At her nod, Uthe came forward, as did Lady Barbra and Lady Carola. Lyssa straightened on the other side of the injured vampire, giving them room to check Belizar's injuries so they could instruct the staff when they arrived with stretchers to move him and Vincent.

Belizar made a strangled noise, and Jacob fol owed the wild flicker of his gaze as Lyssa turned to speak to Mason.

My lady. His warning shot into Lyssa's mind. In the same moment, Barbra closed her hand on one of the discarded stakes and surged upward toward Lyssa.

Once again, Jacob didn't even see her move, which made him wonder if Lyssa had left the stakes there, anticipating Barbra's move. She held the vampire female by the throat, her other hand clamped on that wrist. Her green and bloodred eyes frosted, and that chil Jacob remembered well fil ed the room. It was a Fae power, yes, but since she'd been known for it even before she'd embraced her Fae side, she didn't mind using it in ful force now.

“You are very foolish,” Lyssa said. “That might be excused, but I know your heart, Barbra. I don't have to take your blood to know your mind. Thank you, therefore, for making this so easy.”

Twisting the stake clutched in Barbra's hand, she shoved it up under the rib cage. Since she held on to Barbra's wrist, she broke her forearm like a twig.

Barbra gave a short scream that became violent twitching, bare heels scraping the stone as she fought Lyssa's grip. The death throes kicked her shoes free, one of them rol ing across the floor. At length, the life dying out of her eyes, her legs sagged, bending limply. Lyssa dropped her then, several paces from Belizar.

Jacob noticed her gaze shifted to Daegan. As she gave a near imperceptible nod, a look of satisfaction crossed Daegan's face, and Gideon's as well , tel ing Jacob they'd had unresolved issues with Barbra.

Intentional y or not, Lyssa had apparently honored their loyalty by bringing that matter to a close.

The servants shifted back as Barbra's servant, a slim redheaded male, dropped to the floor with a similar strangled cry. A tal blonde knelt at his side, her hand on his shoulder, her face reflecting quiet, neutral compassion as the inevitable happened and he fol owed his Mistress to the other side.

Kane had started up his wailing again, so Anwyn moved to a corner positioned behind Daegan, a protected place where she could better keep the babe's focus on her. Moving to her side, Jacob brushed his knuckles along his son's cheek, a reassurance to calm him, even as he kept his right wrist gauntlet poised toward the cluster of servants, ready if needed.

The doors opened, Gideon and Daegan permitting the staff to enter with two stretchers, Torrence fol owing in their wake. They all hesitated at the sight of a lifeless vampire and the dead servant, but when Lyssa beckoned to them, they came forward, albeit cautiously. “When Lord Belizar and his servant are cared for, come back and retrieve her and her servant. You may place her in the inner courtyard for sunrise disposal and bury her servant where appropriate for his loyalty to her. Jacob?”

“My lady?” He left Kane with a tug of his short hair, a further reassurance. The toddler was playing with the necklace Anwyn wore, the sparkling amber distracting him. As Jacob stepped to Lyssa's side, he was calmly solicitous as a servant should be, despite the emotions roiling through him. A grim smile slid through her eyes, stil more than a bit dangerous. You have ever failed to have a poker face, Sir Vagabond. There was never anything to worry about.

If that were the case, you'd let me see all the way into your mind, into your physical well-being.

At the proper time. “Once we deal with things here, contact Dev and advise him his mistress, Lady Daniela, has been appointed to the Vampire Council. I will expect her here as soon as she can choose an acting overlord to handle her territory's affairs. She should plan to stay here several weeks to orient herself as a junior member, until I decide where to move the Council's base. We definitely need a change from this depressing environment.” Her gaze flickered distasteful y over the heavy stone wal s, the ominous darkness of them.

A pained grunt drew their attention. It was Vincent, reacting as Jessica slid the steel shaft out of his back so the servants could move him onto a stretcher. She also removed that one stray arrow from his shoulder, and as she did, she made a smal noise of distress. The arrow, shot at such close range, had pierced through Vincent's shoulder and plunged into hers when she grabbed him. Blood bloomed on her blouse, but she gave Jacob a reassuring look as she tossed the arrow aside.

“I will meet with Lord Mason, Lord Daegan and Lord Uthe now,” Lyssa told the rest of the Council.

“Shortly thereafter, I will visit each of you to mark you as I've designated, so you should go to your personal chambers and remain there until I come to you. Later tonight, we will have a civilized, pleasant dinner, vampire style.” She flashed fang. “It will be a celebration, so dress accordingly.”

