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the vampire planet. It took them another decade or so to wrap up their
previous engagements. Finally, they bestirred themselves and went to
find out what happened. When they arrived, they found the orbital fleet
exactly where it was supposed to be, in system. The ships were intact
and filled with vampires.”
Maud swirled her wine om her glass and smiled. “Nobody has ever met
a Mukama.”
“No,” Nuan Cee admitted.
“But here we are, enjoying the fresh air of their homeworld.”
Nuan Cee startled.
“House Krahr was one of the original greater houses,” Maud told him.
“They were entrusted with this planet to make sure no Mukama ever
breathed its air again.”
She set her empty glass on the table.
“When we started this story, I told you that a stable society is resistant
to change. The Holy Anocracy is stable, honorable Nuan Cee. They
won. Why would they change? Their way of life worked for them for
thousands of years. They never stopped building castles or wearing
armor; they just make them stronger. They never abandoned their faith,
because it sustained them in their darkest hour. They cherish their
children, they guard them like their greatest treasure, and they teach
them to fight from a young age, because history taught them that
children are both precious and vulnerable. Without children, the Holy
Anocracy has no future. Above all, the vampires distrust
outsiders. Nothing good ever came to them from beyond the stars. You
are an outsider fighting against thousands of years of inertia. A single
strange bird flying at a massive flock trying to change its direction. The
kind of change you are seeking can only come from within, from
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someone deeply respected, someone rooted in their society. Neither
you nor I have that kind of clout. But I will speak to Arland the next time
I see him. If I see him.”
“Oh, you will see him,” Nuan Cee said. “He is coming down the hallway
now.”
Maud took a deep breath.
A moment later Arland loomed in the doorway, carrying a large gray
case. He saw her. “My lady.”
Helen waved at Arland. He took a step into the room, but the lees
swarmed him, pushing him out into the hallway.
“You left her alone!”
“People were mean to her.”
“She was sad!”
Maud glanced at Nuan Cee. He smiled at her.
Arland looked at her above the lees, a pained look on his face and raised
his arms in mock surrender.
“I suppose I should find out where he was.” She sighed.
“Come see me any time, Matilda,” Nuan Cee said.
“I will,” she promised and meant it.
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Chapter 5 Part 2
March 9, 2018 by Ilona
Maud stepped through the doorway into the hallway. Behind her the
door slid shut, cutting off the lees and their outraged cries.
Arland glanced at Helen. His eyes darkened. “Who?”
“It was a formal challenge,” Maud said.
“I’m getting ripper cushions,” Helen told him.
Arland turned to Maud.
“Lady Helen challenged someone in the nursery, was warned not to fight,
and did it anyway. Now there will repercussions.”
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“Did you win?” Arland asked.
Helen nodded.
“All is well then. If you go through life never doing anything deserving
any repercussions, you’ll never know victory.”
Helen grinned.
“That is some fine parenting, my lord Marshal.” Maud loaded enough
sarcasm into her tone to explode a space cruiser.
“I try,” Arland said.
The three of them looked at each other. Awkward.
“May I walk you to your quarters?” he asked.
“You may.” It was that or continuing standing in the hallway.
They walked through the hallways, then to the covered bridge, Helen
running back and forth, sometimes in front, sometimes behind. The
storm still raged, lightning flashing overhead, ripping through the dark
“I’m sorry,” Arland said.
“For what, my lord?”
“For not being there during dinner. It wasn’t my intention.”
“I don’t need your protection or assistance, my lord. I’m not a
prisoner. I’m here because I choose to be here. If I felt I couldn’t hack it
on my own, I would’ve left already.”
They crossed the bridge into the tower and stopped at the end of the
chamber, where the two hallways branched off, one leading to her
quarters, the other to his.
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“I know that you don’t require my protection, my lady. If I thought you
did, I wouldn’t have extended the invitation. I’m not looking for a
maiden to save. I’m looking for a partner.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
He ignored and kept going. “However, it was my intention to escort you
to dinner and to spend the meal with you. I regret that my duties
detained me and that I was unable to make you feel welcome in the feast
hall of my home. Please accept my deepest apologies, my lady.”
If they got any more painfully polite, they would draw blood simply by
speaking.
“No apologies necessary, my lord. It was time well spent. I was
fortunate enough to experience the hospitality of House Krahr first
hand.”
He waited.
“Nothing to add, Lord Marshal?”
“A wise man knows when to shut up,” he said. “I have a mother and two
female cousins. I know that tone of voice. Anything I say now will be
wrong. I will humbly wait to be banished or forgiven.”
