Having Davidson and Naomi in my home was marginally more tolerable than having Magnus and his ilk staying overday. I was not particularly worried that that they would touch my humans, but I still did not like it, rational or not.

It was no worse than someone not wanting other people to drive their precious car. Come to think of it, I would not be handing over the keys to my sweet baby over to them for a joyride, either.

Still, at least with the softies, I was less on edge about the safety of my humans and there was always the added bonus of revelling in their frustration at the situation.

I eyed my guests as we sat in my lounge. They had been here for an entire day and part of the night and had still not gotten to the point of their visit. It was certainly not because they liked me and wanted to stay longer, because if anything Davidson was even less comfortable with being in my home than I was having him here.

He was clearly waiting for me to broach the topic, but it was silly for him to think he could beat me at something like this. I would let them stay for a month if it came to it before I asked him the purpose of his visit. My amusement bubbled up again and made the whole ordeal worthwhile.

We were making small talk about human maintenance, although I sensed that was not at all what they had come for. We could have spoken about such matters between council meetings if that was all they wanted. Naomi was getting entirely too comfortable while chatting about the subject, so I broke her off at the earliest polite opportunity.

"Could I offer you some coffee?" I asked.

"Please," Naomi said, almost automatically. Davidson nodded at her words.

"Dean, please fetch us some coffee," I called to my guard.

"Yes, Mistress," he said and quickly went on his way, leaving the other guard alone with me, not that I really needed him with these two here.

We continued chatting and the conversation moved on to the merits of mandated versus voluntary human exercise, when Dean returned with Trisha. Both carried serving trays and put them on the coffee table between us three vampires. With almost synchronized respectful nods, they backed up. Dean returned to his proper place and Trisha quickly left, but I did not miss the affectionate expression that passed between them before she was out the door.

I had never truly experienced such a thing as human love. I did not know what it was like to want to grow old together with someone. When I had been human, the men who had tried to court me had not impressed me with their ridiculous expectations, much to my father's consternation.

They had all seemed to want me for the purpose of ornamentation and for other purposes I had not fully understood at the time, innocent as I had been so long ago.

As little more than a foolish, discontented child, I supposed I had been easy prey for my sire.

I picked up the carafe and poured some into each cup swiftly and handed one to each of my guests. "Blood?" I offered, extending the creamer.

With my smile firmly hidden, I watched the slight widening of Naomi's eyes and the slight furrowing of Davidson's brow.

"Come now, you don't think me such a rude host that I never offer my guests refreshments?"

They would be right to think that, since my humans belonged to me, but I could spare a little collected blood for the cause of disconcerting them and extending our little game of chicken indefinitely. I still had about two months until the next quarterly. How long could I drag their torture out?

"No, of course not," Davidson lied, taking the creamer and pouring a moderate amount of blood into his cup.

Naomi held her cup almost nervously. "They say, but of course—"

Davidson cut Naomi off as he passed her the creamer. "Neither of us are particularly inclined to listen to the gossip of the council."

I smiled at them in a show of generous good humour. "It's actually wise to listen to their gossip, it helps you determine which way the wind blows," I corrected in exactly the tone that annoyed Davidson most. "It's believing everything you hear that is most unwise."

Davidson frowned as he nodded in agreement.

I picked up a platter of pink cookies with a dollop of some sort of whipped red on top. "Would you like one?" I offered.

Naomi took one gingerly. "What are they?"

I smiled. "Cookies, presumably with some sort of blood topping. I see my kitchen slaves have been experimenting again."

I pushed the plate towards Davidson and he reluctantly took one as well.

Neither of them had moved either their cup or their treat to their mouths. I smiled at the observation. So suspicious, but I could hardly fault them for it.

"Come now," I chided. "You don't really believe that I would have my slaves tamper with precious blood in order to harm you, now do you?"

They both looked distinctly uncomfortable. I wanted to laugh, but that would allow them to grasp onto their anger instead of their hilarious embarrassment. I let the silence stretch for a long moment before I had mercy on them and brought my cup to my lips and took a long drink of my wonderful coffee.

Since they were paying me such careful attention, I tilted my cup in their direction so that they could see the clear decrease in the amount of liquid sloshing in the cup. Then, I took a cookie and popped the entire thing in my mouth and chewed.

It was sweet, which was not the human pleasure to me that it once was, but it did nicely complement the blood infused whipped topping. I swallowed. "They're actually pretty good. Go on, try them. I swear, I would never be so unsporting as to try to dull your capacities by feeding you animal blood. Don't misunderstand me, Councillors, I simply adore defeating you in the chamber, but I like to win fair and square. The victory is sweetest that way."

Naomi decided to trust me, apparently, because she took a bite of her cookie followed by a long swallow of coffee. "These are quite good," she said with just a hint of resentment.

"Of course. I am a master of selecting the best humans."

