Vampire Power Play

In my third novel, BLOOD FEUD, my characters get tangled up in a mystery that continues to grow deeper as they try to solve it.  They surprised me with all the twists and turns they threw at me.  Yes, my characters sometimes take the reins and create their own stories.  It's fun.  It's the part of writing that I enjoy the most.

Here's a bit of their conversation from Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Marcus moved to the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of blood, and this time I did not refuse. I had a feeling I was going to need all the strength I could get to listen to whatever it was he was about to reveal to me. He took his bottle and sat at the kitchen table. I pulled the chair out opposite him and sat down as well. I took a long drink of the blood and let it go down cold. It hit my belly like a punch to the gut, but soon fanned outward to set my insides moving on that glorious internal roller coaster ride.

"Travall is the reason I split from Vanguard," Marcus said. "As you've just said, he's not family, and yet Bishop granted him so much power, and so much leeway, that it pissed me off, for centuries. I finally couldn't take it any longer. Bishop gave me no explanation where Travall was concerned. To this day I don't understand the relationship there. I don't know why Bishop gave him the power he has. And worse still, I watched for years as Travall misused that power. I've confronted Bishop about it more times than I can tell you, and Bishop always took Travall's side," Marcus said.

I took another drink and just let my mind chew on the information Marcus was telling me. The fact that Travall was not family, but had been granted a prestigious position of power made me question Bishop's motives. There had to be a connection between him and Travall.

"Do you suppose they were lovers?" I asked.

Marcus literally choked on the blood he was swallowing. He regained his composure. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"Like you said, Travall is not family. Bishop has to have a motive. I don't think it's unthinkable."

"Travall is not that old. I'm older. If Bishop had a relationship with him, I'd have seen it. Neither of them have that kind of bond. And as you know, we don't consummate our love in a physical sense, it's all through the blood."

"I know, I'm just thinking out loud. Could Travall be the son of someone Bishop loved in the past? Could he be family of someone Bishop cared about? There has to be a connection."

Marcus finished his bottle of blood and set the empty down with a bang. "There's something else you need to know."

I looked at him. I began to realize he was a master at leaking bits and pieces of information to me. I wished he would just lay it all out on the line. But it seemed he had to reveal things at his own pace, and that was a bit infuriating.

"I suspected Travall of killing your husband," he said.