Chapter 15

XXXXXXX

"Your Majesty, if I may intrude?"

Eric looked over his shoulder to find a footman, quietly waiting for his response. Whatever the intrusion was, it wasn't intended for Sookie or he would have spoken up before she went inside their room. "I'll be right in," Eric said into the room, before pulling the door closed and directing his attention back to the footman. "What is it?"

"Don Rafael urgently requests an audience at Your Majesty's earliest convenience." The young man glanced at the open door Eric was still holding. "Don Rafael asked me to convey his desire to attend you alone."

"Is he available now?"

The footman nodded. "He is in the library, waiting for your response. Shall I deliver a return message?"

"No, I will deal with him. You may go."

The man bowed and took two steps backward before turning and hurrying away.

Eric stuck his head in the door and told Sookie he was going to meet with Don Rafael. "Find Ermessen before sunrise and tell her what we found tonight. See if she was able to learn anything helpful from Oran. Unless I am mistaken, I will be expected to go to Don Perdigo's home. No doubt he has at least heard from Saaset. It is possible she is already home.

I will end up there for the day, but you should be fine. Ocella has left the villa. He received a text earlier this evening and left soon after. I am more convinced every minute it must have been Alexei. That will keep him occupied."

"Why would Alexei not come here with Mina?" Sookie asked, her irritation at the situation clear.

Eric's laugh echoed down the corridor. "You are a reigning Queen and an honored guest of the reigning Queen of this realm. He has stolen something from you and he may be eager to show off his prize to his Maker, but it is unlikely even he would dare to come here with her. His claim to her may outweigh yours now, so he would expect his position to not be challenged, but I have never heard him called stupid. He would not expect the slight to be forgiven."

"He won't ever be able to expect that," Sookie stated emphatically, crossing her arms and staring up at Eric.

"Never is a long time, Dearest."

"Not e-ver."

"Very well," he said with an indulgent chuckle. "I'll be back as soon after sunset as possible. Try to behave until I return."

Sookie rolled her eyes and pushed him back so she could close the door. "Go," she said when it was closed.

XXXXXXX

As usual, Don Rafael knew nothing. He was no more than a glorified errand boy who enjoyed the illusion of importance he perpetuated. Tonight he was delivering an invitation from Don Perdigo. The invitation was for one only.

Though it had come in the form of a politely worded and delivered invitation, Eric knew it for what it was, a summons. His compliance was expected, without question or attempts to negotiate conditions. He obligingly accompanied Don Rafael outside, where a car was waiting.

"We do not all fly," Don Rafael said, gesturing to the car.

XXXXXXX

The vault door slid open and a struggling human man was shoved through. He hit the stone floor with a thud and the scent of fresh blood wafted through the room as he spit out a broken tooth.

"Why are you doing this?" the man wailed as Ocella strutted through the door as if he were leading a victory parade.

"Ocella!" Alexei shouted, running to embrace his Maker.

"Alexei, my boy! It is good to see you again. I knew you would escape. How could a few faeries hold what an army of Bolsheviks could not?"

That army of Bolsheviks left me for dead in a pit with my sister, where my body would have rotted beside hers, had you not dragged me out, Alexei thought, and as always, he was conflicted over whether to feel hatred or gratitude for his Maker's actions that night so long ago. He pushed those thoughts from his mind as he clung to his Maker, and drew comfort and strength from his mere presence.

Ocella gave Alexei a hard clap on the back just as another scent reached his nose. There was someone else in the vault, someone besides the sniveling human with the bleeding mouth.

The man screamed, causing Ocella and Alexei to release their embrace and drawing everyone's immediate attention. He had tried moving away from Ocella, by sort of crab-crawling backwards, which might have worked out better for him, had he not started on his back, so he was moving along on his hands and feet, dragging his rear end on the floor. He managed to get all the way across the room, where he ran, head first, into Mina's legs.

The man scurried away from her, still screaming, but at a loss as to where to go. He settled for huddling against the wall.

"You've brought a friend, I see," Ocella said, his voice taking on a more menacing tone as he moved toward her. "I am certain I must have told you, this place is a family secret, to be guarded against all others."

