Crown of Smoke and Blood

by Sadie Jacks

  Tavis hooted with laughter. “Oh aye, bleeding perfect for each other.”

  Flipping him off, I moved back to the throne seats. “Care to share with the class?”

  Vari rolled her eyes at me. “I’ve barely gotten a chance to think. So sit there and shut up or go away.” She pulled her legs up and crossed them. Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back and appeared to take a nap.

  Which, considering it was the very early hours of the morning, wasn’t a bad idea. But I wouldn’t let her sleep here. It was bad enough she had to come to the mansion at all. Sleeping under the roof here with all the other men? Not a chance in hell. Even in the unlikely chance it did freeze over.

  Tavis came over and took one of the Councilmember’s chairs. Like he owned the joint. I glared at Vari—her behavior was rubbing off on my friend. And I was pretty sure I didn’t like it. Anything of her rubbing on anyone else was unacceptable.

  But I was also kind of scared of her, so I wasn’t going to do anything to interrupt her concentration. She just better not be sleeping. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I sent a text to Hayes. The man had never been late in my knowing him. The fact that he started today wasn’t a good sign.

  Just as I hit the button to send the text, the doors to the throne room burst open. One of the newer members of my coven, Mateo, strode into the room like he owned the joint. “I demand to know what is being done to help catch the monster who aided Michael!”

  I stifled a groan.

  Vari didn’t even seem to register the newcomer.

  Tavis snorted softly beside me.

  “I don’t care what you want, Mateo. You’re not Council, nor are you on my list of people to keep informed.” This was just what this day needed. An uppity man who thought the world owed him.

  He came to a slow stop, as if my dismissing his demands wasn’t a reaction he’d planned on. His darker skin and black hair spoke of a long life in Majorca. From what I remember of his transfer to my territory, he came from a very wealthy human family before transitioning into a vampire. Seems his tendencies to entitlement hadn’t ended with his heartbeat. More’s the pity.

  His mouth opened and closed for a couple moments before he firmed his jaw. “You are our king. You serve us.”

  Tavis snorted again. This time loudly.

  I smiled at Mateo. “You are severely mistaken in your assumption.” With my power, I reached out and threaded it through his body. His aura. He registered as barely above a human. Nothing about him, other than his inflated sense of self-importance, was remarkable.

  “My father i—”

  “Not here. I am. Would you care to test me in the old ways?” I bit off.

  I saw the desire in his face, but he must have seen the light, because he finally backed down and took a more appropriate posture.

  He bowed his head, even as I heard his teeth grind together. “I apologize, my king.” He laid his hand over his heart. If I tilted my head just so, I probably could have heard the curses he flung at me in his mind.

  I rolled my eyes at his quick change of heart. He was dumber than I credited him if he thought that would change my mind. “I will not be sharing any other information about the investigation into Michael until I see fit. You’re dismissed.”

  Even with his head bowed, I saw his jaw muscles clench. But he backed up, never lifting his head, until he bumped into the door. I made sure to stay off the combined coven mental connection in case he was whining and complaining about me. Everyone was entitled to their own opinions. I just didn’t need to hear them if they were about me.

  The door closed once more. I blew out a breath. “Arsehole.”

  “Wasn’t he the Angry Chicken?” Vari asked.

  I turned back to see her eyes were still closed. But the faint smile on her mouth made me want to kiss it. “Yes. And as you can see, he’s been dealt with.”

  She raised one eyelid, peered at me. “He’s going to be trouble.”

  I shrugged. “He doesn’t have the power to make any real waves or problems. Hell, he’s just enough to be vampire, but not enough to do anything with it.”

  She opened her other eye. Her amber gaze pierced through to my soul. “Do what you will, but that kind of attitude and thinking has ways of getting what they want. No matter the cost to others.”

  The woman clearly didn’t know how vampires worked, or she would realize that Mateo was a problem that amounted to less than a landscaping faux pas around here. I had a handle on my coven—minus Michael and his accomplice.

  “Have ye come up with yer idea yet?” Tavis asked before I could open my mouth and set her straight.

  She nodded. Unbending her body, she got to her feet once more. “But we’ll need to wake them up first.” She gestured at the women still sitting placidly at our feet.

  I shook my head. “I’m not letting them out from under my power until Hayes has looked at them.”

  Vari smiled. “That’s fine. I wasn’t suggesting you do it right this instant.”

  I blew out a breath and nodded. “Okay. What’s the idea?”

