“Take it or leave it.”
Rose somehow managed to keep from scowling at Matt. What was he doing? Didn’t he realize they needed Piper and her children? How else would they ever come close to measuring up to the Breathers?
“What’s to keep you from double-crossing us once you’re in power?” Piper asked.
“The same thing that will keep you from seeking power once your enemies are gone. Guests.”
Rose peered into the van’s side mirror, searching for signs of pursuit. She saw none, but that only made her stare all the harder. For all she knew, an army of Piper’s wights ran alongside them, hidden in the black woods lining the road.
“You’re quiet,” Matt said without glancing Rose’s way. He swerved the van to one side of the dirt lane, avoiding a particularly large chuckhole.
A couple of Piper’s daughters, who had set a bumping, suspension-creaking pace, zoomed ahead of them in a black SUV. They were leading the succubi to one of Piper’s many properties, a house situated on the banks of Hartwell Lake in the neighboring town of Anderson, South Carolina. Piper had insisted her girls drive their own car to emphasize their freedom.
“You weren’t serious about giving them hostages, were you?” Rose tried to spear Matt with her gaze, but he likely didn’t notice in the dark.
“Why not?” Satterfield asked from the backseat. “It makes strategic sense.”
“You’d actually hand members of our team over to vampires?” Rose twisted around to glare at her former squad leader.
“If it meant ensuring their cooperation? Yes. I’d go myself.”
They turned onto a lineless, narrow blacktop that would eventually lead them to a four-lane highway marked SC28/US76 on Matt’s phone. It was blissfully smooth after the dirt track.
“I don’t trust them,” Rose said.
“Good,” Matt said. “No matter how Southern sweet Piper acts, she doesn’t control an entire state’s worth of territory without some form of ruthlessness to back it. What we saw tonight might have been real or a complete act. Either way, we can’t forget we’re dealing with a powerful being here. We don’t want Piper Ross for an enemy.”
“You’re making my point for me,” Rose said, throwing her hands up. “Why give that sort of person anything, let alone some of our people? We have no idea what she’ll do to them.”
“I’m not worried about the hostages,” Matt said. “She won’t harm them.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Because she loves her children. That much I’m sure of. As long as we have some of them, she’s vulnerable. My concern is what happens once we remove Piper’s fetters? What happens if we destroy, or at least severely diminish, those vampires who have been keeping her prisoner? Will she grow so powerful she’ll rival or even overthrow the Order? We could be arming our personal Taliban the way the U.S. did back in the eighties and nineties.”
“I’ve got no draw on discernment,” Watts said, “but I didn’t get that vibe from her. I think she just wants the other vampires to leave her alone.”
“Maybe.” Matt dragged the word out as if considering the possibilities. “But what if she changes her mind in the future? Vampires live a long time after all.”
“What kept them in check before now?” Rose asked. “Not just Piper, but vampires in general?” She wasn’t done discussing the hostage situation but found her curiosity piqued by this notion.
“Society,” Matt said. “Well, that and the fact that vampires are so rarely fertile. They’ve never had our numbers, which made us a threat. With six children and all those wights—” Matt whistled. “That makes her an anomaly. It’s why the other vamps keep her cordoned off like this. It’s one of the few things they can all agree on.”
“Want to hear something even scarier?” Satterfield asked, her voice quiet in the darkened van.
“No,” Rose drew the word out. “But tell me anyway so I can stay up all night.”
“Piper could have more than six children. We only saw the ones she allowed us to see.”
Rose groaned.
“What makes her so special anyway?” Satterfield scooched forward on her seat. “How come she can have more children than other vamps?”
Matt shrugged. “Maybe her venom is less lethal than average. Just biting a victim rarely does them much harm. Mostly, it just wipes out a few hours of their memories, maybe makes them feel like they’re catching a cold. That’s how vampires create votaries. But turning someone’s a different story. The vamp must dose the victim with a lot of venom. I have no idea how much, but I know most people die from the attempt and the majority who survive turn into wights. Six full vampire children is extraordinary. Before Piper, the most I had ever seen was two.”
