Stronger Together chapter 199

Mab seemed to completely lose interest in me after the Arbitration,  just turned and walked away without a word or glance. This was  apparently pretty consistent with her character because literally no one  was surprised by this turn of events. I shrugged and we all dispersed  while the servants moved in the giant ass round table again. I nodded to  Mina and dragged her with me over to our seats, sitting her down next  to Raven, Cinder and I.

Mina apparently counted as a  servant, but since I didn't bring her and had no reason to actually care  about her she wasn't in much danger of being hurt to get to me. Still  we didn't have a seat for her, and once we say down she was forced to  stand behind my chair once they brought the seats and table back out. I  sat down, and once they had resumed the conclave I turned to look at  Mina. "Ok, so you're my new girl friday right? You're supposed to tell  me how this goes so go ahead."

Mina bowed her head  politely "Of course my lord. You lordship has inherited all of Lord  Drakul's holdings. He has several estates you should be aware of, as  well as many smaller investments and quite a bit of material wealth. The  castle in Romania, an estate in Mikanos, three townhouses in New York  city, a high rise penthouse here in Chicago and a five star hotel in  Philadelphia. Your lordship will also be given access to Lord Drakul's  bank accounts and his stock portfolios. He owns quite a number of shares  in a great many powerful companies."

My eyebrows started  climbing when she began talking and continued to mount my face like  professional mountain climbers. By the time she was done my jaw was  hanging open in shock. "Ok, slow down. You're saying I inherited all  this, isn't there some sort of legal heir, won't it just default to  them? And what about the Black Court." This whole right of conquest  thing was nuts. There couldn't be a legal avenue for something like  this. Mina seemed competent so maybe she could smooth some of it over  for me but she wasn't going to be able to do all of it.

Mina  shook her head "Lord Drakul was a signatory of the unseelie accords.  The terms of an Arbitration are a part of the accords themselves. You'll  be signing them officially at the end of the conclave. This is supposed  to be a trial run of sorts but it's mostly a formality. In any case the  Winter court will take care of the legal details, you need only collect  that which is your due. As for the Black Court..." She paused, her  perfect face wrinkling in consternation. "These matters as complex. The  Black Court does not fall under your aegis."

That confused  me. "But Drakul was the king of the Black Court vampires wasn't he? So  if I get all his assets I should own their asses." Not that I  particularly wanted to own the Black Court. But it was vastly preferable  to all of them swearing blood vengeance on me for killing their  ancestral sugar daddy. Mavra and her rotten apple dumpling gang were  pretty much the height of unpleasant of all the beings I'd met that I  hadn't murdered already. Which was actually a longer list then I would  have ever expected before I came here but I was surprisingly ok with it.

Mina  shook her head "The Black Court is a separate entity from Lord Drakul,  hence his status as a freeholding lord. His son Vlad is the driving  force behind the Black Court, and was afraid enough of his father to  take orders from him. Sadly despite this they are not an asset that was  his to pass down, and as such they are not yours to command. Lord Vlad  will most likely be a mixture of relieved and unhappy at the passing of  his father. Their relationship could be...contentious." She said that  last bit like it was code for something much less polite. Still that was  welcome news.

I smiled "So  there's a chance he may not come looking for vengeance?" I'd thought he  was their king, but if Drakul had been oppressing them and I'd helped  them regain their freedom then maybe I did the Black Court a favor. I  didn't want anything from them except to stay the fuck out of my city so  maybe that would be enough. I felt much better "I was worried they  would hunt me down and declare a blood feud or something. If I can avoid  worrying about living corpses hiding under my bed I'll be so  relieved...ok you're looking uncomfortable. What's wrong?"

The  woman...vampire? I wasn't sure what she was, refused to meet my eyes.  Her voice was diffident as she responded "I would expect retaliation.  Lord Drakul and Lord Vlad did not get along but killing his father is a  violation of his honor. Lord Vlad's reputation would be in tatters if he  simply allowed you to walk away." I groaned. Of course. Of course  politics would ruin any chance for me to get out of this without a bunch  of unnecessary drama, because what else were politics for if not to  make us suffer.God forbid we act like rational beings instead of making  everything weirdly complex for no reason.

I  put my head in my hands and groaned out loud. I assumed this would be  bad form for some reason but I honestly gave zero fucks. Powerful people  don't need to worry about reputation. If anyone bitched I could just  curb stomp them. Mina just kind of lurked silently behind me and Raven  started rubbing slow circles on the back of my neck with her fingers  because she knew I found it soothing. This entire stupid conclave had  been a mess and I literally knocked on wood when I had the thought that I  hoped the rest of it went better.

