by Lexi Blake
The Italian seemed to count in his head. “Four, no, I’m forgetting that little blonde, so five. With so few to see to my needs, I was forced to send the men in my retinue away.”
“You had five women and you couldn’t share?” I asked, a little shocked.
Marcus waved away the thought. “That is a perverse impulse of Daniel’s.” His lips turned up in a naughty smile, and I was actually happy that Marcus hadn’t let our deep talk from yesterday affect our weird flirtation. I would have missed it. “Of course, cara, I would put aside my distaste for sharing if it means getting my fangs into you.”
I put a hand on my hip. “I’ll let you know the next time I’m accepting applications.”
“You do that,” Marcus replied, invading my space a little. Vampires liked to do that. “Now, you will explain to me why you are down here when you should be upstairs doing your hair or taking tea.”
He got the full force of my index finger poking right into those rock-hard pecs of his, that I was pretty sure he’d done nothing to earn. “You see, Vorenus, every time I start to like you, you just have to turn into a caveman. I’m not taking tea while we’re in the middle of a war. And my hair looks fine.”
“Actually,” Neil piped up, “it could use a flat iron.” I moved that pointy finger in his direction and he quickly backtracked. “Or we could go wavy. Whatever you like, Z.”
Diana looked from Marcus to me, and I could see she was confused as to which one of us had the real power here. She’d been more than amenable when I had asked her to let me in to speak to the prisoner, but now I could see she was faltering. Marcus was a Council member. Women in vampire society didn’t have a ton of power. I needed to establish dominance and I needed to do it quickly.
“Diana, please open the door,” I ordered, my voice a flat monotone that brooked no disobedience.
Marcus’s mouth was a stubborn line of disapproval. “Diana, you will leave the prisoner for the king. The queen has not been trained in methods of interrogation. She will not interfere.”
“Do you think she can’t form a question, Vorenus?” Lee asked, rolling his chocolate eyes.
“I’m sure she would come up with brilliant questions,” Marcus replied sarcastically. “But I have no intention of allowing my queen in the room with a soldier who tried to kill her. You should be fired for standing by and almost allowing her to go through with this insane plan, wolf.”
“Oh, he’s not just standing by,” I commented. “It was his plan in the first place.”
“And I didn’t try to kill her,” a voice pointed out from behind us. “That was Yuri, the wanker, and the faery already blew his brains to hell and back.” Terry stared through the bars of his little prison. He was calm and collected and seemed to be entertained by the show we were putting on.
“We don’t need anything from you,” Marcus snarled in his direction.
“Seems like you do, mate,” the soldier replied casually. “If it helps anyone make a decision, I’ll talk to Mrs. Quinn there.”
“Donovan, she is Mrs. Donovan,” Marcus insisted.
“How about you just call me Zoey.” I wanted to avoid my unfortunate last name problems. I’d come up with the perfectly reasonable plan of keeping my own last name to avoid confusion, but no one would use it.
“Right, Zoey,” the Aussie said. “What kind of questions have you got for me?”
“Diana, if you would please.” I gestured toward the door. She hesitated. “What were your instructions regarding me? I’m not trying to be a bitch, but I assume you were told to obey me, not to only obey me if Marcus says it’s all right.”
Marcus cursed as Diana slipped the key in the door. He seemed to understand I wasn’t budging, so he did what he could. “You will step back, prisoner. Take a seat at the table and keep your hands where we can see them. You will not lay a hand on Her Highness or I will rip your throat out. Is that understood?”
Terry’s eyes were solemn as he backed off with his hands in the air. He sat down in the chair Marcus indicated but kept his hands carefully within our sight. Diana opened the door and Marcus shoved me back, demanding to go in first. I heard Lee say something about vampire drama queens and then he escorted me inside.
