3. Chapter 3 (1/1)

sorry this has taken too long - it took a while for me to work out what they could conspire about. fortunately the series itself had the answer! enjoy.

disclaimer: not mine, not mine at all.

"ingrid?" she raised an eye

ow; bertrand and her

other had been up to something all week – something more than just their usual pathetic attempts at romance. they'd been making mysterious visits to distant vampires, spending more time than ever in the li

ary, falling silent whenever she walked into rooms. now, with vlad asking for her attention and bertrand hovering at a respectful difference, it seemed she might finally find out what their problem was.

"what is it?" she was pleased with the bored quality of her tone, as if she didn't care a bit what they were doing. she couldn't quite hide her surprise, though, when bertrand came up and produced a cushion from behind his back."we wanted to thank you for your help, for what you've done for both of us." he handed the cushion over and she stared at it for a moment. it wasn't an ugly cushion, by any means – it had her initials em

oidered onto it, red silk and black lace, it was exactly the sort of cushion she'd have designed for herself… if she gave a fog about cushions."so you got me a cushion?" bertrand took half a step backwards, vlad stepping closer to his boyfriend, and she could tell this whole radiating anger thing was working for her. she wasn't really sure why she was angry, just indignant really. after all she'd done for them, they'd got her a cushion? they might as well have stuffed it with garlic.

"yeah," vlad said, and she

iefly wondered if he'd read her mind before realising he wasn't responding to the garlic idea at all. "after all, those high council seats are a bit uncomfortable, and my sister deserves to be comfortable." she frowned."but i don't have a high council sea-" vlad held out a letter, not bothering to hide his grin. bertrand seemed to be struggling not to smile, too, as she scanned its contents."well… this is… very… acceptable." she didn't know what to say. she didn't know what to think. she had been given a seat on the vampire high council, she was going to make history just by sitting in it… she was going to change the world.

"thank you." she smiled. "both of you." it must have been a lot of work, convincing all the council members they'd visited that a woman was fit for office. yet they'd done it."well," vlad said, "we work better together."