“Now I am slinking away in shame after assaulting the daughter of the house,” he told me cheerfully. “Walk with me, Dorina. Allow me to humbly beg your pardon for my egregious conduct before I depart.”
I followed him outside, where a car driven by one of Radu’s human servants had pulled up. We skirted it, moving far enough away from the house that, with a little luck, we might avoid being overheard. Caedmon leaned on the fence by the pen where Radu was keeping his esoteric collection. The growls, squeals and shrieks coming from inside provided extra sound camouflage.
“I am likely being watched,” Caedmon informed me, “to ensure that my inherently depraved nature—that is a quote, by the way—does not lead me to further indiscretions whilst I grovel in mortification.”
“So grovel.”
A climbing rose bent in to caress his hand. He stroked its stem affectionately. “You first.”
A tentacle covered in brown fur slammed into the wards in front of us and sizzled for a second before dropping to the ground. The air took on the scent of frying bacon. The new members of Radu’s menagerie appeared to be fighting for dominance with the old ones, and a couple of the wilder hybrids were attempting to tear each other apart. The less dangerous creatures cowered on the sidelines, probably hoping to snack off the losers.
Caedmon regarded the display with distaste. “Out of curiosity, what are your vampires attempting to create?”
“Nothing. They captured these from the Dark Circle. Or so they said.”
“Why would anyone wish to create such obviously useless specimens?” I shook my head. I still didn’t have an answer. “If one was of a suspicious bent of mind,” Caedmon mused, “one might almost think they are creating the more hideous creatures as a distraction, to ensure that their real experiments, should any be found, are lost in the crowd.”
“Maybe. But which are the real ones and which the red herrings?”
“Better to ask why the vampires are so interested in them. They are not known for charity. They become involved with those likely to bring them profit or to pose a threat.”
Long talons slashed the earth and great furrows of turf were ripped up, until a huge creature, birdlike only in its overall shape and leathery wings, leapt down from its perch on a small shed. It landed in the middle of the battling group and began ripping into the other creatures with a gleeful disregard for its own safety. It soon scattered them with cobra-swift strikes from its talons and lethal, pointed beak. When the slaughter was over, instead of pausing to feed, it paced the confines of the pen. A long tail slithered across the ground behind it as it searched for a new victim.
“So which are we looking at here?” I asked, strangely fascinated.
The creature’s frighteningly humanlike eyes locked with mine. Beside me, Caedmon laughed. “If I find out, perhaps I will tell you. We are partners, are we not?”
“Are we?”
“Certainly.” He lowered his voice. “I shall make my ignominious exit, and return tomorrow night as Mircea.”
“I still don’t think it will work.” The bird creature started to feed, ripping great strips off a half-dead furred body that twitched in a vain effort to get away. I was reminded disturbingly of Radu’s dinner party, especially since those too-human eyes were still on me. They looked hungry.
“Because I was interrupted before I could explain my ingenious plan,” Caedmon informed me blithely. “It is simple enough: Dracula will see ‘Mircea’ arrive, and shortly thereafter, the wards will fall. Naturally, he will believe that you are fulfilling your part of the agreement and mount his attack. I will have enough of my supporters stationed around the perimeter of the estate to deal with him, and to rescue the Lady Claire.”
“And if he doesn’t have her with him?”
He sighed happily. “Then we will have to find a way to convince him to tell us where she is.” I got a momentary flash of Drac being tortured by the Fey. It was almost orgasmic.
“Sounds great,” I said sincerely, “except that there are about a thousand things that could go wrong, starting with your disguise.”
“It pains me that you have such little faith,” he reproached.
“You have to be seen being welcomed into the house as Mircea, or Drac won’t buy it. But if anyone sees through your disguise, the game’s up. Louis-Cesare will never let us lower the wards and endanger ’Du’s life. And with them still up, Drac can’t get within a mile of this place. So unless you have enough retainers to cover a perimeter that large, when we don’t even know from which direction he’ll come at us—”
“You should trust me, little one. In comparison to the machinations that occur every day at court, this is a minor intrigue. As I see it, there is only one possible snag—interference by the vampire.”
“Radu doesn’t make a habit of answering his own door. It’s Geoffrey you have to fool, at least long enough to get in, and that won’t be any easier. He’s one of Mircea’s stable. I think he’ll know his own master!”