Four, page 18
Georgia smiled weakly at the enormous blonde woman who was snapping at two other, much smaller, vampires. Finally, one of them pointed to Georgia and said in English, “How can you deny that a creature such as that has an eternal spirit?” he said.
“Wow, this is a little heavier than the last party conversation I was in,” Georgia said, looking furtively around for a familiar face. “Sorry to intrude.”
The amazon snorted. “Parrots imitate speech too,” she growled.
“I really don’t have anything either polite or relevant to say to that,” Georgia said. “But I’ll leave you to it.”
The blonde moved closer. She leaned down and peered into Georgia’s eyes—so close that the potent mix of alcohol and iron in Asrun’s breath got right into the human’s nose. The vampire muttered something in what was presumably Swedish, causing the Jaeger to snicker before sipping on the tail end of his glass of spiked blood.
“Just because you want to dismiss the importance of the human soul in our existence doesn’t make our point any less valid. You’ve seen with your own eyes tonight that a human can resist—” one of the little strangers said.
“Exceptions prove rules, professor, and you won’t get any money from us to continue this pointless research. Go beg the Pendragon fools if you want,” the blonde snapped.
“You know, I should be going,” Georgia said as she tried to slip out from under the stare of Asrun. As she tried to wheel around, she nearly plowed right into the chest of probably the single largest man she had managed not to notice in a party full of vampires. Behind her she could hear the Jaeger say in his thickest Scandinavian accent, “My good sheriff, I see you have joined the party. It is wonderful when the vicecomes decide to maintain a little order in these crazy times.”
“Wow,” slipped out of Georgia’s mouth as she stepped back. The barrel chest was connected to two massive arms and tree trunklike legs, all topped with a brilliantly smooth and shiny head. The stranger smiled warmly, flashing a mix of golden and pearly white fangs that were perfectly offset against his rich brown lips.
“You must be careful there, missy,” he said. Georgia continued to study the stark contrast between the stranger’s bulk and fearsome facial tattoos and his sparkling brown eyes and warm grin. He then gently took Georgia’s hand in his and raised it to his lips. “Pleasure to meet the only guest here raising more eyebrows than I am.”
“You’re warm,” was all she could spit out.
The stranger burst out laughing, while both Asrun and the Jaeger continued to watch the new person with a mix of caution and disgust. The smallest vampire tried to resume his argument. “As you can see, there are clear examples of humanity transcending into our existence—”
“Oh dear, I’ve walked into that argument again,” the huge stranger said, shaking his head. “If you would please pardon me for a moment.” The giant then turned to face Lady Asrun, and Georgia had to smile as the amazon finally faced a man taller and broader than herself. Even in her monstrous footwear, she still had to tilt her chin slightly upward to glare at him right in the eye.
She spat out something in Swedish that didn’t need any translating. Georgia blinked a few times at the raw, unabashed name-calling of the only truly dark-skinned individual in the room. Brynjulf finally rose to stand beside his woman and gave a slightly apologetic bow. “While we respect the right of the sheriff to be here—” he started to say.
“You better not finish that sentence, my dear Jaeger friend,” a British voice cut in.
“She must have superpowers,” Georgia muttered as somehow Lady Pendragon had managed to slip into the conversation moments before one of the Jaegers managed to completely start a riot on the dance floor. This time both the sullen Lorcan and another rather handsome vampire with dirty blonde hair and perfect amber-colored eyes were flanking her as escort.
“Mr. Sugar! I knew you’d come to see us,” she said, fluttering over between the two bristling giants. “Have you met my son’s date tonight? Mr. Sugar, this is Miss Georgia Sutherland, and you simply must spend some time with her, she’s causing quite a tizzy.”
Mr. Sugar took a careful step back from Asrun. “We are in the house of Pendragon tonight,” he said. “And I’m here to visit one of my dearest friends, not to talk philosophy with my less-enlightened cousins,” he said with a slight sideways nod toward Asrun.
