Merrill wandered in while they were eating and I was cleaning the kitchen. "Wlodek wishes to see you," he said when I straightened up after putting the stew pot in the dishwasher.

I wanted to mutter something long-suffering such as "not again," but didn't. I wouldn't be able to tell Wlodek no, no matter what it was that he wanted. "Let me go change," I said, wiping my hands on a kitchen towel.

I'd never seen Wlodek in anything except a suit and tie. If the man wore jeans, I probably wasn't destined to see it. Merrill also dressed most of the time but I did see him upon occasion in slacks and a nice pullover. Jeans, too, once in a while. Therefore, I dressed nicely for this occasion, in a calf-length silk dress. I hoped I wouldn't be running across the English countryside as I slipped into low-heeled sandals. The dress was a deep green; one of my favorite colors next to blue. I even wore my gold hoop earrings, one of the two pairs I actually owned. Merrill was waiting for me at the door when I was ready, and we went out to the garage together. He drove the Bentley, and it was a pleasure to ride in that luxury.

"You look beautiful, Lissa," Merrill said when he opened my door and helped me out of the car roughly half an hour later.

"Thanks," I said and followed him to the door of Wlodek's manor. Rolfe let us in as usual; Charles stood behind Rolfe, waiting to take us to Wlodek's office. Wlodek was busy signing papers when we walked in and didn't glance up for several seconds. For a moment, I wondered if he were signing termination papers on anyone before shoving that thought aside. Eventually Wlodek laid his pen aside and turned his attention to Merrill and me; we were sitting in the two chairs before his desk.

"Something came up missing recently," he said, in lieu of a greeting.

If I'd been talking to Don, I would have said automatically, "I'm innocent, as usual," and given him a smile. The Head of the Vampire Council, however, was as far removed from Don as I could possibly get. Instead of explaining what that something was, Wlodek lifted a paper from his desk and handed it to Merrill, who glanced at it briefly, raised his eyebrows slightly and then pa.s.sed the paper over to me. It was a photograph of the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara and the Spencer family tiara. Holy c.r.a.p.

"It has come to my attention that these items may be somewhere in France," Wlodek went on. "Lissa, I desire that you to fly to Paris with Russell and Radomir. While there, I wish for you to learn if these items are indeed where we think and retrieve them if you can. They will be returned to their rightful owners if you are successful."

There was only one reason I could see that Wlodek, Head of the Vampire Council, would involve two Enforcers and a mister in the theft of two tiaras and that was if they were stolen by a vampire in the first place. And the fact that he wasn't intending to bring the vampire in for doing this meant that the vampire had to be important and the whole thing was probably going to be hushed up. Great. This involved vampire politics and intrigue, and I was being shoved into the middle of it.

Merrill asked the question before I could. "When?" he inquired.

"Tomorrow evening. Have her at the airport at nine."

"Very well," Merrill nodded.

"The annual meeting is also approaching," Wlodek said, flipping his gold pen in his fingers.

"I will be there," Merrill said, sounding as if that might be the last thing he wanted to do.

"I expect you to be there," Wlodek agreed. "I also expect you to bring Lissa. See that she is dressed appropriately for the ball. You look lovely tonight, my dear." He turned to me and almost smiled.

"Thank you, Honored One," I did what I'd seen some of the others do, dipping my head a little. No sense p.i.s.sing off the King of the Vampires.

Charles hugged me before I got out the door, telling me he intended to call sometime so we could see a movie when I got back. I grinned at him and told him I'd look forward to it. I hadn't gone to a movie since I'd seen one with Winkler, Gavin and the werewolf bodyguards in Corpus Christi. It seemed a lifetime ago, although it was only a bit over three months.

"If you were human, I'd take you for ice cream," Merrill said, once we were loaded into the car and driving through the huge iron gate that guarded Wlodek's drive.

"And if I were human, I'd eat it," I said.

"Franklin, what are you doing still up?" I scolded him when we walked into the kitchen half an hour later.

"Waiting on you," he said.

"Did you drink your berry smoothie and take the flaxseed oil?"