"Perhaps you're correct," Davidson agreed diplomatically before taking a drink of his own coffee.

* * * * *

We made more pointless small talk for a while. I could tell that Davidson was almost ready to crack and ask for whatever favour he had come for by the battle ready stiffness I recognized so well from the council chamber. Therefore, I did my very best to keep steering the conversation away from whatever council matter they had come to discuss. It was quite funny to watch Davidson try to manage me only to have me go in a completely different direction. What fun.

"My kitchen slaves actually have a number of recipes you could have your own slaves try, Naomi. Remind me to have them make copies for you. You'll stay over another couple of days, right?"

Naomi glanced uncomfortably at Davidson. I smiled expectantly.

"While we appreciate your excellent hospitality, I should likely come to the point of our visit," Davidson said stiffly. I could tell that I had rather exhausted his patience.

"Oh? Apologies, I was under the impression this was merely a social call," I lied. "Please, tell me of your reason for this delightful visit. Perhaps you will have to come back again soon since I have found your company truly pleasant."

Naomi smiled in a half-hearted attempt at pretending she liked my idea.

Davidson did not even bother to address my glib response. "As I imagine you've guessed, we came to seek your support on our bill proposal for the next quarterly."

I widened my eyes as if surprised. "Oh? And whatever are you proposing this time?"

"We want to institute harsher penalties against vampires who are caught violating hunting regulations," Davidson explained, those serious blue eyes mesmerizing under the lock of hair that was falling forward.

Naomi nodded. "There are multiple accounts of free humans being picked up outside of the regular season, as well as in the conservation reserves. They're already terribly harried and this is making it increasingly difficult for them to feed themselves."

Where were they were getting their information? Like Drak, did they have some peaceful contact with the free humans? Perhaps their human sympathies ran far deeper than I had ever imagined. Was information flowing both ways? The other councillors would be scandalized if only they suspected.

Really, though, the idea was absolutely amusing. These two young ones tried so hard with so little success. It almost made me want to be nice to them.

But not quite.

"And why would I choose to throw my support behind your bill?" I asked, deftly hiding my satisfaction that I had all the power in the exchange.

Naomi's green eyes turned down in disappointment. Surely she had not imagined that it would be so easy? Silly youngling.

"Because our interests align?" Davidson said with much less assuredness than I imagine he would have liked to portray.

"Do they?"

Davidson frowned again. "Your decisions are difficult to predict, of course, but you've always spoken vocally for blood security, even before I had my seat. This measure will help ensure that the free humans will be more secure, helping them prosper, thus propagating more humans and a more ample blood supply for the future."

"I understand that, but you know as well as I do that there is no way that I will be supporting any bill this early in the process, of course. I like to hear all the proposals and arguments before I make my final decision on any matter."

Naomi met my eyes as if she were a kitten begging for a saucer of milk. "We had hoped that we might persuade you otherwise." She clutched her coffee cup between her hands, almost hard enough that I imagined she might break it. It was fortunate that she was not using my imaginary Number One Mistress cup or I would be dreadfully annoyed with her.

"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to do better than petty sentiment if you want to convince me, and I don't have a bill in the works right now for you to support in return. Will you promise to support whatever bill I bring forward next?" I asked. I did not let myself smile triumphantly at him. He was not stupid enough to make that sort of deal with me, but he would be terribly conflicted by the idea.

Naomi's eyes were as wide as a startled deer. It was a bit shameful, because no vampire had a right to look so innocently frightened.

Davidson's brow was pulled together in furious thought. I waited patiently, taking another sip of my coffee. Everything was so good.

Finally, he spoke. "You know that we cannot do that, Councillor Vienne."

"Why not?" I widened my eyes and blinked at him.

"Because you know as well as I you'll bring forward the worst possible bill and force us to support it and absolutely railroad the rest of the council."

I tried to look aghast, but it was really hard because he was just so funny. I tilted my head and raised my chin as if offended. "I dare say, Councillor, do you truly see yourself as the last line of defense against the worst of my excesses?"

"Well, I wouldn't—"

"How very presumptuous of you."

"Vienne, I did not—"

I waved away his concerns with my hand breezily.

"I'll support your bill if you let me buy that female slave of yours. Blond, was she? Her name started with an L, I believe."

"Lain?"

"That's it. Lain. I'll buy her for whatever you paid."

"Absolutely not."

I sighed heavily. "Really? Not even for my support? Why ever not?"

He scowled. "Because I don't trust you."

"Really? You yourself said that my slaves are in excellent condition. She would thrive," I pointed out. This was rather fun, sort of like debating him in council, but I also wanted to get my way now that I had made up my mind.

"Would she, really? Your ways are well enough known. And even if she would, regardless, the answer is still no," Davidson said with a heavy scowl. He really was too cute.

"You won't even consider it?"

"No.

