Paul

I grasp soft moss and my fingernails dig into the moist soil beneath. "Holy shit, people! Can no one else see this?"

The frantic thumping in my chest must be my heart, but damned if it's beat like this since I turned two months ago. A quick scan of the faces surrounding me reveals they are seeing what I'm seeing. Drew's mouth hangs open and he's staring around in wonder. Jon sits cradling an arm to his injured side with an amused look on his face, aware, but not scared. Asa observes it all, silent; surprise etching his features but he remains composed. Rafe looks concerned and has eyes only for his wife.

They are all showing a reaction of some kind. Except for Vivian. She's looking right at me with a calculating look on her cold and beautiful face.

Relax, Paul, she says in my mind. You're not tripping. It's me.

"But how? I don't understand." I sit back on my ass, examining the black dirt under my nails. My heart slows in its frantic tempo and the emerald of my master's eyes seems to blend with the greenery encircling us.

"It's an illusion," Rafe says.

The presence I felt with Vivian speaking to me grows in my head, and all of a sudden I can hear everyone in the grove.

Can she project like this to everyone or only those she's connected to through blood?

God, the sun feels good. Two years is too long.

Man, they look fuckin' funny. At least Drew finally shut his gaping mouth.

Drew whips around and stares at me. It wasn't me, I swear. Think that was Jon. I say in a mental projection, the same way I spoke to Vivian earlier when she was in my head. The easygoing man looks to the werewolf and flips him the bird.

Slowly, as everyone quiets their minds and relaxes, I can discern whose mental signature is whose. "I'm not so sure I'm digging this," I say. My stomach gives a lurch, confirming what I voiced. Calmness I'm not so sure is my own fills me, and my stomach settles.

Drew's boldness of today is apparently not over, "Will you answer my unspoken question about to whom you can project? Or leave us in the dark?"

The illusion starts to slowly fade. First, I'm back up in my chair and then the round conference table emerges from the forest floor. As the trees fade to the industrial white walls and the heat of the sun winks out, replaced by the indirect lighting of the covered bulbs in the chandelier, a gentle sigh escapes Jon.

A hush settles over the small group as we all turn to the fiery redhead. "I can broadcast to anyone at anytime on the property," she answers. "My connection here is strongest. Outside the resort I can project within a two hundred foot radius... to anyone."

The dramatic pause at the end must have sunk in with everyone else to mean something. Asa looks intrigued and Drew looks worried. I feel like I'm still holding the bag and waiting for candy when the lights are out in the house. Is this a big deal? Should I be scared?

"How long have you had this advanced glamour ability?" Drew asks.

"Since I turned. It started with being able to alter my appearance. I built it up over the years. "

"I'll say," laughs Jon. "I think I smelled deer in that last one."

Drew turns to the Were. "You've known all along?"

"I am her servant." A self-satisfied smile creases the werewolf's features. "Not much we don't share." A dark expression crosses Rafe's face; this time it's Vivian who reaches out a soothing hand to her husband. Is there tension between the three we're unaware of? Are they all one big happy threesome? I'm thinking if they were, then Jon wouldn't be walking around with a hard-on for her half the time... so maybe there is some trouble in paradise.

"Is this why Coraline hates you?" Asa asks. "Is this what they are after?"

"Coraline hates me because she thinks I had something to do with an Ancient who died years ago, while on her watch... and a vampire lover who favored me over her."

"So she doesn't know of your illusion abilities? Are you sure?" he says while staring intently at Vivian.

Vivian looks away, unable to meet his gaze. "I'm not sure. I've been careful to hide it and use the gift sparingly."

"Why not use it in a trap?" I say. "You said you can do it really well on the property, right?"

A slow smile tilts the corner of her full lips, "That's an understatement."

"What do you suggest, Paul?" Rafe asks.