The Council members exchanged glances and moved toward the door with their servants, while those commanded to remain held their positions.

Jacob could tel Mason had his attention divided between the retreating vampires and his own servant. Jessica had put herself into one of the few chairs that had not been knocked over. Though she held her hand over the wound in her shoulder, the blood had already slowed. She was healing, and from her internal expression, she was reassuring her Master of that. Jesus, she was tough, but Mason was going to tear him a new one. Jacob decided then and there he'd tel him it was Gideon's arrow.

As the double doors closed securely behind the vampires and their servants, Mason was already going to her. Lyssa nodded once in satisfaction, as if to herself.

Jacob, I'm going to fall now.

He was there in a flash, catching her. Daegan brought another chair, placing it near Jessica. Lyssa glanced at the girl as Mason knelt by her, jerking open the first two buttons of her blouse to push it off her shoulder and see where the arrow had gone through the flesh, just inside the line of her lacy bra strap. “Wel played, Jessica,” Lyssa noted.

The young woman lifted the other shoulder, turning her gaze to Jacob with a smile. “When it comes to a fight between vampires, never forget the servants.

That's what he told me.”

“And who do you think taught him that?” Gideon said gruffly, but he gave her hair a gentle tug where he stood to her left, positioned between both Lyssa and Jess. Jacob's concern for the young servant reflected in his eyes as well.

“My lady, are you all right?” Mason was obviously steadier now that he had his hands on his servant and could physical y assure himself of her well -being.

“Nothing draining my servant dry won't cure.” She gave a wan smile. “These first few days as a ful vampire again, I apparently need three or four on standby.”

“Did you know what she was going to do?” Daegan asked Mason.

Mason shook his head, locked gazes with Lyssa.

“She told me once she was in range of my mind.

We've been linked for several centuries now. She trusted I would fol ow her lead.”

“And my trust in you is never misplaced. Not ultimately. Though for an interminably long time, I do remember you stubbornly refused to support having a Council.”

“If you'd done something like this a few decades ago, maybe I wouldn't have.”

“You're right.” Lyssa's admission surprised Mason, Jacob could tel . “You were always right about their nature. I think it took immersing myself in what the Fae nature is to understand ours better. But I think there will be room for both our viewpoints, in time.”

Leaning forward, despite her obvious weariness, she closed her hand on his, while giving Jessica's arm a brief touch. “I am very sorry I put your servant in danger. I would never have asked that of her, or you.”

“She pretty much took matters into her own hands.” Mason gave Jessica a brooding, stern glance, but one with pride in it. “She does that, no matter how often I beat her.”

Jessica had only a smile for that. Caressing her Master's face, she trailed her fingers through the long copper-colored strands of his hair. “Jacob had excel ent aim, my lord. Nothing to fear.” Jacob winced, and her eyes laughed at him, tel ing him she'd intentional y busted him. But if she was teasing him, she was okay. Perhaps Jessica, like Gideon, was more comfortable in a situation where she was fighting, rather than waiting for things to happen to her.

Daegan snorted. “We all seem to have found servants with an incurable streak of disobedience.” He gave Gideon a shove. The hunter grunted.

“Yeah, aren't you lucky that way?”

“That is not the word I would have chosen.”

“Anytime you want to switch out a pit bul for a fucking arm poodle, nothing's stopping you, Mr. Wear-Armani-to-a-Fight. Good thing you didn't get blood on it.”

“The night is stil young.”

“I have to be able to walk out of those doors as strong as I walked in,” Lyssa said. She gave Gideon an amused glance. “I've had enough of your blood for now. Too much of it and I'm afraid I'l start swaggering and cursing like a sailor. I'l get some from Jacob, but I need more. Lord Uthe?” The quietest member of their group stepped forward now. “My lady?”

“Wil you give me the honor of all owing me to drink from your servant?”

“You are head of Council now, my lady. You may demand anything you wish from me.”

She heard the mix of emotions in the polite tone.

He, too, had known Belizar for many years. They'd been friends, as much as vampires knew how to be, even though their viewpoints differed. In hindsight, she wished she'd put her support behind Uthe as the Council head years ago, though at the end of the Territory Wars, when there was stil so much unrest, it had made more sense to put a more warlike figure in that position. Rex had agreed with her, though of course, he would have.

“I am not going to mark you, Uthe,” she said.

“Though I will let the rest of the Council believe I have done so. You are the type of person I want on this Council, but I want you here fully. If you do not agree with what I have done, I will release you tonight, and strip nothing from you. I will continue to regard you with the highest honor and respect, and seek your counsel.”