“Dig in, y’all,” Piper said. “We don’t stand on ceremony here. And if this ain’t enough, we got plenty more.” She threw Watts a good-natured nod.
Rose took a bite of pork. It tasted heavenly. She mooed in delight, forgetting herself for the barest of an instant. When her ecstasy abated, and she could finally open her eyes, she found Piper staring at her, a pleased grin creasing her red lips.
“I’m glad you like it. Our cook doesn’t get to make these sorts of things too often.”
Rose swallowed, embarrassed that she had forgotten where she was and just who—what—she was dining with. “You’re not eating?”
“We will, but I wanted to make sure it’s okay with you first.”
Rose’s back stiffened. An image of the girl tumbling from Clemente’s lap to the cold floor flashed through her mind. She held her breath. “You’re not going to…kill someone, are you?”
Piper’s pretty black eyelashes rose so high they threatened to merge with her bangs. She sat up straight, one hand on her breast, her mouth agape. “Oh, God,” she said. “You think I would kill someone? And right here in my dining room?”
“I—I’m sorry,” Rose said. Could this be real? She drew discernment and felt nothing but genuine astonishment and disgust from the vamp.
“It’s fine, dear,” Piper said. “I don’t know what you saw in Mexico, but that ain’t the way we do things in South Carolina.”
“But you’re not going to eat regular food, are you?” Matt asked.
Piper favored him with a winsome smile Rose didn’t like one bit. “No, sugar, we don’t eat that sort of thing. But, so long as none of you object, we have this.” She lifted the top from a heretofore untouched serving bowl.
“Is that spaghetti sauce?” Rose asked but knew an instant later it wasn’t when the scent of raw meat reached her nose.
Piper shook her head. “This is Carpaccio: thin-sliced beef with lemon juice, a sprinkling of olive oil, and just enough Parmesan cheese that we can taste it without getting sick.”
“I got too much cheese on mine one time.” The young woman Piper had called Olivia wrenched her face into a pained grimace. “Thought I was going to die.”
“It put her into a coma, poor thing.” Piper doled slices of meat and sauce out to each of the ladies.
Rose watched all this in quiet alarm. She couldn’t wrap her brains around the image of a sexpot southern belle playing the matronly hostess while slathering raw meat onto silver plates. When she could stand it no longer, she said, “Could I ask you a question?”
“Sure, hun,” Piper said. “I mean, that’s sorta why we invited y’all out here, ain’t it?”
“Are you a vampire or not?”
Piper chuckled. “I am.”
“But you don’t act like a vampire.”
“How many vampires have you met?”
Rose shrugged one shoulder. The vampires at the table had quieted. They watched her with curious gazes. “I don’t know, ten or twelve, I guess.”
Piper nodded. “All Mexican vampires—Clemente’s people?”
“I guess so.”
“And we don’t act the same as them?”
“Not even a little bit,” Satterfield said. “They were all creepy and mysterious.”
“Let me guess, they stood real still sometimes, and then would suddenly whoosh into motion when you least expected it?”
Rose nodded.
“That’s just them putting on airs,” Piper said. “Some of the older vamps way down south do that. I don’t know if it’s because they’re old and they can’t help it, or if they do it for kicks, but all the would-be drug kings in Mexico copy them.”
“Oh,” Rose said.
“I hope those guys didn’t give you a bad first impression of our kind.”
Rose pursed her lips.
“What did that bastard do?” Piper set her fork down with a clink.
Rose related the story of the girl Clemente had killed. Though the memories never left her long either waking or sleeping, she found that speaking them came hard. By the end, she was in tears. Matt gripped her hand under the table.
“Oh, you poor thing.” Piper came around the table, pulled Rose to her feet, and gave her a tight hug. The little vampire wasn’t cold at all. On the contrary, her skin felt almost hot to Rose’s touch. They stood that way for nearly a minute, Piper’s ear pressed against Rose’s collarbone, while Rose hiccupped like a stupid little kid.
