Free Radiance (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #3) by Eve Paludan

hire Lucian is sheer genius.”
    “ You think all of your ideas are sheer genius, surfer boy?”
    “ Someone had to say it,” I said and smiled at her. It was starting to feel normal with her again.
    “ Did you call Lucian?”
    “ I tried. Their phone is apparently disconnected.”
    “ Email?” she asked.
    “ Are you kidding? He doesn’t have email. He is too afraid that people will find out he’s a vampire and somehow trace him.”
    “ We’ll have to train him to safely use the internet. So, Ambra, we have to go there and get him.”
    “ We, Rand? As in you and me?”
    “ I don’t speak any of those languages and you do. It’s a long train trip with transfers and layovers. Will you please go with me?”
    “ Yes, I will, since you asked nicely and aren’t ditching me and making me follow you like a thief, I will accompany you.”
    “ Sorry about that last time. Let’s go pack.”
    “ Wait, Rand. One more thing. Even though you have made an executive decision, I still think you need to tell the others what you mean to do. You are intending to bring a vampire into the house. To live here. They should know.”
    “ We had Samantha Moon in the castle and nobody even blinked.”
    “ Samantha Moon is a free agent and bound to no other vampire. And she has shown herself to be trustworthy, time after time. She’s about as squeaky clean as any vampire who ever existed.”
    “ But?” I said.
    “ There’s always a ‘but,’ isn’t there?” Ambra said. “Let us not forget that Lucian was the jailer of kidnapped children whose blood he drew and drank through IV ports. It’s the ugly truth and you know it.”
    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He didn’t know that he could drink animal blood and satisfy the hunger. I do value your perspective. Before we go further toward recruiting him, let me ask you three things.”
    “Very well.”
    “ One. When he drank the children’s blood, do you think Lucian was under a compulsion by Vlad Tepes?”
    “ Definitely.”
    “ Two. Do you think that since Vlad is dead, that the assumed compulsion that controlled Lucian is now a moot issue?”
    “ Probably. We don’t know enough about compulsions to formulate data instead of opinions.”
    “ So noted. Three. Do you think he’d make a good vampire hunter?”
    “ I don’t know.”
    “ What do you mean?” I asked.
    “ In theory, the idea is compelling, but what could make Lucian want to rip himself and his family from his calm life as a butcher to pack up their kids and move to another country and then risk his life every day to fight the very thing that he is ?”
    “ Okay. Good points and well said. So, who would be your first choice to join our vampire hunter family?”
    “ Samantha Moon,” Ambra said.
    I waved my hand dismissively. “She wouldn’t leave Southern California. Her kids are in school and she has her sister, Mary Lou. They’re really close,” I said.
    “True. So, our second choice then defaults to Lucian?”
    “ Yes. He’s the only other vampire who I believe we can trust to actually kill other vampires.” I paused, waiting for her dissent. There was none.
    She threw her hands up in surrender. “Very well. Let’s get ready to go to Romania,” she said.
    “Transylvania or bust.”
    “ Whatever that means,” she replied.
    “ I need to get you a classic American movie channel so you can understand my English.”
    “ You probably don’t know this, Rand, but the only thing I watch on TV is the Winter Olympics.”
    “ Why does that not surprise me?”
    We went to our respective rooms to pack.
    When I was packed, I called Samantha Moon on Skype. She picked up right away.
    “ What’s wrong, Rand?” she asked right away, as if she knew it was going to be something bad.
    “ I have very sad news. Daphne and Lucas got killed by carbon monoxide in a parked, running vehicle. It was an accident.”
    “ Oh no! I’m so sorry. How tragic!”
    “ Yeah, Ambra and I well,