"I did. I never thought I'd see a vampire so health conscious, before," he laughed.

"Those berries have antioxidants and the flaxseed oil does the same thing the fish oil does, it just doesn't have the taste to it," I said. "And even you can't stand there and say they aren't good for you."

"I'm convinced." He came over and hugged me. "I just want my goodnight kiss before I go to bed."

I kissed his cheek and watched him walk toward the stairs. "He's in great shape, I just want to keep him that way," I sighed as he walked out of earshot.

"I've offered to turn him many times," Merrill said. "He refuses every time and gets a bit testy over it, too. He tells me he likes to cook and to taste what he cooks."

"I'm right there with him on that," I said. "I only have the memory of what it tasted like. And that may go someday, too."

"Little girl, are you prepared for tomorrow evening? You should pack. Probably for four days, at least. I don't believe it will take that long but one can never tell."

"All right," I nodded. "Goodnight, Merrill."

"Goodnight, child."

Merrill drove the Range Rover to the airport. It was a stormy night and rain was pelting us as we made our way to the Council's private strip outside London. My pa.s.sport and other important ID was in my purse; Merrill had scrounged up a wad of euros and handed them to me before we left the house. I probably had twelve hundred euros in my purse when I left the house, in addition to my credit card. Russell and Radomir were standing beside the steps leading to the Council's jet, waiting for me when Merrill and I arrived. My bags were loaded in while I boarded, and I sat down before my two flight companions did. Radomir ended up sitting next to me, Russell right across the aisle.

"Will wanted to come but I told him he had to stay home," Russell grinned.

"Will is guarding Wlodek while we are away," Radomir added. I just sat there between both of them, trying not to let my breaths sound too shaky. I liked Radomir, but maybe not that close. I hadn't forgotten what Merrill told me about Radomir, either; whatever you said to Radomir you said to Wlodek, since Wlodek was Radomir's sire.

"Have you done anything fun, lately?" Russell asked, reaching across the aisle to pat my hand. I think he may have recognized my discomfort.

"No. I did learn to drive on the wrong side of the road, but Merrill still doesn't trust me with his cars," I offered Russell a smile.

"You should come out with Will and me, sometime," Russell offered.

"And what do you do that's fun?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. I had no idea what vampires did for fun.

"Mostly they pick up women," Radomir said, a smile in his voice if not on his face.

"You pick up women? Do you put them down again?" It was out of my mouth before I thought.

"Oh, yeah," Russell was grinning.

"The Monet that you gave to the Honored One was a nice gift," I said, referring to the huge painting of water lilies that hung on a wall in Wlodek's study.

"He wanted it; I didn't particularly like it," Russell replied with a shrug. I knew it was a really nice gift; some of those paintings had sold for more than forty million pounds.

"So, did you hang up a print of dogs playing pool instead?" I asked. Radomir laughed.

"I did turn the s.p.a.ce into a billiard room," Russell agreed with a stifled snicker.

"I knew it," I said, tossing up a hand. "And if you were human, your trash would be full of pizza boxes."

"I never got to taste a pizza," Russell observed.

"They're good," I said. "You strike me as a pepperoni kind of guy, leave the veggies off."

"Hear that, Rad?" Russell looked over my head at Radomir.

"Don't mess with him, he's the Italian sausage and extra cheese man," I said, pointing a thumb at Radomir.

"And what were you?" Russell was patting my hand again.

"Canadian bacon and mushroom," I said. "Thin crust. Thick was just too much bread for me."

"Charles told me you can't even finish a whole unit of blood," Russell teased.

"Does everybody talk about my eating habits?" I asked petulantly.

"Well, we don't have a lot of other information about you, so we have to discuss what we have," Russell said.

"This is a fact finding mission, so you can pa.s.s around the dirt?" I was teasing him right back.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "And the darker the dirt, the better."

Okay, I was really starting to like this guy. And he had no qualms over cracking the stone-faced facade that most vampires wore. "Did Brock tell you that one of my sins while I was human was glazed donuts?"

"Nah, Merrill doesn't let him gossip about anything that goes on inside the house," Russell grumped.

