Thanks so much for agreeing to do this Dev. I hope I can call you Dev. So tell me, how’s things going in Oz?

Can’t imagine what else you’d call me, love. We Aussies don’t stand for much formality. Even call our PM—that’s prime minister—by his first name. Takes a bit to earn titles from us, though we’re pretty accepting of a bloke or sheila as they are. Sorry, I meant a lady. Danny tells me I still use outdated expressions. That’s what happens when you’ve been around almost a century but your brain hangs about the 1950s.

Thingsare grand here in Oz. It’s spring and we’ve been busy with lambing time on the station. We barely got the expectant mommas shaved before they started dropping the little ones. There’s plenty to do once they arrive, though fortunately most of the ewes handle the birthing themselves. My lady has been a bit out of sorts – it’s her favorite thing, seeing the new babes arrive, but she’s been up to her pretty arse in vampire business. She’s done so well as Region Master, it’s become a curse. Council hardly stirs itself to see what’s happening in Oz, but they just transferred another Region Master to Europe. Since they don’t consider Australia all that significant, they put his Region under her authority as well, rather than appoint a new piker.

I was able to make her smile today, though, because one of the mothers rejected her baby and we’re bottle feeding. I parked his little fuzzy arse on the back porch so Danny could rock him to sleep and feed and play with him between sending emails and cursing under her breath. <fondly> She’s got quite a mouth on her when she gets worked up.

So you and Lady Daniela have been together for a pretty long time. I’m sure you have relaxed into a pretty decent home life when not entertaining other vamps. What is it you like to do when you guys are alone?

Yeah, I’m glad when it’s just us. She never really wanted to run anything other than the station, but I guess that’s who you want running a Region – people who don’t really want that kind of power, so they don’t tend to get carried away with it. Anyhow, it makes us appreciate those times alone even more when we get them. May not sound all that exciting, but she likes to lie in the hammock with me on the side porch, where the wind comes in the best, and have me read to her at night. I went to Oxford before I became a soldier and a bushie, so she gets amused to hear me read her Milton or Shakespeare. But even as she picks at me about it, she closes her eyes and her face eases, so I know the sound of my voice helps her relax.

Other nights we take one of the utes and camp out for part of the night. Go swim in a billabong with the crocs and she takes her pleasure of me under the sky. I like looking up at her when she’s riding me, seeing all that blonde hair, the white arch of her body like the crescent of the moon. Ahem. Sorry about that, love. Vampires and servants...well, we tend to do a lot of that kind of thing. It’s part of the job description, that I’m, you know, available, whenever she wants me. Some nights it’s a much as three times. But strewth, once you’re a thirdmark servant, you want your Mistress just as much and will do bloody anything to have her.

You have been around a bit, and I’m sure have sampled some fine beers around the world, what is your favorite one?

I’m happy with about any cold lager, but I do like a Fourex. None of that Victoria Bitter. Danny says I’m overly provincial, but I know the taste of a lager made in Queensland versus anywhere else in the world. And I’ll for sure take it over that Victorian swill any day.

Now, we first met you in the second book in the series, the Mark of the Vampire Queen, and I have to say I fell in love with you then. So easy going, and such a help to Jacob. Aside from the scuzzlebutt that happened at the event, did you have a good time?

Well, I’m quite flattered, love, though I don’t know what I did to earn that from a fine looking sheila like yourself. However, you need to know I’m pretty taken. It’s like this, no other way to say it. A servant’s a vampire’s property, and she takes a dim view of anyone trying to stake a claim. She’s been known to make her point a little...violently toward female vampires who’ve gotten pushy about things. She’s a deadly hand with a blade. But since you’re human, you don’t need to worry. <Snort> Truth, she’d most likely find your interest intriguing, and figure out how to use it to torment me. So consider yourself warned.

That’s all games, though. I enjoy a pretty face and arse as much as the next man – and you’re fine on both counts, love – but there’s no one for me but her. I know how things stand between us, and it doesn’t matter that vampires aren’t supposed to get too attached to their servants. We don’t have to say a thing for it to be real. I was raised by Aborigines, and one of the things we learn early is words don’t mean all that much. The really important things are there in the silence.

