"By forbidding the vampires to vote, or take part in any legislation."
"There are other master vampires in town."
"You mean Malcolm, the head of the Church of Eternal Life."
"Yes."
"I have observed him. He will not be able to continue his one-man crusade to make vampires legitimate. I shall forbid it and dismantle his church. Surely you see the church as the larger danger, as I do."
I did, but I hated agreeing with an ancient master vampire. It seemed wrong somehow.
"St. Louis is a hotbed of political activity and entrepreneurial vampires. They must be stopped. We are predators, Ms. Blake; nothing we do can change that. We must go back to being hunted or the human race is doomed. Surely you see that."
I did see that. I believed that. "Why would you care if the human race is doomed? You're not part of it anymore."
"As the oldest living vampire, it is my duty to keep us in check, Ms. Blake. These new rights are getting out of hand and must be stopped. We are too powerful to be allowed such freedom. Humans have their right to be human. In the olden days only the strongest, smartest, or luckiest vampires survived. The human vampire hunters weeded out the stupid, the careless, the violent. Without that check-and-balance system, I fear what will happen in a few decades."
I agreed, wholeheartedly; it was sorta scary. I agreed with the oldest living thing I'd ever met. He was right. Could I give him Jean-Claude? Should I give him Jean-Claude?
"I agree with you, Mr. Oliver, but I can't just give him up, just like that. I don't know why really, but I can't."
"Loyalty; I admire that. Think upon it, Ms. Blake, but do not take too long. I need to put my plan into action as soon as possible."
I nodded. "I understand. I... I'll give you an answer within a couple of days. How do I reach you?"
"Inger will give you a card with a number on it. You may safely speak to him as to me."
I turned and looked at Inger, still standing at attention beside the door. "You're his human servant, aren't you?"
"I have that honor."
I shook my head. "I need to leave now."
"Do not feel badly that you could not recognize Inger as my human servant. It is not a mark which shows; otherwise how could they be our human ears and eyes and hands, if everyone knew they were ours?"
He had a point. He had a lot of points. I stood up. He stood up, too. He offered me his hand.
"I'm sorry, but I know that touching makes the mind games easier."
The hand dropped back to his side. "I do not need to touch you to play mind games, Ms. Blake." The voice was wonderful, shining and bright as Christmas morning. My throat was tight, and the warmth of tears filled my eyes. Shit, shit, shit, shit.
I backed for the door, and Inger opened it for me. They were just going to let me leave. He wasn't going to mind-rape me and get the name. He was really going to let me walk away. That did more to prove him a good guy than anything else. Because he could have squeezed my mind dry. But he let me go.
Inger closed the door behind us, slowly, reverently.
"How old is he?" I asked.
"You couldn't tell?"
I shook my head. "How old?"
Inger smiled. "I am over seven hundred years old. Mr. Oliver was ancient when I met him."
"He's older than a thousand years."
"Why do you say that?"
"I've met a vampire that was a little over a thousand. She was scary, but she didn't have that kind of power."