Mina tried to take a step back, but she too had her back to a wall, so she had nowhere to retreat. Finding no mercy in Ocella's expression, she turned her pleading eyes to Alexei. To his credit, he responded at once.

He dashed to Mina's side. He did not dare block Ocella's path, but at least he would be noticed in this position. "She is family, Ocella. She is my progeny. She rose for the first time with the sunset, this very night."

Ocella stopped within an arms length of them. He looked back and forth between them several times before focusing his gaze on Alexei and smiling. "And she was how you escaped?"

"Yes," he agreed enthusiastically. "They gave her to me to feed. They thought she was dead and took her body away with the others, to be buried. When she rose, she came to release me. We released Saaset as well, but of course I did not bring her here."

He was blurring the details and rearranging the order of events more to his liking, but it never even occurred to Mina to contradict him. No matter what he said, she knew she would back up his version of things, if called upon to do so, there was no question, it was simply fact.

"Brilliant plan, Alexei. I am not sure even I could have come up with such a plan. It was risky, to be certain, but things always are when the payoff is high. She's quiet. I like that in a woman. I'm tired of being in the company of females who can't manage to close their mouths. What do you call her?"

"Her name is Mina," Alexei said, his chest swelled with pride from his Maker's approval.

Ocella's eyes narrowed as his glare settled back on Mina. "Is it? Then tell me, my beloved, is this female the creature I have been hearing endless complaining about since my arrival in Spain?

You tell me, girl. Do you belong to the wife of the Norseman?"

"I did," Mina replied softly, "before."

"Before," Ocella repeated. "A good answer. You will do well to remember it. You belong to and with Alexei now, not that self-important wretch from America who poisons the mind of my Norseman. Your fate is in his hands."

"I understand," she said, bowing her head in submission.

"Good," he said gruffly. When he looked back to Alexei, his face softened. He really was happy to see him. "Come, I have brought you a meal. Had I known of your procreation, I would have brought more. As it is, I assume she has already fed for the evening."

"We feasted on faeries," Alexei proclaimed. "As it happens, they are more filling than humans, but I am honored by your gift and would be most pleased if you would share it with me, so we can celebrate the end of our separation."

The two of them walked away arm in arm. Alexei grabbed the man with the bleeding mouth by the shirt and dragged him along with them. When they had crawled into one of the large niches in the wall and pulled the man in after them, Mina sank to the floor and sat there with her knees under her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs.

She felt as though she should be doing something, but she had absolutely no idea what that something should be. Her world had turned into a strange, dark place she no longer recognized or knew how to function within. She wanted Oliver. She wanted Sookie. Mostly she wanted to feel safe. It didn't look as though she was going to get anything she wanted any time soon.

The sounds from the bleeding man faded and his lifeless corpse was tossed from the niche. As the sounds of struggling against death gave way to sounds of more willing bodily entanglements, Mina closed her eyes and forced her mind to more peaceful pastures. She thought of Oliver and how he loved her, how she loved him … before.

Alexei told her she would forget, but it wasn't true. How could she forget Oliver? How could she forget Sookie, who despite their closeness in age had taken her in and given her the comforts and benefits of her home as freely as if she'd been her mother. Even Eric, who rarely seemed to notice she was there, would be a welcome sight at this point; anyone familiar, anyone she knew and understood.

Sometime later Ocella slipped out of the niche and away into the night. A few minutes after he was gone, Alexei called to her. "Come Mina. The sun will be rising soon. Pass the day in here with me."

She obeyed without resistance. What else could she do?

XXXXXXX

Like Ermessen's villa, Don Perdigo's home was built into the landscape, though on a much grander scale. Unless you knew it was there, or were paying close attention, you could easily miss it. Even in full sunlight, it did not draw attention to itself. The surrounding forest had grown in thick and tall, creating a natural barrier, to protect the fortress and its inhabitants from enemies, both real and perceived.

The gothic structure, with its many towers and ramparts was a magnificent sight. Were it not so well concealed, no doubt it would be featured on many 'must see' lists of gothic architecture.

