“Don’t worry. The tribunal will prove that she’s guilty first-it shouldn’t take long.” He checked his watch. “They’ve given Reinette an hour to prepare.”
“An hour?”
“Why waste time? I’m to stay with Reinette so she doesn’t cheat by killing herself-Alexis is hinting that she’ll let us all sample her this evening.”
The concubine broke into fresh wails. As for Mark, he wished he hadn’t eaten real food that evening, because he felt very close to losing it at the thought. “But Reinette will have a chance to defend herself?”
“If she likes, or she can pick a spokesman. Maybe I’ll volunteer. It might be fun.” Ramon snapped his fingers. “Hold on! Didn’t Stella tell me you’re a lawyer?”
“I do financial planning, not courtroom work.”
“Close enough. You can give me some tips. Are there any appropriate Latin phrases? Habeas corpus?”
“Ramon, you can’t make a joke out of Reinette’s life. Get somebody who’ll take it seriously.”
“Oh, nobody else dares face Alexis’s wrath. I’m only willing to risk it for the amusement value.”
Mark looked at Reinette, who’d thrown herself on the couch sobbing, then remembered the stories his mother had told him about their ancestors who’d been part of the Underground Railroad. “Tell me how the tribunal works, Ramon. I’ll defend Reinette.”
Given the choice between Ramon’s mocking and defending herself, Reinette leapt at Mark’s offer, even if he was a baby vampire. Fortunately, Ramon restrained his sense of the absurd long enough to give Mark a brief but thorough description of vampiric legal procedures, which were fairly simple.
The vampires present would choose a judge to oversee the tribunal, usually the most senior vampire present. Both sides would present their cases, and the judge would make a ruling. Any punishment would be carried out immediately. Fairness was ensured by vampires’ long memories-nobody wanted to be accused of favoritism by a vampire who might be in charge of his tribunal in a decade’s time.
There were no formal rules of evidence or testimony, and of course, nobody swore on the Bible.
“Is there anything else I should know?” Mark asked.
“Like the part about your having to suffer the same punishment as the accused, should she be found guilty?”
Mark blinked.
Ramon broke into laughter. “I’m kidding, Marcus. We’re a tad more civilized than that.”
“Other than the part about letting Alexis torture Reinette.”
“I did say ‘a tad.’”
“Fine.” With only a few minutes left, and knowing vampires’ love for style, Mark dressed in his best suit while Reinette made what repairs she could to her face. She ran roughshod over Stella’s makeup in the process, but that was the least of Mark’s worries. At the last moment, he grabbed a pad and pen just because he thought he should have one.
Reinette clung to his arm the whole way to the ballroom, and Mark was afraid he was going to have to carry her the last few steps, but just before she reached the door, she straightened up and stepped inside proudly and defiantly.
“Very Joan of Arc,” Ramon said, but Mark was impressed. Maybe she wasn’t a total waste of space after all.
The ballroom furnishings had been rearranged to mimic a modern-day courtroom, with a judge’s bench, tables for the prosecution and defense, and a witness chair. The gallery was already filled with vampires and, at the very back, frightened-looking humans. Presumably they were there to witness the cost of treachery.
The judge’s place was empty, but Alexis was already seated at the prosecutor’s table. She watched Reinette menacingly as the girl stepped past her to sit in the defendant’s seat, and the look she gave Mark was nearly as hostile.
He hadn’t seen Stella as he came in, but didn’t have a chance to look for her before Ramon went to stand in front of the room and said, “By the traditions of our kind, this tribunal has been convened to determine the truth behind the death of Geoff, of the line of Alexis.” Everyone rose, and when the judge came in, Mark realized he didn’t need to look for Stella after all.
Stella was the judge.
Mark could tell she was as shocked to see him defending Reinette as he was to see her as judge. He glared at Ramon, who must have known, but the trickster shrugged and tried to look surprised.
Reinette whispered, “Isn’t that your sire? That’s going to make it easier, right?”
“You don’t know Stella,” Mark said. She’d be fair, but she’d do her duty as she saw it, even if it meant ruling against him. He honestly didn’t know if he could stay with her should she allow Reinette to be enslaved.
Stella sat, and everyone else followed suit.
“Who asks for judgment?” she asked formally.
Alexis said, “As Geoff’s sire, I call for judgment against the concubine Reinette for foully betraying her patron to the sun.”
“Is the accused present?”
“Yes,” Reinette responded meekly. “I’ve asked Mark to speak in my place.”
“Mark, have you been made aware of our customs?”
“I have, Your Honor.”
“Then we shall proceed. Alexis, state your case.”
“It is brutally simple. This creature drew the curtains during daylight while Geoff slept helplessly. He burned to nothingness until his arm fell from his ravaged body.” She paused to let the horrific image sink in. “Under our laws, she is mine to do with as I will.”
“Mark? What is your defense?”
“The defense is just as simple,” Mark said. “Reinette is as much a victim as Geoff.”
There was hissing from the gallery until Stella quelled it with a look.
“I call Reinette to the stand,” Mark said.
Reinette went to the chair that had been set up, and Stella warned, “Be aware that a lie-any lie-will cause me to rule against you.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” She saw the gallery of vampires watching her hungrily, and swallowed visibly.
“Reinette,” Mark said, “tell us what happened from the time you left Vilmos’s gala to the moment you discovered Geoff’s remains.”
She could barely speak at first, but with Mark’s coaxing, managed to give her account. Geoff had carried her to her room and enjoyed a nightcap of her blood before going to his own suite. “I don’t like being with him when he’s, you know, not breathing, so I always have my own room.” She’d slept until after two, and after performing a remarkable amount of grooming, had gone to the dining room, where she’d found Mark. After he’d left-“kind of suddenly” in her opinion-she’d finished eating and went back to her room to watch TV and primp still more. She would normally have waited for Geoff to come to her, but was hoping to convince him to present her monthly gift a day early, so used her key to get into his room. They all knew the rest.
Unfortunately, the only piece of the story that could be confirmed was her meal with Mark, and that wasn’t nearly enough to prove her innocence.
Lastly Mark asked if she had any reason to want Geoff dead. “Of course not! Geoff gave me everything I asked for, no matter how much it cost. I know he had to because of the contract, but he never fussed. And he was good in bed, too.”
Mark turned it over to Alexis, who asked a single, devastating question. Did Reinette know that if Geoff died before the end of the term of their contract, she would get everything she would have had he lived?
She did, meaning that she knew she stood to benefit substantially from Geoff’s death.
Next Mark called Ramon, who explained that the only keys to the room had been in the possession of Geoff, Reinette, and Ramon himself. Even if there had been a way for a servant to gain access, all the humans on the estate had been questioned, and none of them had gone into Geoff’s room. Mark asked about other security measures, but while the perimeter of the estate was thoroughly protected with both high-tech and mystic measures, there was nothing comparable inside the house.