I slept throughout the next day, the deep exhausted sleep of someone who had spent an evening in a roomful of dangerous vampires, come out intact and then spent the rest of the night having energetic sex with her insatiable lover!

When I woke Bill was lying on his side watching me.

"Good evening" he smiled down at me. "I was wondering when you'd wake up."

"Oooh, I've not slept so well in quite some time" I murmured, stretching languidly.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "Well I'd happily offer my services to tire you out again any time you like!"

I laughed as a thought struck me. I raised the sheet and looked down at myself. "I don't remember taking my shoes off."

"You didn't" he said, watching me with a smile. "I removed them myself when you fell asleep. They're on the chair over there."

"I see you restrained yourself from removing my stockings!" I said "you're such a gentleman!"

Bill sniggered. "Yes! Absolutely! That was the reason. It had nothing at all to do with my conviction that, once I got my hands on your legs, I wouldn't be able to control myself!"

"What's the plan for this evening then?" I asked.

"Do you mean what I'd like to do or what I'm going to have to do?" he replied with a sigh.

I grinned up at him, pulling the sheet right up to my chin modestly. "Oh I think I can guess what you'd like to do! But what are you going to have to do?"

Well Ulrich has asked Gerry and I to get together for a debrief meeting. I thought we could use the sitting room here. You and Susie can get some food from room service, Dan too. We could probably use your input.

As he spoke there was a knock at the door. "That'll be him now, you'd better hop in the shower. I'll call room service." He leaned over and kissed me. I rolled over and pressed my body against him, deepening the kiss. After a while the knock came again, slightly more impatient this time.

"Okay! Just a minute!" said Bill irritably. I took the opportunity to wriggle out of his embrace and slide out of the bed. He reached over and gave me a little slap on my bare bottom as I headed off to the bathroom. I heard him mutter to himself "Oh I really shouldn't have done that!" as he pulled on the dressing gown and crossed the room to the door. I closed the bathroom door, smiling to myself.

I stood under the hot shower for quite some time, relaxing and giving my hair a thorough wash. When I opened the door and came out into the sitting room in a Hotel dressing gown with a towel wrapped around my hair, Ulrich was sitting at the table in a smart grey suit. Bill had obviously just pulled on a pair of jeans and a T shirt and was lounging on one of the sofas with his bare feet on the thick carpet. Gerry looked much the same, his curly dark hair still rumpled and damp. Dan and Azaria were curled up together on the other sofa and Susie was investigating a large trolley from which was emanating the delicious smell of bacon.

I went over and helped her remove the covers from plates of bacon, eggs and pancakes which sat on the trolley alongside a big jug of coffee and a smaller jug of maple syrup. Soon we were settled on the sofa tucking in hungrily while the vampires discussed the previous night's party.

"I thought it went very well on the whole" said Ulrich, sounding pleased. "I managed to introduce almost everyone who wanted to speak to you Bill, they will all go back home and tell all their friends about it!" He smiled to himself. "After all, it's not every night you get to meet a God! Most of the Monarchy will also be visiting Chicago as there will be another informal Reception there organised by Francesca de Luca's people. You'll need to liaise with them Gerry."

Gerry nodded. "Fine, I'll get onto it."

"There were only one or two little hiccups…Bill, what's the problem between you and Queen Freyda's new consort?"

"There's no problem" said Bill calmly. "Well, he's an arrogant, self-centred ass, but that's never been a problem. Not so far as he's concerned anyway!"

Ulrich glanced at Azaria. "Wasn't he the one who tried to defend Lazlo?" he asked.

"That's him!" Bill gave Azaria a little smile.

"Okay" said Ulrich a little doubtfully. "As long as you're okay with him. How about Felipe de Castro?"

Bill leaned back beside me and stretched his arm across the back of the sofa behind my head. "Well, it's really not my problem any more since I have no intention of returning to Louisiana," he said "but I dislike him personally. Many vampires that I knew well and liked were killed during his brutal takeover of Sophie-Anne's territory. Besides that, I don't think he should be permitted to hold three territories anyway, and Lilith agrees with me, it's dangerous for one man, particularly someone as ambitious as he is, to have too much power. The Authority should rein him in."

Ulrich gazed at him speculatively. "I'll pass that on. Perhaps with Lilith's recommendation they'll do something about it."

I sipped my coffee and watched Bill. He appeared to have no idea of the irony of his comment. He who could, if he wished, obtain absolute power. But then, perhaps I was the only one who realised what a high price he would pay for that power, was indeed paying even now. As I watched him, every now and then I noticed him pause and stare into the distance with a strangely blank expression. I guessed that he was having one of those internal conversations with Lilith. So far she had not attempted to interfere in our relationship, apart from the incident the previous evening when I had felt her, alongside Bill, somehow enjoying our lovemaking. I shivered.