The inside was also something to set the heart of a historian ablaze, though despite the appearance, Eric could hear the low hum of electricity. Don Perdigo was not living entirely in the past.

Don Rafael led Eric across a massive grand entry, with a tiled mosaic floor, depicting a scene of the Knights Templar helping defeat the Moors in the Battle of Las Navas. As they reached the foot of a wide stone staircase, a woman appeared at the top.

"Senora Saaset!" Don Rafael exclaimed. He moved as if to ascend the stairs to meet her, but a slight movement of her hand halted him.

Just as Eric thought. Rafael had no idea what was going on around him. He was trusted with errands, but not anything of true import.

"Thank you for escorting the King to us so efficiently, Don Rafael," the dark-eyed beauty said sweetly, extending courtesy, but not an invitation. "I am Saaset Rog," she said to Eric, offering him her hand and a welcoming smile. "We are grateful for your visit and hope to soon have the honor of meeting your Queen."

Eric liked her instantly. She presented herself with all the grace and confidence befitting the Mistress of a fortress such as this, which considering that at sundown this very evening, she had been a prisoner elsewhere, was no small accomplishment of composure.

He joined her on the landing and nodded in response to her quick curtsey. "I am pleased and relieved to see you have come through your ordeal with so little apparent ill effect. As you might imagine, I am eager to hear any news you may have of those we assume were being held with you."

'This way," She said, taking the lead as they walked. "My husband is waiting for us to join him."

They arrived at a large sitting room with stone walls and an enormous roaring fire. Perdigo rose to greet them as they entered. "What do you think of my Saaset?" he called, smiling broadly and reaching for her hand.

There is something different about him, Eric thought, though he couldn't quite decide what it was. He appeared the same at first glance. He was tall, six foot, maybe six foot one, depending on how his shoes were built. He had thick black hair, with very little wave, that fell three inches or more beyond his shoulders, but just now he had it tied back in a low ponytail. His most striking feature was, without question, his eyes. They were bottomless pits of black, set against the palest ivory skin Eric had ever seen. The stark contrast gave him a ghostly appearance, which was creepy even by Eric's standards.

Ocella said his skin was so pale because he had lived for centuries in the deepest waters of the Nile, which Perdigo still referred to by its ancient Egyptian name; Iteru, before coming out and living among humans. Back then he called himself Atum, and the humans called him a god. He was the god who rose from the water and took the beauty Iusaaset as his consort. Together the two of them created all the plethora of other gods who ruled over Egypt and the rest of the world; what a time that must have been to be a vampire; to be seen by most humans as a deity and as always, by others as a demon.

Yes, he looked the same, though clearly happier than Eric had ever seen him. This could be credited to Saaset, of course. Eric dismissed the needling thought. After all, it had been more than five centuries since they last met and at the time Eric had been much more intrigued by the harem of distracting and obliging companions Perdigo surrounded himself with, than with Perdigo himself. Perhaps it was nothing.

"Don't answer him, King Eric," Saaset teased, reaching Perdigo's side and placing her hand in his. "He showers me with the forced flattery of others because he fears I will tire of hearing the words in his voice. He is wrong." She was speaking to Eric, but she smiled at Perdigo as if he were the only man in the room.

"How could you defame me so, my dear?" Perdigo asked as if sorely affronted. "And to a man who seized a crown in order to have people refer to him by his given name."

"Your taste is even more impeccable than I remembered, Don Perdigo. I can easily imagine her possessing the power of her namesake." With a glance to Saaset, he added, "I believe we can dispense with the formality of royal titles, and for the record, I sincerely doubt any flattery directed at you is forced."

"There! You have been affirmed by the Norseman; a rare honor. I am told few women enjoy his high opinion." Perdigo raised Saaset's hand and kissed it, as if to seal his words.

"Really?" Saaset replied. "I have received a very different account. I am surprised you are not better informed."

