QUESTION 1: Did Marco ever have guard duty for Dorina? If so, which does he prefer, Dory’s duty or Cassie’s duty?
Dory doesn’t need a bodyguard. Dory regularly causes other people to need bodyguards. And in any case, Marco is in no way stronger than she is. If anything, based on power alone, she would be more likely to be guarding him, not the other way around. But Marco, along with most vampires who aren’t the over-powered, and quite possibly overconfident, Louis-Cesare would feel extremely uncomfortable with a dhampir guard. It would be akin to setting the fox to watch the henhouse—no one’s idea of a good time.
QUESTION 2: When, where and how Radu and Dorina first met? I can’t quite imagine how exactly it could have gone but I can’t help thinking it must have been hilarious!
Their first meeting was in medieval Italy, where the family lived for a time, although Dory doesn’t remember it. I won’t say more here because I might want to write it up at some point.
QUESTION 3: Could you give us a peek on the first meeting between Dory and Mircea from Mircea’s point of view? (I hope it is not a spoiler question) In particular, I would like to know if he recognized Dory from the first, what he felt when he did recognize her and what he thought of her plan of killing Vlad!
Mircea recognized her resemblance to her mother, which is striking. He also guessed what she was, even before she admitted it, because he’d heard tales about dhampirs (although she was the first he’d met). And considering that he went to the lengths of erasing her memory to make certain that she did not again attempt to kill his brother, it’s pretty clear he wasn’t in favor of it. If she’d succeeded, it would have given Vlad a much better fate than Mircea had in mind for him, and if she’d failed, she would have died. So no good either way.
QUESTION 4: Why did Augusta leave Jack alive? I had understood she only wanted to torture him a little before killing him. And is Jack the youngest Senate member for North America?
Mei Ling is the youngest senator by a long way. As for Augusta, she kept intending to kill Jack, but it wasn’t like there was a rush and she enjoyed having him around to torment. Eventually, she just got used to him.
QUESTION 5: Does Marlowe have his own court? Can you tell us anything about it?
All of the senators have their own courts, many more than one. Since Marlowe’s homes also double as spy outposts on the other senates, he has more than most, with impressive residences in London, Paris, New York (City and Upstate), Beijing, Cairo, Hyderabad and Mexico City. It’s also speculated that he has some hidden ones, because he just disappears sometimes and nobody knows where he goes. But he didn’t have one in Vegas, because he just used his extensive suite at MAGIC. He’s rarely at most of these homes, of course, but his people staff them and keep him apprised of goings on in the area.