All Together Dead

Negotiations between the King of Indiana and the King of Mississippi have been concluded, and they want to tie the knot while everyone’s here.”
    “Russell’s getting married?” I smiled. I wondered if he’d be the bride or the groom, or a little bit of both.
    “Yeah, but don’t tell anyone yet. They’re announcing it tonight.”
    “So when are we gonna talk?”
    “I’ll come to your room when the vamps are in bed for the day. Where are you?”
    “I have a roommate.” I gave him the room number anyway.
    “If she’s there, we’ll find somewhere else to go,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Listen, don’t worry; everything’s okay.”
    I wondered what I should be worrying about. I wondered where another dimension was, and how hard it would be to bring over bodyguards from it. I wondered why anyone would go to the expense. Not that Batanya hadn’t seemed pretty damn effective; but the extreme effort Kentucky had gone to, that sure seemed to argue extreme fear. Who was after him?
    My waist buzzed at me, and I realized I was being summoned back up to the queen’s suite. Barry’s pager went off, too. We looked at each other.
    Back to work, he said, as we went toward the elevator. I’m sorry if I caused trouble between you and Quinn.
    You don’t mean that.
    He glanced at me. He had the grace to look ashamed. I guess I don’t. I had a picture built up of how you and me would be, and Quinn kind of intruded on my fantasy life.
    Ah…ah.
    Don’t worry—you don’t have to think of something to say. It was one of those fantasies. Now that I’m really with you, I have to adjust.
    Ah.
    But I shouldn’t have let my disappointment make me a jerk.
    Ah. Okay. I’m sure Quinn and I can work it out.
    So, I kept the fantasy screened from you, huh?
    I nodded vigorously.
    Well, at least that’s something.
    I smiled at him. Everyone’s got to have a fantasy, I told him. My fantasy is finding out where Kentucky got that money, and who he hired to bring that woman here. Was she not the scariest thing you’ve ever seen?
    No, Barry answered, to my surprise. The scariest thing I’ve ever seen…well, it wasn’t Batanya. And then he locked the communicating door between our brains and threw away the key. Sigebert was opening the door into the queen’s suite, and we were back at work.
    After Barry and his party left, I kind of waved my hand in the air to let the queen know I had something to say if she wanted to listen. She and Andre had been discussing Stan’s motivation in paying the significant visit, and they paused in identical attitudes. It was just weird. Their heads were cocked at the same angle, and with their extreme pallor and stillness, it was like being regarded by works of art carved in marble: Nymph and Satyr at Rest, or something like that.
    “You know what Britlingens are?” I asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.
    The queen nodded. Andre just waited.
    “I saw one,” I said, and the queen’s head jerked.
    “Who has gone to the expense to hire a Britlingen?” Andre asked.
    I told them the whole story.
    The queen looked—well, it was hard to say how she looked. Maybe a little worried, maybe intrigued, since I’d garnered so much news in the lobby.
    “I never knew how useful I’d find it, having a human servant,” she said to Andre. “Other humans will say anything around her, and even the Britlingen spoke freely.”
    Andre was perhaps a tad jealous if the look on his face was any indication.
    “On the other hand, I can’t do a damn thing about any of this,” I said. “I can just tell you what I heard, and it’s hardly classified information.”
    “Where did Kentucky get the money?” Andre said.
    The queen shook her head, as if to say she hadn’t a clue and really didn’t care that much. “Did you see Jennifer Cater?” she asked me.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “What did she say?” asked Andre.
    “She said she’d drink my blood, and she’d see you staked and exposed on the hotel roof.”
    There was a moment of utter silence.
    Then Sophie-Anne said, “Stupid Jennifer. What’s that phrase Chester used to use? She’s getting too big for her britches. What to do…? I wonder if she would accept a messenger from me?”
    She and Andre looked at each other steadily, and I decided they were doing a little telepathic communication of their own.
    “I suppose she’s taken the suite Arkansas had reserved,” the queen said to Andre, and he picked up the in-house phone and