Microsoft Word - The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.doc by lesley

surge of pleasure as she noted the way he watched the sway of her hips as she walked towards him. “Such harsh words from your lips that used to speak naught but tenderness to me,” she said.
    He grabbed her wrist as she reached to lay her hand against his cheek. “Any tenderness I felt for  you died when you killed me.”

    She cocked her head to one side. “Do not act as though you
    were not complicit in your own downfall.”
    “You deceived me,” he growled.
    “And you betrayed me,” she pointed out. “And yet I have
    made you a king.”
    He released her  wrist suddenly and turned his back to her, surveying his map once more. “I grow weary of this argument,  Morrigan. I will not have it with you again.”
    She nodded. “Fine. I didn’t come to argue with you.”
    “Then why are you here?”
    “Your vampires are killing my humans, even though you
    have forbidden them to do so.”
    “ My   vampires? They are your creation. Why is it that when
    they misbehave they are   my   vampires?”
    “Because you are their king. You have set down their laws
    and now you must make them abide by those laws.”

    75

He made a sweeping gesture towards the map. “I rule two kingdoms, Morrigan. My lands encompass the majority of the known world. I cannot be everywhere. I am not a god.”
    She laughed. A man who didn’t think he was a god. What a novelty. “May I make a suggestion?” she asked sweetly.
    He gritted his teeth and nodded.
    “My creations of the night fear nothing and it has made  them overbold. I would now give them something to fear, as  humans fear the Wild Hunt on a moonlit night.”
    “And what exactly would put that kind of fear into the
    undead?”
    “I want you to create two groups of slayers, one here in the  west and another in the east. They will be judge, jury and  executioner among our vampires. So that they are free to travel  at will their rank will be above that of any king or regent. They  will be answerable only to you.”
    He considered it for a moment and then asked, “I suppose
    you have someone in mind for this Herculean task?”
    She looked down at the map, tapping her finger over the city of Vienna. “The  King of the Eastern Lands already has a trio of warriors that will suit our needs but he keeps them in the capital as his own personal guard. I want them to travel through his lands and execute any rogue vampire who does not adhere to our laws.”
    “Drake will not like the removal of his personal guard.”
    She arched one black brow. “You are the High King and he
    is your vassal. Make it so.”

    76

    “Do you truly believe that three vampires can control the
    entire population of a kingdom?”
    She laughed. “It has been too long since you have moved in the human world, my love. Humans are rules by words in books.  They follow the laws of their gods, against their baser instincts, because they fear punishment in the next world.”
    “But you’ve created vampires to be almost immortal. They
    have little  fear  of what comes in the next life.”
    The goddess smiles. “So we will give them something
    terrible to   fear   in this life.”
    He ran his hand over the map of his kingdoms . “It could work. I will send a messenger to the Eastern King. And what of my western lands?”
    She walked around the table, trailing her long, shiny black fingernails across the wood. On the far side of the room, next to the King’s bed stood a white marble pedestal and in that pedestal rested the great Book of Souls. She made her way to the book, her book, and reverently touched its solid gold binding. It contained the names of every vampire who owed fealty to the High King. Opening it, her hand hovered over the pages and they turned without a touch until she found the  name she sought.
    “This one,” she said, tapping the page.
    Curious the warrior king came up behind her and peered over her shoulder. “What makes this knight so special?” he asked, hating himself