I would die before allowing Bill to realise it but I had to admit to myself that the idea made me really uncomfortable. During the time we had been together Bill and I had become completely relaxed in each other's company. I was accustomed to his casual affection, a brush of his hand, a gentle kiss on the cheek. But now somehow I was constantly aware of her, as though I felt that she were watching me, looking for a weakness that she could exploit. I sat up suddenly and tried to concentrate on the conversation.

Gerry had leaned forward and put his hands on his knees. "So what did you think of Sascha's piece of gossip?"

Ulrich sat back in the chair. "You mean about the witch?" he asked. "What was the name?"

"Lucilla" said Bill quietly.

We were all silent for a moment, the three male vampires looking worried. Azaria sat up. "Could she really be a threat to us?" she asked, turning to Bill.

Bill gave a little sigh. "Yes, it's possible, but unlikely. She would have to be very powerful, but such things have happened. There have been cases in the past."

"Cases of what?" asked Azaria, obviously fascinated.

"The best known happened in Logroňo, Spain, at the time of the Inquisition" said Ulrich. "A woman known as Antonia Gavilán, she was tried and burned as a witch, but we were not aware that she was a practitioner of necromancy. She hated vampires…" he did not elaborate and I saw Bill turn away.

"It's surprising how often we are the instigators of our own downfall!" he said sadly, taking my hand.

"She swore that if she was to burn, then we would burn with her" said Ulrich "and as they set the fire to her flesh she cast a spell which drew every vampire within twenty miles from their sleep and out into the sun. Hundreds burned…"

We all sat in silence. I had not really understood what "control over the dead" might mean in practice and I was shocked. No wonder they took witchcraft seriously! I squeezed Bill's hand and he turned and smiled down at me. "We'll just have to be careful" he said comfortingly. I just hoped that would turn out to be possible.

The conversation then turned to the logistics and security of the move to Chicago and I concentrated on eating. We stayed in New York for two more nights with part of each night being taken up with meetings with the Authority and one or two strictly controlled television appearances. The rest of the time was our own and we made the most of it.

All six of us took a couple of tourist trips together, we went on a boat trip around the harbour and all the way around Manhattan Island. But Bill and I occasionally managed a few hours alone. One night we walked across Central Park in the moonlight, tailed discreetly by Harry and his associates, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and visited the Egyptian Galleries where Bill had met Theodore Davis in the 1900s. That fateful meeting which had laid the foundation for the trip to Egypt during which he had met Berenice.

At the end of our final night in New York we sat together in the rooftop bar in the Hotel looking out over Central Park. In a few hours we would be collected from the Hotel and driven to the Airport for the flight to O'Hare in Chicago.

"So what do you think of New York?" asked Bill. "Have you enjoyed yourself?"

"Oh yes! I certainly have." I answered with a smile.

"What have you been doing while I've been busy?" he asked.

"Oh, you know, shopping, wandering around, touristy things…we went for lunch at Katz's on the Lower East Side yesterday. Dan ate a pastrami sandwich which I'd have sworn was big enough to feed a family of six!

Bill laughed. "I guess Azaria must be keeping him busy!"

Six months ago Bill would have had a fit at the thought that Azaria was having sex with anyone. This change of attitude, combined with signing over his investments to me made me think that he had taken on a somewhat fatalistic perspective. That he was letting go of his existence just in case… I reached over and took his hand. "How are you coping?" I asked quietly. "This must all be a terrible strain on you, having to deal with all this political stuff and Lilith as well?"

He shifted on the cushioned bench seat and pulled me closer to him. "It's confusing" he said. "In some ways she tires me out, the constant concentration feels like I'm trying to carry out two conversations at once…in fact sometimes I am having two conversations at once! But at the same time, she gives me enough strength to be able to cope."

I snuggled up to him and put my head on his shoulder. We were alone in the bar area. I had noticed that there were two reactions to Bill now from other vampires. Either they approached him with an almost religious fervour and asked for Lilith's blessing or else they avoided him completely, seeming to be afraid to be near him. As people had noticed us sitting quietly beside the bar they had gradually edged away and left.

"Speaking of coping, how are you doing?" he asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. "This can't be easy for you either."

I smiled up at him. "Oh I'm fine, don't worry about me. When I think about what might have happened…"

I felt his arm tighten around me. "I hate to do this to you Alex. I feel that I'm pressurising you to stay but I know that as long as you're with me I'll be alright" he whispered "I don't think I could bear to lose you, not now."

"You won't!" I said firmly. "I'm not going anywhere!" I took his hand in mine. "I have no idea where this is going Bill and I know you don't either, but whatever happens, I promise you I'll be right there with you."

We sat holding hands in the darkness until Bill could feel the pull of dawn approaching and we had to head back to the suite.