caught the surreal look of those landscapes, and the rising moon gave it such an alien cast that if someone had told her it was another planet, she would have believed them.
On the side of the fireplace nearest the hallway door, the wall was unadorned except for a series of black and white photographic prints. Kathryn’s eye ranged over the photographs as closely as she could without being obvious about it, and there was no doubt. She had none of Daniel’s talent, but she had a terrific eye for detail, and she knew his work. They were from a series he’d done on Ireland some years ago.
Her gaze shifted to the vampire she’d come to see, Lucas Donlon , but the broad-shouldered Nicholas was still in the way. Impatient now, she started to walk around him just as he addressed Donlon , saying, “My lord,” and stepped aside, like a magician revealing his trick.
* * * *
Lucas sprawled behind his desk, consciously projecting an image of negligent ease, which was at complete odds with what he was feeling. The timing on this FBI investigation sucked overall, although he was glad to get it over with at last. With his incursion last night into Klemens’s territory, war had been declared. Up until now, the Midwestern vampire lord had limited himself to an occasional, if irritating, foray along the border in an attempt to seize assets he knew belonged to Lucas. His success had been limited, but with the assassination attempt on Raphael, and now Lucas’s response, the gloves would be off. And Klemens was a dirty fighter.
Vampire wars in general were fought differently than human wars. For one thing, there were no grand battles. There weren’t enough vampires on either side for that, and most of those were civilians, who everyone agreed should be left out of the bloodshed as long as they didn’t insert themselves into the confrontation. Or hang around with traitors like Heintz .
Instead, the war would consist of a series of skirmishes, short-lived and bloody. Every vampire lord had his warriors, some more than others, but no one had more than a few hundred. Because wars were fought with a limited number of combatants, there were lulls in the fighting. Like now. With Lucas’s successful strike last night, and especially since Klemens had suffered the loss of both property and vampires, it would be at least a few days before Klemens could pick a target and rally his forces for a counterattack. That didn’t mean Lucas could relax. His people were on alert all up and down the eastern border, and his warriors were staged in such a way that at least a few of them could reach any attack point fairly quickly. Their job was to hold the line until backup arrived.
So, if Lucas had to deal with the FBI, this was as good a time as he would get for the foreseeable future. But this whole thing was a waste of time. He didn’t know anything about a missing person, and neither did any of his vampires. He’d questioned them specifically about this matter so that none of them could weasel out and lie to him. A vampire couldn’t lie to his Sire or his sworn master, and Lucas didn’t permit anyone to reside within his territory unless they were at least sworn to him. Most of the vampires living on the ranch itself were his own children, and that included everyone who worked closely with him in the main house.
But then, this was South Dakota . There weren’t that many vampires in the entire state. There weren’t even that many humans . Fewer than a million people lived in South Dakota , which was one of the lowest population densities in the country. The majority of South Dakota ’s vampires lived or worked right here on Lucas’s ranch. There was a small cluster in Sioux Falls, but they weren’t suspected in the FBI’s missing person case because this Agent Hunter seemed certain her man had gone missing while hanging around in the Badlands, which, by the way, was a good eighty miles from Lucas’s ranch.
Lucas had his main
On the side of the fireplace nearest the hallway door, the wall was unadorned except for a series of black and white photographic prints. Kathryn’s eye ranged over the photographs as closely as she could without being obvious about it, and there was no doubt. She had none of Daniel’s talent, but she had a terrific eye for detail, and she knew his work. They were from a series he’d done on Ireland some years ago.
Her gaze shifted to the vampire she’d come to see, Lucas Donlon , but the broad-shouldered Nicholas was still in the way. Impatient now, she started to walk around him just as he addressed Donlon , saying, “My lord,” and stepped aside, like a magician revealing his trick.
* * * *
Lucas sprawled behind his desk, consciously projecting an image of negligent ease, which was at complete odds with what he was feeling. The timing on this FBI investigation sucked overall, although he was glad to get it over with at last. With his incursion last night into Klemens’s territory, war had been declared. Up until now, the Midwestern vampire lord had limited himself to an occasional, if irritating, foray along the border in an attempt to seize assets he knew belonged to Lucas. His success had been limited, but with the assassination attempt on Raphael, and now Lucas’s response, the gloves would be off. And Klemens was a dirty fighter.
Vampire wars in general were fought differently than human wars. For one thing, there were no grand battles. There weren’t enough vampires on either side for that, and most of those were civilians, who everyone agreed should be left out of the bloodshed as long as they didn’t insert themselves into the confrontation. Or hang around with traitors like Heintz .
Instead, the war would consist of a series of skirmishes, short-lived and bloody. Every vampire lord had his warriors, some more than others, but no one had more than a few hundred. Because wars were fought with a limited number of combatants, there were lulls in the fighting. Like now. With Lucas’s successful strike last night, and especially since Klemens had suffered the loss of both property and vampires, it would be at least a few days before Klemens could pick a target and rally his forces for a counterattack. That didn’t mean Lucas could relax. His people were on alert all up and down the eastern border, and his warriors were staged in such a way that at least a few of them could reach any attack point fairly quickly. Their job was to hold the line until backup arrived.
So, if Lucas had to deal with the FBI, this was as good a time as he would get for the foreseeable future. But this whole thing was a waste of time. He didn’t know anything about a missing person, and neither did any of his vampires. He’d questioned them specifically about this matter so that none of them could weasel out and lie to him. A vampire couldn’t lie to his Sire or his sworn master, and Lucas didn’t permit anyone to reside within his territory unless they were at least sworn to him. Most of the vampires living on the ranch itself were his own children, and that included everyone who worked closely with him in the main house.
But then, this was South Dakota . There weren’t that many vampires in the entire state. There weren’t even that many humans . Fewer than a million people lived in South Dakota , which was one of the lowest population densities in the country. The majority of South Dakota ’s vampires lived or worked right here on Lucas’s ranch. There was a small cluster in Sioux Falls, but they weren’t suspected in the FBI’s missing person case because this Agent Hunter seemed certain her man had gone missing while hanging around in the Badlands, which, by the way, was a good eighty miles from Lucas’s ranch.
Lucas had his main
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