten years than you shouldn’t marry in the first place. For a long-lived species, after all, ten years was not a lot of time.