Children of Fey and Night: Chapter Nine

The Legion of Thieves 

Children of Fey and Night 

Meet Your Maekar

Lissa Altanik 

"Be on your guard," Xaro said. "This place is going to be crawling with vampires, and you're more likely to be noticed in a formal setting than back at the bar."

Max nodded. "We've got our scent covered up. As for my aura, I'm sticking close to Dawn. And if anything goes wrong, Lissa has her stake."

Xaro weighed the information in his mind. "Fair enough. I'll leave you three here. Be sure to get in touch if you need me."

Xaro left us at the front entrance. Max took the picture of Maekar from his pocket one last time. We looked at it once again, burning the image of the vampire into our minds before he put it away - shiny black hair that was mostly drawn back except for a single strand that went over an eye, a slight, angular jaw, dull brown eyes.

We stepped inside. The interior was finely decorated, primarily in various shades of black, white, and red. Dozens of masked vampires walked about, conversed, sipped from glasses. Dawn and Max walked in one direction. I took another.

I looked around for Maekar, though it was tougher than expected. With all the masks, the only way to really distinguish anyone was the hair, and there were quite a few men in the crowd who shared the same style.

"New here?" a voice questioned. A woman walked past me and answered my unspoken question. "Haven't seen you around, and you have that aura of being lost."

Was it that obvious? "My apologies," I said simply. "I've only just arrived and I'm trying to find someone."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Let me guess, you're looking for Martín? Or Wesley?" Then she squinted. "Or perhaps... Ada?"

I didn't recognize any of those names, but I didn't let that show. "No, none of them. Would you happen to know where I can find Lord Alexander Maekar?"

The woman put her gloved hand to her mouth and chuckled. "But of course! Lord Maekar is the one over there-" She pointed. "The one talking with Darius and Linda."

I bowed very slightly. "Thank you very much."

I followed where the woman had pointed. Of the three vampires, Maekar was easy to find among them. He looked precisely like the picture we had of him.

As I approached, I froze. He was still talking to the others and did not appear to have any intention of slowing down. Could I just interrupt? Would it blow my cover to just interrupt a Vampire Lord's conversation?

"Is there an issue?" Maekar looked at me. "You look at me as though you wish to speak with me."

I nodded. "Yes, sir. Sorry." I steeled myself. "It is about one of your creations. Trystan Gregor Raphael."

"He has taken the fairy princess and is now missing. You now wish to find him."

I blinked. "Yes. How -"

"- did I know?" he finished. "Dear, I am the Lord of all Vampires in North America. There are few things that are secret from me." He smiled. "But, in all seriousness, you are not the first to ask me this tonight. That young man there had done so earlier."

I followed Maekar's gaze to the heavyset blonde who was casually chatting with two women. How did he know about Trey going missing? And why was he looking for him?

He left the women and grabbed a pair of glasses full of red liquid from a table a couple feet away. When he turned, I got a good look at his face.

It was Will.