Thinking  back my thought a moment ago I turned to glance at Mina. "So what's  your story? I thought you were one of Dracula's Brides, that's what it  said in the book. You don't look like a Black Court vamp though, and  please feel free to take that as a compliment." It almost seemed ride to  just ask her what she was out of the blue like that, but I wasn't  letting some random servant follow me home without even knowing where  her actual species was. Privacy was fine but I had to draw the line  somewhere.

Her  face twisted into a scowl. "Stoker was a drunk and a bastard. I was  never Lord Vlad's lover, Lord Drakul took me when I was just a young  noble girl. He transformed me with his blood. Lord Drakul was not one of  those filthy corpses, those of us blessed with his favor are of a  higher class. We don't rot like putrid sacks of flesh. I am an elevated  being. While I do dine on the blood of others I am not what you would  recognize as a traditional vampire. We of Lord Drakul's line are a  category all our own."

That  was...interesting. It made sense considering Drakul was supposedly a  scion and not technically a vampire. I remembered Harry being told in  the books that Dracula joined the Black Court as a teenage rebellion.  That opened up a ton of questions about Mina and people like her though.  "Well in that case what are all of you called? Vampires seems a bit  open ended given all the courts." I had a sneaking suspicion I would be  running into the others of her ilk and I really didn't want to deal with  unknown demonic spawn trying to wreak bloody vengeance on me.

Mina  looked positively smug as she straightened her back. "They call us the  Darklings. Among the great powers of this world we are a known force,  and now all of us serve you." That was surprising, I had thought it was  just Mina. She seemed to sense my confusion and smiled reassuringly.  "All of us are considered part of Lord Drakul's retinue. There are  thirteen Darklings and we are yours to command. The majority of my  brethren will be stopping in to pay our respects within the next few  months, or we could take a trip to Romania to visit the eldest and have  them meet us there."

I  had to admit that sounded a bit cool. I'd never been to Romania before,  or anywhere outside the US. But visiting my new ancestral vampire lair  might be fun. I could tell Cinder and Raven were both interested as  well. "That sounds like as good idea Mina. I'll have to talk to everyone  at home, but I wouldn't be against going to the old country to take in  the sights. And I have the money to afford first class tickets for all  of us now."  I had been pretty bummed leaving some of the girls last  time, I thought a trip for all of us would be more fun.

Mina  giggled at me, giving me the sort of look you give a dumb but  enthusiastic puppy. "Your lordship doesn't need to buy any tickets. You  have a private jet that can more than accommodate an entire coterie of  servants. I could arrange the trip for you if you should like my lord?  How many servants would you be transporting and when would you like to  leave?" I smiled internally, imagining the outrage if any of the girls  heard that. Still having a girl friday would be useful. Mina certainly  seemed competent.

I  actually gave it some though before answering. "I'd say we can leave on  Wednesday. As for the number of people..." I trailed off, furrowing my  brow. "Morgan, Andi, Inari, Kara, Sam, Cinder, Raven,Yang, me, Barb, my  master and hell, might as well bring River is he wants to come. So  that's twelve people. I assume the entire coterie comment means it would  fit twelve?" It also occurred to me that I had way too many roommates.  Still, it was kind of nice to know I had such a big family only a year  after getting here.

Mina  just nodded seriously. "Of course my lord. Eleven will be no issue. The  plane can comfortably hold twenty. Lord Drakul enjoyed traveling with  his food. He would bring girls to feed off of on the plane, and he  preferred to alternate to prevent them from spoiling." I tried not to  think too hard about what she meant by that as we finalized our plans  and then slipped out my phone to text Barb about the trip. She seemed  enthusiastic about it, though admittedly I left out some details.

I  figured at home was a better place for telling my girlfriend I  inherited a nest of super vampires and one of them (a sexy blonde one)  was going to be moving in with us. At least I assumed she would be  moving in. I wasn't sure what the protocol is with inherited servant  girls but living in my place seemed like the most logical guess. I  certainly wasn't going to be able to find her a place near my house. I  decided to think about it later and turned my attention back to the  actual conclave. I wanted to try to catch at least some of it in case it  became relevant.

The  rest of the conclave for the day was fairly dull. Nothing important to  me or Chicago. One of the accorded lords actually brought up my business  and mentioned our tech. Ebenezar and Joe totally endorsed us and  mentioned having tried our stuff. They had actually been making the  attempt to get the council on board but it was like trying to teach an  eighty year old to use a computer times a thousand. All in all it was  uneventful and we all headed home exhausted and relieved. Tommorow was  the last day and after that would be the gala and then this whole thing  could end. It couldn't happen fast enough.