The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires

the room.

'Hol-ee cow,' Sarah said, her eyes huge as she spun around looking at the ballroom.

I had to admit, it was a pretty impressive sight. The walls were paneled in a warm, amber oak, with two rows of long windows running the entire length of the room. Sunlight poured into the room, leaving bright pools dappling the glossy, polished parquet floor. More pictures were on the walls between the windows, portraits this time, beneath each of which sat a silver and blue upholstered chair.

'They're going to need a whole lot more chairs than that,' I said softly as we proceeded into the room, Theo carefully making his way around the pools of sunlight.

'Will you look at those chandeliers?' Sarah's mouth hung open just a smidgen as she ogled the ornate silver pieces of art that hung from the ceiling. 'Are those swans in them?'

'Looks like a whole mythology theme going on in this room,' I answered, unable to keep from looking at the mural on the ceiling. Although at first I thought it was the sort of allegorical painting one normally found on a castle ballroom ceiling, closer inspection showed elements of mythology rather than religion. Satyrs and fauns romped with sylphlike women clad in gauzy gowns in a sylvan setting, while on the far side of the room, nearest the dais which we were approaching, the scene changed to one of black and red, with figures of leering men, and small brown humanlike beings that I took to be some sort of demon.

Clustered to one side, between the woodland paradise and the fiery depths of Abaddon, but part of neither, stood a small cluster of men and women with downcast eyes, their expressions and body language depicting shame and remorse.

'Those are the nephilim,' Theo said, nodding at them.

'Right. It's brass-tacks time,' I said, squaring my shoulders as we stopped in front of the raised dais. Three chairs sat on it, two of which were occupied by the elderly mare named Irina and the acerbic Disin.

Theo set the struggling Carol down. I moved around to her far side, keeping a possessive hand on her arm. Theo bowed to the mare. I thought fleetingly of curtseying, but the fact that I had no idea how to perform such a move, coupled with an independent spirit that rejected such notions as someone being 'better' than me, left me with the decision that a head bob would be sufficient to show respect.

'Good afternoon,' I said, nodding to both the mares. 'I am sorry to disrupt you without warning, but—'

'Portia Harding,' Disin interrupted, her voice booming like thunder as it rolled down the room. People were still filing into the ballroom, but at her bellow they froze, a good half of the large ballroom filled with a solid mass of apparently lifeless bodies. 'You have defied the judgment of the Court of Divine Blood by returning here without first being summoned to do so.'

Theo moved closer to me. Overhead, a small dark cloud formed. I willed it away, taking Theo's hand instead.

'I am not aware that the hearing you held constituted a legal trial, complete with judgment,' I said, keeping my voice as non-confrontational, while still firm, as possible. 'As I recall, you ordered us to find the murderer of Hope the virtue by the new moon.' I waved my hand to the bound woman next to me. 'We have done so.'

The crowd moved forward a few feet. I recognized a few familiar faces: the nameless boy proctor who'd taken me to the Akasha, Gabriel, the messenger Theo had stopped. Probably another two hundred people had joined them, filling half the ballroom. Each and every one of them turned to look at Carol Lee.

'Your cruel and callous treatment of this woman is yet another slap in the Court's face,' Disin said, her voice flinty and hard-edged. 'Release her immediately.'

'I realize that kidnapping someone is an extreme action, and one I do not undertake lightly. However, given the circumstances, there was no alternative. I could not have convinced her to come to the Court on her own. If I release her now, she will simply escape.'

The crowd made murmurs of disbelief. Disin drew herself up until she seemed a good three feet taller than normal.

It began to snow inside the ballroom.

'Your impertinence is beyond all bounds. Release that woman immediately, or I will have you jailed for contempt.'

She looks mean enough to do it, I muttered to Theo as I pulled out a small pair of nail scissors from my purse. Keep an eye on Carol. She's going to bolt the second I have her hands free, I just know it.

Have a little more faith in the security of the Court, sweetling. Despite appearances, the mare will not allow anyone to leave if they do not desire it.

I cut the duct tape on Carol's wrists while Theo untied the gag. The second her hands were free, she attacked me, knocking me down to the ground, both hands clutching my hair while she banged my head on the ground.

Theo pulled her off me while Disin yelled for order.

'I told you,' I said softly as Sarah helped me up to my feet.

'There will be order,' Disin yelled, her hands gesticulating wildly toward us. 'You will, all of you, display the respect due the Court, or I will take such measures as to ensure you will not darken our presence again!'

As a threat, it had sufficient punch to calm Carol down. She jerked her arm out of Theo's grip, but limited herself to a couple of murderous looks my way.

The snow moved to fall only on Carol.

'You will cease with such unseemly dramatics,' Disin ordered, pointing at me.

'I would if I could, but I don't seem to have a very good grasp on weather control,' I said.

Irina shook her head, her all-seeing eyes on me. 'Child, child. This is not worthy of you.'

I cleared my throat as a little blush warmed my cheeks. 'I hope that once I am formally accepted as a virtue, I'll be able to learn how to control the weather effects a little better.'

Sweetling, you will never be an actress.

I smiled at the soft brush of Theo's mind.

'Such an event is not yet in your grasp,' Disin answered with a distinct threat in her voice. 'Nor will it be, if your present actions continue.'

I made an effort to dismiss the cloud, arranging my expression to be something a little less antagonistic, folding my hands together and waiting for Disin to continue.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm late I know, but I was held up in the mortal world. Goodness, is it snowing? How interesting.' Suria, the third mare, pushed her way through the crowd, giving the snow-covered Carol an interested look before taking her seat on the dais. 'What have I missed?'

'Portia Harding has effected an act of violence against an outsider, and brought her to the Court without either permission or the knowledge of the mare.' Disin's glance flickered over to Sarah for a second. 'Two outsiders. Such an inconsiderate disregard for the laws of the Court of Divine Blood is not to be tolerated!'

'Portia has little knowledge of Court etiquette and laws,' Theo said, moving closer to me. 'We ask your graces to show the leniency for which you are so well known in regards to her accidental violations.'

'Accidental?' Disin asked, her face tightening. 'Do you consider kidnapping a woman accidental?'

'It would, perhaps, be prudent to allow Portia Harding to explain her reasons for conducting such an… extreme act,' Irina said softly.

Suria nodded, her normally sunny face pinched and worried. 'I will confess that I, too, am curious as to why Portia would go to such lengths. Who exactly is this woman you have abducted?'

'She goes by the name of Carol Lee, and is wife to Milo, who conducted the fourth trial.'

Immediately, a buzz of conversation started up behind me.

'And you say that she is responsible for the death of the virtue Hope?' Suria asked.

'In a manner of speaking, yes.' I slid a glance toward Theo. His face was expressionless, but his warm presence gave me much comfort.

Go ahead, sweetling.

You speak with much more of a Court flair than I do. Maybe you should be the one to explain.

No. The honor goes to you. You figured it out—you should be the one to explain.

'You will explain your actions, child,' Irina said in her soft voice. The undertone of steel was enough to warn