“I figured you owed me, Roland.”
“I don’t know that I owe you anything, Barden. You and I have reached the end of any debt I might have incurred.”
“You and I both know that isn’t true. And in this case, I’m not here for me.”
Roland glanced to Matt and then me. His lips curled back, and there was something dangerous about the way he looked at us. It was almost as if he viewed us as prey—which I suppose, given what he was, he did. “Did you bring me toys? I wouldn’t have taken you for that kind, especially given your recent pursuits.”
“My recent pursuits?” Barden took a step forward, and I could feel power flowing from him. Whatever else he was doing, he was pulling on a lot of magic. It seemed as if he wasn’t as confident in coming here as he had made it seem. Either that, or he did so for another reason, though I didn’t have any idea what. “I have always pursued the same thing,” Barden said.
Roland smiled. “I’m well aware of your pursuits, Barden. You might think you have been secretive in how you’ve chased power, but you have been far too open over the years.”
Barden chuckled. “If you think I’ve been chasing power, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because of her.”
Roland strode down the stairs, practically gliding. There was something graceful and deadly in it at the same time, making it seem almost as if he danced down to us. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he clasped his hands together, watching me for a moment. “I don’t detect anything about her.”
“I didn’t expect you to.”
“Is she a familiar?”
“Nope.”
There came a surge of what I can only describe as desire that washed over me. It came suddenly, powerfully, and with it was an overwhelming sense I wanted to serve Roland. There was nothing subtle about it, not the way there had been when I was near Donovan Icahrn, or even when I was near Jean-Pierre. Both had a different approach to how they used their vampire abilities. This was blunt, a hammer rather than a scalpel, and because of that, I found it was far easier to ignore than so many of the other approaches that had been used on me. I barely needed to tap into my connection to Kate, a connection that was faint these days.
“What is she?”
“This is Dr. Stone,” Barden said, moving to stand next to me, almost possessively. It was one of the few times I didn’t mind a man trying to claim a type of ownership over me. Most of the time I would have rebelled against it, but given I had a powerful and deadly vampire standing in front of me, I didn’t think I could—or should.
Roland eyed me for a moment before looking over at Barden. “Doctor?”
Barden tilted his head in a nod. “She is.”
“It seems we have something of a frequency of doctors that have been playing within our world.”
“She is actually a colleague of Dr. Michaels.”
With that, Roland’s eyes narrowed, and his entire countenance changed. “I have done nothing with Dr. Michaels.”
“I am well aware of that, Roland. I have not accused you of doing anything to her, not that I think you would even be capable of doing so.”
Roland watched Barden for a moment, a twinkle in his eyes. “It is interesting.”
“What is?”
“Dr. Michaels. How long has it been since you have seen her?”
“It makes little difference when I last saw her.”
“On the contrary, I think it matters a lot. From what I can tell, there has been no word of her for nearly a year.”
“Is that right?” Barden said.
“Oh, Barden, I’m certain you are fully aware of where Dr. Michaels might have gone. I’m curious if she has remained on the other side or if she has returned.” He watched Barden for a few moments, a smile playing across his lips. “I see. You intend to play coy about it. Not that I blame you, that is. Knowing what I do about Dr. Michaels, there is no reason for you to do anything but play coy.”
Barden flashed a wide smile. “Roland, although I would love to hear everything you think you know about Dr. Michaels—and I can assure you that what you think you know is probably wrong—that is not why we are here.”
“Then tell me, why have you brought one of Dr. Michaels’s colleagues to me?” He glanced over, looking at Matt for a moment. “And him. Another mage, I take it?”
“A hedge mage,” Barden said, shooting Matt a warning glance.
What was this about? There was something more taking place here, though I wasn’t sure what. Hadn’t Barden brought us—well, Matt really—here for protection?
“You do understand that hedge mages should not be involved in these things.”
Barden shrugged. “As I said, you aren’t as knowledgeable as I believe you need to be.”
A sense of something—though I wasn’t sure what—exploded behind me. It came with a sudden and jarring force. Roland looked behind us, his brow furrowing. “What is this, Barden?”
“Why don’t we step inside?”
“If you have endangered my people…”
Barden shook his head. “I have not, but I think it prudent we take this indoors. Otherwise…”
Another explosion slammed into something behind us, and Barden merely stood there, his hands clasped in front of him, watching Roland, almost amused.
“Come on, then.”
Barden nodded to Matt to follow Roland. As I started to go, he grabbed my arm, leaning toward me. “This will be dangerous, Dr. Stone. He is not to be trusted.”
“Then why did you bring us here?”
“Because he is the one who will be most likely to provide us what we need to know.”
“And what is that?”
“First, you need to get inside. Once you do, then we can begin to work on what else might be necessary.”
“I thought you were bringing him here to get word to Jean-Pierre.”
“As you no doubt know, the elder is difficult to reach. From what you have told me, they serve all of the vampire families.”
“That’s what he said to me.”