“I can’t believe I’m crying.” Rose broke the embrace to swipe her napkin from the table, which she used to dab at her eyes. Thank God she hadn’t bothered with makeup tonight.
Piper tut-tutted her back into her seat, smoothed down her hair one time, and then gave her a glowing smile. “Honey, this here is a house full of women. These walls have heard their share of crying, and they ain’t nearly cried out. What you saw, it was disgusting. Nobody should ever see that kind of thing. But if they do, and they don’t cry, they got no soul. He deserved what he got. I just hope you understand that not all my kind are like what you saw down south. Me and my girls—”
Press cleared his throat.
“Me and my family,” Piper amended, giving him a grin, “don’t live that way. We’ll prove it if you give us a chance. Can you do that?”
“I can try.”
Piper returned to her seat at the head of the table. “You’ve hardly touched your food. Eat up, girl, and we’ll talk about something happier, like destroying the fear factory.”
“You know about that?” Rose asked.
“Enough. Grace is our funny book expert.”
“Graphic novels, Mama,” Grace said.
“Then you know we’ve got nothing,” Rose said. Matt gave her a grimace, as if she had just tipped her hand in poker, but she ignored it. “We have no idea how to find the fear factory. And even if we did, it’ll be heavily guarded.”
“Do you have any leads? Any idea at all where it might be?”
“No,” Rose said.
“Yes,” Matt said at the same time.
All eyes turned his way. “I’m sure you’ve seen the latest online issue of Drawn—you’re aware the Indrawn Breath instigated the raid on Camp Den?”
The Drawn twins had made short work of transforming Rose’s combined body cam and drone footage in Mexico into a double-sized online issue of Drawn less than a day after the Dog Ears returned to the States. They did the same a day later with footage from inside Camp Den. Rose had cried over their depiction of Robin Ambrose’s tragic death. Rabid fans, millions of them, bought the downloads. Judging by the reviews, they shared Rose’s sentiments, and they wanted more.
Rose hadn’t been able to contact the twins since she got back. She chalked that up to their busy schedules, but it concerned her. Nevertheless, she continued to wear the assortment of cleverly concealed cameras they had given her. Even if Luke and Brendan didn’t return her calls, their constant Drawn updates proved they were receiving her audio and video uploads, as did her ever-increasing votary count.
“Yes!” Grace moaned. She sounded genuinely distraught.
Piper nodded. “We did. And we’re sorry for your loss. I met your mother once, years and years ago. Brilliant woman—so passionate about her cause. It’s a colder world without her.”
“Thank you,” Matt said. “Before she died, my mother told me she knew the fear factory was somewhere in the South, probably on a military base. She said it was likely in Georgia or South Carolina.”
“That’s a lot of real estate,” Piper said.
“Maybe not.” Matt had finished his meal. Placing his napkin on the table, he met Piper’s eyes. “We’ve been discussing a plan to find the place. It’s a big risk, but we think it’ll work.”
Piper lifted an eyebrow. “Do tell.”
“Let’s leave it there for now. We have a plan,” Matt said, giving Rose a pointed look she ignored.
“One you’re not sharing?” Piper’s gaze flitted between them as if one might d
ivulge a secret.
“Not yet.” Rose put down her fork. “We still have some particulars to work out before we can move forward, but we’re certain it’s doable.”
The idea was simple enough. According to everything the Order knew, though the Breathers could and would place regular humans in the fear factory, they much preferred succubi since the latter could draw. That made them far more valuable as votaries. Given this preference, it made sense that, should one of the Order succubi get captured, that person would end up in the fear factory. The Breathers were wise to the Order’s tracking chips. They removed them from those they caught. But if one of their captives carried a second chip, one far better concealed than the Order’s usual device, that person could lead the Order straight to the fear factory.
Matt thought he should be that volunteer. He argued that Lord would relish the idea of imprisoning his traitorous former protégé as a personal votary.
