The Halfblood's Hoard (Halfblood Legacy Book 1)

by Devin Hanson

  “I knew he was rich,” my eyebrows were trying to climb into my hairline as I tried to picture the amount of wealth David had been spending for centuries, “but that seems extreme for any one man to pay.”

  Elaida shrugged, dismissing it. “He has the money and more.”

  “Maybe so, but that makes it even less of a good idea to steal from him.”

  “Caradoc no longer wishes to uphold the pact. Britain lost its stake in the Americas, and he is trying to transfer his burden State-side. His move has inspired the other parties in France and Spain to copy his actions.”

  “America is rich. There are families here with the wealth to afford those kinds of payments.”

  “You are right, of course.” Elaida smiled grimly. “Imagine, if you would, their reaction to Caradoc’s threat. And that is what it is, make no mistake. Pay hundreds of millions a year, or have the vampire plague unleashed upon America.”

  “Well, okay. Speaking as a resident of the States, I would prefer the pact to be upheld. But you still haven’t gotten to the part of why you’re stealing from him.”

  “What is the largest source of income in the United States?”

  I sighed. I hated these rhetorical questions. “I don’t know… Microsoft? Walmart? Amazon? One of those.”

  Elaida favored me with a wintery smile. “Not even close. Well.” She paused. “Amazon is getting close. But no. The Catholic Church. I can’t fault Caradoc’s plan. At least the Church would not require convincing that the vampire threat was real.”

  Ah. That would explain David’s visit to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. “Caradoc is blackmailing the Vatican?”

  She nodded. “He would probably phrase it differently, but yes. The Vatican has a vested interest in preventing the spread of vampires. America is remarkably demon-free, in no small degree due to the Vatican’s efforts. They would prefer to keep it that way. The infrastructure isn’t in place for dealing with vampires like it is in the east. The plague would spread like a wildfire.”

  “Okay. So, Caradoc shifts his burden to the Catholics. Why should you give a shit?”

  “The Catholics have refused.”

  “Um.” I rubbed my forehead, trying to work through all the information Elaida was dumping on me. “I’m assuming they gave a reason?”

  “I got that much out of Caradoc before you interrupted us. They would agree, but demand the return of a certain item in his possession.”

  “The Holy Grail?” I hazarded.

  “No, but close. Even Caradoc does not know where the Grail is. They want the Shroud of Turin.”

  I looked at her blankly. “Sorry, I’m not Catholic.”

  “It is the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. The real one, not the fake in Italy. Though I guess that would make it just the Shroud, since the cloth in Turin isn’t the real one.”

  That rang a bell, along with memory of the slew of supposed benefits the Shroud granted those who wore it, including the ability to revive a person from death after being wrapped in it for two days. I suddenly understood Elaida’s intent. “You want to steal the Shroud and give it to the Church.”

  “To keep the vampires out of America, I would do far worse,” she said fervently.

  “Did the Catholics put you up to it?” Even as I asked the question, I knew it was wrong. The timeline didn’t match up.

  Elaida rolled her eyes. “The Catholics are clueless.”

  “So, why, then? Why do you have to be the one to steal the Shroud?” What I really wanted to ask, what I wanted to shake the answer from Elaida about, was why she had stabbed Ilyena and left her dying on the sidewalk.

  “Because nobody else will. As far as Caradoc is concerned, he has handed over the debt. If the Catholics choose not to pay it, then that is on them.”

  “Did you find that out before or after you abducted him and left his assistant bleeding out on the ground?” The demand came rushing out of me, all but a shout. So much for diplomacy.

  Elaida glowered at me. “Listen, you spoiled little child. I have spent my entire adult life fighting against the vampires. There are no rules where I come from, there is no quarter given or concessions made. The vampires give none, and without abandoning the childish notions of fair play you cherish, nobody would survive long.”

