in the night, the essence of his profile, pale skin and blond hair captured by the torchlight, abstracted and made eternal, like a statue of brass.
“And I have the Lady Saffron’s bravery, and your challenge of vampire assumptions, to thank.” He glanced back, weighing something, then smiled. “I bet you usually go Dutch,” he said, again extending an elbow, “but may I buy you dinner in thanks, Dakota Frost?”
“You know, Calaphase,” I said, taking his arm, “perhaps I can make an exception.”
“Here’s to promising exceptions,” he said, patting my hand with his free one.
I smiled, looking down bashfully. Calaphase was charming. Well, yes, handsome, sexy, and in all reality terrifyingly dangerous, but-absolutely charming. I felt no pressure from him, nothing to fear. We would have a nice dinner, and that would be it.
Then Calaphase froze in his tracks. “Speak of the devil… ”
And I looked up just in time to meet the eyes of the Lady Saffron and the Lady Darkrose as they stopped dead not five feet from us on the path.
Saffron wore a stunning red dress of flaring silk with matching red gloves that left her shoulders bare beneath her flaming hair. Her South African vampire consort, the Lady Darkrose, wore a white-trimmed robe open over a black leather catsuit that went well against her dark skin. A typical evening out for them. I could see echoes of smiles and laughter on their faces, and Saffron even had her arm in the Lady Darkrose’s, just as mine was in Calaphase’s; but as they registered my arm in Calaphase’s, the Lady Darkrose’s face went carefully blank.. . as Saffron’s face turned beet red. I hadn’t even known vampires could blush.
At first, I just thought innocently, Oh, this is awkward.
Then the shouting started.
“ Dakota? ” Saffron said- not in her indoor voice. “Why are you here with him? ”
“Sav-” I began, then bit it off as she glared. “Uh, my Lady Saffron-”
“I thought you disapproved of vampires,” she said, voice rising, “but you just disapproved of me! ”
My jaw dropped. When had I ever loved this petulant bitch? Her voice rose further.
“What, did you get tired of your man in black and decided to move on to the next cock? ”
“Saffron!” Calaphase said, shocked as I was. “That was completely out of line-”
“ You shut your mouth,” Saffron snapped. “And it’s Lady Saffron to you.”
“I thought we were friends now, but if you really want the respect due a vampire queen, you have to be a vampire queen,” Calaphase said, tilting his head. Diners on the nearby patio had recoiled in shock at her outburst, and Darkrose had intercepted an angry waiter and was speaking in quiet tones. “Is this the example the leader of a great house sets, much less the Queen of Little Five Points?”
Saffron flinched. She opened her mouth, then immediately closed it. Then she nodded to Calaphase, not meeting my eyes, and turned to Darkrose, who was still calming the waiter.
“No, Lady Darkrose, please do not cover for me, that was my fault,” she said, spreading her hands graciously. “Ladies and gentlemen, forgive my rudeness, I was just startled. Please accept my apologies… and a complimentary dessert, courtesy of the House of Saffron.”
With a nod to Darkrose to arrange it, Saffron stalked off. “Walk with me.”
We followed her to a secluded part of the path, and she turned to us.
“Thank you, Lord Calaphase,” she said coldly. “I had that coming. I was out of line. Becoming a vampire hasn’t turned out as liberating as I expected.”
“I know that feeling,” Calaphase said-lightly, but it backfired.
“ Don’t think I’m distracted,” Saffron said, “from this… this insult. ”
“Saffron!” I said. “Look, I’m sorry, but you’re the one who turned on me -”
“That excuse worked when you stuck to humans,” she said coldly, “but not when you’re parading around with a rival vampire lord while wearing the sign of my house.”
“I’m so sorry to have offended you,” Calaphase said. “I made my offer to dine with the Lady Frost as gracious thanks to someone who helped a friend.”