"You're really attached to this particular slave, then?"

"This particular slave is a person, Councillor Vienne, not a commodity," he said coldly.

"You bought her," I pointed out.

He frowned, "Yes, but her fate would have been far worse if I had not. Why do you want her? She does not fit your particular predilections whatsoever."

I could not help but feel a touch annoyed that once again vampires were assuming that they understood me. They were wrong and in truth I wanted them to be, but it still pulled at my temper that they would dare make such assumptions.

"My predilections are my own. And as to why I want her, I like the way she looks."

Naomi raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "She reminds me of one of the paintings in my gallery. You saw the one with the woman in the garden? Perhaps I shall simply have her stand beside it when I wander through from time to time. Oh, or perhaps I could have the painting restaged as a photograph! Photography isn't quite what it once was, but if I get my slaves to..."

Davidson looked more confused than ever, but he remained sadly resolute. "Still no, and that is my final answer. You may get your way in the council, but in this one matter, I am the authority."

"Imagine if I threw my support behind you? You too could get your way in the council."

I almost felt bad for Davidson's terrible internal conflict.

"No."

He clearly wanted his bill to succeed.

Perhaps I could simply show my hand, just this one time. I doubted Davidson and Naomi would go running around gossiping about me. Their allies were few and far between. "Very well, I'll level with you. I actually want her because one of my slaves is infatuated."

"I cannot believe that."

"It's the truth. I get bored and I enjoy observing human interactions from time to time."

It really was a shame how most pre-suppression entertainment media was lost in the wars.

He frowned. "Let's say you're telling the truth and your reasons are purely matchmaking. What about if she ends up pregnant? What then?"

I raised my eyebrow to dismiss his concerns. "With the decrease of the feral human population becoming increasingly apparent, the human breeding faction will get ever more vocal. It's only a matter of time until they knock down the law punishing the unregulated breeding of slaves."

"Maybe, but that could be fifty years from now. What if she's pregnant next year?"

"I'll do as the law commands, of course." I was hardly going to disclose how I dealt with my humans to even the most amusing vampire.

"So, for your entertainment, you'll let them be together and then just kill them?"

I sighed dramatically. "Fine. If she gets pregnant, I'll sell her back to you and you can do what you will, but I will vow ignorance on the matter."

Truly, it was an excellent solution. Javier would get his love and if there were any accidents, it would be Davidson's problem.

"So you'll split the family?" Naomi asked, clearly still disapproving in spite of my excellent solution.

I pretended not to notice how she implied Davidson would not obey the council's dictates on the matter. I must have really worked them up to receive a basic confession about plots of a future criminal endeavour.

"That would be better than what the law suggests, don't you think?"

Davidson paused. "I'll sell her to you, but if you fail to keep her from getting pregnant, you'll give me your slave as well and I will deal with them all."

I did not really like the prospect, but Javier had seemed so terribly hopeful and I had said I would try. I did not know what I would do if I lost him, but at least I was fairly certain that Davidson would keep him well. Perhaps the gamble would be worth it.

The things I would do for love—my love of amusement.

"You certainly drive a hard bargain, Councillor. Javier is impeccable, one of my favourite slaves. You saw him in the chamber. And here I used to think going to the cinema was overpriced."

The two young vampires looked at me blankly for a moment.

"You poor things have no idea what I just said, do you? You've at least seen old movies, surely? No? Well, cinemas were where a crowd would go to watch on an extremely large screen... You know what, never mind. It's beside the point."

All the fledglings these days were so ignorant of history. Perhaps I would set some of my humans to work towards restoring and generating movies. Find some talent, inform them off the plots as best I could recall and off we would go.

If I played my cards right, I could be the Mistress of New Hollywood. It had a nice ring to it.

"Then the deal is off?" Davidson looked relieved at his assumption, and I savoured my anticipation of his surprise for a long moment.

"No, I accept. I'll buy her and you can have them both if I fail."

"Oh." He glanced helplessly at Naomi and she shrugged.

"I'll even sweeten the deal. If Lain doesn't want to come, the deal is off. If the two don't hit it off, you can have her back as well."

Davidson recouped himself. "I also still want your support on my bill."

"Obviously. And we'll have to keep our little transaction off the books, too, of course. It's easy enough to come up with good reasons not to exhaust the human supply."

Little did he know, I might have supported his bill anyway.

"Of course."

I smiled widely. Neither of them liked my expression, probably because I wore it so often when I was countering them.

"So would you like to stay another day? The night is getting old, and I would hate for you two to get sunburned."

Naomi looked at Davidson. "It is getting close to dawn."

"Very well. Thank you," Davidson said, his tone begrudging and conflicted. He liked and hated what had occurred. He helped himself to another cup of coffee. I leaned back in my chair, quite satisfied.

Perhaps vampiric guests were not always so bad after all.