Marcus stood over the prisoner, intimidation oozing from his pores. “Soldier, I am…”
“Marcus Vorenus, a venerable member of the Vampire Council, third in line to head, Louis Marini after Niko Rallis and Elof Magnussen. You’re Daniel Donovan’s patron,” Terry started reciting from a file he had probably memorized. “You were born in Rome in 50 AD to parents who were some of the first followers of a prophet named Jesus Christ…”
“Yes, we can see you’re well informed,” Marcus interrupted Terry’s interesting lecture. I could tell he was a little disconcerted. It had probably been a long time since he thought about his parents.
“Not well enough, it seems,” Terry murmured, looking at me in a different light. He bowed his head slightly. “Your Highness, I apologize for my earlier casualness. The Order didn’t believe Mr. Donovan was really a king. It’s been a long time since the vampires had a king and even longer since they had a queen.”
I sat down and sent Marcus a dirty look. “Yes, well, I wasn’t going to mention that since I have no idea what your ties to Vampire are. You could be a spy for Marini for all we know.”
“I’m not,” Terry said quickly. “The Order tries not to take an official stance on these kinds of things, but I can tell you we’ve been watching the Council very closely for the last hundred years. They’re slowly moving toward something we don’t like.”
“If you’re referring to their plans to subjugate the supernatural world, then I would have to agree with you.” Marcus crossed his arms over his chest and a little of his prior stubbornness seemed to flee. “If we can get the Order on our side, it will do nothing but help us, mia regina. Will the Order acknowledge Daniel as the King of all Vampire?”
“I believe they will,” Terry said. “If there isn’t a bloody civil war we have to quell.”
“We’re trying to avoid that,” I explained earnestly. “We’re also trying to ensure that the Council never again has the power to subjugate the races. Daniel wants to change the Council, to bring the other races in and form a new government that includes them.”
Terry’s eyes got very wide. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. Don’t you think it’s time our world caught up with the rest of the planet?”
“You’re telling me this Donovan fellow is willing to give up absolute power over the strongest, most well-organized race of supernaturals, to give werewolves and Fae creatures a seat at the table?”
“He’s a modern man, our king,” Marcus replied. “While I find the situation a bit uncomfortable, I can see that rationally it’s the proper time to make this move. Civilizations that don’t change with the times tend to burn out. Our small society is reaching a breaking point. I believe if we follow the path Louis would set for us, we will be eradicated by war.”
“That’s been our assessment, as well,” the soldier replied, warming to his subject. “We’ve been running several scenarios involving all-out war between the vampires and the other supernaturals since we started tracking the loss of several alphas in the large werewolf packs across Europe. Someone’s been trying to make sure the wolf packs are fractured.”
“Yes.” That had been Marini’s plan. “But you will note that the North American packs recently chose to make their allegiance to an alpha named John McKenzie. There will be no fractures in our wolves. Daniel has made great strides with the various wereanimals and shapeshifters, as well. We also have an ironclad alliance in place with the Unseelie.”
The soldier thought about this for a long moment. “How did we miss this? Our assessment of Donovan was completely wrong. We have him as a two-bit criminal who might, and let me emphasize might, be a death machine. Nothing in our files indicates Donovan is capable of doing anything like this. How could we have been so wrong?
”
“I felt it best that Mr. Donovan be allowed to develop on his own,” a soft voice with a lilting British accent said from the supposed to be closed and locked doorway.
We all turned quickly and Lee pointed his semiautomatic straight at the newcomer. The oracle stood in the doorway wearing a T-shirt, well-worn jeans, and Converse sneakers. Jacob focused his attention on Terry. “If the Order had known what His Highness was planning, there would have been pressure to push him one way or another. We’re at a crossroads, Terry. I didn’t join the Order to watch it manipulate things to its own liking. Our mandate is to watch and only step in when we absolutely have to. Had some members of the Order known the importance of the Donovans, they would almost certainly have either tried to influence the royals or tried to assassinate them.”
I laughed outright. “I’d like to see them try to take out Danny.”
Jacob’s eyes were very grave as he regarded me. “Daniel Donovan is not the only royal of import. In fact, it would be much deadlier for the creatures of this plane had someone managed to assassinate you.”