"Believe of me many things, my dear Saaset, but never am I ill informed. I am aware, in agonizing detail, of the Norseman's many famed exploits in battle and in bed. Never confuse enjoying his company with enjoying his good opinion, attaining one is a much simpler endeavor than the other."

Perdigo shifted his attention to Eric. "But enough of trivialities. I feel sure Eric would rather not be subjected to listening to us discuss him in such familiar terms. We have much more important matters at hand and our time grows short. Please, Eric, sit." He indicated a large cushioned chair situated opposite his in front of the fire. Saaset seated herself on the arm of Perdigo's chair.

"It is possible you underestimate my capacity for taking pleasure in conversation centered on me," Eric said with a chuckle as he took his seat. "Though I believe it is more likely you are conducting some sort of test of my character. Was I supposed to be provoked by your casual chatting about my personal life, or by the delay in arriving at the more serious topic?

Allow me to spare you the necessity for further testing. I have been aware since shortly before your invitation that Saaset and Alexei were freed. I know my Queen's human girl, Mina, was made vampire and it was she who freed them. I did not know for certain until arriving here, it was Alexei who is her Maker. Saaset was clearly sworn to secrecy, or she would have said she had news for me, when we met at the staircase. She does not want Don Rafael to be able to say she provided me with information.

If Saaset was Mina's Maker, you would have called for Appius, not me."

"I told you he was clever," Perdigo said to Saaset.

"Why would we call for Appius, when it is commonly known you are the more reasonable. Why negotiate with him?" Saaset asked.

Eric offered her his most charming grin. "It seems it is you who has received only a partial account of me, madam. If you were Mina's Maker and she was with you, there would be no negotiations to be had with me. Only my Maker would have the power to prevent me from dismantling this fortress stone by stone and killing you both, if need be, in order to reclaim her and return her to my wife. Thus summoning Appius and paying him what, no doubt, would have been an exorbitant price, would have been your most prudent, if not your only option."

Saaset jumped to her feet and glared at him. "How dare you threaten us in our own home?"

Eric looked at her with the condescending patience of old money explaining the rules of polite society to the nouveau riche. "I have not infiltrated your home, Saaset. I am here at your invitation. Nor have I made any threats. You asked a question of me. I gave you a truthful answer. As your guest, I owe you nothing less.

Having obliged you by honestly satisfying your curiosity, I wonder if you might return the favor. I am curious on two points. Firstly, to learn the circumstances of Mina's turning. Was it solely a risky plan for escape? Or was there other factors or considerations?"

"You won't believe it." Her confidence had abandoned her. She sounded like a frightened child now.

"I have heard many things of you, Dona, but I have not heard your veracity questioned by anyone."

"Tell him," Perdigo encouraged her.

"It was an accident."

"An accident?" Eric questioned after a pause. "And are you privy to the nature of this accident?"

Saaset nervously gave Eric her account of her captivity, going quickly through the beginning and passing over completely the issue of what happens when you are summoned whilst confined by silver plated bars. She concentrated the details of her story on Mina; what they talked about before she was moved in with Alexei, and what she overheard from Alexei's cell.

She had Eric's undivided attention as she spoke without interruption. "She was despondent when I left them," Saaset said with regret. "She wanted to come back to the villa, to her Mistress and someone she called Oliver, but a Maker's bond cannot be repelled by will alone. I wanted to help her. She seemed such a dear girl, but there was nothing I could do without Alexei's consent. If it is any comfort, I believe he likes her too. I honestly believe he regretted having to kill her, and he was thrilled to see her when she came back. It was more than excitement over being rescued, he was happy to see her in particular.

What is the second point you are curious about?"

"What must have been only a short time after you escaped your captivity tonight, I arrived at the house where you had been held. Thus your rescue was at hand, regardless of Mina's turning. In your description of this evening's events, you answered my second question. I wanted to know if it was Alexei or Mina who killed Lorcan and Niamh. I appreciate your relieving my mind on the subject.

The sun was coming. They all felt it. Perdigo stood and the others followed suit. They had fifteen minutes, maybe a very little more.

"I've had a suite prepared for you," Don Perdigo told Eric. "We can speak further after sundown and decide what must be done."