As far as the Vampire Gathering, oh yeah <dryly>, that was a ripper of a time. Jacob’s a good bastard, even for a Mick. I’d trust him at my back, and that means something. His Lady Lyssa can be a scary handful, though. I’m right glad for my Danny instead. But there are good things about the Vampire Gatherings. Because vampires are into all sorts of carnal activities when they get together, it’s pretty much naked females everywhere, and lots of food and drink for the servants, and that’s not too bad. Course, there’s a lot of naked blokes as well. Whenever vampires get together in a big away like that, there are a lot of politics and power games. They’ll use their servants as pawns in activities that can make even the most degenerate sinner blush. But I guess I’m past being bothered by all that, now. Danny says it’s a way to channel their violent natures. If that’s the case, I guess it’s better for vampires to be fucking each other, or watching us do it, than trying to cop each other over the appetizers.

I know after reading your book that you aren’t a huge fan of the whole “vampire games” at any of their functions, yet you do it because of your love for Danny. Does any of what you have to do get between you two?

Danny says an alpha male who will serve a woman, let her own him in all the ways that count, is nigh irresistible. Don’t know about that. Just know I’ll do things for her I wouldn’t for anyone else. Part of it’s the way things are. On a battlefield, you know you have to follow the captain. It’s the same with your Mistress among vampires. I can endanger her life by defying her and making them think she doesn’t hold total control, that her feelings for me make her soft. So when we’re with other vampires, there are a lot of things I’ve learned to do that I never thought possible.

There’re times that pain is involved, pain with the pleasure. Flogging, or cutting, or candles...there’s just no end to the things they’ll do. It’s for power, but it’s also for pleasure, and strewth, when I feel her eyes on me like the heat of her cunt, closing over me, I’m just doing it all for her, the rest doesn’t matter. I’ve even learned to like some of it.

But when it’s just the two of us and she gets kind of high handed, then I might push back a little. I don’t care if a sheila can pick up a car or break a tree in half with her strength, she needs to respect a man, if she wants the same. And to be frank, I think she kind of likes getting in a blue with me over it. It works her up in some fine ways, and I can’t say it doesn’t do the same to me. <chuckle>

She does like to test me in ways to push the envelope. Like this interview. She commanded me to answer your questions honestly, no matter what you ask, because she can read my mind as I answer, and knew some of it would arouse me to think about. She likes getting me distracted that way, particularly using another female to do it. Remember the tormenting part?

So what’s a normal day like for you?

Depends on where we are. If we’re visiting another vampire, or entertaining some in our home, then I’m center stage. That’s because she’s Region Master, and she has to show that she’s holding the reins. As part of the dinner entertainment, she might have me take a female vampire’s servant in his arse. Or command some male vampire’s servant to go on her knees and work me in her mouth. Sometimes it involves more than two, and it becomes a very adult game of Twister. <grim smile>

It’s different, though, after. When our Masters and Mistresses go to bed, those of us who don’t go with them hang out. I’ve made some good friendships with the servants I see regularly. There’s a lot of vampire business that goes on in daylight hours that requires regular communication between servants as well. We’re kind of like a specialized trade group. Hell, I’ve had lagers with the whole lot in the morning, played some informal footy with them in the front yard. The female servants will chat and gossip, tell me girlish things about clothes and such my lady might like to know about, things that she’d never go about asking them herself. Sometimes the servants laugh about the things they make us do, but it’s a raw and deep kind of thing at once, because of the way we feel about them, how we serve them. It bonds all of us in a way.

When my lady and I aren’t doing that kind of vampire business, then it’s the business of running a sheep station. Which could mean checking on the flocks if they’re out grazing, handling sick ones, or shearing, or lambing, or a hundred other things. Then there’s the maintenance and stocking around the place. I’m the station manager, so I oversee about ten employees. A lot of that happens during the day, so I tend to work through the morning after I leave her bed, then catch my sleep in the afternoon when I can. At night I’m with her, going over accounts and the like, though it’s a pleasure when we can finally relax together and spend some time doing the things I talked about earlier.

Aside from Australia, what other places on earth do you like?

Danny has a friend, Lord Mason, who lives on the coast in South America. It’s a bonza place, secluded and beautiful. One of the Council Gatherings was held there – well, until Jacob’s brother, who’s a vampire hunter, blew part of it up. Lord Mason hasn’t been too excited about having another Gathering there since. But he still likes Danny and me to come, as well as Jacob and Lady Lyssa. Lord Mason’s a private sort, and he doesn’t hold with a lot of the vampire games, because his servant, Jessica, is a shy, quiet sort. She had it pretty rough before she came to him, and he’s protective. It’s a more relaxing time.

