by E. M. Knight
Smithson chuckles. “You truly do want to see us killed,” he says. “Being locked up in some seedy room in a crappy motel, without any chance of escape when the sun is out? A more perfect opportunity could not come for the Crusaders to kill us all.”
“You truly think they will strike in the light of the day?” I counter. “In open view of all the humans, all the motel staff? You really think they’d risk starting a war with vampires they do not know?”
“They’ll kill us and take our bodies. It’ll take a few days, but then our corpses will decompose. Nobody will trace our deaths to them. In a week, there won’t even be any deaths to speak of.”
“No, but the disappearance of so many tourists,” I give a coy smile, “is bound to have loyal law enforcement come knocking on their doors. I do not believe the Crusaders to be so reckless. Or so stupid.”
“Takes one to know one,” Smithson says.
My head jerks to him. “Say that again,” I growl.
Paolo steps out from the pack vampires. “I’m tired of seeing this worm disrespect you,” he tells me. “Give the word, and we will stand for your honor. We will kill the bastard in a blink.”
Smithson steps to him. “I’d like to see you try.”
I can feel the tension building in the air. I need to defuse the situation.
And quickly.
I come between the two vampires. “Now, Paolo,” I say. “While your concern and sentiment is most certainly appreciated, it is misplaced. You know the top dog of the Order is more use to us alive than dead. I will tolerate some of his insults—for now—because I know it is all he can do to preserve even a smidgen of his ego.”
I turn to address Smithson. “How it must gall you,” I say. “To have failed to kill me, not once, but twice, and now to be held prisoner, given so little respect that I have my coven’s weakest girls as your escort.” I glance at Liana and April and wink. “No offense.”
Smithson faces me and opens his arms. “If you want us all dead, just say so. This is not a coven you’re leading, but a cult.”
“Is that supposed to be hurtful?” I wonder. “Strange. I consider it a compliment.”
“Then you’re a fool.”
“We’ve already established what you think of me. On second thought…” I tap my lips, “Paolo, I might take you up on your offer. You and the others have my permission to punish Smithson however you see fit if he utters even one more syllable of disrespect. The only thing I ask is that you keep him alive. Think you could do that?”
Paolo gives a predatory, frightening grin.
“It would be my pleasure,” he says. “Boss.”
“Heh.” I chuckle. “Boss. I like that.”
Smithson glares at me, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut.
“Let’s go,” I say and start us down the side of the gravel road.
We walk as a group. I set the pace. It takes us about half an hour to reach the first actual property of this little town. The building itself is abandoned, long ago fallen into disrepair.
“If we were smart,” Victoria says, “we might think of taking up residence in there.”
“You know where we’re going,” I answer her. “If the Crusaders are as mighty as you all make them seem, they’ll already be aware of our arrival. Hell, if we’re lucky, one of them might even be waiting for us up ahead.”
I look at Smithson. “An inconspicuous little village, though, makes for a curious location to pick for headquarters.”
The other vampire shrugs. “The less attention they attract, the better. That’s my thinking,” he replies.
“I wonder if any of these redneck hillbillies have any idea of the sort of group operating nearby,” I say.
One of the pack members laughs.
We get farther into the little town and find the motel. There’s only one. Only a few cars in the parking lot outside. I flare my senses, just for a moment. It’s enough for me to get a feel for the number of humans nearby.
“Only two of the rooms are taken,” I say. I point out the doors to the others. Most of these vampires should be able to figure this out by themselves. I am mostly doing it for Sylvia’s, and maybe Liana’s, benefit. “I’ll get us those four,” I nod to a cluster of rooms situated in a corner. Their windows provide full view of the road. “I figure it’ll be enough to house us.”
“This is an idiotic idea,” Victoria mutters.
I ignore the remark.
“You all wait here,” I say. “I’ll deal with the front desk.”
On my own, I stride toward the entrance and make a show of shoving open the doors.
The clerk jumps to attention the moment he sees me. He’s just some kid. I think the sound of my entrance spooked him out of a nap.
“Can I help you?” he asks. His voice trembles, oh-so-slightly.
It’s through no fault of his. Even though I do nothing to appear intimidating, all humans naturally shy away in the presence of vampires.
Luckily for us, it is a subconscious thing. They feel uncomfortable, maybe a bit on edge, but don’t know why.
“Certainly,” I say. I flash him my very best smile. “I’d like to take up the four corner rooms you’ve got vacant outside. Number twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, and twenty-nine.”
“Is it just you?” he asks, eyes clouded with suspicion.
“I’ve got a bit of a posse outside,” I say easily. “We’re new to town. Just arrived. Your motel seemed a good place as any to settle down for a few nights.”
The kid at the counter moves his hand down to the side, where I cannot see it.
I know he’s reaching for a gun.
“Look,” I say, stepping closer and meeting his eyes. “My friends won’t cause any trouble. Neither will I. Four rooms cost… how much?”
“Twenty-nine per night,” he says. “Each.”
I take a small stack of bills from my back pocket and lay it on the counter. “There’s one thousand American. You can keep the extra for yourself. Think of it as a…” I spin a hand through the air, “…security deposit. In case any of your worries come to fruition.”