"I believe we all know what must be done. The question is how to do it. In order for Alexei to be dealt with, Ocella must be neutralized. I am clearly the best choice for such a task, yet I am the one vampire who cannot perform it. The problem is mine and you are most generous in offering your support, Don Perdigo. I do not forget such things."

"I'm so sorry," Saaset almost cried. "I don't know what else I could have done."

"She was beyond your ability to help her tonight. Tomorrow we will see if she is beyond mine." He offered her a grateful smile and slight bow.

"As for Alexei," he continued as they headed out of the room. "His bent toward the grisly aside, you say he is not weakened by contact with silver?"

XXXXXXX

Too many things were happening too quickly. Sookie was looking forward to having a few quiet hours with Eric before sunrise. Now he was off with Don Rafael and likely wouldn't be back until tomorrow evening. She paced the room for fully ten minutes before deciding she'd go mad if she continued. Oliver was waiting in the hall when she came out.

"I can't walk far enough in that room," she said as she breezed past Oliver. "Let's go find Ermessen and see if she got anything else out of that jeweler."

The grotto was empty and Ramon was happily watching Peter Pan with two of his nannies. Sookie was about to go back to the sunroom to take advantage of its size for more pacing, when she heard the sharp clicking of stiletto heels behind her. She swung around and there was Ermessen, smiling and licking her fingertips.

"Is Eric with you?"

"No," Sookie answered. "He was called away for a meeting with Don Perdigo. Let's go sit in the grotto. I have a lot to tell you and I hope you have news for me as well."

Oliver listened as Sookie told Ermessen about everything they found when they did the whole Alice through the looking glass routine through the faerie portals.

"She's clever, this Aednat," Ermessen said when Sookie finished. "She keeps all the different segments of her plan compartmentalized and separated from each other. That way any one can collapse without endangering anything else."

"Why the kidnappings?" Sookie asked. "What did she hope to accomplish with them?"

"She wants to be Queen Faerie," Ermessen said with a sardonic laugh. "You can almost always tell who will make for the best royalty, by noticing who actually wants the position as opposed to those who are willing to take it on. Those who want it, rarely have any real conception of what the job entails. All they think of are pretty titles and large jewels."

"I don't understand. How would kidnapping vampires make her Queen in Faerie? She would have to marry Niall if she wanted to be anything like a Queen."

"Or kill him," Ermessen replied. "Of course she couldn't kill him herself, or she would be nothing more than a common criminal, and she couldn't have anyone under her influence or command do the deed.

What she thought she could do, was induce vampires to kill him, by convincing us it was him who was taking our progeny.

Once they had a half dozen or so, Oran was going to come out and make contact with us. He would bring the silver coated bags as a sign of his good faith. As a way of explaining his betrayal, he would denounce Niall as a tyrant and say he could no longer bear the danger Niall was inviting into Faerie by his reckless actions in kidnapping young vampires. He would claim Niall's goal was to subjugate powerful vampires by threatening their progeny.

Her hope was for us to use the bags to send assassins into Faerie to kill Niall, after which she would personally lead the 'rescue' party to free the progeny and return them to us."

"That way we would have what we wanted and leave Faerie to its self," Sookie said. "She would be able to make peace with us and be a hero to her people, thus putting her in a perfect position for her followers to provoke popular demand for her to be made Queen or at least ruler."

"Precisely," Ermessen agreed.

"I wonder how long it will be before she realizes we've found her out?"

"Her vanity will delay her willingness to accept it at first, but not for long. I would love to be the one to tell her. Unfortunately, such news is rarely delivered by someone who can enjoy the task."

"Mmm," Sookie replied. Her thoughts were spinning off in several different directions. "Is Oran still alive?"

"He is being held in a cell in the dungeon under my office. There is a secret passage from the dungeon to here. Thus I am able to tell the servants I am not to be disturbed in my office and I can slip down here to visit with Ramon without concern about being missed. Gawain is with him."

"Why?" Sookie asked, alarm clear in her voice and expression.