The blonde started to take a breath, but her mate took her arm and gave her a look that quieted her instantly. “I still have not had a dance, my love,” he said. He nodded toward Mr. Sugar. “Sheriff,” he said before leading the blonde away.
The weasel of a vampire who had started the argument tried to take a step toward Mina. “Oh Lady Pendragon, I was hoping—”
“Humans have souls. You don’t have to convince me. Go talk to Neeha, and she will write you a check just to shut up and leave my other guests alone,” Mina said with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Now, has that Jaeger bitch finished with my son, yet? I think they are all quite a bit drunk by this point.”
“I’ll handle it, Mina,” Lorcan said, still managing to scowl while saying the simplest of phrases. The other brooding sentinel tried to make his escape as well, but Mina swept her hand back and grabbed his without even having to turn. “Edwin, you have to mingle too. It’s not every decade that your brother brings a date to one of our parties.”
“Oh, you really did come with young Geoffrey,” Mr. Sugar said, all smiles again. “I thought that was just silly rumor.”
Georgia half curtsied, half bowed to the giant. “I am here with Mr. Lambley, yes . . .” She trailed off as she noticed a dark shape obscuring her reflection in one of the many Mylar balloons. “OK, I’m a little confused.”
Behind her she could hear furtive whispers, including such words as freaks and abomination. For the first time all evening, Georgia had some doubts as to whether the words were being used to describe her. Some even dared to point at Mr. Sugar openly. She blinked and looked into the reflection again, but this time she could only see herself.
Mina remained her usual unflappable, chipper self. “I must apologize to you both. I knew that Harvey would be stirring up trouble to get donations tonight, but I underestimated just how fast the champagne would get to Asrun. She can fell an entire army with an arm chained behind her back, but she certainly cannot hold her liquor like a born and bred citizen of the great British Empire.” Both she and Mr. Sugar stopped to laugh, while Edwin tried his best to melt into the crowd. “When Asrun and Brynjulf are both into cups, it can get a bit testy in the room,” she continued. “If the sheriff hadn’t been here, I’m certain it would be quite a scene.”
“Well, I mean, the sheriff is huge and terrifying. Why would they even think—?” Georgia stopped as Mina, Mr. Sugar, and even sullen Edwin all burst into laughter.
“You thought that Mr. Sugar was the sheriff?” Edwin snorted, revealing his decidedly flat North American accent in comparison to the lilting British of Mina and the dulcet island tones in Mr. Sugar’s deep voice.
“I am so confused,” Georgia said as she took in the swarm of undead around her. She bit her tongue as the nausea swept over her once more.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have all that long to be so befuddled,” yet another voice chimed in as Georgia’s head swirled even more.
This voice belonged to a tiny form that had been completely eclipsed by the sheer mass of Mr. Sugar. A teeny, trembling bird of a lady took a few tottering steps toward Georgia, leaning against an ivory cane with one hand while carefully patting her silver curls into shape to frame her delicate wrinkle-hatched features. She watched Georgia from behind her dainty silver spectacles, clucking her tongue a few times in disdain. “The necklines are so low nowadays,” she sighed. “While convenient, it leaves ever so little to the imagination.”
“Sheriff, have you had refreshments already—?” Mina started.
“Oh, don’t you worry about me, Lady Pendragon. I ate before I came,” she said, still tottering ever so closer to the human. The closer the crone inched, the more the human’s stomach turned.
“Oh, you must be the sheriff,” Georgia said. “Nice to meet you, ma’am,” she choked out before having to quickly cover her mouth.
“You’re one of those people,” the sheriff said dismissively.
“I get that a lot,” Georgia muttered.
“So, did you want to catch up?” Mina offered.
The sheriff continued to pace her agonizingly slow circle around the confused human. In her sensible violet velvet gown, understated jewelry, gloves, and hairpins, she looked just like a grand dame straight out of the latest episode of Masterpiece Theater. By the time she finally finished her three-sixty, Meenakshi Pendragon’s immediate family had returned in full, with a red-faced Geoffrey trying to conceal his abject terror at the sight of the little old lady just within arm’s reach of his delicate human plus one.