“And it was helpful information. It was not anything we knew.” Barden grasped my elbow, leading me up the stairs and into the home.
I paused, looking around. From the outside, the home had struck me as formal, the kind of place I would easily expect a very old vampire to live. Having no idea how long vampires lived, but knowing they lived far longer than most of the mages, even, I wouldn’t be surprised to find they had European influences, especially as they were most likely European originally.
The floors were all scraped hardwood. A carpet runner ran the length of the hallway, and Roland, along with Matt, made his way down the hall, heading toward a door in the distance. Matt kept pace with Roland, one hand behind him, and I wondered what he held in it. Likely some way of protecting himself, were it necessary, though when it came to Matt, I wasn’t sure just what he might have on him. Everything he possessed seemed to be items of a particular power, though most of the things he had were strange, and often coins or something that looked along the same lines.
“We should keep moving, Dr. Stone,” Barden said.
“If you don’t trust him, why are we here?”
“It’s not that I don’t completely trust him. Though I must say that of all the vampires I have worked with, Roland would be the one I would least rely upon. Were there not the need, I doubt I would have suggested we come here. Unfortunately, as we do have the need, this is our best bet.”
“You still haven’t told me why not Donovan Icahrn.”
“Because Donovan Icahrn has struggled with his position within the vampire families. What happened with you caused a little bit of a stir.”
“Was Donovan responsible for it?”
“Donovan would not risk himself so openly for power, not when he already had considerable power as it was. I think the issues he is facing now are more likely to be related to the attack taking place on his
watch. The elder was traveling to Minneapolis to meet with the Icahrn family, and because of that, they were responsible for his safety, at least, as far as I can tell.” Barden shrugged, raising his hands and glancing over at me. “When it comes to the vampires, it is difficult to know. Despite my efforts to discover more, they have managed to maintain that secrecy.”
I laughed softly, and Barden cocked a brow at me. Shrugging, I hurried forward, wanting to catch up to Matt. “I know how frustrating that has to be for you.”
“You do understand I use my knowledge keep my people safe?”
“I do, which is why I’m not objecting to it. I’m just commenting.”
We caught up to Roland and Matt, and Matt glanced back at us. I still couldn’t tell what he had in his hand, though there was something there. It looked to be a token of some sort, like the tokens I had seen him using before, and each one seemed specially made for a specific purpose.
For a hedge mage, he certainly had quite a few items of power like that. There was more to Matt than I knew, and far more than he was letting on, which was reason enough for us to try to understand him better, too.
“I thought you decided you didn’t want to come in,” Roland said.
“I thought it prudent to give Dr. Stone a little bit of background as to our relationship,” Barden said.
“Interesting. One would have thought you would have done so before bringing her to me in the first place.”
“There wasn’t the need. Nor was there the time.”
“What have you brought to me?” Roland asked.
“A request.”
“What sort of request?”
“The sort that you, as head of your family, will be able to provide.”
Roland watched for a long moment before waving for us to go in. He guided us into a large room. I wasn’t sure what to expect in a vampire’s home, having only been in the Icahrn family home, but here there was a table with a half a dozen chairs surrounding it, making it look like a vampire conference room rather than an office, as I had somewhat expected. Roland took a seat at the head of the table, waiting for the rest of us to sit. I looked around, surprised to see a projector hanging from the ceiling, and what appeared to be a screen that could be dropped down at the other end of the room. Who would have figured the vampires for high-tech?
Wood-paneled walls surrounded the room, and markings along the paneling caught my attention. They were similar to the markings that Barden had used on the wand I possessed—and wished I had with me, even though if I did have it, I wasn’t sure I could use it right now. The wand tapped into Barden’s power, and I didn’t want to do that to him when we were in a place that put him in danger.
Roland motioned again for us to sit, and after a moment, I took a seat, waiting to see if Barden would do the same. He stood, hands clasped in front of him, watching Roland. There was something about the way he looked at Roland that left me uncomfortable.
“It is customary in such transactions for us to sit and converse,” Roland said.
“I think I will stand,” Barden said.
“Have it your way.”
I glanced up to Barden, watching the corners of his eyes. There was something about them I couldn’t quite read. What was he concerned about? Standing might give him the opportunity to react more quickly, but what did he fear? Did he think we needed to be ready to react at a moment’s notice? We were inside the vampire compound, a place I thought would offer a certain level of protection, but maybe that was a mistake. Maybe there would be no protection found here.
“Now we are here, do you care to tell me why?” Roland asked. He flashed a smile, staring at Barden with a hard-eyed gaze before turning his attention to me. Once again, I felt the same surge of desire, a blunt sense that told me he either wanted me to know he was doing it, or that he didn’t have the same subtle level of control others possessed. “I’ll admit my curiosity allowed me to be more accommodating than I normally would. Were it anyone else, I would not have, but seeing as how Barden Leifan has chosen to pay me a visit, how could I be anything but curious?”
