Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

"Crudely put, but yes."

"So what's to stop an underling aiding that event?"

"The wrath of the others that would fall on him or her if it happened."

I couldn't see how that was going to prevent unexplained deaths, especially if the one bumping off the hierarchy was more powerful than everyone else. But then, vampires generally didn't think like the rest of us. "Where do you stand in the pecking order?"

"There are three above me."

"And I'm guessing Director Hunter is one of them? That's why you phoned her - a vampire professional courtesy."

He nodded. I frowned. "Jack said he was her brother - but if she's older than you, and he's younger, how can that be the case?"

He shrugged. "Madrilene and Jack come from shifter stock, and shifters, like werewolves, are extremely long-lived. Perhaps Jack didn't turn until near the end of his life."

My frown deepened. "Madrilene? Do you mean Alex?"

"Yes." He hesitated. "Madrilene is the name she used when we first met."

"Meaning vamps change names over the years?"

"Yes. And yes, I have also."

"So Quinn is not your birth name?"

"First name, no. But Quinn is the anglicized form of my Irish surname, O'Cuinn."

"Interesting." But it wasn't doing anything to explain how Jack could be just over eight hundred years old and Director Hunter more than Quinn's twelve hundred. By my reckoning, there was at least a century unaccounted for, shifter stock or not. But obviously, Quinn wasn't going to explain it. If I wanted answers, I'd have to ask the source. And whether he'd explain or not was another matter

"Given what you said about the vampire hierarchy, and the fact that you're older and stronger than Jack is, what's stopping you from putting commands into his mind?"

"He's strong enough to keep me from controlling him. I could overwhelm him and kill him, mentally and physically, but I don't have the strength to keep him under my control."

"Of course, I only have your word on that."

"My word not good enough?"

"A question I can't answer as I don't really know you." I crossed my arms, for a moment regarding the rain-washed road ahead. "Why are you going so determinedly after the people behind the cloning?"

"Jack's already told you - the source material was a friend of mine."

"How good a friend?"

He glanced at me. "Not sexual, if that's what you're implying. He was born Hieremias, son of Glaucus, though he changed it to Henri Glaucus for ease of use in later years. We'd been friends for over a thousand years."

It was hard to imagine knowing anyone for that length of time. "How did he die?"

His swift look was cold, hard, and sent shivers down my spine. And yet there was something else in his dark eyes. Something akin to pain

"Broken heart. He walked into the sunshine and stayed there." He hesitated. "Or so I thought."

What was the betting that it was another bloody werewolf behind the hurt? Geez, I wanted to explore possibilities with him, but did I really have the energy to fight the pain inflicted by the ex as well as what had happened to his friend? Then I remembered the magic we'd created while making love, and thought, Hell, yeah

"Obviously he was captured before he cindered if there are clones of him walking around."

"Yes." He paused again. "When I first saw the clone in Sydney, I was overjoyed, thinking I'd been wrong, that Henri hadn't committed suicide. But a mind search quickly revealed the truth. The clone's memory of life had only started seven and a half years ago."

"So is that why you were attacked here in Melbourne? Because you killed the clone?"