Anthony Francis - Blood Rock

The truth was, “the Lady Saffron” was immensely powerful, frighteningly brilliant-and a daywalker. I think your typical vampire was scared shitless that she would crack open their coffin at high noon and ram a polished sandalwood stake straight through their heart.

“Da ko ta,” Saffron said, turning, smiling at us from beneath her umbrella-a broad, closemouthed grin which dimpled up her delicate oval features. “And Cinnamon too! What a wonderful surprise. Come, you must join me in the gazebo.”

Her dainty little gloved hand leapt out and grabbed mine in a vicegrip of steel. Typical-you couldn’t date Savannah without learning to deal with being tugged around-but now she had vampire strength I stayed extra close so she didn’t accidentally pull my arm out of its socket.

Cinnamon started actually skipping alongside us, a victorious little smirk on her face as she watched me being dragged along. I reached out and snagged her wrist, and Saffron led us both up onto the gazebo in a little train. Happy happy, joy joy.

“Something to drink?” she asked, releasing me and gesturing towards a wicker table, where a frosted pitcher filled with a green liquid sat precariously close to her laptop. She picked up a heavy-bottomed glass and twirled the green leafy sprig sticking out of it. “Mint juleps?”

“Sure!” Cinnamon said brightly.

“No, and no,” I said. “I’m driving, and she’s underage. And really? Drinking, before one in the afternoon? Isn’t that a bit early-”

“A bit late, actually,” Saffron smirked, sitting down in the table’s matching wicker chair and bumping the mouse on her laptop to bring it to life. “I should have already turned in hours ago, but I’ve been burning the mid day oil working on my thesis.”

“That’s… wonderful,” I said. I couldn’t complain: I’d been on her about her unfinished PhD for years. “But for us it’s too early, in Cinnamon’s case by several years. Sweet tea?”

“ Certainly, Dakota,” she said, tapping the laptop and speaking into its microphone. “Nagli, could you-” There was a curse out of the laptop’s speakers and then the “intercom” went dead. “Well!” Saffron said, mock shocked. “You certainly can’t get good help these days. But no matter, I’m so glad to see you! You never come around anymore. Cinnamon keeping you busy? How is the school shopping going? You must look into a Montessori school-”

This was ridiculous. Whatever Saffron was, she was no Scarlett O’Hara, and the weird bomber goggles made her look more Victorian steampunk than Civil War plantation. Finally I could take it no more, and said sharply, “Kill the Southern belle act, Savannah.”

“Now, Dakota,” Savannah smirked, “I’ve told you never to call me that, not here-”

“You’re right,” I said, remembering my real reason for being here. “My Lady Saffron, I’m here on Consulate business.”

Saffron froze, staring at me with those bizarre goggles; then she lifted them up and squinted at me. “But… I haven’t given you any Consulate responsibilities-”

“No, but wearing the sign of the Consulate means responsibility can fall in my lap,” I said, leaning forward to pat her dress. “Saffron, I have terrible news. You remember Revy?”

“Revenance, from the Oakdale Clan? Of course,” she said… and blanched. “No!”

“Yes,” I said. “He… he’s dead.”

“You’re certain he’s not just… missing?” Saffron said, leaning forward. The wicker arms of the chair creaked under her delicate gloved hands. “Are you absolutely certain? ”

“Yes,” I said. “He died right in front of me, Cinnamon and Rand-”

“Dear God,” she said, crossing herself, her mouth opening in unguarded shock, exposing her cruel fangs for the first time since we’d arrived. “Wait, Rand? You mean, Revenance died in front of Uncle Andy? But why… why was he even there? What happened?”

“It was a magical attack,” I said. “The police’s expert couldn’t handle it, so they called me in. I tried to save him, but… ” My face fell. “But I failed. I’m so sorry.”

“A magical attack?” Saffron asked suspiciously. “You mean a wizard attacked him?”

“No. Not directly,” I said; vamps and wizards didn’t mix. “It was enchanted graffiti.”

Saffron’s eyes widened. “I… didn’t even know that was possible.”

“I didn’t either. Incredibly powerful magic-and fast too,” I said, gesturing at my forehead. “That’s how I got dinged-”

“Fast? The graffiti… moved? ” Saffron said.

“Oh, come on,” I said. “You’ve seen my tattoos move, same principle-”

“Oh, do I remember your tattoos moving,” Saffron said, first lascivious, then embarrassed in the very next moment. Cinnamon sneezed, and Saffron raised a gloved hand to her brow. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate, given the circumstances and company.”

“Yes, please, thank you,” I snapped. “If you would stop hitting on me every time I came over here I would be much more likely to come over here.”

“Dakota,” Saffron said. “I thought we were going to be friends again-”

“ Friends,” I underlined. “Not girl friends.”

“Dakota,” Saffron said reprovingly. “There’s no need to get snippy-”

“I’m goin’ for a walk,” Cinnamon said, hopping up and leaping over the banister of the gazebo, tail fluidly slipping over the rail. She glared back at me. “The reason I said I hates this place is that you always fights when you comes here.”

In the silence that followed, Saffron and I stared at each other uncomfortably.

“Sorry,” I said, embarrassed. “I thought we’d stopped bringing up reminders of ‘us.’”

“Sorry,” Saffron said, equally embarrassed. “You’ve recently bled. It’s, uh, agitating me-and can we please leave it at that? You were trying to tell me-”

“About a magical attack,” I said. “A giant graffiti tag, all magical, all energized. Revenance was trapped in it. It was tearing him apart-”

“Oh no,” Saffron said, swallowing. “Did it-”

“No,” I said. “But it had him effectively trapped. The police tried to rescue him, then I tried. We all failed. He held on as long as he could-”

“But he wasn’t a daywalker,” she said soberly, putting her goggles back on.

“No,” I said. Watching a vampire die was… horrible. I could still hear his screams. I cast about for anything else to talk about. “What I don’t get is how it worked. It held him there for hours. The mana should have dissipated, but it seemed like it was getting stronger. ”

“Perhaps there was a hidden caster,” Saffron said, “feeding magic to it-”

“There was a guy,” I said, describing the jerk with the hat and skateboard, gloating as Revy died. “But he was hundreds of feet away, and there was no magic flowing off him, like from a classical wizard. I can feel it, with these vines. The tag, on the other hand, was just bleeding mana. It was definitely a power source, or maybe plugged into a power source-”

“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully, “it was feeding off Revy. ”

“Can’t be,” I said. “Magic is derived from life force, and vampires aren’t alive-”

Saffron hissed, quietly but with full fangs. “I’m shocked to hear that from you, Dakota,” she said, and with her eyes behind the goggles I couldn’t tell if she was really angry or just messing with me. “I had to devote a whole chapter in my thesis to debunking that myth.”

“Well, send it to me,” I said gladly. “Prove me wrong.”

“It is a bit technical,” she said smugly.

“ I was a chemistry major,” I replied. “I can handle anything the soft sciences put out.”