Without warning the sheriff snapped a hand out and plopped it unceremoniously on Georgia’s. Unlike Mr. Sugar’s, this hand was deathly, freakishly cold, and surprisingly strong. “You annoy the Jaeger,” she said. “Which means I rather like you personally.”
Georgia almost managed to form a smile before the sheriff continued, “However, it is my job to keep order and enforce our laws. Your nature makes you a liability to our kind. You need to be careful, young lady. I would hate for you to cause any incidents that would reflect badly upon the Pendragon family. After all, it’s not just like we can wave a hand and make you forget.”
“I’m sure that she will be fine,” Mina interjected.
“Oh, I’m sure she will, as long as you keep a close eye on her,” the sheriff said. She then turned right to Lorcan. “I mean, your family wouldn’t want any more . . . incidents.”
“Of course not, my sheriff,” Lord Pendragon said a little too quickly.
The sheriff turned right back to Georgia. “You’re curious, aren’t you, little thing?” she asked.
Georgia’s eyes turned involuntarily to Mr. Sugar. The sheriff simply petted her hand. “You’ve been given some sort of education by the Pendragon, yes?” the sheriff asked.
Georgia nodded.
“That fool Professor Harvey keeps stoking the fires between the progressives and the classicists here by trying to argue whether we vampires simply live in our human shells or if we somehow are born from the humans that gave their lives for us in addition to our true blooded parents. It’s rather contentious talk and never suited for a party, in my opinion. Usually Lady Pendragon and her kin end up arguing that humanity influences us, while the Jaegers stomp their feet and call it ridiculous. I, for one, never deign to take part in such things. It’s bad for the digestion, you know.”
“Anyway,” the sheriff continued, “vampires are born when humans die, and our kind likes to debate what happens to that human just as much as you humans like to debate what happens to yourselves when you expire. However, every once in the rarest while, something happens that completely upsets the argument.”
She motioned to Mr. Sugar with her cane. He gave a little bow.
“He has a reflection, and he’s warm,” she said. “Is he—?”
Mr. Sugar bared his fangs proudly. “Not human, no,” he finished. “But not entirely vampire either. They call me so many names—abomination, stillborn, half-dead, but the Tepes have a good word for my kind. They call me a dhampir, which at least only translates to half-breed, or so they tell me.”
“A half . . . vampire?” Georgia asked.
“My dear Mr. Sugar is one of the rare humans that did not die when the vampire came to be within him. I’d rather not get into the details, as it’s not polite conversation for a party,” the sheriff said, switching her hand from Georgia’s to his.
“So you’re still alive?” Georgia asked.
“Are we not all alive in some way?” Mr. Sugar said with a sad little laugh. “What they mean is that my human half is still alive. My vampire self simply could not kill this old pirate dead.”
“And since the Caesars do not formally recognize a vampire until their date of death, poor dhampirs like Mr. Sugar are treated terribly,” Mina chimed in. “If they aren’t taken in by a major family, well, let’s just say—”
“You don’t last very long,” the sheriff finished. “Lucky for Mr. Sugar, he has been a fine servant of my office here in North America. His unique abilities help keep all of these gentle people on their best behavior. Now, I do believe that I see a few gentlemen that I need to discuss terms with. Mr. Sugar, I’m sure you want to spend some time with your friends before I steal you for the rest of the night.”
The moment the sheriff tottered away, Georgia could breathe easier. Mina, Geoffrey, and even Lorcan immediately swept around her and formed a barrier between her and the curious onlookers.
“Are you all right?” Mina asked.
“She is a little intimidating, but I think I’m OK,” Georgia said. “Did I miss something?”
“Do not worry, child. I’m sure if my mistress was more than curious, she wouldn’t approach in the open.” Mr. Sugar turned to Mina. “She simply wanted to take a look at this guest of your son.”
“I’m still kinda stuck on the half-vampire thing. Geoffrey, why didn’t you tell me about them? Also, you OK?” Georgia asked.
Her boss nodded vehemently. “My feet did survive the Teutonic tramp for another evening. I swear, Georgia, she makes you seem graceful on the dance floor.”
