Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

with someone important. Some of them, especially the ones who died in traumatic ways, are caught in the moment of their death. Those are the most common kind—like Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, who runs screaming in the halls of the Tower of London.
    â€œDaniel?” I asked, though his lack of reaction had robbed me of some of my urgency.
    Rachel had quit speaking, hopped off her stool, and looked at Daniel. Naomi was just staring at me.
    He faded after a moment more, and even after I couldn’t see him anymore his voice lingered.
    â€œDid you see him?” whispered Rachel.
    â€œThat’s a cruel trick to play,” Naomi snapped at me.
    I looked at her. “You live with vampires and don’t believe in ghosts?” I asked.
    â€œDaniel’s dead,” Rachel whispered.
    I nodded. I wondered how a vampire could be a ghost—weren’t they already dead? I was starting to get punchy from lack of sleep.
    Naomi turned to the girl, “Rachel—”
    â€œI saw him, too,” she said hollowly. “Just for a moment, but it was him. If Daniel’s dead…Stefan wouldn’t let anything happen to him, not if he were alive.” She looked around a little wildly and then left the room. I heard her quick footsteps up the stairs.
    â€œWhat did he tell you?” I couldn’t tell by her words if Naomi believed me or not, but it didn’t really matter.
    â€œNothing.” I decided not to share what he had said. It wouldn’t help anyone here, and it didn’t sound as if Rachel had heard him. I got up and opened cupboards at random until I found a glass. I filled it with water and drank, pretending my throat was dry because I was thirsty, not because I was scared. Had the sorcerer really eaten Daniel?
    Unwelcome, the memory of Littleton killing the woman at the hotel hit me as a full-throttle flashback: sight, smell, and sound. Just for a moment, but for that moment I was back in the hotel room. I must not have acted strangely, because when I turned back to Naomi she wasn’t looking at me like she’d have stared at someone who’d screamed. I set the glass carefully down on the counter.
    â€œIf vampires live in their menageries,” I said, proud of my steady tone, “who lives in the seethe?”
    â€œOnly the strongest vampires can live on their own and survive purely on human blood. All the others live in the seethe. They are the Mistress’s menagerie,” Naomi told me after a moment.
    I worked it out. “She feeds on the vampires?”
    Naomi nodded. “And gives them a little, very little, blood in return. Without that blood, the weaker vampires would die—and only the Mistress is allowed to feed other vampires and feed from them. She keeps humans there, to nourish them all, but without her, the lesser vampires would die.”
    â€œAllowed to feed?” I asked. “If there is a rule against it, that must mean that she gains something from feeding off vampires.”
    â€œYes. I’m not sure what—strength and power, I think. And the ability to limit the actions even of those vampires she didn’t directly beget. She made Stefan, and, I think Andre. But Estelle and most of the others aren’t hers. When she quit paying attention to the seethe, Stefan and Andre ran things for her. But some of the older vampires became unruly.”
    â€œEstelle and Bernard,” I suggested remembering the man in the dapper suit.
    Naomi nodded. “The four of them, Stefan, Andre, Estelle, and Bernard are the only vampires strong enough to live outside the seethe. Stefan says that once they can live without feeding from the Mistress, vampires start to get territorial, so they’re sent out to gain their own menageries.” She paused. “Five, actually. The Wizard lives on his own.”
    â€œThe Wizard?” I asked.
    She nodded her head. “Wulfe. You’ve seen him because Stefan said he was present at the trial. He looks younger than Daniel and has white blond hair.”
    The boy who’d worked the magic on the chair.
    â€œWhile Marsilia wasn’t paying attention, Estelle and Bernard managed to make a few new vampires and kept them to themselves.”
    â€œThey’re feeding off the new vamps,” I said, following her story. “That makes them more powerful than they otherwise would be.”
    â€œRight. This part I’m not certain