Free Deathless by Scott Prussing Page B

better get back to my physics homework, or that’s one final that will kick my ass.”
    “ I’m glad I don’t have physics,” Cali said as she got up off the bed. “Algebra is hard enough for me. Why’d you take that class, anyhow?”
    Leesa smiled. “To quote a very wise person of my acquaintance, ‘damned if I know.’”
    Cali cracked up. “Good one, Lees,” she said when she finished laughing. She turned and headed for the door. “Have fun with your physics.”
    “ Yeah, sure,” Leesa said as she sat down at her desk.
    “ Oh, and one more thing,” Cali said.
    Leesa turned and saw that Cali was halfway out the door, but had grabbed the doorframe and twisted around to face back into the room.
    “ What’s that?” Leesa asked.
    Cali grinned. “Sweet dreams tonight.”
    Leesa picked up a pen from her desk and threw it toward the door, but Cali spun out of the way before the pen could hit her.
    “ Thanks a lot,” Leesa said, laughing. She could hear Cali laughing as well as she headed down the hall.

 
     
    11. SPECIAL PERMISSION
     
    E dwina prowled the dark caverns of the vampire lair. She had formulated the beginnings of a plan, and now she needed to find Stefan so she could start to put it into motion. She’d seen him earlier, conversing with Ricard, but for what she wanted, she had to get Stefan alone. Only then could she pressure and persuade him to give her what she needed.
    She finally came upon him in one of the tunnels leading from the Council chamber. She pasted a sweet smile upon her face.
    “ Stefan, I’ve been looking for you. I need to speak to you.”
    Stefan’s black eyes were wary. He had forced Edwina to give up her feeder, with no recompense for her, which was no small thing. He did not trust her friendly manner, not even a little. And he certainly did not trust her smile.
    “ What is it, Edwina?” he asked, keeping his voice neutral.
    “ I want to go outside.”
    Stefan folded his arms across his chest. “So? Why tell me?”
    Edwina stepped closer, cutting the distance between them by half.
    “ Because I want to go out alone,” she said in a near whisper.
    Stefan studied her face, but Edwina’s expression gave away nothing. “You know the Council’s decree. As long as the Destiratu continues to strengthen, only Council members may go out alone. If you want to go, you must find two others to go with you. It’s for your protection, as well as for the coven’s.”
    “ I don’t need protection,” Edwina said evenly.
    “ Perhaps not, Edwina. But Destiratu can fan your blood thirst when you least expect it. Without companions to restrain you, you might act foolishly. You know we cannot risk attention being brought upon our kind. Hence the Council’s decree.”
    “ But the decree also states that a Council member may grant permission. You are a Council member, Stefan. You can give me permission.”
    Stefan stroked the black soul patch on his chin. He was the newest and youngest member of the High Council—it had been less than four hundred years since that glorious day Ricard turned him—but he had the same rights and powers as the others.
    “ And why would I do that?”
    Edwina’s expression grew hard. “Because you owe me, Stefan. You took my feeder from me, for your own selfish purposes. Needlessly, it turned out, I might add.”
    Stefan winced inside. He had made a bargain with the human girl Leesa. She had agreed to become his consort in return for her brother’s freedom. But at the first taste of her blood, he realized he could not turn her. Still, he kept his part of the bargain and allowed Bradley to remain free. Despite his failure to turn Leesa vampire, she still maintained a pull on him he had been unable to break—or even to fully understand.
    “ What will you do if I give you the permission you seek?”
    Edwina smiled again. She had him now, she knew.
    “ Why, look for another feeder, of course. That’s all. Find a human to replace the one you took