We’ve been to America as well, and went to Las Vegas. I liked the Grand Canyon a lot, hiked down to the bottom and saw the river, as well as the rock strata. Oz doesn’t have as much variety in her terrain as the States, so it’s something to see all those hills and mountains as you’re crossing the country. But Australia is still my favorite place, particularly the bush. There’s just room to breathe there, let the things that prick you from your past run free and not plague you as much.

What is your favorite food?

Lady Danny says I’m happiest living on what I catch, but I don’t understand all these things like sushi and such. I’m a dedicated carnivore, and no shame in it. Anything I can hunt and catch myself. I like catching fresh muddies out of the river. Those are crabs with large armored pincers – always a treat for the kids to watch you bring those in. Of course, a big hunk of moo’s a treat when we’re in town. We’ll take a table at the beer garden in Brekkie Creekin – that’s in Brisbane – and get a T-bone with chips and a coldie. That’ll work for me. My lady likes to tease me, feed me bits of it from her fingers. I think she likes me licking that bloody juice off her fingers. She’s a bit twisted at times, but I don’t mind it.

Aside from whittling, do you have any hobbies?

Not a lot of time for it, love. I do like reading. One of the nice things about becoming a thirdmark – nearing forty, I was just starting to squint when I read, but becoming a thirdmark changed all that. I have eyes like a hawk now – far away and up close. When I’m not reading, I like taking a day trip in the bush, if I can take time to do it. I might spend the day exploring, because you never see all of it. I’ll catch what I need to eat, wet the billy and take a cuppa under the stars like I used to. Though I admit, I like it best when my lady can go with me, though of course we have to have a good place for her to stay undercover during the daylight part.

I would ask the Boxers or Briefs question but I don’t wanna get into that *Heh, ok maybe I do who wouldn’t? LOL* so I will ask, what do you rather Lady Daniela in, Thong or boy shorts?

<Blinking> Er, I seem to remember that you call really scanty knickers with no backs to them “thongs”? Here in Oz, thongs are sandals. Boy shorts? Well, I think whatever shows me the most of my lady’s arse would win my vote, so that would be a thong. And the sooner she could get that off, the better. As far as you, love, I’m sure you’d look fine in either one, but I expect your man would prefer the less as well. We’re all pretty much the same on that, I think <rakish grin>.

What is the single most romantic thing you have ever done?

I’m pretty basic, all in all. I do bring her things I find when I’m out exploring – rocks, flower buds, fossils. She gets tickled when I whittle creatures for her, or little replicas of houses or furniture. She puts them up on her fancy mantle. She does seem to like it when we go to the picnic races (those are social events at the different stations, since there’s not a lot of us out in Western Oz, even now) and we dance together.

In truth, though I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it, the most romantic thing I’ve ever done is something she did for me. It’s a little hard for me to talk about, so I’ll just say it straight out. I had a family, before her, but they died. She took me to my wife and child’s graves not too long ago. Brought wildflowers to put on them and told my wife she’d take care of me. Told my boy that she’d do her best to keep me out of trouble, but she was sure he knew how tough that could be. It meant a lot to me, and while that may not be what romance means to a lot of folks, it worked for me. Those are the kinds of things my lady does. She’s dark and light, but I don’t know any of us that can do without dayandnight in our lives. Or any of us that don’t carry both inside of us as well.

You have had the distinct pleasure of being around for a lot of advancements in technology. What do you think is the best?

For all that I don’t care much for television, I will say it’s nice to watch footy games on it. And power tools – strewth, they make maintenance on a station way easier. But the best by far are the improvements in weapons. Give an attacking vampire a good thump in the teeth and it won’t even slow him down, but get in a shot with a high powered rifle or a semi-automatic nine millimeter, you can fill him full of holes, give your vampire a sporting chance of taking him down. Vampires don’t expect servants to have a Buckley’s chance of fighting them off, so that gives my Mistress an edge. And since vampires haven’t gotten any more peaceable in nature in the near century I’ve known about them, I’ll come to the party as prepared as I can to protect and help her.

Are you a video game player, and if you do, what is your favorite?