“The half-dead are so rare that you wouldn’t think to mention them,” Lorcan interjected flatly.
“Indeed, I am the only living dhampir in the United States, and one of only three known in the entire world,” Mr. Sugar added. “You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning a few times than ever meeting another creature such as me . . .”
“So, there are half-vampires too?” Gail asked.
Georgia tilted her head from side to side. “Not really half-vampires per se, rather like a vampire living inside a still-living human. It’s as awkward as that sounds. It’s not really a subject that vampires like to talk about. Well, that’s not true either. It’s kind of something that they don’t talk about openly,” she said as she stared off into space. Finally she managed to hunt down her next sentence. “I think it’s rather tragic, honestly, and talking about it is a fast way to get a vampire either irritated or ready to overshare with you. Anyway, the way it’s supposed to work is that you have a mommy vampire and a daddy vampire, and they both bite some poor human and transmit a special infection into the lucky person. Those happy little bloodsucking germs hook up and recombine and then go forth and multiply, all the while attacking and systematically killing the human host. Once the host is deceased, the little cells go crazy, and in a few hours—poof, a new little monster wakes up. And that, Miss Filipovic, is where baby vampires come from.”
Gail tried to stifle a little giggle. Georgia tipped her drink toward her in a pseudo-salute. “You never thought about it that way, huh?” Georgia asked. “Anyway, sometimes the baby vampire isn’t strong enough, and the human body stays inanimate. Apparently this is more and more common nowadays, and most of the commoner vampires can’t even reproduce at all.”
“But sometimes the human doesn’t die at all?” Gail asked.
Georgia shook her head. “Very, very rarely something totally wacko happens, and the vampire wakes up with a living body. Mr. Sugar doesn’t like to talk about it, but it’s . . . it must be . . . it must have been very painful.” She stopped to take a large drink. “Mina told me that usually whatever wakes up goes mad within a day and has to be, um, put down, but in a few cases, the half human–half vampire can find a way to cope.”
“Like Mr. Sugar?”
Georgia nodded. “Exactly. He somehow managed to make peace with himself, and he’s worked under the sheriff of the United States for over a century. It’s not easy, from what I’ve managed to find out from Mina and others, but he has a very strange inner calm around him. I hear he does a lot of yoga.”
“But don’t vampires—I mean, aren’t they undead humans?” Gail asked.
“Well, if you watch fiction written by humans, sure they are, but if you ask a vampire . . .”
“So, are you one of those humans who think that we’re just like you, but dead?” Stefano asked. The cluster of vampires around Mr. Sugar had left Georgia once more seeking fresh air, and her new Jaeger shadow had been more than happy to escort her and his dear friend Mr. Lambley back out to the garden. While the dapper young Jaeger sipped from a brandy snifter, Geoffrey had taken refuge with a plastic coconut cup, complete with a fancy bendy straw and bright yellow umbrella.
“That depends. Are you one of those arrogant vampires who assumes that every human is an ignorant walking lunch?” she fired right back.
The ginger-haired vampire looked back and forth as he slurped his beverage, doing his best impression of a young child watching Mommy and Daddy fight.
“Well,” Stefano said, sizing up Georgia’s leg as it peeked out of the slit in her gown, “I think you’d be a far more substantial meal than lunch.”
She raised a brow. “You did get the memo that sexy and creepy aren’t the same thing, right?” she asked.
“Normally women are not as difficult as you, Miss Sutherland.”
“What can I say? I’m an overachiever,” she said with a wicked little smile.
Stefano finally leaned back to his ginger-haired friend and whispered just a touch too loudly, “You lucky limey bastard.”
Georgia rolled her eyes as a response.
“I am fortunate to have a new assistant,” Geoffrey answered diplomatically. “Miss Sutherland, are you feeling better?”
“I’m fine as long as I get a little fresh air.” She looked back at Stefano. “You know, we really don’t need an escort. I’m sure you have plenty of vampire ladies to charm, Mr. DeMarco.”