“Humbly?”
“Yes.”
“Why, my lord, I’m surprised you know the meaning of the word.”
He looked at her. She looked back. They crossed stares like swords.
“Are you going to fight?” Helen asked in a small voice.
Oh, for goodness sake… “What’s in the box?” Maud asked.
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“Dinner,” he said. “I didn’t get to have one and from what I understand,
neither did you. Join me?”
She considered stomping off to her room in all of her pissed off glory, but
really it would be childish. Also, she was starving.
“Yes,” Maud said.
Arland grinned at her. She nearly raised her hand to shield herself.
“Just a dinner,” she said.
“Just a dinner,” he said. “Also, I downloaded the Saga of Olasard, the
Ripper of Souls, onto my viewer. It’s animated.”
It hit her. Helen had never seen a cartoon before. Then his words sank
in deeper. “Umm, there is that one part in the catacombs…”
“Oh, no, they took that out. It’s made for children.”
“Oh good.”
The door to Arland’s quarters was identical to hers, heavy, reinforced,
old. He swung it open and stood aside. She walked in. It was a mirror
image of her room, a masculine version of it, but where her chambers
were devoid of personal touches, this place belonged to Arland.
A small alla tree grew in the corner, its branches heavy with white
blo
ssoms. It was in good health, so someone was watering it. A stack of
actual paper books set on the table by the massive bed. She saw a copy
of a popular YA novel from Earth and bit her lip to keep from laughing. A
variety of knickknacks lay here and there, a long, wicked dagger, not of
vampire make; a piece of misshapen metal; a small wooden figurine
carved in painstaking detail. Wing, one of the creatures staying in Dina’s
inn, carved them out of wood. If she squinted just right, it sort of looked
like her…
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Arland swung his hand before a wall. It split open, revealing a linen
closet. He grabbed some large floor pillows and tossed them on the rug.
A fuzzy blanket followed.
“Viewer,” he ordered.
A screen slid from above, covering the opposite wall.
“Saga of Olasard.”
An animated vampire knight appeared on the screen, wearing elaborate
armor, holding a bloody sword in one hand and a severed head in
another and roared.
Helen’s eyes grew huge. “It’s like a book! But it’s moving.”
“Pause,” Arland said. “Helen, I gave you access. You can tell it to pause,
rewind, and fast forward.”
She looked at the pillows and then back at the screen. “I need my
teddy!”
“Let’s go get him,” Maud said. “We’ll be right back.”
A couple of minutes later Helen and teddy were situated on the
pillows. By the time they had come back, Arland opened the box he
carried. Ribeye steak, with ribs still attached for the ease of holding. Half
a dozen vampire side dishes, thinly sliced meat, roasted vegetables, little
tiny pies… The smell alone made Maud’s mouth water.
Arland produced a stack of plates. Helen loaded hers up, crawled onto
the pillows and started her movie.
Maud made her plate, propped a pillow against Arland’s bed, and sat on
the floor. Arland sat next to her with his own dinner. Their arms almost
touched.
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Maud attacked the food. For the first five minutes nobody
spoke. Finally, she ate enough to take the edge off hunger.
“Where were you?” she asked quietly.
“Dealing with an idiot. One of Karat’s knights challenged her in direct
violation of my orders.”
So that’s why Karat wasn’t at dinner. “How did it go?”
Arland shrugged. “He’ll walk again. Some day.”
She smiled at him.
“As Marshal, I had to deal with it. And by deal, I mean I had to watch
that farce of a fight and then slap him with sanctions.”
“A man who never does anything deserving repercussions will never
taste victory,” she said with a straight face.
“That idiot couldn’t find his way out of a boot with flood lights and scout
support. Trust me, victory is not in his future.”
On screen a massive creature charged Olasard, who heroically jumped
impossibly high into the air, swinging a sword with glowing runes that
was almost as big as he was. Helen clutched the teddy to her and took
another bite out of her steak.
“Went a bit overboard with his sword,” Maud murmured.
“More dramatic this way,” Arland said.
She liked this, Maud realized with a shock. She liked sitting here on the
floor with him, watching Helen. It felt almost like a late-night pajama
party. Comfortable.
Safe.
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It had been so bloody long since she’d felt safe. There was the time in
Dina’s inn, but Gertrude Hunt had been under assault almost the entire
time.
They could’ve done this in her quarters, just her and Helen, but it
wouldn’t be the same. It was him. He made her feel safe.
Alarm screeched at her senses. To let your guard down was to die. What
am I doing?