  I swallowed, bit back the accusations of criminality, and did my best to see it from her side. I couldn’t do it. By her reasoning, I should accept my mother’s offer to gain the power she had promised me. I couldn’t do that. There were still boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. Without a sense of right and wrong, we were no better than the vampires.

  “And what of Ilyena, Caradoc’s assistant? Did she deserve to die?”

  “Faugh.” Elaida spat to the side and turned away to stare out over the lake. “She is a sybil, Alexandra. If there is one lesson you should learn in life, it is to never trust a sybil. Their motives are bought and paid for. They lead you down a supposed path, only for it to end in destruction. I did the world a favor by having her killed.”

  She didn’t know Ilyena was still alive? I thought back over my conversation with her, and realized everything I had said could be interpreted to mean she had died outside the cathedral. I stared at Elaida’s back, hating her.

  “I’ve been completely honest with you,” Elaida said. She turned back around and I schooled my features into mild animosity. “Will you return the skull to me? Without disabling Caradoc’s guardian, reaching the Shroud will fail long before we access the hoard.”

  What choice did I have? Without the Shroud in the Church’s possession, they wouldn’t pay the pact dues and vampires would tear into the soft underbelly of America. “Fine. But I keep possession of the skull until you need it. What is this guardian, anyway?”

  “A being of light.”

  “A demon?”

  Again, Elaida rolled her eyes at me. “The Archangel Zerachiel.”

  Chapter Twenty

  As I had told Elaida, I was no Catholic. I didn’t know one angel from the next, but I knew the archangels were particularly powerful. Just for a frame of reference, Lucifer, the Devil himself, had been an archangel before his fall.

  Lore from the time of Christ was uncertain at best. The best anyone in the supernatural world could figure out, God had left Earth in the hands of his Son and called it quits. Theories differ: God had gone off to another world to create life there, or He had reincarnated as his Son, or He was still there waiting and watching.

  That last was a stretch. God was gone, and with him most of his angels. A few dozen angels had stayed behind to act as guardians for Jesus Christ. Then the Romans, in their hubris, had nailed the Son of God to a wooden cross and driven a spear through his heart. The Creator’s presence on Earth was obliterated before whatever grand scheme He had could come to pass.

  That’s free will for you.

  With the death of the Christ, the angels left behind went insane. Some self-destructed, others went into a downward spiral of introversion until they vanished. A handful remained to this day, violent, unpredictable, maniacal. The few reasonably reliable stories I’ve heard of encounters had all ended gruesomely.

  David was powerful enough to have contained an archangel and bound it to servitude. I couldn’t even imagine how he had managed that, but I knew only a madman would attempt to steal from David. Like Elaida. And now me.

  Gulp.

  Elaida bared her teeth at me when she saw the look on my face. “You could always hand the skull to me and run off back to your pitiful life and let the adults deal with the real dangers.”

  That got my back up. “And when Raveth shows up for round two? You gonna let him mug you for the skull again?”

  She snarled something under her breath. “He surprised us. It won’t happen a second time.”

  “I saw Raveth’s little party. He had a dozen armed guards with him. He won’t make the same mistake. Next time it will be fifty men, or a hundred, and they’ll all have assault rifles.”

&
nbsp; Elaida’s confidence wavered. “Where would he get the forces for that?”

  “He’s an incubus of greed, Elaida. This is America; all he needs to do is wave around enough cash and people will be lining up. Hell, they’ll even bring their own guns. It would be downright un-American to refuse an offer like that.”

  She sighed and winced. “You’ve made your point. Are you sure you want to join us?”

  Wait, that was it? Elaida was accepting me? Despite Ilyena’s assurance that it could happen, it still seemed too easy. “Do I have a choice? I might not be an old-country vampire hunter, but I don’t want them in America any more than you do. If this is the only way the Church will pay the dues, then I’m with you all the way.”

  She nodded and held out her hand. Feeling like I was betraying something, I shook it. Her grip was surprisingly strong. “This is an unexpected development, but not unwelcome,” she said, a little bemused. “I welcome anyone with the strength to take on an incubus and walk away unscathed.”