“You can put the gun down, Mr. Owens,” Marcus said warily. “It won’t do any good. The oracle is unlike anything you’ve encountered before.”
“He doesn’t smell human.” Lee kept the gun trained on the young man.
“He isn’t,” the vampire replied. “I’m not sure he ever was.”
“But the host is human, right?” I thought perhaps we were dealing with either a demon or something that took human form.
Jacob smiled softly. “Do you believe I’m a demon, child?”
“Or an ascended god,” I admitted.
His brows rose over those endlessly dark eyes. “What do you know of ascended gods?”
“My goddess knows much of them,” Bris said from behind Jacob. He’d crept up quietly and held Dev’s SIG Sauer in his hands. He seemed to have dressed hurriedly and wore only a pair of jeans. Dev’s gorgeous body was on full display, but his eyes were not his own.
Jacob’s face broke into a full show of joy. “I truly love it when I’m surprised.”
“Explain why you’re here and what you want with my goddess, Apollo,” Bris demanded.
Neil sat back, just enjoying the show. “But he said his name is Jacob.”
“I’ve taken many names over the years and had many faces.” Jacob didn’t seem to care that two guns were aimed at his head. “Awhile back, I called myself Apollo and there were some kind people who chose to worship me. At the time, it was advantageous to me, so I allowed it. I prefer to take on no followers now, though I enjoy the company of humans as do you, Bris. As for what I want with your goddess, I must confess, I didn’t realize she was your goddess.”
“I’m surprised that escaped you.” Bris brought the gun down. He nodded to Lee, who lowered his weapon as well. Bris gestured that he wanted me to come to him. I stood and joined him. “My goddess, this is a prophet. He’s walked the Earth plane since…well, long before I came into being. He’s a creature of great wisdom, though for the most part he uses his wisdom for his own betterment.”
Jacob’s eyes narrowed as he shot Bris a perturbed stare. “I haven’t seen you in thousands of years, Bris. While you slept and waited for your perfect host, I’ve been here with the humans, watching them and guiding them. Allow that thousands of years’ congress with these beings may have changed me.”
Bris’s hand slid to my wrist, like he was waiting to pull me or push me out of danger. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Now, I’ll ask again, why are you here?”
“Your goddess took one of my men prisoner,” Jacob replied.
“You came to spring me?” Terry sat up a little straighter and a grin lit his face.
“Despite what that fertility god will tell you, I don’t leave my men behind,” Jacob replied. “I admit that I also wanted to speak to the female again. I meet so few true nexus points.”
“The bean si called me that,” I said quietly as Marcus said something under his breath in Italian.
“Is this true, Oracle?” Marcus asked, his mouth a tense line.
“It is,” Bris replied for Jacob, who was staring at me. “I’ve found it terribly amusing that everyone is so concerned with the vampire when the truly important one was standing right in front of them.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked the god in my husband’s body. I was getting the same panicked feeling I’d gotten when the washer women had called me that. I hadn’t understood it all at the time. I had my mind on other things that night.
Lee crossed his arms. He didn’t like the mystical crap. “The washer women said something about her having no fate.”
“She is fate,” Jacob said with a small laugh. “Everything on this plane rests on her small shoulders. If she succeeds, we all get to live another day. If she fails, this plane will run red with blood.”
Bris sent Jacob a dark look. He felt my panic. He took my hands in his and rubbed them briskly because I was suddenly very cold. “A nexus point is like a blank space in the fabric of history, my goddess. It merely means that you have no particular fate written for you.”
“And because of that you change the fates of those close to you,” Jacob continued. “Someone with the power of prophecy can see the way a person’s life will most likely go. Nothing is for certain, but we tend to be correct most of the time. I can look at the British woman upstairs and tell you that in forty years’ time, she will die in a plane crash. Her vampire lover will miss her terribly, but he’ll take a companion ten years later and be very happy with her. I can look at the faery Bris currently inhabits and know that he should be dead many times over. He entered this plane with a death wish. He’s impulsive and prone to rages that should have gotten him killed on at least seven different occasions, but he got close to the nexus point and now his fate is tied to yours.”
