Free The Vampire's Betrayal by Raven Hart

monitoring nonhuman activity in that part of the world was enormous. “Thank you. Before I let you go, I need a bit of information. I understand you are acquainted with a vampire named Freddy Blackstone.”
    “Freddy? Yeah. Why?”
    “He’s here in Savannah. He seems to have made a friend of our Lamar.”
    “Lamar?”
    “Werm,” I amended. I explained the nature of Werm’s new enterprise. “What does this Mr. Blackstone look like?”
    “Medium height, brown hair, brown eyes. No particularly distinctive features.”
    “Any idea why he came here?”
    “I think he has a touch of the wanderlust. He was made here in the West a little after I was and has roamed around from clan to clan ever since. I think he wants to see as much of the world as he safely can, so I wouldn’t expect him to stay in Savannah all that long. He’s really quite harmless, a bit on the goofy side, to tell you the truth. You won’t find him particularly helpful in a crisis, but you shouldn’t have any trouble with him either. He knows how to behave himself.”
    In vampire parlance, knowing how to behave oneself meant not killing human beings unless gravely provoked. “Very well. I’ll give him your regards if and when I meet him.”
    “Please do,” Tobey said. “When do I get to hear more about that treasure trove of information that Olivia inherited from Alger?”
    “Olivia should be able to give us a report tomorrow night. She hasn’t had time to have much of Alger’s material translated as yet, but she might have discovered something of value,” I said. “By that time Melaphia may be able to supplement the information with some research she’s doing on this end.”
    And, I thought, I’d have had more time to decide what to tell the other master vampires about the Slayer.
    Tobey and I said our good-byes, and I scanned my backlog of e-mail for anything that needed my immediate attention. I saw nothing that couldn’t wait, so I e-mailed Olivia: Arrived safely with Renee in Savannah. Please prepare a briefing for tomorrow night on behalf of the Americans on the new information you’ve uncovered. If anything on the Slayer comes to light, contact me immediately. Yours, WCT.
    I thought a moment and added a postscript: No more secrets from me. However, you must not tell Jack anything you find out about the Slayer. Leave that to me. I will explain in due time.
    I e-mailed Gerard and Lucius to prepare to attend tomorrow night’s meeting as well. I received quick responses indicating that traveling on such short notice would be a hardship due to their schedules and the inherent difficulties of travel.
    For the blood drinker, trip-taking was inconvenient at best and outright dangerous at worst. Excursions beyond one’s home territory were not undertaken lightly. That is why I prefer sea voyages when I have the luxury of time and discreet private air travel when I do not. For the purposes of tomorrow night’s meeting, I decided not to press the matter and agreed to let Gerard and Lucius participate via secured telephone.
    I could have allowed Iban and Tobey to attend the meeting remotely as well, but I sensed I might need their moral support in convincing Jack of what he had to do for all our sakes. He would pay more attention to a united front of his friends than to me alone.
    I powered down the PC and selected an Italian leather sport coat from the armoire that I kept in the vault. It was time, as the young ones say, to go clubbing.
    Jack
    An alarm clock in your coffin comes in handy now and then. I was especially glad I had one tonight. The last thing I wanted was another confrontation with William about Connie—at least not until I had more information. But who did you turn to for the 411 on vampire slayers?
    Under different circumstances, the obvious choice would be Melaphia, but Mel’s devotion to William meant she wanted to see Connie dead even more than my sire did. Since she’d failed to get rid of Connie by helping her into