watch a server’s expression as tiny little Cinnamon plows into beef brisket, while big old me nibbles at soysage, sweet potatoes and a tofu omelet.
While Cinnamon finished up, I sipped my sweet tea, scanned the street, and found myself noticing graffiti where I’d never seen it before: a sloppy caricature sprayed on the side of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper box; something political stenciled on a sidewalk; even colorful bubbly capitals sprayed on the brick wall of the Cemetery itself. Nothing as elaborate as the tag that killed Revy, but, still, graffiti was ever present.
But then the check came, it was only twelve-thirty, and our appointment at the school wasn’t until three; and so we no longer had a good excuse not to drive the five minutes to the nearby Consulate and deliver the bad news to my childhood sweetheart.
The Vampire Consulate of Little Five Points isn’t actually in Little Five Points. It’s at another five-pointed intersection in the Sweet Auburn area downtown. There, hidden away in a quiet set of buildings made from a deconsecrated church, is the court of one of the most powerful vampires in Atlanta: the Lady Saffron, nee Savannah Winters… my very ex -girlfriend.
“Fucking fang,” Cinnamon muttered curtly, and when I glanced at her, she glared and looked away. “I-I means, I hates this place. She always smells funny.”
“She is a vampire,” I said, pulling into the tiny lot behind the converted Victorian that served as the Consulate office. I dug out our vampire district parking tag and hung it from the rear-view mirror. “She may be almost vegetarian, but she’s got to drink at least some blood-and who knows how much her girlfriend drinks. There’s bound to be a smell.”
“Hey, I likes the smell of blood, but she’s always stinking of leather… or rubber.”
“Damnit.” I put my hand over my eyes and rubbed. “I really didn’t need to know that.”
“Share the love, I says,” Cinnamon said, and I looked over to see her grinning.
“You set me up,” I said.
“And knocked you over,” she replied, flicking a hand out, catlike. “After all, she was your giiirl friend. Don’t you knows what she’s into?”
“Better than you,” I grumbled. “Fine, fine, just for that, you’re coming inside.”
“No problem,” Cinnamon said, and then: “I do too likes her. I was just messing with ya.”
We stepped through wrought iron gates and passed signs for Darkrose Security Enterprises and the Junior Van Helsing Detective Agency. The former was the security force belonging to Darkrose, Saffron’s new girlfriend; the latter was a Scooby-Doo grade paranormal detective agency which had tried and failed to take out Saffron shortly after she became a vampire. Now, through a sequence of events that had never been adequately explained to me, both rented space from the Consulate, even down to sharing a receptionist.
Through the glass doors of the porch we could see that today that receptionist was Nagli, a cute little Indian college student that was one of the better Van Helsings. She looked bored out of her mind, but after buzzing the two of us in she immediately perked up.
“Hey, Cinnamon,” she said brightly. When Nagli was perky, she was darned cute, and I couldn’t help grinning back at her. “And hey, Dakota. The Lady Saffron is in the garden.”
I led Cinnamon through the middle door behind Nagli, through the shared conference room, and out into the garden. In the church’s former preschool playground now stood trellis after trellis of honeysuckle, hydrangeas, and clematis. When first planted they were low hedges that burst with stunning color in summer and fall. Now they were a maze of high vines, winter green and oppressively dark, that opened up around a white gazebo.
Savannah Winters stood there in the sunshine in a ruffled Southern belle dress almost as red as her hair. Over the dress she wore a black leather corset with red lacing, that daring touch that I had so liked. Dark leather gloves protected her hands to the elbow, and she wore a huge red bonnet with black lace; but where Revenance had caught fire at the first direct touch of daylight, “the Lady Saffron” strolled through it unconcerned, with bomber goggles and a UV monitor as only concessions to the nuclear fire of the Sun.
Once I had thought Savannah had won her post as the Queen of the Little Five Points district through vampire nepotism-after all, her maker was Lord Delancaster, the head vampire of Georgia and one of the most famous vampires in America.