"Oh, not as a prisoner," Ermessen said, laughing at the misunderstanding. "Gawain is seeing to Oran's injuries, the worst of which was inflicted by Eric, so please direct any complaints over his treatment to your husband."

"Will he be alright?"

"Gawain believes he has the shoulder set so it will heal properly. Other than that, he has a few bumps and bruises and a few bite wounds. He is weakened, but in no danger of death or extended infirmity."

"Another shoulder?" Sookie asked with a sigh. She noticed Oliver rub his shoulder at the thought. "Oh well, at least he'll heal. If no one objects, when this is over, I would like to return as many of them as possible to Niall." Beside her, Oliver stiffened. If left to him, he would kill every faerie he encountered. In his mind, they were collectively to blame for his losing Mina.

"As long as the faeries do not end up in all out civil war, I see no reason why there would be objection. We can make inquiries tomorrow. For now, it is time we make our way back to our rooms for the overlight hours."

"Ermessen, do you happen to know if Ocella has returned from wherever he went earlier tonight?"

"Let me check." She took a cell phone from a pocket at her waist and paged through numerous messages. "Yes. He returned only a few moments ago, actually."

Sookie stood, thanked Ermessen and turned to Oliver. "Let's go. I'm sure the Queen would like time to say good night to Ramon before sunrise."

Ermessen reached out and covered Sookie's hand with hers. "I advise you to take care, Sookie. You are calculating how long he was gone and thinking Alexei and Mina must be someplace close by. No doubt you are correct. You are wondering if Oliver would be able to track the girl. Possibly, if you got lucky and managed to get close enough. Her scent is different now, but not impossible to follow.

Consider what will happen if you find her. What will you do? Whatever you decide, you will be beyond Eric's help and possibly even working against him. Appius will never permit him to take your side against his brother."

"Thank you again, for your council," Sookie said with a smile. "Good night."

Seconds later, as they crossed the sunroom, the long silent Oliver finally spoke. "If it is your intention to follow them, I am certain I will be able to track her, Mistress."

"We don't need to track them," she responded with absolute confidence. "I know exactly where they are. How long before sunrise?"

"Perhaps twenty-five minutes, maybe a few seconds more, depending on which direction we're heading."

"Perfect. We should be able to get close, at least to the mountain, if not all the way up." She stopped with her hand on the knob before opening the door into the hall. "Go to your room. Change into comfortable clothes and get anything you think you might need, but nothing you can't carry in addition to me."

Oliver's eyes opened wide. "Mistress, I couldn't. His Majesty would never allow it," he protested.

"You can and it doesn't matter if Eric would allow it or not. You belong to me, not him, and I say you are going to fly me as close as you can get me to La Morera de Montsant tonight."

No more precious seconds were wasted. They each changed their clothes and met outside the front door of the villa. Sookie gave Oliver the first set of directions and they were off. Tonight there would be no climbing unfamiliar mountain paths on foot. They would land directly in the meadow and go to ground there to wait for sunrise.

Ocella had returned to the villa for the day, so even if he intended to go back to Alexei first thing, she and Oliver would still have a head start. More importantly, the same held true for Eric. With or without Ocella's encouragement, Sookie knew Eric would either summon her or follow her the minute he realized what she was up to. They would need to grab Mina and contain Alexei quickly if there was to be any hope of Oliver and Mina getting away.

She felt the stake she had tucked into her jeans, at her hip. She would order Oliver to leave with Mina and as soon as they did, she would kill Alexei. It was the only way. He would be able to track Mina or summon her back to him if he was left alive.

Without Eric's protection, Sookie knew the price she would pay for her course of action, but she had no choice. Mina had to be freed and she had to be with Oliver.

She felt the dawn urging her to flee to the darkness for the day. She knew Oliver was feeling it as well. They didn't have much longer. "There!" she yelled, pointing to the mountaintop meadow. She could hear the waterfall. She could see it now. Just in time.

They burrowed quickly into the soft ground and her thoughts drifted as they gave way to shadow. So many had sacrificed so much for her in the last few years. It was time for her to sacrifice. It was time, and she was ready.