CHAPTER TWELVE
A week had passed and still there was not a newspaper, radio or television in Budapest that had not broadcasted the demise of Selene's coven. Pictures were everywhere of the beautiful, ancient mansion reduced to rubble. The legal staff sitting across the table from Selene was shocked by her appearance in their office. They hid their uneasiness behind a veneer of complicated legal terms and a barrage of documents as they answered her questions. When she was told that she was Viktor's sole heir, she was stunned. When she found her voice and asked how she could obtain access to Viktor's assets without any documentation of his death, a nervous man in a dark suit leaned cautiously across the table and said, and "We know what you are."
Selene looked briefly to Michael and then back at the group of men. "What do you mean?" she asked politely. Under the table, Michael took her hand.
"Madam, this firm is over two hundred years old! Viktor has been a client all of that time, mortal men do not live so long. Neither he nor any of his representatives ever conducted business here in the daylight, not once in two hundred years. Granted, his fortune guaranteed requests for nighttime meetings were never denied. The staggering size and growth of his financial portfolio defies logical explanation. The senior staff of this firm has always known that Viktor is not human. If you wish appear so, rest assured that no one here will ever divulge your identities to the outside world."
Michael cleared his throat and spoke for the first time. "Can you create new identities for us?"
"Dr. Corvin, your photograph has been on the evening news for the past week and a half. The charges against you will have to be cleared."
"Can you do that?"
Another one of the men smiled and said, "Money greases all sorts of wheels, Dr. Corvin. Just as money was paid to implicate you, money can declare your innocence. It will take a day or so, but it can be done. Is there anything else you need in the meantime?"
Selene shook her head.
"If that is all, the only thing left is to give you access to the estate. Please make yourselves comfortable and someone will be with you in a moment." The tension drained from the room as the uneasy humans quickly withdrew. None of them seemed eager to be left alone in a room with vampires. Not one had been gauche enough or brave enough to ask the obvious question: how was Selene and her companion able to visit their office during the daytime?
Selene stared at her reflection in the beautifully polished tabletop. Her mind was moving in a hundred different directions. In the space of a week, she had gone from being a soldier subject to the orders of her superiors to being the master of her own destiny. "Well," she said briskly. "I suppose we can afford a few more nights."
Michael leaned toward her and whispered, "You could buy the whole block now, if I'm not mistaken."
"Yes, I think you're right. After we're finished here, I want to visit Ziodex."
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You never show or say how you feel. Don't you have any sort of feelings about sunlight or about all this?" he gestured around the room and to the papers on the table. "At the very least, don't you have any feelings about Viktor's death?"
"I don't think this is the place or the time to discuss it," she said sharply.
"When is the 'right time', then? We've been alone for days. Right now, there is no one else in this room but us. Every time I bring something up you don't want to talk about, you walk away. You don't have to hide anything from me. Not ever. Why don't you understand that?"
Her eyes cut over to his and then looked away.
Michael let his breath out in an angry rush and shook his head. "Sooner or later, fucking is gonna wear thin."
"You don't have to be vulgar."
"Why not? It's the truth."
"Is this because you're American? Is everyone over there so in love with their feelings? Because I have never met anyone like you before, I really haven't."
Michael sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Fine," he said. "Fine. If you're ever ready, let me know. Just don't think I'm going to shut down all of the sudden. That's not how I'm made, OK?"
The door opened and Selene gratefully turned her attention to a young man holding a large sheaf of papers. She did not look at or address Michael again, not once in the next hour and a half. After arranging to return the next afternoon, she stood and walked out of the room. Michael shrugged and rose from his seat. He shook the hand of the uncomfortable law clerk and followed. What he wanted most in the world at that moment was a cold beer. Or conversation. Neither was a possibility.
Selene was waiting in the car. Michael opened the door and carefully sat down. He was afraid he'd wrench the handle off of the door. He closed it gently and leaned back in his seat. He pressed his fingers to his eyes and slowly counted to ten. "Selene," he began.
"Wait, Michael. I'm sorry. Really."
"There's a word we keep tossing back and forth."
"It's not you, it's me. I know it is," Selene said in a low voice. You have to understand that I have lived in a very controlled, very secretive way for hundreds of years. I am trying, I really am. Just give me some time."
"Time's something we have. Let's go back to our rooms. I have a splitting headache."
"This may make it worse." Selene held out a folded piece of paper with Michael's name written on it.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it under the windshield wiper."
Michael took the paper and quickly scanned it. "The lycans want to talk to me. Without you, of course."
"When?"
"Tonight. Oh, perfect!" He smiled sarcastically and waved the note in the air.
"What is?"
"They want to meet me in Corvin Square."
"Where?"
"Under Castle Hill. My grandmother took us there as kids to show us the seal of King Matthias Corvinus."
"You aren't going alone."
"Oh hell, my headache just became hot pokers in my eyes."
"I'm serious!"
"Yes, I know you are. Could you please, please start the car?"