"I won't be discussing Merrill, either," I said. "I'll talk about me as long as it's harmless. That's all you get."

"d.a.m.n," Russell pretended to be upset.

"You were married before?" Radomir asked.

"Yes. He's been dead eight months as of yesterday," I said. "As have I, I suppose. My ex sister-in law can't wait to put the date of death on my headstone so she can get her hands on my house and the insurance money."

"You already have a headstone?" Russell asked.

"It was one of those double ones and my husband's information is on one side. They put my name and date of birth on the other. I'd left my side blank. My sister-in-law will have to wait the standard seven years unless she gets a sympathetic judge or something."

"Does it make you want to go back and slap your sister-in-law around?"

"No. That part of my life is over," I answered Russell's question. "It's neither here nor there what she does with my stuff."

The plane trip was short and we landed at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in no time. A car waited there for us, complete with driver. We stowed our bags in the boot-that's what Russell calls the trunk, (he has such a nice British accent) and we were on our way.

The safe house was on the outskirts of Paris, in Bobigny. Once again, our accommodations were underground while the tastefully furnished ground floor was for appearances only. The entire place was alarmed, of course; we let ourselves into the bas.e.m.e.nt through a hidden door in the floor of a closet, using a keypad code.

There were three bedrooms; I would have been forced to sleep on the small sofa, otherwise. The sofa wasn't long enough for either Russell or Radomir to sleep on comfortably, so I was thankful for the third small bedroom. Radomir got the suite with the bath; Russell and I shared the second bathroom.

Neither of my companions offered information on where we were going the following evening, and I didn't ask. Russell did ask me after we were settled in if I wanted to go sightseeing in Paris. Humorous, I know-only vampires might plan sightseeing trips after midnight. I did want to see as much of it as I could, so all three of us went out into a warm Paris evening. I'd never been anywhere near France before; I'd lived in Oklahoma all my life and the closest I'd gotten to a foreign country was Mexico. My British driver's license listed an address in Kent; the U.S. license gave an address in New York. Also somewhere I'd never really been. A car was available at the safe house for our use, so Radomir drove us around for a while. At times, I caught a slight smile playing about his mouth but didn't say anything. I honestly believed that Radomir was enjoying himself, and Russell certainly was. I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomph and we pa.s.sed close to Notre Dame de Paris; it was on an island, along with the Palais de Justice.

Radomir parked after a while and we walked along sidewalks where a few cafes and nightclubs were still open. There's a different smell to Paris. I was inundated with coffee, food, humans, perfume-all sorts of things. "It used to be a nightmare to walk down some of the sidewalks; the smoke from cigarettes would be so thick," Radomir informed me. "They pa.s.sed a law recently banning smoking in all public places so the air has cleared up somewhat."

Since my nose is so sensitive now, it is difficult to stand near anyone smoking. The smokers at the courthouse where I used to work would congregate in an area outside and a little cloud would rise over their heads whenever several of them got together. The smell didn't bother me as much back then. "So, vampires don't smoke, huh?" I asked quietly.

Russell laughed. "Not unless they're on fire," he replied.

"Hey now, don't even kid about that," I swatted at him.

My shower was a little rushed the following evening so Russell could get cleaned up. Loading into the car quickly, we drove away from Paris, heading into the Champagne Valley somewhere. I watched the countryside roll past for an hour or so until Radomir pulled the car to a stop on a narrow lane. A charming (and rather large) chateau sat on a pretty hill off in the distance. "We can't give any names," Radomir told me as he unrolled a roughly drawn map of the chateau onto the hood of the car (or bonnet, as Russell says). "There's a vent here," he indicated a spot on the lower level. "It leads into the kitchen. We believe the items in question are locked away somewhere in a bas.e.m.e.nt or underground storage area. You'll have to find the vault and extract them." Radomir handed over a velvet bag. It was perhaps a fourteen-inch square of black fabric with a heavy cord drawstring. Slipping the drawstring over my head, I allowed the bag to hang around my neck while I wait for further instruction.

"Now, turn to mist and see if you can do this," Radomir said. Russell was giving me encouraging looks so I concentrated, slowly turning to mist. Russell timed it.

