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the most powerful Wizard in existence so he was used to
manipulating not only magic but pretty much everything, and
everybody, else. It was because of his unique abilities I was still
living on this earth.
    I looked around us and saw he had brought us
onto the roof of a medieval castle in the middle of the eastern
Alps. I dislike this overdone castle almost as much as I like the
overdone Vamp who owned it.
    “Ah, Lucian. What an unexpected visit.” He
bowed to my father before turning to me. “And Sunny, you grow more
beautiful every day.”
    “Augustus. Thank you for meeting with us,”
Lucian said while I studiously ignored the pompous Vamp.
    “You know I am always willing to help one of
our agents find a killer. Especially you Sunny.”
    He smiled lasciviously at me. I managed a
face that vaguely resembled a smile but probably looked more like a
grimace.
    “Come. Let us retire inside. Then you can
tell me how I can help you.”
    He put his hand to the small of my back and I
wanted to rip it off but I reached deep inside and searched for a
shred of diplomacy to help me through this situation.
    Augustus Aigner was the head of the entire
species of Vampere and second in leadership of the council. He
liked everything elaborately gaudy, probably to detract from his
own unattractiveness. He was the only not good looking Vamp I have
ever seen. It wasn’t that he was ugly per se just average. He was
turned in his early thirties but even at that early of an age he
had a major receding hairline. The fact that what hair remained was
practically white and long enough to reach his thighs only made the
loss more prominent. He had cold blue eyes and his face was stuck
in a permanent grimace that made him look constipated. Oh, and he
was one of the most arrogant, pompous, astutely ignorant men I have
ever had the displeasure of knowing which only made him more
unattractive. My dislike for him ran way deeper than my prejudice
against Vamps themselves. If I was honest I would know that it
wasn’t Vamps as a race that I disliked but instead the few that I
knew personally. But I would have to also say that those few didn’t
give me much hope for the rest of the species.
    Augustus led us into his elaborately
decorated sitting room and took a seat at an arm chair that looked
dangerously close to being a throne. He motioned for us to sit in
the other opulent chairs surrounding his throne. I had a mental
battle with my eyeballs to force them not to roll and only barely
managed to win. We sat in a pair of chairs angled to face each
other as well as our host.
    “Would you like a drink, Sunny?”
    I shook my head and he looked displeased with
my response. He turned to Lucian.
    “Yes, a nice brandy should do well.” My
father, always the diplomat. Until he kills you in when you least
expect it anyway. There was a reason he was head of the council.
Power comes with a price. Ruthlessness is was the penance he
paid.
    Augustus looked at a servant who was standing
by the door and he immediately started pouring the drinks. I
watched his movements and realized he was no servant at all. I
wonder if Augustus always has his bodyguards fetch his drinks for
him or if he called this one in because of us. The thought kind of
makes me feel special.
    The bodyguard brought Lucian’s drink and I
gave him a look-over. He had brown hair with hazel eyes, or maybe
they were green. It was hard to tell but one thing was sure,
whoever created him needed an award because it looked as though
they may have found the perfect male specimen. He was tall,
probably six-two, with a lean but powerful looking body that had an
olive complexion and a face of an angel. He caught me watching him
and gave me a wink and I gave him my first genuine smile since I
got here.
    “It is an honor to have you here, Thief,” he
said for my ears only.
    I nodded back to him. Thief indeed.
    “That is enough Drake,” Augustus said.
    “Drake? Kinda cliché isn’t it?” I asked
him.
    He