Rose found that argument ludicrous. Matt’s father was head of the Indrawn Breath and an early frontrunner to become the nation’s next president. Jason Kraft might be callous enough to give Lord his wayward son. Matt certainly thought so. And from her experiences with Lord and even her own sister, Rose judged their boss to be a wicked man indeed. But would Kraft, clearly a shrewd Washington insider who knew how to guard his secrets, risk the sort of scandal his son’s illegal imprisonment would entail should it leak to the press? Rose doubted that. He would save Matt if for no other reason than to protect himself. That alone made Rose the better choice.
They had butted heads over the matter for the two days leading up to this meeting without an agreement. Gunny Lipe, Satterfield, and Watts were no help. They all immediately volunteered for the duty upon hearing the plan. Therefore, Rose had come up with a strategy to get the job done, but that could wait. First, she needed Piper’s help.
Silence had fallen at the table, everyone sensing the tension between Rose and Matt. Watts broke it.
“Before we talk location, maybe we should talk price,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I doubt you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart. What will we owe you once the fear factory is gone?”
“Brawny and smart.” Piper slipped him a sideways glance. “And you’re right; our cooperation comes with a price.”
“Which is?” Rose asked, foreboding tightening her stomach.
“Simple. We help you with your kind, and you help us with ours.”
“Does that mean you want us to fight for you?” Matt asked. “Because we’re sort of in the fight of our lives at the moment.”
“It may come to fighting—it may not. But either way, I’m willing to make the first investment.”
“Meaning?” Rose asked.
“Meaning, I’ll commit to helping you win back the Society if you promise to help me leave South Carolina.”
Rose cocked her head to one side. “You can’t leave?”
“Vampires aren’t usually the social type,” Piper said. “We tend to go it alone. Even those who can and do make children eventually part ways with them. Now I’ve only been a vampire for about forty-five years. And in that time, I’ve made all these children. We, collectively, have made this family. They are loyal to me, just as I am to them. The old guard vamps don’t like that. They say it’s unnatural. That it could cause attention—the thing they loathe most in this world. So, they do the one thing they wouldn’t do for any other cause.”
“They band together against you,” Rose said.
“Exactly.”
“No offense,” Watts said, “but then how are you still alive?”
“Oh, they’ve tried to kill me. Twenty years ago, a whole mess of ‘em came at us—thought they could pick us off one by one. We set ‘em straight. Nobody messes with my kids.”
“You killed them?” Rose asked.
Piper gave her a cold grin. “Every single one I could catch. The rest hightailed it out of my territory. Since then, it’s understood that South Carolina belongs to us. They don’t come in; we don’t go out.”
“Which means you’re a prisoner,” Matt said.
Piper nodded. “Granted it’s a big prison, and one I love, but who likes being told to stay in one place? It’s not in my nature to take that sort of thing lying down. And it gets worse. Just last November one of the ancient vamps from Europe, this old fossil named Octavius, had the gall to send me a letter saying I couldn’t have any more children. That’s why I need you all.”
“But what do you expect us to do about it?” Rose barely managed to keep the incredulity out of her voice. The Order had just suffered a major loss, and Piper was talking about pissing off every vampire on Earth. “We’re not exactly an army here.”
“Not yet, but if there’s one thing I envy in you succubi, it’s your gift for organization. Vampires could never weasel our way into government, religion, sports, and all that other stuff like y’all. We can’t hide like that. I figure, we win back Society for you, and then you help us beat our enemies into submission.”
“That could work,” Rose said, her mind whirling. She had to admit she liked the idea of hammering vampires whenever she got the chance. Of course, going through with Piper’s plan meant siding with a vampire, something she wasn’t sure she could stomach, no matter how nice Piper seemed.
“Hold on,” Matt said. “I see two flaws here.” He turned cold eyes on Piper. “First, who says we’re going to become the leaders in Society just because we expose the Breathers? It doesn’t work that way.”
