her. “No. I’m sure there is some of that. What I found was more tragedy than I would have expected. I suppose that is the way of everyone who seems a monster at first blush—there is always more lurking beneath the surface.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am not sure I should be telling you of his history. It is personal.”
“Come, now, what’s the sanctity of his past to you? He is nothing but a fiend. Besides…we are to be friends, are we not?” She nudged Maxine in the side gently. “What did you find?”
“He seeks to fill his bed because he does not know how else to matter to someone. He seeks to calm a fear of abandonment.” She eyed Elizabeth curiously. “I think you refer to the others, myself included, as kin for the same reason. To feel as though you belong.”
“Clever. Very clever. I won’t deny it.” Elizabeth shrugged a shoulder idly. “I serve Master Dracula not because I swear fealty to him. I barely even respect the distractible tyrant. I serve him to be around others. Being as we are is…very cold, Miss Parker. Very cold and very lonely. Most of the terrible things our kind is prone to do are out of the desperate need to fill that void.”
“Such is what I am coming to learn.”
“Save for Walter. I think that frozen bastard enjoys being the way he is.”
Maxine smiled, honestly enjoying the conversation with the lady vampire. “No. He simply wants for peace and quiet. He cares not how he gets it. He tires of being responsible for everyone else’s madness. Perhaps if Dracula and the rest of you were not always devolving into destroying whole cities or playing games with humans like they were children’s toys, he would not glower as much as he does.”
Elizabeth hugged Maxine’s arm to her chest with another laugh. “Oh, I adore you, Maxine! To think of how much fun it will be to gossip with someone who knows what goes on inside the heads of those around her.”
“I am not a psychic. I do not read thoughts. Only emotions.”
“Good, then you hear past even the lies that someone speaks to themselves. Even better.”
“I suppose.”
They walked in silence for a moment among the ruin of the city. Now she could see creatures atop rooves, crawling along the slate and copper on all fours or on their canted back legs. They looked like demons, and they were watching them both. “Do they mean me harm?”
“Yes and no. Some mean any living thing harm. But you? You are an exception. Dracula has made it very clear that anyone who comes near to you with any ill intent will have their insides rearranged and suffer a long and painful death. And the rest? The more sentient types?” She hummed thoughtfully to herself. “No. No, I do not think they do.”
“Why not?”
“Now having met you, I think I come to know why Dracula is so obsessed with you as he would turn down this wonderful new chance at paradise.” She gestured with her palm up in a wide arc at the city around her. “We have the opportunity to farm a great deal of cattle for ourselves, and he would throw it all away for you. But if you can see into the center of all of us, I can see why. I do not agree, mind you. But I understand.”
“What do you think he should do?”
“Snatch you up, take your mind and body until you profess your undying love for him in every breath, and give us the empire we vampires truly deserve.”
“Well…I will give you credit for your bluntness.”
“You did ask.” Elizabeth smiled dryly.
“My mistake.”
“You are a smart woman. There is a sharp intelligence that burns behind those beautiful eyes of yours. I would hate to see them grow glassy and empty. I am sure he feels the same. No, he wants to win you of his own accord, sister.”
“He has gone about it in a superbly backward fashion.” Maxine shook her head. “Abducting me and destroying this city in hopes I might still love him when all is said and done? It’s nonsense.”
“Then you know him quite well!” Elizabeth laughed again. The vampiress was wont to do that frequently. Now that it was not harsh and vindictive in quality, Maxine did not mind so much. “You must look at all the world like a game. To him, we are all but pawns on a board. He does not care if he