The boy looks at me, trying to get an idea of my character. He glances at the stack of bills.
I push them toward him. “Keep it,” I say. “Charge us your rate for the rooms and pocket the rest. Just please, take your hand off the handle of that gun. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He snaps to and jerks his hand away from the pistol. Quickly, he sweeps up the cash. He turns to the board behind him, picks up the keys, and drops them into my open palm.
“Housekeeping’s at ten,” he tells me.
I shake my head. “That won’t be necessary. In fact…” I make a deliberate show of counting out five hundred more, “…take this as a memorandum of understanding that none of us are to be disturbed.”
He looks at me dumbly, struggling to make sense of my words.
I grunt in annoyance. “I don’t want to have you, or your boss, or any of your housekeepers, coming to check in on us. Understand?”
Quickly he nods his head and grabs the extra bills.
I turn away.
I probably gave him more in one night than he makes in a month.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” I say, and rejoin my crew.
They are all more or less in the same spot I left them. I toss two keys to Paolo. “For you and the pack,” I say. I consider things for a moment, then add. “You are all to stay inside unless you hear me give explicit orders otherwise.”
He bows his head in consent and gives the second key to another member of his group.
“Victoria,” I say. “You and Sylvia are with me. April, Liana, you’ve got your own room.”
“What about Smithson?” Liana asks. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there was a hint of a pout in her voice.
“Smithson is an unknown, for the moment,” I say. “I’ll take him with me. What I do with him after is undecided.”
Paolo turns his head
back. “You could leave him with us,” he suggests. “We’d do a much better job guarding him than those two girls.”
“A viable option,” I consider. “Still, I want to have a word with him before sending him away. Someone will receive him soon enough.”
“Fine,” Paolo says, and walks to join his pack.
I start for the rooms, too. I open the door and let Victoria and Sylvia in first. Smithson trails in after them.
“Anything happens, you know where I am,” I tell Liana and April. “And girls? Do try not to rip each other’s heads off. You are both members of the same coven, and I’d really like for you to get along.”
“We get along just fine,” April declares and hooks her arm through Liana’s. “We’ll be good on our own. Come on, babe.”
Together, the two of them walk into the adjacent room.
Victoria perks an eyebrow at me as I shut the door. I respond with a winning grin.
“So,” I say. I gesture at the bed. “Why don’t you all have a seat?”
“I’d prefer to stand,” Smithson grumbles.
“Whatever.” I wave it away. Victoria and Sylvia sit on the edge of the mattress, while I lounge back in a rickety old chair.
“So what’s the plan now?” Sylvia asks.
I look at Victoria. “First, I think,” I say. “It’s time to reveal the reason we’re here.”
Victoria’s back shoots up in alarm. “I don’t think,” she begins.
I cut her off. “I don’t need your opinion on this,” I say. “But please, if you can, I’d like for you to ward the room. So that no one else overhears.”
She takes a deep breath, obviously battling down her words of protest. Then there’s a flash of blue, a halo that appears around her and then winks away.
She opens her eyes. “Done.”
I look at her quizzically. “You’re sure? That was awfully fast.”
“If you want to test it, James, why don’t you step outside and try to listen!” she snaps.
I hold one hand up. “That’s okay, I believe you.”
“So what do you want to say?” Sylvia wonders.
I look at her and then at Smithson. Then at Victoria. “If I’m the one to reveal it,” I begin, “I have a feeling I’d be laughed out of the room. Victoria? If you will?”
“Must I do everything for you?” she grunts. She looks at the others. She takes a deep breath.
“James… can do magic,” she says. “That blast that sent Smithson back? He replicated it against me. What’s more, he tore through the defense I put up through this torrial.” She takes out the broken pieces and dumps them on the bed. “The surge of power from him destroyed it.”
Neither Smithson nor Sylvia show the slightest sign of a reaction.
I tap one foot impatiently on the ground. “Well?” I demand. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“It was obvious to me the moment you came and started asking questions about male magicians,” Smithson says under his breath. “I didn’t accuse you of it, because I knew how poorly you would take it. And I suspect Sylvia pieced it together as well. She’s a sharp gal. Probably the one most capable, after me, in the Order.”
I look at the recently converted vampire. “Is it true?” I ask.
“Why else would you be so confident striding into the Crusaders base?” she presents.
I grunt. “Seems like this wasn’t much of a revelation at all.” I look at Victoria. “Do you think the others know?”
She shrugs. “The pack vampires might. You should tell them either way. They definitely do know more about magic and witchcraft than regular vampires, given the company they’ve kept.”
“And the two girls?”
Victoria laughs. “They’re both so smitten with you they couldn’t see the obvious if it were starting them right in their faces.”
“I’d like to think them smarter than that,” I mutter.
“They’ll grow out of it,” she assures me. “Give them time.”
“The thing I don’t understand,” Sylvia begins, “is why you won’t heed any of our warnings. Smithson and I have told you who the Crusaders are. We told you what they could do. And yet you seem so intent on getting us all killed.”