The noisemakes me feel like I’m back in the war. Can’t even handle walking into one of those arcades when we’re in the city. I’ll stick to cards and chess. Danny’s tried to show me how to play chess on the computer, but that’s her thing. I like to touch things, feel them under my fingers to get a sense of them.

What is your favorite book in the past fifty years?

Well, I thought she had kangaroos loose in her top paddock for doing it, but Danny ordered me the full set of Harry Potter stories and I loved them. Even carved little figures of owls and dragons and such for the kids of our stockhands. When I read the books aloud to them, Danny sat in and listened, a smile on her face that made her blue eyes sparkle.

What is your ultimate sexual fantasy?

From Harry Potter and kids to that? You know how to knock a fella offstride, love. Well, I don’t know if you can say any man has an ultimate sexual fantasy. Give him the sheila he loves—naked—and time and a place to do her right, maybe some cold beer available, and I can’t really think of anything better.

However, I will say, for all the things she’s done to me, with or without the presence of other vampires, it’s given me some wicked ideas of my own. I was oiling a saddle in the barn the other day, and I got to thinking about that saddle, sitting square on sawhorse. I thought about bringing her out to the barn, her arms tied behind her with my stock whip, her purely naked, all that blond hair loose and her eyes flashing, soft wet mouth sassing me. I’d put her over the saddle and give her a nice arse strapping with my belt before buggering her arse good, using my fingers and hand on her cunt until she came hard and screaming.

That’s a fantasy for sure, for she’s too bloody strong for me to take her down like that, but there are other ways...let’s just say I haven’t given up on the idea. And Danny does like to say I’m the most resourceful male she’s ever met. <wink>

What is the one thing people automatically assume when they meet you?

Vampires think a servant is obedient and docile, completely submissive to their vampire. I do my best to appear that way, much as it sticks in my craw, but Danny says the smarter ones can tell I’ve got too much of a dominant streak to me. It apparently makes me irresistible as candy to them <snort>. Lucky me.

Humans...well, humans assume I’m a station manager, a bloke working with sheep and carrying on with the lady of the house. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but it doesn’t always set well with me, people thinking that. I’ve thought once or twice what it would be like to marry her. Vampires and humans don’t do that – hell, most vampires never marry each other. I did whittle her a ring a while back, one with a pretty flower design in it. She likes to wear it on her ring finger when she’s about the house, so I wonder if she thinks about it too.

What is the best gift Lady Daniela ever gave you?

Don’t let her know I said it (course, she can read it from my mind, the bloody eavesdropper), but it was the thirdmark. I wasn’t that keen on how she did it, mind you, when it happened, but I guess it helped me realize I’d disconnected myself from everyone when I met her. Getting that third mark, being connected so intimately to her soul all of a sudden...well, it felt like I belonged to someone again, with someone. Someone who really needed me. Gave me a purpose and gave me back a sense of peace, something I hadn’t thought I’d ever have again after I lost my family.

What’s on the horizon for you and Lady Daniela?

Well, with her doubling the number of vampires she oversees, I expect we’ll be doing some traveling and leaving the station in the hands of Reid, the assistant station manager. So it should be an exciting year <dryly> as she makes sure everyone agrees she should run things. Guess I better make sure all those advanced technology weapons are primed before we head off. I hope we’ll have time for a short stop at Surfer’s Paradise. It’s one of our favorite places to go, just the two of us, and there are some good memories there. Plus, she’s friends with the Queensland Region Master, the only other RM in Oz now, and he has a new baby. She’ll want to stop in and pay her respects and diddle him on her knee (the baby, not Lord Alistair--I hope).

If we don’t end up being staked or, worse, having my cock fall off from overuse at all the vampire social events <chuckle>, we should be back in time for the fall and to get things ready for winter. While we’re in the towns, I think she wants me to pick up some of those erotic romances you women like these days and have me read those aloud to her...though I doubt I’ll get beyond a few pages before she decides to write her own, so to speak.

It’s been a pleasure talking to you, love. It’s about dusk, when my lady will rise, and she likes me around for her morning coffee. Feel free to enjoy the place and go visit the new lambs in the barn. If you aren’t an early-to-bed person, maybe my lady and I will take you out swimming tonight <wink>. I’ll just warn you – we don’t wear thongs or boy shorts – nothing but our skins...