“Describe exactly what you saw,” he ordered.
Thomas explained what we’d witnessed, starting with Robert’s appearance and the words he spoke before committing the deed.
I squatted next to Liam, careful to wrap the lower half of my dress around my lap to avoid getting it in the blood.
Despite how the movies make it appear, beheading someone is not easy. It takes a considerable amount of strength, precision and the proper tool. It’s actually a pretty messy business. There are stories in history about executioners who needed three or four whacks before successfully beheading their victim. That Robert had done it as quickly and efficiently as he had was more than a little unbelievable and I’d been there. He should have hesitated once he got through the first few inches. Barring that, he should have stopped once he began to lose consciousness.
“His eyes were all black,” I said, looking at the corpse. “Before. I mean.”
Liam’s eyes rose to mine.
“The other applicants are going to be like sharks in a feeding frenzy once they get a whiff of this,” Nathan said to Liam.
“You never make things easy,” Liam said to me.
I took exception to that. “Don’t blame me for this. It’s not my fault he decided to off himself right in front of us. Keep a better hold on your vampires and maybe problems like this won’t happen. Besides, this was a message for your boy over there. I just happened to be an innocent bystander.”
“What were you even doing out here?”
I stood, stepping back and letting the skirt of my dress fall once I was out of danger of the blood. “Ask your brother.”
“He’s not my brother,” Liam said. “Not by blood anyway.”
But I thought- I could have sworn the man had referred to them as brothers.
“Vampires often refer to others sired by the same master as brother,” Nathan volunteered.
All eyes swung to Thomas, who looked annoyingly unflappable.
“I needed to speak to her in private.”
“I told you to limit your contact with her.” Liam didn’t sound happy about Thomas’s excuse.
“This was important.”
“Not this again. I told you that avenue was a dead end.”
“I disagree,” Thomas said. “Finding him would solve many problems.”
“And open many more. The rules state that you must demonstrate the ability to sire other vampires. Having sired one isn’t enough.”
“Wait, are you telling me he has already sired a vampire?” I asked. Why hadn’t they told me before? It would mean I wouldn’t have to turn a possible descendant over or bargain a favor to a witch. This was information I should have been told.
“Yes, William. He was remade before my hex took hold.”
“And you didn’t think this was important enough to tell me?” I accused Liam.
“It’s not important. William is unlikely to help us. He holds a grudge for actions taken in his first century. The rules state you must be able to replenish our ranks in time of strife and that those vampires must be mentally sound. The other applicants will assert the man is insane.”
“That’s not an archaic rule or anything.” It sounded like something out of the middle ages. Ensure you have an heir and a spare.
“We must explore all avenues. William is a possibility that might turn the tide in our favor,” Thomas said.
“We’ll speak of this later,” Liam warned. “We have more important matters to address at the moment.”
Thomas didn’t look too worried about the prospect. More like he welcomed the chance.
Nathan leaned closer and took a deep sniff. “It’s faint but I smell anise, the same scent I found on the other victims.”