“Nobody is going to die on my watch,” I respond. “The Nocturna Animalia are afforded my protection. It extends to the pack vampires, too. And yes, even you, Smithson, as a prisoner, don’t have to worry about an untimely death.”
“Unless I do something to piss you off,” he sneers.
“You’ll just have to be careful not to,” I say.
“James.” Victoria says my name emphatically. “The sun is coming out in an hour. Once it does, we’re all sitting ducks.”
“Not if we resist the urge to sleep,” I tell her.
She looks at me like I’m mad. “Are you serious?”
“Very.”
“James, look around! Only you and Smithson are strong enough to fight off the call of slumber. Maybe some of the pack vampires, too. I certainly cannot, not after giving my blood to The Haven’s members and losing the Ancient’s source. Nor can Sylvia.”
“Well,” I say. “I guess it falls on us to protect you during the day, then, doesn’t it?”
She squints her eyes at me. “What game are you playing here, James?” she questions. “Just what the hell do you think will happen when we’re ambushed by an army of Crusaders?”
“Do you really give me so little credit as to think it will come to that?” I ask. I shake my head. “My, but how little confidence you have in my abilities, sweetheart.”
“You haven’t given us even a clue of any secret plan you must have dreamed up,” she counters. “If you really have an ace up your sleeve, now would be a damn good time to show it!”
“Why, now,” I say slowly, reaching into my coat pocket. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I withdraw the velvet pouch and let it dangle from my fingers.
“What is that?” Sylvia asks.
“Leverage,” I tell her softly. “I’d call it a sort of insurance against anything the Crusaders might dream up.”
Victoria looks at me, her gaze projecting nothing but outright skepticism. “I doubt whatever small item you’ve got hidden in there will be any help,” she says.
“Oh, really?” I ask, and open the pouch to take out the ring that is inside.
It’s beset with a beautiful onyx stone.
Victoria’s eyes widen. She knows what this is.
“How did you get that?” she whispers.
“My Mother had a bunch,” I say casually. “I didn’t think she’d miss this one much.”
“Could I… could I see it?” She holds out her hand. I notice it shaking.
“No.” I snatch the ring away. “You’re not supposed to know what this is. Very few alive do.”
“I had one just like it,” she whispers. “I found it in the ruins of the castle. It… it’s not exactly a torrial, James, but it is an object of power.”
“You stole one of our rings?” I demand.
Victoria winces. “I came across it in the rubble. I’d hardly consider that theft.”
“What is it?” Sylvia asks.
“It’s part of a group of rings that helped link Mother to the throne,” I say. “Felix, one of the oldest vampires of my former coven, brought a significant number of artifacts with him when he joined us. They were all related to magic, in one way or another. This one, specifically…” I twist the ring in front of my eyes, “…was the bastard fifth, the one that was deemed too dangerous to ever put on a vampire’s fingers.”
“Why?”
“Because,” I respond slowly. “It seeps out all the strength. It grasps hold of the vampire essence and pulls it out of you, all of it, and funnels it into the jewel.”
Sylvia’s face remains suspiciously blank. “Does it store it?”
“Who knows?” I say. “Nobody has been fool enough to try. Mother heeded Felix’s warning when he presented the
ring to her. She put the other four in the bottom of a chest, carving out a spot for each in the casing. This one was supposed to be destroyed… but I managed to convince her to give it to me.”
“And how exactly did you do that?” Victoria asks. “I met your Mother. She is a forceful woman. Not one to be persuaded to do things she does not want.”
I flash her a smile. “I can be quite charming when I try,” I say. “The trick was to make her believe it was her own idea.”
“And what would the Crusaders want with something like that?” Smithson demands.
I look at him like he’s an idiot. “Isn’t it obvious? If they can figure out some way of harnessing the might of this ring, they will accomplish their full purpose in a matter of weeks. Remember, unlike your precious Order, the Crusaders have no qualms working with witches.”
“The secret to making new torrials died centuries ago,” Victoria says. “Nobody can replicate what was done in that age. The knowledge is wiped clean from this earth.”
“And you wouldn’t just give it to them, James, would you?” Sylvia worries. “That would spell catastrophe for all of our kind!”
“Of course not,” I scoff. I put the ring safely away. “This is the carrot. I dangle it in front of them, to show that cooperation with us is much more profitable than animosity.”
“You’re taking a big risk,” Smithson notes. “If they manage to get it off you, no matter what you intend, there’s no telling the doom it would mean for the vampires in the world. The knowledge pertaining to the making of torrials has been lost, yes. But with modern technology, it’s only a matter of time until it’s discovered again. And if the Crusaders have an object so powerful in their hands…”
He trails off, a dark and ominous tone in his voice.
“I don’t like it.” Victoria stands up. She walks to the window, pulls the blinds aside, and looks into the night. “This is reckless, James, even for you.”
“Well, what would you have me do?” I ask her.
“Destroy it,” she says. She snaps the blinds shut. “And if you can’t, bury it, bury it deep in the ground, somewhere none can find. An object like that should never come close to the hands of our enemies.”
