Blood Double (God Wars #1)(5)

"Because they don't need it," I said, shaking my head. He thought I was being stupid and foolish—a water cooler was something any Council could request.

"Why wouldn't they need it?" Grant was prepared to be upset.

"Because they meet in the city's agriculture office, which already has a water cooler," I said. "They're asking for the money so they can put enough funding together to buy a solar-powered cart to drive in the harvest parade. I sent the money to the tree harvest council instead, so they can buy more chairs. Four of their members are currently sitting on the floor during meetings."

"How the hell do you know that?" Grant sifted through records on his comp-vid. He discovered quickly that the Council in question did indeed meet in the agriculture office, which already had a water cooler. The Crown had paid for the equipment; the records were easily accessible on Grant's comp-vid. The cooler was new, too—barely three months old.

"They sent a photograph with their request," I muttered. If they'd known with whom they were dealing, they'd never have done that. They wanted the Queen to see them, so they'd sent a photo.

"Unbelievable," Grant wandered toward the door.

"Yeah," I said, turning to other requests that had piled up during my absence.

*

"Look, we know you're upset because Lissa's gone. We are, too. Do you think we'd let any of ours get away with this?" Drew was angry. As angry as he'd been in a while, anyway. Gavin hadn't even spoken to the vampire guards who'd stood by while Breanne Hayworth was almost beaten to death. Then, they hadn't bothered to contact medical personnel, choosing to allow the woman to lie in the dungeon while her life slipped away.

"They were too afraid to call Hawer on it—he was left in charge of the agency on Le-Ath Veronis," Gavin growled. "The girl turned. I can tell her to forget the whole thing if I want."

"Gavin, did I hear that come from your mouth? You're auxiliary Saa Thalarr, you know." Drake stood beside his brother, and both Falchani were angry.

"Look, I wasn't prepared for this. I was told to do it. That's all I can say at this time," Gavin snapped. "You think I wanted to make a turn? Do you? I'm saddled with a vampire child for five years, and I have no idea what Lissa will say when she gets back."

"Where's Aurelius?" Drew asked softly.

"With Reah. Where else would he be?" Gavin cursed softly. He could use his sire's help, and Aurelius wasn't available.

"Why don't you ask one of the others to help babysit, then?"

Because he doesn't like admitting he needs help, Drew sent to his brother. "Come on, bro, we have work to do," Drew said aloud and pulled his brother from Gavin's office.

"She's just a chit who happened to turn," Gavin growled as the Falchani twins walked away.

*

Kooper Griff rolled his shoulders to ease the tension collecting there after the solar car dropped him off at the palace's side entrance. This smaller, side door was the one used by servants, guards and other employees. Deliveries were made at another door farther down, which connected to the kitchen. Glancing up at the sky before sliding his wrist over the security scanner, Kooper knew the moon wasn't up yet but it would be soon. A full moon was approaching and he felt it already.

"Vice-Director," the palace guard stationed at the entrance nodded as Kooper slipped through the door, closing it behind him. Kooper Griff, Norian Keef's Second Vice-Director, nodded back at the guard and stalked with an easy, fluid grace past the vampire dressed in black and silver.

*

Breanne's Journal

"There's something you should know," Grant was back and looking uncomfortable again, only this time Heathe, the Queen's second assistant, stood at his elbow. Grant was dark-haired and green-eyed, whereas Heathe had medium-brown hair with stylish highlights. Heathe and Grant were gay and worried about letting me know that about them. I wished I could tell them to stop worrying—gay was normal.

"What should I know?" They were about to leave work for the day; I planned to keep working for another three hours. What did I have to go to if I did stop working? I had nothing on Le-Ath Veronis, and that included a vampire sire, who regretted my turning already.

"Well, at times," Grant began nervously.

"What Grant wants to say," Heathe continued Grant's statement, "is that at times the palace is guarded by wolves, snakes or other animals. They won't harm you or anyone else who belongs here."

"I get along with animals," I shrugged.

"Just don't try to do anything wrong," Grant warned.

"I haven't done anything wrong. I still got arrested," I muttered. Yes, it made me angry. How could I not be angry? The ASD filth who'd beaten me almost to death after my arrest didn't help, either.

"We, uh, feel bad about that," Grant backed away. He and Heathe had hired Rathik Erwin. Erwin was generally unsupervised, committed a heinous crime and got another arrested for it. All of that was because the Queen's assistants had gotten a last-minute good deal on a vacation somewhere. I wanted to blame them, but blame for me would have to go farther back than these two. Much, much farther.

"Enjoy your dinner," I turned away from them, then. They were hungry—my curse told me that. "I'll be sure to watch out for snakes and wolves."