“So, you’re saying we’ve sided with a vampire who could potentially birth an army given enough time.” Watts sounded awed and not a little fearful.
“Yep.”
Ahead, the vampires hung a left, following a well-kempt street that fronted Lake Hartwell. Docks and jetties lined the waterway, overtopped by palatial homes with sprawling yards. Just the sorts of places Rose-the-slinker had never visited in her meager life.
“I can’t help thinking we’ve made a big mistake,” Rose said.
“Maybe,” Satterfield said, “but what’s the alternative? It’s not like we can take on the Breathers alone. I don’t even know if we can do it with Piper’s help, but we’re certainly better off.”
The vampires’ SUV rolled to a stop. A large, wrought-iron gate covered in green ivy swung outward, its hinges groaning.
“That’s not ominous,” Watts said, grinning in the dark.
26
Drawn Together
Piper Ross’s lake house was huge. Only the top level, a sprawling, many-gabled edifice festooned with dormers and faux castle turrets, rose above the driveway. The rest occupied the side of a large, lawn-covered hill that gentled its way toward the lake.
Olivia who, so far as Rose could tell, served as Piper’s most-favored daughter, unlocked the front door and ushered the succubi inside. “Welcome to the lake house. It might be a little stuffy—hasn’t been aired in forever. Mama doesn’t care much for the water. I have no idea why not; I love it. But we don’t get out this way too often. Mostly we just lend it to friends whenever someone needs a place.”
The other vampire, a thin girl called Sabrina, said little but went about turning on every light in the place so Olivia could give them a tour.
After showing her guests the house’s seven bedrooms and four baths, Olivia led them onto a massive back deck lit by a series of pewter lamps. There was a pool below them, an inferior yet preferable twin to the lake’s black water some hundred yards away. The moon shone on it, a rippling silver crescent ensconced in filmy gray clouds.
“Pool should be clean—we have a service—the lake not so much, but it’s more fun for skinny dipping.” She gave Watts a sensual grin with those words, which he flatly ignored.
“How are the neighbors about parties?” Matt asked.
“They shouldn’t give you much trouble long as things don’t get rowdy. How many people are coming?”
“About a hundred.”
Rose thought Olivia might blanch at that number, but she merely nodded.
“We had a wedding here back a few years ago, at night of course. Probably had two hundred and fifty all told. Nobody called the cops.”
“Good,” Matt said.
“But they can’t sleep here. This neighborhood wouldn’t go for tents full of partygoers crowding the lawn.”
“We meet here—make it look like a summer barbeque—then have everybody camp out in the woods near your place. How about that?”
Olivia nodded slowly. “I think Mama would be okay with that.”
Matt turned to the others. “Let’s have everyone gather here two days from now. We’ll meet with the team leaders. The rest can relax a little. That’ll give us some time to get our plan straight.”
They started making calls.
Three days later, Rose sat on a supremely comfortable lawn chair in shorts and a swim top at the end of the mansion’s brick drive. She had early elected herself to the position of front door greeter, waving in the straggling succubi who arrived in ones and twos by vehicle or, more often, on foot. This task helped her avoid Matt, who busied himself barbequing steaks, ribs, and vegetables out back with Watts.
They were going to have more words about Matt’s hostage plan, but Rose saw no sense in pressing the matter just now. None of that mattered if they failed to take the fear factory.
One highly dubious accomplishment at a time, thank you. Besides, Rose had her own plans.
A gold Lexus streaked with mud splatter pulled into the drive. A deep dent creased the left front fender, though the headlight remained intact, and a long, slender crack ran nearly the length of the windshield.
