Chapter 10

"Hello Quentin," Megan said. "I do not see much of you these days... I take that your new life is satisfactory."

"It is... Look you and I do not have much of a relationship... but I know that you are the person to go to when you got a problem that needs solving."

"And your problem is?"

"It is Adam's. Or rather it is everybody's. Roger needs some sort of treatment, but Carolyn will not hear of it. "

"Roger has been a loose cannon for too long."

"He already tried to kill Adam once. He may try again. Carolyn thinks that by having him discreetly followed by the maids, and by cutting his access to guns the problem is solved. She will not listen to reason."

Megan sighed. "I think that it is time for her booster shot... I did manage to improve her attitude a while back. But Roger may cause her to backslide."

"Roger can be treated as an outpatient. All he has to do is take medication regularly. Can you convince Carolyn of that?"

"Yes, I can.. And probably adjust her attitude on other areas. Convince her that she wants friends more than she wants to be the lady of the manor.. Poor kid, she had a lousy upbringing. All the money in the world is no compensation for being raised wrong, and being given the wrong values from day one... but you could talk also about being raised with the wrong values..."

"I hope I have left all my foolishness behind me by now. Thanks to Adam and Angelique I can say that now."

"And you are looking for investors?"

"Yes."

"You tell me what it is and I might be interested."

"Low cost housing."

"Low cost housing?"

"It started when I rescued Adam. He was sleeping on the ground, almost ready to freeze to death. After that I stated seeing how many men, women, and even children did not have a roof over their heads. There are now homeless shelters. They do help, but it is a temporary solution. They should be able to get a place of their own, but there is not enough housing that they can afford. I want to start building some.."

"Not all of them can do it. There are mental cases, there are drug addicts."

"I know. There are some who may be in the homeless shelter for a long time. But everybody who moves in to proper housing means one free bed at the shelter."

"I see."

"Are you willing?"

"Let me see your plans, and if they make sense, I will invest."

"And if they do not?"

"Then I tell them how to fix them... You know that you may get a special rate, or that your tenants might get a special rate if there are feeding privileges attached?"

"Feeding privileges... you mean?"

"I would not be the first vampire that bankrolled a humanitarian enterprise in order to get access to easy and safe feeding."

Well, he was back at this desk, ready to work again, and hope that his deputies had been working hard, even without him to watch over them.

It was only a few seconds after he sat down that Tammy came in.

"George, about that town meeting." she said, apologetically "I truly had no idea that it would turn out the way it did. All I wanted out of it was to find a way to pull you out of your depression, and maybe come up with some idea which would have helped you and Barnabas."

"No, you were right. It was my job and I was neglecting it. Still... I had never gone against something which was so much stronger than me, and against which I could do nothing. When it swallowed up Barnabas, so quickly, so efficiently, so... hygienically, I freaked out. I was too hurt to behave rationally. I should have taken a leave of absence, since I was obviously not able to do my job."

"But you should not have been suspended as you were."

"No, they were absolutely right. They did not elect me so that I could get drunk on the job and pick up fights in bars. And then." he sighed "I have decided not to run again. No, it has nothing to do with you. I want to do something else with my life."

"Does it have to do with you making it public about you and Barnabas?"

"In a sense. If I stayed, it would have become a referendum on whether a gay man can be sheriff in this county. That should not be the issue at all. It should be only be as to whether or not I had done a good job, and could be counted to do so in the future... but for a while I did not do a good job, and that should also count."

"You don't have to punish yourself for that one failure. Everyone has a losing streak at one time or another."

"No, my heart is not in it. I do not want to end like Patterson did. He never gave himself the chance to be anything else but sheriff of Collinsport. I want more than that for myself. As for a the job, Geoffrey Hamell can do it just as well as myself."

"I still feel badly about it."

"Don't be. I needed a swift kick in the ass, and you delivered it. That's what friends are for... And one thing more Tammy."

"Yes?"

"I will never again find it tiresome when you talk about slavery and what was done to your people. I know what it was like, and... and I know that you are absolutely right about that."

Eventually Tammy left, and he could get back to his job.

Not for long, because Derek came in.

Derek had began to put some weight again, after he had been rescued from the egg.,, George thought. Too much chocolate... He was making up for all the chocolate he had missed in all his years as a vampire.

When he thought about it, the resentment surfaced in him. Why had Derek been the one cured of his vampirism, while Barnabas...

He repressed it. Derek had been the unsung hero of their rescue, and he should never forget it.

"Howard is less than thrilled about my plan to educate selected people from Egg City, so that they can survive on the streets." Derek said. "He says that I am teaching them to be criminals."

"He might have a point. But still, they need to know how to navigate safely out there."

"I have a suspicion that Howard might not want anyone to leave."

"I... I suspect it too."

"I do not say that he consciously wants to take over Vassily's throne. But the temptation is there. And the temptation is never stronger than when it is cloaked under the intent of doing good." George sighed. "Howard would not be the first missionary who started by doing good and ended up doing well."

"He is sincere enough."

"Sincerity is not enough when you start lying to yourself. And a soured idealist is a dangerous thing."

"We have no reason to believe that Howard is planning that."

"None, but that does not mean that the temptation is not there."

"As I said, I am willing to go there. I am willing to fight for my plan and for yours. But it is going to be only one of me."

"Patterson will be there."

"Yes. he will be there. But I wonder how much of it he does understand. Don't take it badly, but he is not like you. He lives to make the laws be obeyed, all laws, good, bad, or indifferent."

George had to agree. Patterson could be sincere, honest, and dedicated. But there were limitations in him. Limitations that would not allow to thwart Howard effectively if Howard ever stepped out of the straight and narrow.

"Frances might help."

"Or she might not. Face it, Brant, in this Howard is the expert and we... we are rank beginners. If he really wants to got that way, there is little chance that we could stop him."

"But we must. We have an obligation to those people. We cannot let them be ruled by a despot again, now matter how benevolent the despot it They deserve to live in a free society, and they deserve to learn how to do it."

"Yes. I know we do" he hesitated "Is it true that they have caught Roxanne Drew."

"Yes. And again, she is not the same one you knew." He explained to Derek what he knew of her, and how she had tried to kill him, And what they had planned for her.

"I will go talk to her.." Derek said. "If I can convince her to come with us, to join Egg City, then she may be what we need to counterbalance Howard. She speaks the same language as he."

George nodded. Derek still had a forlorn expression. He still could not forget Sebastian. He would carry him for a long time, it seemed.

She would get out of this. - Roxanne thought - they could not keep her locked up like this forever. And Barnabas would pay for doing this to her. She would find a way to hurt him, really hurt him.

"Roxanne."

She could barely move her head, but the little that she managed, told her that she was alone in the room. Still, someone had called her name.

"Roxanne..."

Her ears were playing tricks on her.

It was then that she saw him. A tall, blond man, who looked at her with sad dog's eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I failed you, I am sorry. I could not keep them from killing you. And then I went to bed with Angelique when I knew that you hated her."

"What the Hell are you talking about?"

"I know. You are angry with me..."

And with those words, he vanished.