“She’s still wearing the sign of my house,” Saffron said, glaring at the collar around my neck. “You’re a vampire-and a clan leader. You should have cleared it with me.”
Calaphase stiffened. “Yes, yes of course, my Lady Saffron.”
“What? No, no of course not, ‘my Lady Saffron,’” I said. “Calaphase said you didn’t share well with other clans, but this is ridiculous. ”
“You’re being naive,” Saffron snapped. “If I had the reputation of ‘sharing,’ the Gentry would eat me alive-or, more likely, eat you alive, first chance the Lady Scara got-”
“But this is Calaphase,” I said. “He’s a friend- our friend. And we’re here for dinner-as-food, not dining-on- companions. He’s on the Saffron diet, maybe you’ve heard of it?”
“ You’re wearing my token,” Saffron said. “Calaphase still needed my permission.”
“Look, Saffron,” I said testily. “I’m a full grown adult, not a teenager on curfew.”
“If the sign of my house means nothing to you, we can dispose of it,” Saffron said, voice unexpectedly level. “Lady Darkrose, bring me the key please.”
My hand went to my throat. The steel collar I wore was my shield against the world of vampires, my guarantee they would treat me decently. I’d only worn it for a few months, but it had been fitted just for me, so I had gotten used to it-and forgotten that only Darkrose had the keys that could take it off. As possessive as Saffron was, I never thought that would happen.
In moments, Darkrose rejoined us, her dark face a mixture of shock and embarrassment. Without a word, she slipped a leather-gloved hand inside her robe, briefly exposing the hard ribbing of her corset, boots that seemed to come to her hips, the handle of a whip. But she was Saffron’s dominatrix only inside their bedroom. Outside, Saffron called the shots. And when Darkrose’s hand returned, it held a single silver key on a golden chain.
Saffron took it and stepped up to me. “Turn ’round.”
I just stared at her in shock. “Saffron… ”
“I said, turn ’round,” Saffron snapped, reaching out, then jerking her hand back.
I felt my hands tingling, and looked down to see the religious symbols tattooed on the back of my knuckles glowing slightly as they reacted to the hostility in her aura. That never happened-Saffron normally kept her aggression under such a lid that she could safely live in a deconsecrated church, complete with exposed crosses. She was more steamed than I thought.
“Don’t touch me,” I said quietly, meeting her cold red gaze. Scratch that-she was much more steamed. “Vampire queen or no, do not touch me without asking.”
“As you wish,” Saffron said. “But you have something of mine and I want it back.”
“ Fine, then,” I said, turning, sweeping the long tail of my deathhawk out of the way.
I felt Saffron step up behind me, felt her hands fumble at the lock, felt the coolness of the keychain against my neck. Then there was a pop, and the lock opened-freeing my neck from the collar for the first time in two and a half months.
Saffron pulled it off, scraping my neck, and angrily I turned to face her. We glared at each other a moment, her holding the collar-and then Saffron flung it into the darkness over the Chattahoochee, where it vanished with a distant plop.
“But… you had it made for her,” Darkrose said, staring after it.
“That was a long time ago. A different life-when I believed we could still be together. Or at least close,” Saffron said. I felt my throat. I’d never liked it, but now I was sorry that it was not just off, but… gone. “I should have abandoned that hope long ago, and the collar with it.”
“That… was… foolish,” Calaphase said, fangs clenched, pale face livid. Saffron glared at him, but he just straightened his jacket with a sharp jerk. “Dakota-the Lady Frost-has performed invaluable services to my clan and our clients.”
“Then you give her protection,” Saffron said.
“Perhaps we will, but she has provided even greater services to you,” Calaphase said. “You do not know how much her dispatching that magician last year helped your reputation with the clans. It’s bad enough you’d withdraw her protection, but it is worse that you’d do so as such a public stunt in front of the humans. Not even old school vampires would-Oh, damnit. ”
Suddenly Calaphase cursed and pulled out his phone, which I now could hear faintly buzzing. Never