Rose stood, drawing calm and focus. Few of their people could afford a Lexus, even such an abused model. This might well be one of the neighbors come to complain about the noise or simply to assuage their curiosity. Or it could be Breathers come to slaughter them all.
Rose tried to peer inside as the car drew to a stop in front of her but saw nothing through its tinted windows. She drew strength, speed, and resilience as she casually placed her bare feet in a basic boxing stance.
All her preparations fell to pieces, however, when both car doors opened, and the Pruett twins climbed out.
“Oh my God!” Rose’s delight at seeing the twins surprised her no less than it did them. She rushed to Brendan, who had been driving, nearly tackling the small incubus against his car, and hugged him hard enough to split a rib.
Luke rounded the car, and he, too, got the hugging of his life. “Missed you, Rose,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“My God, you two, stop it. You’re making me emotional.” Brendan fanned himself in comic exasperation.
Rose ushered them inside. Two dozen succubi and incubi mingled in the massive living room, looking for all the world like a Paris after-party at some high-brow modeling agency. They spoiled that illusion, however, by drinking everything from mid-expensive champagne to dollar store beer. It was a risk, letting them drink. They wouldn’t be able to draw if something happened. But Matt figured, and Rose agreed, that anyone brave enough to join this insane mission deserved a real party with real booze. A few waved, beckoning Rose and the twins to join them, but she shook her head, leading the boys along a quiet, darkened hall to an empty bedroom.
“I smell vampires,” Luke said once Rose had shut the door.
“Two are sleeping in the room next door.”
“My brother doesn’t like their kind ever since one jilted him,” Brendan said.
“She did not jilt me. She ripped my heart into confetti.”
“Potato-patato.”
“Where have you brats been?” Rose whirled on them. “I must have left you a hundred messages since Den fell.”
“We know, sweetie,” Luke said. “We got them. We couldn’t reply.”
“We’ve been incognito,” Brendan said. “Look at these coarse fibers? Do you think either of us would dress like this if we weren’t in hiding?”
He was right. The twins wore denim jeans, t-shirts—Luke’s said Talk Nerdy to Me in bold letters—and running shoes. Rose had never seen them so dressed down.
“I take it you didn’t hear what happened to us?” Luke asked.
Rose shook her head.
“The IRS, baby,” Brendan said. “They raided the house in Tampa, seized nearly all our stuff.”
“Assets and memorabilia alike,” Luke added.
“Froze our bank accounts, everything. You can’t imagine what it’s like to have your American Express Black Card declined at Neiman Marcus.”
“Luckily, we had plenty of cash laid by.”
“Smelly stuff.” Brendan wrinkled his nose. “So last century. But handy as a nineteen-year-old pool boy.”
“Are they still after you?” Rose asked. “I mean, you don’t think you led any Breathers here, do you?”
Brendan chuckled. “Not a chance, darling.”
“If there’s one thing we know how to do, it’s hide.” Luke sounded far more morose about the idea than his brother.
Brendan cupped his cheeks, staring up at the ceiling in mock dismay. “Oh, woe is us! Who cares? Everybody has troubles, am I right? But that sort of thing can’t stop good art. You know what we’ve been up to?”
“What?” Rose asked, grinning. It was good to be with the boys again.
“The next installment of Drawn!” He fished a newly minted comic from the backpack he wore and handed it to her. “That’s just the mock-up, but it came out great. We probably won’t change much.”
The cover showed Melody strapped to a chair defiantly glaring at Rose who stood over her, hands on hips, screaming words not detailed on the page. A pale face stared through a barred window in the door behind them. It looked a little like Clemente.
“There was no window in the door,” Rose said.
Brendan rolled his eyes. “Artistic license, baby doll. Don’t get hung up on details. We got everything in this one: the creepy comic collection, your sister’s accusations against Matt, that girl Clemente...” He trailed off at the look that crossed Rose’s face. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so stupid. I—”
“It’s okay,” Rose said. “Really. Is this already on the shelves? Or are you having trouble getting it out since you’re on the run?”