  Elaida tilted her head, inviting me to walk with her back across the bridge. I eyed the hulking marid warily as we neared the bank. He swelled up as we neared, flexing his hands and growling a little bit. Elaida said something sharply in another language and the marid deflated, uncertainty flickering over his face.

  “Are you certain?” Frederick asked.

  “She has the skull,” Elaida shrugged, “which she pried away from the incubus and his men.”

  Frederick cursed and looked away. “I don’t like it.”

  “Don’t be sore, Freddy,” I said with a grin. “I don’t bite.”

  He glowered at me then turned his back. “You’re the boss, Marshal. Our success is your responsibility. As is our failure.”

  Belatedly I remembered the signal to Ilyena and transferred my phone from one pocket to the other, pretending to check the time while I had it in my hand. I looked over to Elaida. “You guys have a clubhouse or something? I assume you have a plan for getting into Caradoc’s hotel suite? I’ve got some catching up to do if I’m going to be useful.”

  Frederick muttered something under his breath but Elaida only gave me a wintry smile. “You could say that,” she said.

  “Great. Look, I got some business I need to attend to. Shoot me a text message with an address and I’ll meet up.”

  “You’ll bring the skull?” Frederick asked.

  “Patience, Frederick.” Elaida glared at me, but didn’t object as I gave her my phone number.

  I’m not going to lie. It felt good being able to trod all over Elaida’s sensibilities, knowing she needed me. I waved goodbye and walked away into the graveyard. This time, the eyes I felt on my back were almost comforting.

  I got back to my scooter and waited, wondering if Ilyena was going to come. I gave her fifteen minutes and when she didn’t show, I gave her another fifteen, just in case she was having trouble avoiding Elaida and her crew. Then I waited another thirty minutes just to be sure. After the hour passed, I knew she wasn’t going to come.

  I sighed and called David.

  “Alexandra,” he greeted me.

  “I have the answers you’re looking for. We need to meet.”

  “My hotel suite?” There was a note of hunger in his voice, but it had no effect on me in my current mood.

  “No, I can’t be seen meeting with you. The Griffith Observatory. At four PM. Meet me by the big telescope.” I hung up and sighed again.

  David had instructed me to discover what problem Elaida was trying to solve. I had succeeded in that. Solving Elaida’s problem was another matter entirely. I kind of doubted that David would tell me to go ahead with Elaida’s plan.

  What would I do if David told me to destroy the skull? I very much wanted to complete David’s contract and earn the other half of my fee, along with whatever bonus he wanted to give me for keeping his wealth intact. But that looked like it was going to conflict with keeping vampires out of America.

  This was bigger than my financial comfort. If Elaida failed to recover the Shroud and deliver it to the Church, having vampires pillaging their way through a defenseless America would be on my head.

  I slammed my hand against my scooter’s handlebar and screamed, “Fuck!”

  What day was it? Wednesday? God damn, I hated Wednesdays.

  Mid-afternoon on a weekday was an ideal time to visit the Griffith Observatory. Too late for school trips, too early for couples coming up to see the city lights. It was all but abandoned, and I was the only one on the parapet overlooking the cliffs that fell down to Hollywood below.

  I didn’t have long to wait. David showed up before my feet had time to get properly tired and he joined me in leaning against the cold concrete parapet. Neither of us said anything for several minutes, just looking out over the city and waiting for the other to break the silence.

  David cracked first. “You have gained Elaida’s trust.” It wasn’t a question, but there was a note of impatient query, as if he was tired of the necessary subterfuge and wanted me to just spill what was upsetting me.

  I decided to oblige. “Why don’t you just give the Shroud to the Church?”

  He nodded absently. “What did Elaida tell you, then? That the Church refused to pick up the payments until I handed over what they wanted?”

  “Not in so many words, but yes.”

  “It is a simplistic understanding of the situation, and there is much history between me and the Church that is missing. Elaida is one of the Priory, I’m assuming?”