"Four minutes, twenty-three seconds," he said. I floated over their heads, making my way quickly toward the chateau.

The designated vent was harder to find than I thought and precious minutes were wasted while I searched for it. It was past midnight already and time might become a larger factor before all was said and done. Once I located the vent and slipped inside, I swept through a kitchen that hadn't been updated in the past two centuries. The remainder of the chateau itself was richly decorated in Louis XIV furniture, with paintings appropriate to that period hanging on walls and luxurious fabrics covering windows. Somebody had a taste for obscene wealth, that much was certain. And Radomir had failed to tell me that the vampire in residence was not only at home, but entertaining guests. That worried me more than a little as I floated through the chateau quickly, searching for a means to get below ground level. Locating a locked door that led downward, I misted through an old-fashioned keyhole and sped down narrow steps. The vault where the tiaras were was underground, all right, with a thick, locked metal door sealed tighter than a hatch on a submarine. A tiny, oval window allowed me to see a part of what rested inside, and I could only imagine that some wealthy monarchs might be jealous of this vault's contents. The door would only open if I had the proper code to punch in on a lighted keypad to the right, and that stymied me. I floated up and down the impenetrable door's length, exploring it carefully, searching for a crack or some other way in. The better part of half an hour pa.s.sed during my examination of the door, but I was still unable to find even a hint of a crevice to slip through. I might have had to go back to Radomir and Russell, admitting defeat by door, if the master of the house hadn't decided to show off his treasures to one of his guests. His voice filtered down to me as a key turned in the more conventional door above, so I hovered in a corner, waiting for him to come down the stairs.

He was handsome; no doubt about that, with dark blond hair that curled slightly, a sensuous mouth and warm brown eyes. If I hadn't known him for a thief, I might not have minded talking with him sometime. He spoke in rapid French; therefore, I didn't understand a single word he said as he punched a code on the keypad to allow his guest inside. I might pick my way through written French but my college French cla.s.ses were mostly useless in the real world. What I did understand was the hatch opening with the same sound a very tight door on a freezer might make. Airtight, indeed. I floated inside, right above his head. His friend, not nearly as handsome with brown hair and eyes, dutifully admired the tiaras at length while I watched. After roughly ten minutes had pa.s.sed the two vampires walked out again, locking me, the tiaras and a king's ransom in other treasures inside the vault.

If I could have gulped I might have, but one thing I noticed while I was there was that everything was alarmed. There was a small digital readout on the pad the tiaras rested upon, and right next to it was another pad with a necklace sitting on it that had enough rubies and diamonds to support me for a very long time. Many other items were spread around the room, all out in the open so their owner could come in and peruse them at his leisure. Every single one of them alarmed, of course. This vampire was taking no chances, but I was. I was taking a big chance. Taking a huge chance because if my plan didn't work, I was a very dead little vampire. Russell and Radomir would have to go back to England and explain to Wlodek and Merrill that I'd made a foolish mistake and died because of it.

First, I had to come back to corporeality and take the bag from around my neck, setting it aside gently on the black granite island that held the tiaras and ruby necklace. Then (and this is where the big risk came in), I concentrated on turning back to mist. My hands and my feet always turn to mist first, and they're the first things to reappear when I come back to corporeality. Once I was completely turned to mist, I concentrated once more on turning back but only until I could see my hands. Hastily I s.n.a.t.c.hed up the bag while my body was still mostly mist and raked both tiaras inside, drawing the string. I figured I had minutes at the most, seconds at the least, and I was gambling with my life when I accomplished what I did next. I turned back to mist and like a miracle, almost, the bag turned too. The alarm tripped the moment I'd swiped the tiaras into the bag, their weight removed from the electronic pad, which set off the warning bells. Consequently, the moment I was completely turned to mist I hovered as near the ceiling as I could, waiting for the master of the house to reappear.

He did, punching the code in with fingers moving faster than lightning. He then rushed inside the vault, eyes red, fangs extended and claws out, ready to fight. If he'd seen me, no way would I have lived over that. As it was, I zoomed invisibly through the open vault door, leaving a cursing vampire in my wake. If he'd had any sense at all, he might have closed the door behind him; there was another keypad on the inside of the door.

