She turned her head slowly toward me. “Yet?”
“I’ve only just been awakened as a vampire. As far as I know, I’m the only half druid, half vampire ever born.” I stabbed a piece of potato and twirled it on my fork. “I probably could have spent my whole life as just half a druid.”
“What have you been doing for blood?”
I flicked my eyes over to Aiko.
“Ohhh.” She tapped the goblet in front of her. “It seems that General Odom brought some refrigeration equipment, so we were offered cold. It’s not as good as fresh, but we don’t take without permission.” She glanced around. “And it seems you don’t have many who are willing to give permission.”
“Yes, both Aiko and I have realized that.”
Her eyes were drawn across the table to where the twins sat. “You have two perfectly good men right there, though.”
“I don’t know if I can use druid blood.”
“Of course you can. Any human is the zenith of vampire health. It descends from there, to large mammals, small rodents. Worst of all is reptile. Jesus, I had to survive on iguanas once, and that was just awful. They don’t have the kind of blood that would keep anything but an iguana healthy.” She reached for her goblet and took a drink as if she were washing her mouth out. I wasn’t sure what an iguana was, but it didn’t sound like something I wanted to taste—either their blood or their meat.
“So, any druid would do?” I asked.
“Any willing druid, yes.” She paused. “No, scratch that. Let your inner beast come out. Take what you want. Willing or not.”
Rilen was staring at me from his place at the table. His chocolate and ice eyes were fixed on me, and I had the feeling that if I were closer, I could reach out and grab the erection he was currently sporting.
Before I could say anything else, something soft, hot, and formless hit the side of my head. With a gasp, I lifted my hand and smeared off whatever it was.
It was a piece of squash, complete with salt, pepper, oil, and grill marks and was currently sitting on my plate. I stared at it.
“Go back to Savion!”
I whipped my head around and found two soldiers standing there. One was holding another squash, and while I watched, he launched it at me.
It stopped in midair, just about halfway to me. Roran walked forward and plucked it out of the air. He moved slowly forward, considering the squash, and as he did, the soldiers lifted off the ground, squirming desperately.
“Why would you say that?” Roran asked, pulling a few seeds out of the grilled gourd.
The one who had tossed the first volley stared at Roran. “She’s one ofhis.”
“One of his what?” His voice was casual yet dangerous.
“One of hisvampires.”
“Mmm. She’s a Mistress of the Temple of the Lost God,” he said, looking up.
Rilen was suddenly directly behind them. “Would you like me to demonstrate how that works?” His hand snapped to the back of his neck and took hold. “I might not be the Breaker, but I’m pretty sure that I can do a pretty good demonstration.”
Holding the squash out, I moved forward. “Don’t hurt him, Rilen. He’s unaware that the vampires are our allies. That Savion was a maniac.”
“They’re all useless!” he yelled. “She’s useless.”
“She,” Dorian said, peeling an orange in his seat at the table, “beheaded Savion and saved my ass. Saved all of your asses.”
“Vampires should be exterminated.”
“Master Rilen,” Staviz said, walking up, “please put the soldier down.”
Rilen dropped him to his feet, and the man managed to catch himself. The other one still hovered off the ground, and Staviz threw a look over his shoulder. “Master Roran, please.”
The second fell to the ground, losing his footing.
