Free Dark Ascension: A Generation V Novel by M.L. Brennan Page A

stare. “Baby brother, that assessment has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Look at your own numbers, much as you’ve attempted to hide them behind pretty pictures. With their established income levels plus their adult-to-child ratio, they’ll be struggling for a subsistence existence for at least the next decade.”
    “And what’s a decade to us?” I countered quickly. “You’re always telling me that vampires need to look at the long-term picture.”
    “Yes, the long term.” Prudence flipped pages. “Let’s talk about their risk level. I’m not sure I’d categorize feeding side effects that can mimic syphilis as a ‘low’ threat. Even if we followed your suggestion and restricted their feeding to the tourist populations in the casino towns, it’s clear that careless actions on their parts could very easily leave us with the CDC breathing down our necks as they look for the source of a venereal disease outbreak hot spot.”
    “An even larger population lived in Las Vegas and never drew attention like that. Besides, they express themselves as very willing to abide by guidelines that we put in place.” My brother was being ominously silent during Prudence’s cross-examination, and now I shot him a sidelong glance. “Plus, Chivalry has kept plenty of groups toeing the line who are way more of an exposure risk than the succubi. I mean, the kobolds aren’t exactly ready for prime time.”
    Chivalry shifted his weight carefully, and flipped some pages. “The succubi probably benefited substantially in the past from Las Vegas’s reputation,” he said carefully. “Their recent tourism campaigns notwithstanding, I don’t think anyone hears the words
VD outbreak
and
Las Vegas
in the same sentence and exhibits much real surprise.”
    “They might not have legalized brothel prostitution, but let’s not pretend that the Connecticut casinos have figured out a way to have blackjack coexist with Puritan ideals,” I pointed out, feeling serious worry creep its way up my spine. While I hadn’t expected Chivalry to embrace the succubi outright, I’d hoped for a little more support from his direction, or at the very least a little more postvacation optimism. “And the tithing rate that they were willing to sign on to for the next twenty years exceeds every other group currently in residence.”
    “Tithes that come out of service workers’ salaries,” Prudence noted immediately. “You can’t tax what isn’t there, and I also noticed that your little asterisk on that sentence led to some very fine print noting that our tithe could only apply to income that exceeded the poverty line.”
    I’d been hoping that she wouldn’t read the fine print.
    “That’s not language that appears in any of our boilerplate contracts,” Chivalry said gently. “Loren wouldn’t have put it in there, and a group as desperate as this one sounds wouldn’t have dared suggest it. This was you, wasn’t it?”
    I looked at him wordlessly. He rested a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. “This can be a difficult job,” he noted. “It’s clear that you feel sorry for this group—”
    “Yes, and maybe instead of spending the next few minutes in feeling-sharing mode, we can talk about this patently obvious sob story that they’ve spun for Fortitude.” Prudence’s voice was like acid.
    My own voice raised. “You weren’t there listening to them, Prudence. I was. They’re all clearly traumatized after most of their community was slaughtered right in front of them—”
    “Conveniently out of sight, with no evidence, and by skinwalkers,” she snapped, flipping a strand of her red hair that had escaped her rigidly no-nonsense bob. “I don’t doubt that skinwalkers would enjoy nothing better than to terrorize a community, but the last time I checked, practically the entire continent’s population was ensconced in that cesspool we call Miami. I find it ridiculous to even conceive that the entire group suddenly