From Slate to Crimson Read Free

is done.”
    Justin, who had waited for me at the safe house entrance, was understandably much more incensed. I fought hard to hide my emotions from him, knowing now that should have let him handle the situation, in the condition I had been in.
    “Sir, with all due respect, I must protest your actions. Why didn’t you erase her memory, instead of feeding from her? If we return her home, the enemy will smell us on her, and think her to be under our protection.”
    “Then she will be under our protection,” I said, once both Elisa and Justin were calm enough to await my response. I had had enough time to formulate a good cover story, and wished to get her into a bed as soon as possible. “Are you not even curious as to how she found out about this place? This house is quite off the beaten path, you know. I, myself, would like to know how she discovered us.”
    “What if she is working for the Others?” Elisa said, “or for Lothos directly?”
    I shook my head. “No. I tasted her blood. She had never been fed from before, neither by Lothos or his clan, nor by any of us. There is no way to hide or erase the scent or taste of someone who has been fed from. Still, she somehow learned of this place, and I intend to find out how.”
    The ensuing silence between my daughter and lieutenant communicated their temporary satisfaction.
    “Bring food to my chambers,” I said to Justin. “She will be in a fragile state when she recovers.”
    “More than you know, Father,” Elisa warned. She frowned, and I could feel her concern. I also knew that her foreboding words were truer than I had liked.
    Justin, though no less disconcerted, was fewer of words, and more servile. “I obey, Master,” he said, and bowed before heading off to do my bidding.
    * * * *
    I had barely been alone for five minutes, the woman lying asleep in the bed beside my coffin. I had removed her trench coat, gloves, and boots, revealing the white button-down blouse and black skirt she wore underneath as she slept peacefully.
    I heard the door open and then close. I turned to see Elisa sitting atop the edge of my dresser, her short legs and feet rocking back and forth as they dangled. Her tiny fingers played with the locket I had given her long ago, when she had been a child in mind as well as body.
    “Please be careful with her,” she said.
    “She isn’t the first human whom I’ve bitten for the first time.” I replied, not fully understanding what she meant. The minds of my kind are naturally more guarded than those of humans, but I could clearly sense ever-growing concern from her.
    “Is there something you wish to tell me?” I asked, prompting her. She alighted from the dresser, and I knelt down to her level. “You know you can tell me anything.”
    “You’re only this quiet when you are upset,” Elisa said. “Did you take her blood without asking?”
    I could not help the look of pain that mush have flashed across my face. Even though none of my children could, Elisa did not even need to read my thoughts. She was just that perceptive.
    “I did,” I admitted after quite some time of silence.
    “Oh, Father…” Elisa’s tiny voice lilted downwards with disappointment, and the sting of my shame grew deeper.
    “Please,” I said, nearly hissing the word in my annoyance. “Could you not make things worse than I already feel?”
    “Father, you have more control than that,” she said, making no attempt to hide the disbelief from her voice. “F ar more, in fact. How did it happen?”
    I said nothing, for she already knew the only way that it could have even been possible.
    “You were drunk,” she said flatly.
    “Yes,” I admitted, and could not help but look away from my daughter’s accusatory expression.
    “But…even when that happens, we can resist the scent of blood. And you had already had a good meal before. You could have just charmed her. What happened?”
    “I wish I knew,” I said hoarsely. Damn her insight.
    “Father,