Page 35 (2/2)

The countess shook her head "You may leave, of course, Lady Maccon, but--"

"No, no, both of us, I insist"

"Foolish child," said the Duke of He back into the room "How can anyone know so little of vampire edict and sit the Shadow Council? Our queen cannot leave this house It is not a y"

"She could swarun once more toward the vampire queen

Lord Ambrose hissed

Lady Maccon said, "Go on, Countess, swarh "Save us all from the practicality of soul-suckers She can’t swarm on command, woman Queens don’t just up and shen told they have to Swarht as well tell someone to spontaneously combust"

Alexia looked at Lord Ambrose "Really? Would that work on him?"

At which juncture the uests at the party below started screaestured with her gun in an arbitrary manner "Noill you swarm?"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

In Which Lady Maccon Mislays Her Parasol

The countess jumped to her feet So, too, did Felicity Lord Areatest threat in his world and turned toward the racket

"Noould be an excellent time," prodded Alexia

The countess shook her head in exasperation "Swar one chooses I know this is difficult for you to understand, soul-sucker, but not everything is the result of conscious thought Swar is instinct I have to know, deep down in er safe Then I would have to source a new hive, never to return to this one Now is not that time"

The house fairly rattled on its foundations as another hty crash rent the air

"Are you convinced of that?" wondered Alexia

So, as a child will rip paper twists to get at the sugar candy inside Tasty vampire candy Mmm

Felicity started to scream

"Where did you stash Quesnel, Countess Nadasdy?" Lady Maccon raised her voice to carry over the din

The countess was distracted by the coht want to retrieve him Have him with you, and soon"

"Oh, yes, excellent plan Hematol, would you fetch the boy?"

"Yes,only just appeared, looked reluctant to obey; no vampire wishes to leave the side of his queen when she is in danger But a direct order was a direct order, so he bowed perfunctorily and scurried off

Yet another crash sounded The door burst open Dr Caedes, a number of the footman-drones, and several other hive vampires ran into the roo the door behind her The actress’s beautiful gold goas ripped, and her hair had fallen down about her face She looked as though she were just about to perform Ophelia’s death scene to a packed audience

"My queen, you would not believe the h the wall, the one with the Titian And it broke the bust of Dely sympathetic to the trauma "Come to me, my dear"

Mabel Dair ran to her mistress, knelt at her feet, and buried her face in the varipped the fine taffeta material

Alexia was tempted to clap Spectacular performance!

The queen set one perfect white hand atop Miss Dair’s cascading blond curls and looked to her hive "Dr Caedes, report! What is the octomaton’s armament? Is it standard to the earlier model?"

"No, my queen, it seems to have been modified"

"Fire?"

"Yes, but only one tentacle And the customary wooden blades But a third seems to be able to shoot stakes And the fourth has bullets"

"Go on That’s only four"

"It hasn’t yet used any of the others yet"

"If this is Madale tentacle with so deadly That’s how she thinks"

Alexia couldn’t help but agree Genevieve was like that about her gadgets--the more uses the better

The wall on the opposite side of the roo noise It was the sound ofThe entire wall before them was ripped asunder Once the dust settled, the domed head of the octomaton became visible, balanced atop its many tentacles The creature scrabbled for purchase within the rubble of what had once been one of London’s ht of themetal hide of theforuests in the street below

Alexia raised her parasol and stood She pointed the frilly accessory at the octoly "Genevieve, I do hope you didn’t kill anyone"

But if Mada the creature, she did not acknowledge Lady Maccon She had one intended target and one target only--Countess Nadasdy

A gigantic tentacle wormed its way up into the roo to crush her Alexia preferred to lead with an airborne offensive, but Mada for hand-to-hand--or was that hand-to-tentacle?--combat Possibly to protect as many innocents as she could

The queen, supernatural in speed and cunning, si But she ell and truly trapped, for there were no other doors out of that room, and half of her house was now destroyed