  “I don’t know. She hunts vampires?”

  “Yes, it fits. The Priory of Sion broke off from the Catholic Church some six hundred years ago. They felt the strength of faith waning, and desired a more direct approach to combating the vampires. Directness has always been their motto; niceties and politeness are given short shrift.”

  “You can hardly blame them. I would be short on patience too, if I killed vampires for a living.”

  David’s mouth quirked up in a small smile. “They have been effective over the years, it is true. My reasons for withholding the Shroud from the Church are complex. I wouldn’t expect a Prior to understand them, or even care. They only desire results, in as direct a fashion as possible.”

  “Well, in this case, their direct fashion means breaking into your hotel room and stealing the Shroud. I’m assuming that’s where it is, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”

  “The Shroud can be reached through my suite, but that path is dangerous.” He eyed me sideways. “You wish to aid them?”

  “You have to admit, trading a rag for the security of an entire continent seems a good tradeoff.”

  “It is not that simple. The vampires made their pact before they knew the extent of the New World and the wealth that was to be had here. They have been trying to find any excuse to abandon the pact and gain a foothold in America since the signatures were in place.”

  “I would think you transferring the burden of England’s debt to the Church would be considered a breach.”

  “The wording of the pact doesn’t specify who is to pay, but you have the right idea. There are a hundred ways they could claim affront and invade.”

  “But they haven’t yet?”

  He shrugged. “To my knowledge, no. The vampires follow their word once given. That said, there are loopholes as in any document. The original authors of the pact were careful in their phrasing, but not perfect. If they haven’t invaded yet, it is only because they fear retribution and exposure.”

  I had a million questions, but pushed them aside and focused instead on why we were having the meeting.

  “You asked me to solve Elaida’s problem. Short of opening negotiations with another party to take on the pact dues, I don’t see a way to do it.”

  “Yes, I see. You have found yourself in a difficult place. Very well. Remain with Elaida. Assist her as you would. I strongly advise against breaking into my suite, but if that is the action Elaida takes, I expect you to protect my wealth as
was our original agreement.”

  “Wait, you want me to help her?”

  David shrugged. “Why not? If she is engaged in what she believes will be a successful attack, she will not attempt to find some other route. Know your enemy, know their motives, and know their methods. Knowledge is the greatest weapon of all, Alexandra.”

  I swallowed. This job had escalated far, far beyond what I had originally understood it to be. “Can’t you leave now? Go back to Wales early?”

  “I cannot. I gave the Church ten days to give me a final answer. It would be uncouth to leave early. It would be seen as a show of bad faith.” He grinned at me. “And you know how the Church is about their faith.”

  I grimaced at the joke. “Once I join Elaida, it is unlikely I’ll have a chance to warn you when she plans to break into your suite. She doesn’t seem the particularly trusting type.”

  “It is no matter. Your warning today will be enough.”

  I pushed off the wall. The sun was starting to near the horizon and the temperature was dropping rapidly. The concrete plaza still held the warmth of the afternoon, but it was going to be unpleasant here in another twenty minutes.

  “For the record, if I had known what you had intended me to get involved in, I would have refused your job offer.”

  David nodded solemnly. “And yet you have performed admirably. I would not hesitate to retain your services again should I find myself in need.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure. If I do work for you again, expect my fee to raise.”

  “I would be disappointed otherwise. Oh, before you leave, what did Ilyena purchase from the auction house?”

  “It was a lure for the incubus. As far as I know, it had little to do with anything.”

  “I see. Stay safe, Alexandra. And if you can avoid it, do not enter the door off my bedroom.”

  I gave him a sarcastic salute and left him against the parapet. I wasn’t sure why I had lied to him. Maybe I was feeling a bit disenchanted with his aloofness. The wind was starting to pick up and I was grateful for my jacket. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out. I had a message from a new number, giving an address downtown. It was probably Elaida’s clubhouse.