The entire episode reminded me that slaves only need to follow orders. Nothing more. Nothing less. Do as you’re told, when you’re told to do it. You don’t need to understand why. Bodyguards must use diligence to keep the Master safe, but I’d learned how to do my job without stepping out of my role as slave.
My body went on alert but I remained relaxed. Gwen sank her fangs into me without using painkiller, but she sent plenty of the feel-good stuff into my veins and arteries while she took long, hard pulls from my neck. I suppressed a pleasured groan.This dichotomy of pleasure and pain from the same act was one of my favorites. She took a lot and I grew a little lightheaded, but I wasn’t worried. I wanted her to take more. Andmore. These were the moments that addicted slaves to their Masters. I’d have given anything to live in that moment forever.
Chapter Five
Kieran
I sent Ajax to his room when Gwen had drunk her fill a second time. He was a little low on blood, but six hours of sleep would replenish him. Werewolves recover faster than humans, and he seemed to do better than most wolves.
The sun would rise around seven-thirty, and it was four in the morning. Under normal circumstances, Ajax’s bedtime is midnight so he can be up to guard us when we die at dawn. However, tonight was a special occasion. Abbott had arranged for more guards so Ajax could spend time with us as a couple.
The closer we get to an all-out-battle with the dark side, the more Abbott insisted upon protecting us. It annoyed me, but I understood. We’re his primary money people and he completely trusts us. Our abduction would be catastrophic to him financially. Still, we’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves.
Ajax ate a large meal before going to bed. When he was finally asleep, I asked Gwen how things really were in Europe. I had the idea they weren’t good from our short phone conversations, but she wouldn’t tell me the full truth until she was certain her words couldn’t be heard by anyone but me.
“You and I have lived through many revolutions, husband-of-mine. Humans all around the globe are standing up to theirgovernment. If the crazy people succeed, I fear we’ll be back to candles and horses in another twenty years.”
“Which would be a problem, since there aren’t anywhere near enough horses to replace cars,” I noted.
She shook her head. “Youknowwe’ll lose ninety percent of the people currently living in the cities. People stacked into buildings only works when you have electricity and running water with a working sewer system,anda way to truck a million pounds of food in per day. No one will be able to live within ten miles of a city because of the health issues around so many rotting bodies.”
“We’re mostly safe here,” I noted. “Or, we are so long as no one in Washington figures out how to take guns away from the American populace. If that happens, we’ll need to move. The government here won’t dare do the things Europe and China can get away with, since their people aren’t armed.”
She shook her head. “One would think. History should clearly be screaming warning signals that the first thing any government wanting to control the people and subjugate them does is take away their weapons. The protests and riots all over Europe would’ve had results by now if the populations were still armed.”
“Humans rarely listen to history, my darling wife.” I considered how humans had once passed history down through song, verse, and religion. They’d respected it more when Grandparents taught it and not the schools. “The invention of the printing press changed everything, didn’t it?”
“Yes, and then the internet changed everything again.”
And then she told me everything she thought and feared based on what she’d learned in Europe. Everything that pissed her off. Stupid humans who couldn’t be bothered to learn history. Fifteen minutes of rapid-fire speech spoken with heart and temper and knowledge. I loved it when her original Irishaccent peeked in. Even after all these centuries, I loved this woman to distraction.
Politics and the economy are closely entwined, and it’s our business to stay on top of both — to analyze current events and figure out which parts of the world are the safest to park funds and own real estate, and which areas of the planet we need to move away from. Her insights were important, but it was time to calm her down a little.
“We’ll be fine no matter which side gains power. We’ve hedged our bets. Nothing you’ve told me alarms me for our clients’ investments.” Though a good deal of it alarmed me for the future of humanity.
Our clients owned real estate in around fifty countries, and were invested in stock markets all over the world. However, if all else failed, we had stashes of gold, silver, platinum, copper, and bullets in fortresses around the planet. No matter what currency is being used, you canalwayseither barter bullets for food or shoot the people and take their food.Always. I prefer the first, but I’m not opposed to the latter in anus-or-themscenario.
Vampires may not need to eat regular food, but the humans we feed from must eat nutritious meals.
“Is it all bad news? Do you have any good news?”
“Maybe, but some alarming news, first. While in the head of someone high in government at the conference Abbott had me attend, I discovered there are ways of quickly breaking through the—” She shook her head, frustrated. “When things are scattered, between computers, and then put back together at the other computer, so people in the middle can’t see what’s being sent. We’re told it would take ten thousand years for a computer to break the scattering, but—”
“Encryption.” She was frustrated with the terminology, so I helped.
“Yes. That’s the word. Thank you. At any rate, there’s a new kind of computer that I couldn’t begin to understand, but I have notes about it, so I’d get the right keywords for Abbott. In around four minutes, it can handle a computation it would take ten thousand years for a modern-day supercomputer to do.” She took a breath. “But, it’s time sensitive, and it’s terribly expensive, so they’re only doing it on what they deem critical. We’re probably safe from this for now, but it’s important to know the technology is out there.”
I smiled. “Drake Security needed everyone’s phones a few months ago. We went to the coterie house on a schedule to get a new version of their application installed. My guess is Aaron Drake’s people changed things around so this new computer still can’t break his encryption.”
She blew out a breath, visibly relieved. “I’d forgotten about that. You’re right, of course. He’s always on top of this kind of thing. Okay, with the world in crisis, we’ve been operating on having sixty percent of our portion of Abbott’s wealth in positions we are one hundred percent certain will retain at least fifty percent of their value, twenty percent in places we are hopeful can remain steady or increase slightly, and twenty percent in aggressive investments. We know we only control seventy percent of his wealth, so...”
She noted my annoyed look and stopped telling me shit I already knew.
“We need to seriously re-evaluate the big chunk, and probably the next layer too. Some of those European real estate holdings may no longer be a slam dunk.”
The modern-day middle class’s knowledge of long-term wealth grown during times of upheaval mostly revolves around Rhett Butler fromGone with the Wind. He flaunted his ability to make money off a civilization’s fall, and then showed that it’s also possible to make money when one rises. The part he didn’texplain though, is that this is only possible if you can correctly forecast what happens between the fall and the rise. If you buy a bunch of land while it’s cheap, but then the government decides no one owns the land, you’re fucked. Or, if the peasants revolt and take everything over, and you don’t have enough of an army — and enough ammo to keep them fortified — to protect your holdings, then once again, you’re fucked.
So, if Gwen saw enough destabilization in Europe to be concerned, she had my attention.
