“That’s what Adra and I were discussing when you interrupted us a few days ago, or whenever it was. I can’t tell anymore. But if a vampire can carry one passenger, so to speak, why not two? Or a hundred? Or a thousand?”
“A thousand?”
“All right, possibly not a thousand. Possessions of that type tend to turn . . . odd.”
“Imagine,” I said, my head reeling.
“But a hundred is certainly—”
“And just how are these ‘passengers’ going to help when they’re trapped inside a body?” Jules asked, leaning forward.
“Why trapped?” Rosier said crossly. “Is any spirit trapped? One vampire can transport a whole squadron of demons, with no one being the wiser. Like a fanged version of a Trojan horse. Get inside a fortress and hey, presto. Instant army.”
“But how do they get back out? Once they’re corporeal, they can’t just climb back into the tank, can they?”
“No. Which gives them a damn good incentive to take the proposed target, doesn’t it?” Rosier asked evilly. “They’ll need its portal to return to earth. Plus, while they are in residence, so to speak, they can give the vampire thousands of years’ worth of information, tactics, strategy, advice—”
And a splitting headache, I thought dizzily.
“—it’s perfect.”
“It’s not perfect,” I said.
“It’s perfect if they do as they’re told. What you just told me is troublesome, however. I’ll have to let Adra know—”
“You can let him know something else while you’re at it.”
“Such as?”
“Such as vamps don’t do possessions.”
“They don’t,” Jules agreed. “They really, really don’t.”
“The senate seems to think otherwise!” Rosier snapped.
“The senate can think anything it wants,” I said. “But remember Don? Vamps aren’t robots. You can’t just order a bunch of them to load up on demons, go into Faerie, and fuck shit up! Oh yeah, and if you fail, you’re stranded there for good because there’s no way to get you out!”
“Yes, we can.”
I sat back. “Well, okay, you can. And maybe you could tape it for me—”
“Damn it!” Rosier turned on me. “Casanova—the whiny little bastard! He was possessed for centuries with no ill effects. If anything, Rian was the making of him!”
Rosier was talking about Casanova’s girlfriend, or his succubus, anyway. When they met, Rian had just left her second host, the famous Italian playboy, and was looking for her third. And she’d been looking carefully.
The incubi on earth were limited to three hosts before they had to return home to make room for other hungry demons. The demon council had imposed the limits to avoid overfeeding, and there was no way around them. Three strikes, that was it, and she was on her last one. She’d needed to make it count.
And she did.
Casanova, who was known as Juan Carlos before he adopted her former host’s name, had been the newly made vamp she’d propositioned. From her perspective, it made sense: he would likely outlive the average human, possibly by centuries. Centuries in which she could continue to stockpile power long after her compatriots went home. From his perspective, he was getting the company of a lovely lady, who taught him how to get even more lovely ladies, along with virtually anyone else who caught his fancy. He just hadn’t known one thing.
“Vamps don’t do possessions,” I repeated. “Casanova was too young to know any better, but the vampires you’re talking about aren’t. They’re not likely to open themselves up to the control of somebody—or something—even for a war. And if you think they are, you don’t know them very well.”
“I don’t know them, other than Casanova, and I’ve frequently wished I didn’t know him,” Rosier said. “But the senate does. And they think it will work!”
“I’ll have to see it.”
“You’re about to,” he told me, and looked up.