“It’s not just your curiosity about why I’m here that made you willing to allow us entry,” Barden said.
“No? And why do you think I did?”
“We both know why.”
They shared a look, and I decided I needed to understand better what had taken place between these two men. Questions could come later.
“Show him,” Barden said to me without taking his eyes off of Roland.
“Show me what?”
I reached into my pocket, feeling for the coin, the marker Jean-Pierre had given me. After he had done so, Barden had warned me I should keep it with me at all times. Not only was it safer that way—Barden remained concerned that someone might come for it, thinking to steal it—but it offered me a different level of protection from the magical world. Pulling out the coin, I set it on the table.
Roland glanced from me to the coin. He made to reach for it when Barden set his hand on mine, preventing me from pushing it forward.
“What is that?” Roland said.
“You don’t need her to pass it over for you to know what it is. I could tell from the way you looked at it that you recognized it—as you should. Isn’t it a marker of your kind?”
The vampire stared at him. “Where did you get that?”
Did Barden want me to reveal everything to him? I couldn’t help but think that doing so was a mistake, but then again, this was Barden’s plan. He seemed to know something, though I wasn’t sure what. It would’ve been helpful for him to have given us an idea about what he was doing. We had come here looking to pass on word about Jean-Pierre, but it felt to me that Barden had another reason behind it.
“It was given to me.”
Roland flicked his gaze from Barden to me. “You would not have been given something like that.”
“You recognize it.” Barden stood stiffly next to me, one hand resting on the back of the chair. I looked up at him, and as I turned back around, I thought I understood why he had remained standing. He had traced a small circle around himself, so discreetly that I hadn’t even been aware he was doing so. I smiled to myself. If nothing else, Barden was ready for the possibility of a vampire attack. That both reassured me—and left me uncomfortable. If there was a possibility of a vampire attack, why had we come here in the first place?
“Of course I recognize it. What I want to know is why someone like her would possess it.”
“What do you know about the events from last winter?”
Roland fixed me with a different expression. There was heat in it, and pain, and a promise of…
“Stop!” I shouted.
Roland smiled. “She’s feisty.”
“You have no idea,” Barden said.
“Another doctor. I find that interesting.”
“No more interesting than I find your entire attitude.”
“Again, Barden, you are the one who came to me.”
“I thought I would give you the honor. If I was wrong…” Was that why we were here? Was there some honor in allowing one of the vampire families to reach out to the elder?
“No. You were not wrong.” Roland turned to me, crossing his hands in front of him. “Where did you get it?”
Once again, the sense of various emotions washed over me, so rapidly that I struggled to stay upright. It was almost too much for me to tolerate, an overwhelming sense designed to knock me back—or overpower me. More likely than not, that was his actual intention. He didn’t want to harm me, but he did want to find a way to force me to tell him what he wanted to know. Somehow, that sense filled me.
“Stop,” I said again.
“You aren’t anything like her, are you?” Roland asked. He leaned forward, the dark smile on his face leaving me unsettled in a way that I wished it didn’t.
“In some ways, she is stronger.” Barden tapped me on the shoulder.
I shook my head. I wasn’t stronger than Kate—an
d I knew that was who Roland was referring to. I didn’t have anything like the magic Kate possessed, and more than that, I wasn’t sure I wanted to. There were times within the magical world that I felt powerless, and this, unfortunately, was one of them. Although I wanted to feel as if I could do things, I simply did not. I was small. Weak. Helpless. And I had always been that way. I tried to be more, pushing myself, working hard, putting myself out there in every way possible, trying to prove to the world I was something. That I had value.
But I did not. Why did I even think I could be involved in vampire business? As I looked at Roland, knowing the power he possessed, I understood there was nothing for me. There was no way I could withstand the force that was the vampire. I could serve him, I could take my place alongside him, become a familiar, allow him to feed…
“I know what you’re doing,” I said, pushing those thoughts away.
That had been subtle. Now I understood why he had been so blunt at first. He had been trying to make me think he had no subtlety, and it was possible that under different circumstances, or had I not ever experienced the draw of a vampire before, that it might’ve been successful. As it was, recognizing it gave me the opportunity to ignore it.
I had to ignore it. And here I had thought he wasn’t as powerful or as skilled as Donovan. Donovan had a subtlety to him too, and with that, he had made it so I had nearly been overpowered by my desire to serve him. There was a different approach between the two vampires, but at the same time, there was much similarity—far too much similarity. Once I was aware of their touch, it practically screamed to me, trying to draw my attention, forcing me to be aware of what they were doing and how they were doing it. The longer they pushed on me, the longer they tried to send their awareness and their power into me, and the more and more certain I was that I could withstand it.
And I would withstand it. I had been through enough over the years, though I had also survived. I didn’t need to suffer this way. I didn’t need to fear this vampire. Now I had a connection to magic, I wasn’t helpless. Furthermore, I had escaped from what had happened to me. That had been me, not someone else.
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