Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

Poseidon 06
    Page 123 of 188
    “No. Not recently,” she said, smiling at him.
    “Your grandfather worked with vampires? Was he a thief?”
    “Yes, although he called it business. His corrupt dealings with vampires in Scotland, long before they ever outed themselves to the rest of the world, got my father killed. A revenge plot, Hopkins finally told me, years later. Grandfather stole money from vampires, can you imagine?”
    Christophe raised his eyebrows.
    “Right, yes, I see where you’re going, but I have anonymity and some measure of recourse,” Fiona answered his unspoken question. “Now that vampires have proclaimed themselves citizens of the European Union, they have to follow our laws. Back then, they killed with impunity, and they used my father to prove a point to my grandfather.”
    She realized her voice was trembling, and she took another sip of water. “They were fools. He didn’t care that my father was dead. He only cared that he lost everything else. They took it all away, and then they killed him, too. They probably would have killed me and Declan, too, but Hopkins took us away and hid us. After they killed Grandfather and had stolen all of his lands and money, they didn’t care about a couple of kids all that much, I guess.”
    “Where was your mother?” Christophe’s voice was unbearably gentle.
    “She died when Declan was born.” She saw a reflection of her own grief in his eyes and realized that his empathy and sympathy ran far deeper than the surface, since his own past had been visited by the same horrible tragedy. “She left the house in trust for us through Hopkins. She knew enough before she died to realize that Grandfather would find a way to steal it out from underneath us if she didn’t.”
    “So you became the Scarlet Ninja, and you’ve spent your lifetime stealing back everything they took from you,” Christophe said, touching her cheek. “But you give it all away. How can you possibly be real?”
    She looked deep into his eyes, and everyone else in the room vanished from her awareness. Only he and she remained, captured in a crystalline moment of perfectly shared understanding. “I feel that way about you,” she whispered. “It’s like you stepped out of my dream of a hero and came to life just for me.”
    Someone cleared his throat and the moment was broken. She raised her chin and looked, in turn, into every pair of eyes at the table. “I have made a name for the Scarlet Ninja. A thief, true, but one who preys on the evil and the vile. Well, to be honest, occasionally, I borrow things just for fun and to keep the authorities guessing.”
    “The Raphael?” Christophe grinned at her.
    “Yes.” She sighed. “It’s on the schedule to be returned next month. I’m really going to miss that painting.
    Saint George is a kind of hero to me.”
    “We have a painting of his dragon around here somewhere,” Alaric said casually. “I think the dragon lived a very long life.”
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
    Page 124 of 188
    Fiona opened her mouth, but then closed it again. No. Later. She was not asking about dragons now.
    “But the sword, Vanquish? You planned to return that?”
    “No, actually. I have some guilt about that, but I did plan to provide a perfect copy, or at least the best I could devise, for the display. It might not even have been noticed for a very long time. But so many people are starving right now, thanks to the worst unemployment rate we’ve ever had. So many are homeless, thanks to the vampires claiming ancient homesteads and tangling property up in the courts.
    People need help, and the sale of that sword was going to fund a huge number of programs.”
    “Including the whales,” Christophe reminded her.
    She blushed. “No, that was my personal money, remember? I only use the Scarlet Ninja’s money for humanitarian causes. I have several animal charities that Fiona’s Friends, my personal charity, supports.”
    “Fiona is a very successful children’s book author,” Christophe told the rest of them.
    Riley smiled. “I know. She’s going to autograph a book for His Royal Drooliness. I’m so excited to have her paint in the gardens here.”
    Alaric groaned for some reason, but said nothing.
    “Thank you. I’m very honored and hope to have the chance to do that someday. But right now, I need to focus on getting my name cleared. The Scarlet Ninja stands for something. I’ve been a symbol of hope to a lot of