The vampire was now raising everyone inside the house seconds behind me. I was scooting up the stairs and through the house as fast as I could go, my mist rushing toward the kitchen vent. Once through that and on the outside again, I sent desperate mindspeech to Radomir. He wasn't parked far from the Chateau-not for a vampire, anyway. I was warning him as I fled in his direction.

Leave Now! I shouted mentally. Open a window-I'll catch up to you! I was halfway to the car but our pursuers weren't far behind; we were parked on the only road leading to the Chateau.

Go, Radomir! I'll catch up. I'll let you know when I'm inside the car. My mental voice held frightened urgency and I was almost praying as I closed in on the now speeding automobile. I saw them moving away; thankfully, Radomir didn't need the lights to see as he hit the accelerator. It took another minute or so to catch up, although I was moving as swiftly as I could. And I can't describe my feeling of relief as I was sucked inside the window Russell left open for me. I have no idea what, if anything, our pursuers saw when the car got away, but we didn't need to take any chances. I concentrated on turning back to myself.

"Well, look who's here," Russell said, peering over the back of his pa.s.senger-side seat. I heaved a grateful sigh and handed the velvet bag over to him. He looked inside briefly before flashing a beautiful smile. "Nice work," he said.

"It wasn't easy," I grumped, brushing my windblown hair away from my face. "Everything was alarmed."

"Save it for later, the plane's waiting. We already had someone pick up our bags and load them in," Radomir said. "We don't need to stay if we have what we came for. Father was worried it might take a while."

"I see," I said, even though I didn't. Once again, I was flying blind, completely out of the informational loop. I wondered briefly if I would ever be in it.

Another hour went by before we found our way to the airport. Russell tucked me under his arm and ran me up the steps to the jet like a football. Radomir took charge of the velvet bag, slipping it inside a locking case that he placed at his feet during the ride home. We arrived in England barely two hours before dawn; a vampire waited for us there with a car. We loaded up in no time flat and were whisked away to Wlodek's mansion.

Radomir carefully placed the velvet bag on Wlodek's desk once we were inside his study. Wlodek opened it up, lifting each tiara out and examining it solemnly. "Very nice," he commented. "Very, very nice." He looked at me over his desk, his dark eyes enigmatic. "You must tell me how you did this, but not until after you rise for the evening. Merrill has already been informed that you're spending the night. Congratulations on a job well and swiftly done." Wlodek shocked me a little by smiling slightly.

Charles led me to the same bedroom I'd occupied before after Wlodek dismissed me; the suite with the sky blue walls and white trim waited expectantly for my arrival. My bag was already there and I wanted a bath badly. "I'll see you when you get up," Charles promised, closing the bedroom door behind him. My bath was quick-I didn't have much time before sunrise and I scarcely made it into my pajamas and under the covers before I was out.

"Rene, I warned you that she might succeed when we arranged this test," Wlodek spoke softly into his cell phone as he prepared for the rejuvenating sleep.

"Honored One, I did not expect such swift results," Rene muttered, working to hide the anger in his voice. He'd placed a wager with his two vampire children and now he owed them a great deal of money as a result. He'd insisted that no mister could get into his vault. Or, having accomplished that, might get out again, once they were locked inside. This new one did both and in very little time. He was still puzzled over how a mister might turn so swiftly; less than thirty seconds had pa.s.sed before he was opening the door of his vault once the alarm sounded, expecting to find a mostly corporeal female vampire inside. Instead, there was nothing and he'd lost the items he'd taken so much trouble to steal.

"Rene, when I asked you to steal something, I had no idea it would be such important and high-profile items. These will be returned to their rightful owners."

"Honored One, you left that option open to me. You know I enjoy a challenge."

"Then perhaps you will appreciate another. The girl will be brought out in this year's annual meeting. Take a look and tell me you might not desire that as well." Wlodek hung up abruptly. Rene muttered an obscenity in Latin and went to bed.