“You’d be surprised,” Piper said. “People, and that includes vampires and succubi, flock to power. Besides, me and mine will make certain you get the reins. With our mixed strength, no one could stop us. What’s your second objection?”
“You’ve already told us you have more children than any vampire in the world. If we help you take out your competition, what’s to stop you from growing a real army of your own? How do we know you’re not looking to destroy us—maybe take over the planet once you’ve got enough children?”
“And saying, ‘I promise I won’t,’ ain’t gonna cover it?”
“No.”
“Taking over the world would be stupid.” Grace rolled her eyes. “We’re not aiming to create a vampire dystopia.”
“But we don’t know that for certain, do we?” Matt gazed around the table with a frank expression. “We’ll need a sign of good faith.”
“What do you suggest?” If eyes could cut, Piper’s would have sliced Matt in two. She must have sensed what would follow.
“A hostage exchange,” Matt said without hesitation. “Two or three would be best.”
Rose nearly choked. Had he gone insane? He certainly hadn’t mentioned this before now. But maybe that had been his plan all along. He knew she would balk at this idea. Rose stilled her tongue only because she, Satterfield, and Watts had promised to keep quiet during negotiations.
Matt ignored Rose, his gaze riveted on Piper.
“Hell no.” Piper gestured around the table, taking in the women and Press. “Maybe you don’t understand how it is with us, but these aren’t people I bit. These are my children. We’re every bit as blood bound to one another as you are to your parents. I don’t care how those South American vamps do it; this is my family.”
“Hostage is too strong a word,” Matt said. “I should have said ‘guest.’ When the time is right, you’ll send us a guest, and we’ll offer our help.”
Piper leaned back in her chair, eyes cast down, staring at nothing for a long, silent moment. “Okay,” she said slowly, “but I choose.”
“No wights,” Matt said.
“Of course not.”
“And Press has to be one of them.”
For the first time since meeting her, Rose saw anger flash across Piper’s face, there and gone like a fleeting shadow. “No.”
“Oh, yes.”
“He’s my only son.” Piper’s voice had grown subtly deeper, more intense.
“Mama, it’s okay,” Press sa
id. His gaze darted to Satterfield and back to Piper. “I’ll be happy to go.”
“Press, honey, it ain’t safe.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“We aren’t going to harm him,” Matt said.
Piper crossed her arms. “It ain’t him I’m worried about.”
“Come again?”
“Didn’t y’all wonder why I sent all my wights out to meet you with Press?”
“To protect him,” Rose said.
Piper shook her head. “Honey, Press is just a year and a half a vampire. But maybe you don’t know what that means.”
Rose shook her head.
“It means he has the self-control of a one-and-a-half-year-old most of the time.”
“Hey—” Press began, sounding offended, but Piper raised a finger and spoke over him.
“Especially when it comes to the sight and smell of human or, and sometimes especially, succubi blood. Those wights weren’t there to protect Press. They were there to protect you.”
“She’s making a big deal out of nothing,” Press said. “I’m in control.”
Piper grunted. “Point is, I’m willing to let a couple of my girls go with you when the time comes—though it ain’t necessary—but not Press. He’s too dangerous yet.”
Rose looked at Matt and the others. “What do you say?”
Satterfield nodded her agreement. Watts too gave a tacit nod.
Matt remained silent for a long minute, seemingly oblivious to every eye in the room watching him. Then he said to Piper, “I mean no offense by what I’m about to say.”
“Fire away.”
“We don’t know you. You’ve been kind to us tonight, treating us like guests, but we’ve been through hell this past week. I can’t simply trust you.”
“I understand that,” Piper said.
“Good. Then you’ll understand that we can’t make this sort of promise on a whim. You help us break the Breather’s hold on Society, then we’ll talk.”
Piper worked at one of her teeth with her tongue for a moment. “In other words, we serve you with no guarantee you’ll return the favor when the time comes, and I still have to turn some of my daughters over to you as hostages?”
Drawn Page 23
