I kept silent while William held Alex in his arms until she fell into an exhausted sleep. But when he laid her carefully down on the bed and pulled the quilt up off her legs I just couldn't help myself.

"What do you think you're doing now?"

He had reached down to her ankles and was carefully unfastening the straps of her sandals.

"I'm taking her shoes off, she'll be far more comfortable without them." he explained patiently, untying the long laces from around her ankles and loosening the straps so that he could gently ease the shoes off without waking her.

"Where on earth did she get such kinky shoes?" he thought to himself, getting up with the shoes dangling from one hand and placing them carefully on the chair.

"What's kinky about them?"

"Oh Lily!"

"No really...I'm curious! Do men really think those are kinky? Why?"

I could feel his intense embarrassment. "Well...I guess its all the black leather straps..."

"Ah! I begin to see now!"

"Lily! Don't go there!"

"It's not a question of me...it's a question of whether you want to go there!"

William lay down on his back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.

"Can we not talk about this now please?" he asked plaintively. "I need some sleep, it's been a long night!"

The temptation to tease him with talk of bondage and leather was almost overwhelming, but I remembered the freedom that he had allowed me despite the fact that he knew Alex wouldn't like it and I restrained myself.

"Get some sleep William" I said. "You'll probably need it!"

We woke at dusk to find Alex still sleeping peacefully.

"So" asked William quietly. "What did you think of the vampires you met last night?"

"Well..." I thought for a moment. "Most of the Authority members seemed suitably impressed with you, the monarchs as well in fact, except for the ones who had actually met you before...should that worry me?

He laughed. "Oh now that's not fair Lily and you know it! Yes, I dislike Felipe de Castro and for good reason. I've gone up against Russell Edgington as well and I don't trust him, and neither did you I noticed!"

"You're quite right of course. I didn't trust either of them and I would have come to the same conclusion without your input, that only confirmed my poor opinion of them." I ran over the numerous influential vampires we had met the previous evening in my mind. "What about Freyda of Oklahoma?" I asked thoughtfully. "Do you think that weasel Northman will be able to influence her against you?"

"I've no doubt he'll try! Whether he succeeds or not will be a good test of her judgement."

I smiled to myself, impressed. He was certainly proving to be an excellent politician! There was a buzzing noise and he reached over to the table beside the bed and rummaged amongst the empty glasses and chocolate wrappers for his phone.

"Ulrich!" he sighed, "he wants a debrief meeting in an hour." He lay back and stared up at the ceiling. "Will I ever get any peace!"

At that point Alex gave a little sigh and opened her eyes.

William immediately relaxed and smiled down at her. "Good evening, I was wondering when you'd wake up."

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

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

She laughed and then raised the sheet and looked down at herself. "I don't remember taking my shoes off."

William explained how he had removed them the previous evening after she had fallen asleep, but I noticed he was careful not to mention their "kinkiness".

He explained about the debrief and suggested that Alex and Susie could get some food from room service.

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 her. She rolled over and pressed her body against him, deepening the kiss. She felt warm and soft...after a while the knock came again, slightly more impatient this time.

"Okay! Just a minute!" said William irritably as Alex wriggled out of his embrace and slid out of the bed, heading for the bathroom.

William pulled on a dressing gown and crossed the room to the door. Gerry and Susie stood outside. "You got Ulrich's message?" asked Gerry, eyeing the dressing gown.

"Yes, yes...come in, I'll just get dressed, Alex is in the shower."

Before he had a chance to close the door Ulrich appeared immaculate in a smart grey suit and stepped though the open door.

"Do you think you could put some clothes on Your Excellency?" he asked with a smile.

"Make yourselves at home..." William headed back into the bedroom and pulled on a T shirt and jeans. He picked up the phone and called room service, ordering as he walked back into the lounge area where Azaria and Dan had now arrived and were curled up on a sofa together.

William smiled at Azaria and sat down on the other sofa. "Did you enjoy yourself last night?" he asked.

"Oh Bill! It was wonderful. I so enjoyed myself! I'm so glad you persuaded me to come with you."

"You're very fond of her aren't you?" I could feel it. I could hear the love in his voice. I struggled to understand how he could have such powerful feelings for one who was not related to him in any way. He really did treat her as his child. Just then there was another knock at the door and William went to open it. As soon as she saw the young man with the trolley Susie jumped up and headed for it.

Alex emerged from the bathroom just then wearing one of the big fluffy hotel dressing gowns. She went over and helped Susie remove the covers from plates of food which sat on the trolley. They helped themselves to a plateful each and passed one to Dan then she settled down on the sofa next to William.

"Well, it seems that everyone had a good time last night? 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 William calmly. "Well, he's an arrogant, self-centred ass, but that's never been a problem. Not so far as he's concerned anyway!"

"That would be the weasel, right?"

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.

"Who's Lazlo? Oh wait...he's Azaria's real maker?"

"That's right."

"The one who abandoned her?"

"So you were paying attention! Good!"

A month ago his comment would have annoyed me, I would have taken it as an insult, but now...somehow I was pleased that he felt comfortable enough with me to tease me a little.

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

William leaned back on the sofa. "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 smiled to myself. He appeared to have no idea of the irony of his comment. He had only to ask and I could give him absolute power. He glanced over at Alex who was watching him with a strange expression and I suddenly knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was thinking exactly the same thing.

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

"You mean about the witch?" asked Ulrich. "What was the name?"

"Lucilla" said William quietly.

There was silence for a moment, the three male vampires looking worried. Azaria sat up. "Could she really be a threat to us?" she asked, turning to William.

He 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."

"There have indeed! You've heard of them?"

"Many of us have heard the stories."

"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.

"She had good reason!"

"William!" I was shocked that he would think this. "Nothing justifies what she did!"

"The very fact that you don't think so shows me that you have a lot to learn Lily." he said mildly.

"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…"

Alex looked completely shocked. She squeezed Bill's hand and he turned and smiled down at her. "We'll just have to be careful" he said comfortingly.