All eyes turn to me and now I'm not so sure my idea is a good one. "Can you get super-detailed with the illusions, like other people and stuff?" Just then, a movement catches my eye from the doorway. Coraline stands at the door in the long black coat she arrived in, the one with the bright turquoise pendant pinned at a jaunty angle, and cascading curly blond hair frames her angelic face.

She peels back her top lip to expose one bloody fang and reveals an object she held behind her back. Dangling from her petite hand is the severed head of my wife, Bunny. A blood-curdling girly scream rips from my throat and I launch out of my chair... only to have the council member-and the head-disappear.

I land on the carpeted floor in an inglorious heap, amid the raucous laughter of my seethe-mates. "Paul!" Jon calls. "You should have seen your face! Priceless." At a sharp look from Rafe he quiets. "But hey, I bet that answered your question, eh?"

A tingle of fear slides through my body as the magnitude of this "gift" really hits me. I hope there are not many masters who hold this power. Or of they do, they don't have quite such a mean streak in them as Vivian does.

You wanted proof on how real it could be. Vivian says inside my head. Was that good enough for you?

As the rage slowly subsides and I'm able to pick myself up off the floor with relative dignity, I answer, "I get it. Thanks." If she made Bunny look dead, and I mean really dead, could she do the same with Emiko?

"How is it the ability works on vampires?" Asa says with a glint of interest in his eye. "I thought glamour was only supposed to work on humans?"

"With enough practice," Vivian begins, "a vampire can push a subtle physical glamour to surround their body. Like making their skin less pale or enhancing their looks. His or her fellow undead may not notice because it takes concentration to break the glamour."

"Is this your way of telling them you're not a natural redhead?" Jon winks at me while talking to Vivian. "Cuffs and collar don't match?"

She smiles and relaxes a bit, "Sorry to disappoint, but no, this is all me. I don't use small glamours on myself. Waste of energy."

Drew waves his arm around the room, "This show you put on was not so little. And I bet it uses a lot of power."

Vivian shrugs one delicate shoulder, "Depends on how much you have to start with. And how much practice you have." At Drew's look of incredulity she adds, "But yes, I couldn't do an elaborate one like that for twenty-four hours, it does drain me."

I take a deep breath and forge ahead with my thoughts. "But could you do a more detailed one for, say, fifteen or twenty minutes?" At her quick nod and no elaboration, I decide to spill my idea. "Could we stage Emiko's death and trick Coraline into leaving, thinking the hunt was over?"

"What if she did kill her husband and his kids? Doesn't she deserve whatever punishment she gets?" Asa asks. I sense a little dissension below the surface there; maybe he doesn't like the Asian vampire too much. Then again, I think I heard them talking about her beating the crap out of him earlier.

Surprisingly, it's Rafe who answers him, "You're still thinking like a human, Asa. The justice and laws in the vampire world aren't the same as what you're used to. You're a predator now.

"Whether she preyed on that man or not isn't what we're here discussing. Has she been used as a pawn to get to Vivian? Is she being used by the Inner Circle because of her property and their desire to own it?" His soothing tones make sense, drawing us back on track in spite of the shock of Vivian's power revelations. "Do we intervene and try and talk with her and if yes, what do we plan to do to change the fate of this week?"

Asa says, "Will talking to her help? Won't she just tell us what we want to hear?" The married couple exchanges a look.

"Let me question her alone and we'll see where we are." Vivian says. "We'd have to convince her to go along with the plan, first."

"How about we arrange the whole thing in the woods," Asa says, getting into the idea now, "where the other killings have taken place. Then bring Coraline in after we set the stage?"

"Jon?" Rafe leans around Vivian to look at the Were. "Think you'd be up to planting seeds... luring Coraline out where we need her?"

An expression of uncertainty cross Vivian's features, but Jon answers without looking at her, "Sure, as long as she's not an addict, I think I can handle a little conversation."

"I'm not sure I like it," she says. "Too many variables we can't control."

Rafe opens a notebook and slides it across the table to his lovely wife, clicking a pen and holding it out for her. "Let's write a plan and work it out together. Sound good?"

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