“And Daniel would have lived if he hadn’t been involved with me,” I said, repeating what the bean si had told me.
Jacob nodded. “Yes. Donovan would have lived a nice, simple life as a boring IT guy who would have been far too old to be effective when he turned. Daniel Donovan needed to turn in the prime of his life.”
We were all looking at the prophet now. There was something about the way he said the words that made me wary. This Jacob had been watching us for a very long time. He’d been the one to send Marcus to protect my grandmother. Just how much of a hand had he had in our lives?
“Did you kill Daniel?” Neil asked because he never prevaricated.
Jacob held his hands out, trying to bring the intensity level down. “I did not. I merely see patterns and play the odds. I knew that it was likely Donovan would die young if he had a companion in place. You’ll find latent vampires tend to die young when a companion is right there, ripe for the taking. Something deep inside tells them to end their human life and begin to walk the night. I didn’t have to kill Donovan. I’ve only made three moves in this little chess game.”
“You sent me to protect Zoey’s grandmother.” Marcus offered one of the moves.
“Yes,” the boy agreed. “And I introduced Harry Wharton to his best friend, George Donovan. I also chose to keep Donovan off the Order’s radar. I feared if the Order knew about Donovan, they would figure out what Zoey was and then all hell could break loose.”
“Are you telling me you joined the Order seven hundred years ago so you could protect one girl from people trying to influence her?” Terry asked, awe in his voice.
“It was a long game.” Jacob sighed with satisfaction. “And now it’s almost over. I’m very interested in seeing how it all turns out, but alas, I must watch the play from the cheap seats, as the Americans would say.”
Bris’s eyes were wary. “You mean to leave her alone now?”
“I do. I fear if I stay, the temptation to interfere will be too great, and I have promised to allow things to play out as they will from this point on,” Jacob insisted. “I merely came back to retrieve my Australian
friend. It’s time for me to travel again. The Order is well established. They will act as a check on the demonic influences on the plane and, if Zoey succeeds, they’ll represent humans on the new Council.”
“And if she doesn’t succeed?” Lee asked, his mouth tight with worry.
Jacob shrugged. “Then nothing will matter, will it?” He turned to Terry. “What do you say, Terry? Would you like to play Sancho to my Don Quixote?”
The Australian seemed confused. “I got no idea what you mean, mate.”
“Not a big reader then,” Jacob mused. He hit on the right phrasing. “I’m going walkabout. Want to come with?”
Terry nodded over at the prophet who had once been a Greek god. “Count me in. I want to get as far away from this war as possible.”
“Not so fast,” I said. “I still have questions.”
“I’m sure you do, Your Highness,” Jacob replied. “But they’ll have to wait for another time. As for you, Vorenus, I see the way you look at me. You think I lied to gain your cooperation, but I assure you this is not the case. You’ll have your death, vampire, and sooner than you think.”
“Wait,” I insisted as Jacob went to stand by Terry.
“I can’t,” he replied with an enigmatic smile. “And you have a phone call to answer. Tell Donovan he’ll need the sword if he wants to wake the wizard, but remember a demon is always a demon no matter how helpful he seems.”
He put his hand on Terry’s shoulder and then they winked out of existence. One minute they were there and the next they were gone.
Just then Lee’s cell phone rang. He flipped it open and answered it before holding it out to me.
“It’s Nim,” he said. “She found Merlin.”
Chapter Eighteen
“And these people speak English?” Neil asked as we passed the sign for the ferry to Ynys Ennli.
We’d stopped for directions since the ones Nim had given weren’t the clearest. We were on the coast of Wales, and it had become very clear to me that the Welsh did not, in fact, speak any type of English I understood. Everything that came out of their mouths sounded like it had been stuck at the back of their throats for a while.