“Soon. No one’s touched our distributors,” Luke said. “We think the Breathers are afraid to attack anyone except us since it might show the public that what we’re drawing is real.”
“Plus, we’ve got a little something else to show you, something big.” Brendan gave his backpack a significant shake. “We’ve been working like crazy to get it all done as quickly as possible.”
“There’s more? I can’t believe you made anything while running from the Breathers.”
Brendan shrugged. “Computers are wondrous things. We uploaded this entire installment to our editor while swilling bourgeoisie slop at a McDonald’s in Dahlonega.”
“Too bad it isn’t on sale already. I need every votary I can get right now.” Rose flopped onto the bed still staring at the comic.
Brendan and Luke shared a look.
“You found the fear factory?” Luke asked.
Rose leaned forward, dropped her voice. “Not exactly, but we’ve got a plan.”
“Why do I get the feeling this isn’t the type of plan that sees you safe and warm on the other side of it?” Brendan asked.
“Are you two still in contact with that succubus doctor from Palm Beach? The one who implanted all the newbies with tracking chips? What was her name?”
“Rebekah Stanislaw.” Luke looked to Brendan, then back to Rose, his eyes narrowed. “Yes. Why?”
“Do you know if she’s coming here?”
“I think so,” Brendan said. “What’s this about?”
Rose fished the tiny transmitter she had taken from Matt’s stash, the one he had so cunningly hidden in his shaving kit behind the towels in the master bath. It was thin as a straightened paperclip and about the length of her little finger.
“Matt has a plan on how to find the fear factory. But mine’s better.”
They sat mesmerized, nearly fifty succubi crowded into a slightly less than full-size theater at the heart of a vampire’s mansion. Though the large room’s gently inclined floor and plush, red stadium seats could accommodate an audience of two dozen, it came nowhere near hosting every succubus and incubus in the house. People lined the side and back walls, with more spilling out into the main hallway. Even so, Rose had forced most of the latecomers out, promising them a second showing of whatever the geek twins had brought.
And what they had brought was…interesting.
It was a cartoon—
“Anime, darling,” Brendan corrected when he heard Rose call it that.
&nb
sp; —version of the Drawn graphic novel. Though she would never say as much to the twins, the idea disappointed Rose. What was the point? Her adventures were already well known to her fans. What she needed now was a vehicle to solidify her current votaries while simultaneously gaining new ones. How could rehashing old material accomplish that?
So Rose thought right through the opening credits and up to the first line of dialogue, delivered by a woman who sounded so much like Rose she at first wondered if the twins had somehow recorded her voice and cobbled it together for the part. From that point until the end, she sat, like all her peers, engrossed in the tale. She had lived it, and yet the story absorbed her. Was that crass? Narcissistic? Maybe. But then again, the twins’ movie was just that good. Better than good. Witnessing their strange magic, their way of coaxing what had been an already compelling storyline up from the pages of a comic book onto the big screen, felt tantamount to watching a musical genius score a new symphony.
The end credits appeared, and the crowd burst into a standing ovation. Suddenly, every succubus within reach was patting the geek twins’ backs, congratulating Rose, and generally treating them like celebrities. Rose, Matt, Satterfield, and Watts had to push their way through the press as team leaders took charge calming everyone down.
Rose led their group into a plush office across from the theater room. The twins sat on an overstuffed couch while the others commandeered office chairs.
“How did you do that?” Rose asked the instant she had barred the office door.
“You liked it?” Luke sounded genuinely worried.
“Are you kidding?” Watts asked. “I don’t even watch cartoons—”
“Anime,” said Luke, Brendan, and Rose in unison.
“—yeah, those, and I loved it!”
“Is that the only episode you’ve completed?” Matt asked. “We can give you space here if you need it. I can’t promise you much in the way of equipment, our budget is nil, but I think we’d all love to see more.”
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