The truth was, “the Lady Saffron” was immensely powerful, frighteningly brilliant-and a daywalker. I think your typical vampire was scared shitless that she would crack open their coffin at high noon and ram a polished sandalwood stake straight through their heart.
“Da ko ta,” Saffron said, turning, smiling at us from beneath her umbrella-a broad, closemouthed grin which dimpled up her delicate oval features. “And Cinnamon too! What a wonderful surprise. Come, you must join me in the gazebo.”
Her dainty little gloved hand leapt out and grabbed mine in a vicegrip of steel. Typical-you couldn’t date Savannah without learning to deal with being tugged around-but now she had vampire strength I stayed extra close so she didn’t accidentally pull my arm out of its socket.
Cinnamon started actually skipping alongside us, a victorious little smirk on her face as she watched me being dragged along. I reached out and snagged her wrist, and Saffron led us both up onto the gazebo in a little train. Happy happy, joy joy.
“Something to drink?” she asked, releasing me and gesturing towards a wicker table, where a frosted pitcher filled with a green liquid sat precariously close to her laptop. She picked up a heavy-bottomed glass and twirled the green leafy sprig sticking out of it. “Mint juleps?”
“Sure!” Cinnamon said brightly.
“No, and no,” I said. “I’m driving, and she’s underage. And really? Drinking, before one in the afternoon? Isn’t that a bit early-”
“A bit late, actually,” Saffron smirked, sitting down in the table’s matching wicker chair and bumping the mouse on her laptop to bring it to life. “I should have already turned in hours ago, but I’ve been burning the mid day oil working on my thesis.”
“That’s… wonderful,” I said. I couldn’t complain: I’d been on her about her unfinished PhD for years. “But for us it’s too early, in Cinnamon’s case by several years. Sweet tea?”
“ Certainly, Dakota,” she said, tapping the laptop and speaking into its microphone. “Nagli, could you-” There was a curse out of the laptop’s speakers and then the “intercom” went dead. “Well!” Saffron said, mock shocked. “You certainly can’t get good help these days. But no matter, I’m so glad to see you! You never come around anymore. Cinnamon keeping you busy? How is the school shopping going? You must look into a Montessori school-”
This was ridiculous. Whatever Saffron was, she was no Scarlett O’Hara, and the weird bomber goggles made her look more Victorian steampunk than Civil War plantation. Finally I could take it no more, and said sharply, “Kill the Southern belle act, Savannah.”
“Now, Dakota,” Savannah smirked, “I’ve told you never to call me that, not here-”
“You’re right,” I said, remembering my real reason for being here. “My Lady Saffron, I’m here on Consulate business.”
Saffron froze, staring at me with those bizarre goggles; then she lifted them up and squinted at me. “But… I haven’t given you any Consulate responsibilities-”
“No, but wearing the sign of the Consulate means responsibility can fall in my lap,” I said, leaning forward to pat her dress. “Saffron, I have terrible news. You remember Revy?”
“Revenance, from the Oakdale Clan? Of course,” she said… and blanched. “No!”
“Yes,” I said. “He… he’s dead.”
“You’re certain he’s not just… missing?” Saffron said, leaning forward. The wicker arms of the chair creaked under her delicate gloved hands. “Are you absolutely certain? ”
“Yes,” I said. “He died right in front of me, Cinnamon and Rand-”
“Dear God,” she said, crossing herself, her mouth opening in unguarded shock, exposing her cruel fangs for the first time since we’d arrived. “Wait, Rand? You mean, Revenance died in front of Uncle Andy? But why… why was he even there? What happened?”
“It was a magical attack,” I said. “The police’s expert couldn’t handle it, so they called me in. I tried to save him, but… ” My face fell. “But I failed. I’m so sorry.”
“A magical attack?” Saffron asked suspiciously. “You mean a wizard attacked him?”
“No. Not directly,” I said; vamps and wizards didn’t mix. “It was enchanted graffiti.”