“Is something the matter?” he asked quietly.
The anxiety saddled her and galloped off. This was ridiculous. The
simple act of relaxing was so alien to her, that her mind went into
convulsions thinking she was in danger.
Maud opened her mouth to lie.
No. She promised herself she wouldn’t.
“This is strange,” Maud said. “Being safe is strange.”
Arland reached behind him, pulled a blanket off the bed, and draped it
over her. “It will pass,” he said quietly. “Eat a little more. Food will help.”
She picked up her plate. Her instinct screamed at her to get out of the
room. Instead she moved closer to him. They were touching now.
He draped his big body against the bed, relaxed, calm. Maud took
another bite.
“The tachi were on the verge of leaving,” she said. “You served them
salad.”
“They are vegetarians.”
“They like meat. They just won’t eat it in enemy territory.”
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“Are we the enemy then?” he asked, his voice calm and measured.
She took another bite and moved half an inch closer to him. “They’re
trying to decide. They like patterns in their food. The more elaborate,
the better. Where is your maven?”
“Dead,” he said. “She was murdered three years ago just as she
prepared to be a Band Bearer for an important wedding. Her name was
Olinia. She was my youngest aunt.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Her assassin is dead. The person who betrayed her is dead as
well. That’s how I met Lady Dina.”
On screen Olasard loped off three heads from evil vampires in a single
swing. Helen waved the bone around, imitating it.
“Can I ask you something?” Maud asked.
“Of course.”
“Why do you have a copy of Twilight in your room?”
Arland became completely still. “Um.”
“Lord Marshal?” she prompted with a small smile.
“I wanted to know how women from Earth see vampires.”
“Why?”
He paused, obviously choosing his words carefully. “Your sister is a
fascinating woman.”
“You don’t ever have to apologize for being attracted to my sister,” she
told him. “She is amazing.”
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“She is. To my shame, I must confess that it might have been more than
just Lady Dina’s fine qualities. A certain rivalry may have played a role.”
“Sean Evans,” Maud guessed.
“I decided back then that I do not like werewolves,” Arland said. “I have
yet to change my mind. Ghastly creatures.”
They sat together in comfortable silence, while she picked at her
plate. He was right. Food helped. Of course, if she relied on food to
stave off her anxiety, she would soon have to get a new set of armor.
“We do not get many outsiders here,” Arland said. “Kacey, my cousin’s
wife, is the first human I had ever seen. As adolescents we were all
fascinated by her. She was different. When I visited the inn, I had never
before met anyone like Lady Dina. Feminine, wrapped in mystery, yet
firmly in control of her domain.”
“The mystique of the innkeepers,” Maud murmured.
“Yes. Sometimes meeting someone so different obscures the real
person underneath. One becomes more fascinated with what a person
represents than who they are.”
“Mmmm.” Where was he going with this?
His voice was intimate and sure. “What I’m trying to say is, I see you. I
would love you if you were a vampire or a human, because of who you
are. You don’t need an inn or a broom to fascinate me. You only have to
look my way and you’ll have all of my attention.”
Something fluttered in her chest. Something left over from before
Karhari and her marriage.
Maud tilted her head and gave him a narrow smile. “What if I were a
werewolf?”
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He sucked in the air, pretending to think it over. “I would love you still.”
She laughed quietly and rested her head on his shoulder.
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Chapter 6 Part 1 and 2
March 23, 2018 by Ilona
The door chimed.
Maud sat up on the bed, instantly awake, and for a confused moment,
tried to open the door with her mind. Then reality sank in: she wasn’t
back at Dina’s inn. She was in her quarters in House Krahr’s castle.
The door chimed again.
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Last night she’d stayed in Arland’s room way too long. They’d ended up
talking about the space station long after Helen had fallen asleep. She
pulled on soft sweatpants.
“Time?” she asked.
Glowing red numbers ignited on the wall above the fireplace. 9:30. The
planet had a thirty-hour cycle, each hour being fifty minutes, each
minute fifty moments. It was early. In Earth time, around 6:30 am.
The door chimed.
“Open.”
The door slid aside, and Karat swept in, wearing black armor. Not her
best military set, either.
“How was my cousin?”
Maud blinked at her.
“You spent most of the night in his rooms.”
“You’re spying on me.”
“Of course we’re spying on you. We know you went back to your room
with Helen. We also know that the current usage in his room was
elevated until well after midnight, which is atypical of him, so we
deduced you used the private passageway. I trust, everything went
well?”
Vampire cousins. “The armor stayed on.”