  “I’m going to offer them a different life, if they want it.” She spun on her heel and strode away without waiting for either Tavis or I to answer her.

  Watching her walk away was both enticing and depressing. But it was then that I realized her boot heels struck the floor. It was the first time I’d noticed her movement in such a fashion. She was just as silent as my kind when she wanted to be. Probably quieter.

  It was a sobering thought. We really were outmatched by the small woman. And she knew it.

  “That’s going to be fun for ye,” Tavis said as he got up from his chair as well.

  I nodded. “Fun or a nightmare.”

  He laughed. “That too.” He clapped me on the shoulder and walked down the steps. When he stood on the floor, he turned back and took a close look at each of the women. His expression darkened as he took in each pale face.

  By the time he made it to the last woman, his face was etched in furious horror. “She killed him too easily.”

  I nodded. “Yes. Had we the power to resurrect him, I’d kill him again and again.” Walking down the steps to stand beside my friend, I pushed down the anger once again.

  Ranging in age from what appeared to be early twenties to mid-thirties, there seemed to be no other rhyme or reason as to why he chose these women. Maybe a situational circumstance? Maybe they irritated him? We would never know, and that irked just as much as knowing he had an accomplice.

  “I get the theory behind his brother in arms, but why not say anything while you had the coven assembled? You could have smoked them out immediately.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t agree. If the man helping him is the cooler head in the pairing, then he could have been just as conniving in the group setting. I don’t want the accomplice to have any wiggle room whatsoever. If we can’t find him through our investigation, then I’ll resort to using my authority.”

  Tavis whipped his head in my direction. “You swore never to do that.”

  I shrugged. “I will if it needs doing.” Even if it made my guts twist. The old king had used his power whenever, however he wanted. I’d sworn when I killed him not to do the same. But if it came down to my personal vows and protecting the innocents in my family and this city I called home, I would pick protection every single time.

  Tavis nodded. Grunted. “Good. If you need help, I’m willing and able.”

  “Thank you.” I dipped my chin. This was a good man. One of the best I’d found in my almost two and a half centuries. Which reminded me… “What happened today? With Vari.”

  He stiffened slightly. “She reminds me of someone.”

  I cast my mind through the myriad people that Tavis must know. Couldn’t think of any of the ones I was acquainted with resembling Vari at all. “How so?”

  “Her attitude.”

  I snorted. “So a sassy female.”

  He laughed. “Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, he push
ed it from his lungs. “My sister.”

  My eyes widened. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t. Not anymore.”

  His reaction when the Horde was mentioned in my basement came back to me. “A Horde Fae killed her.” My words were soft but sharp in the empty room.

  He flinched, his face showing immense pain before he shuttered his expression away. “Yes.”

  I reached out, clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Vari is many things, but I don’t think she’s Horde.”

  Tavis nodded. “I know that now. Magda got in my face about it.” He looked at me, narrowed his eyes. “And how would you know, anyways? It’s not like you even knew what the Horde was before today.”

  I shrugged. “There are many things scary—and frankly, terrifying—about Vari. But deep inside, I think she’s a good person. From what you explained about the Horde, I didn’t get the idea that they fell on the good side of the scale. Hell, they probably don’t even fall into chaotic neutral.”

  Tavis laughed. Big, belly-busting laughs that tipped his head back and reverberated around the room. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as laughter poured from him.

  I smiled. Happy to see my friend back to his regular self—even with the overblown reaction to my simple statement. He must have been truly rattled earlier today.

  The giant finally settled down and straightened. “Trust you to put stuff into Dungeons and Dragons terms.” He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand. “No. Ye’re right. The ones I’ve met are not even chaotic neutral. They are evil. Pure, unadulterated evil.” I felt the emotion in his voice. The hatred and the contempt almost boiled over. Before it cooled and then skated over my skin like frost.

  I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue talking. Sometimes—most times, really—words just weren’t needed. And usually got in the way.

  “She was younger than me. My family was blessed to have more than one child. Which, if ye know yer Faery history, that’s a huge fricking deal. She was the light in all of us. So happy and vibrant.” He chuckled again. But this time loss threaded each sound. “Imagine the light that is Vari being reduced to one of these women.” He jutted his chin in the direction of the magicked women before us.

  A low snarl filtered up through my chest.

  He turned to me. “Exactly. I don’t even know who did it, but I know that one of the Horde’s castes was branded into her belly.”

  I blinked. “They have castes?”

  He nodded. “My family almost tore down the caste that had been burned into her flesh. But no one knew anything. They had more than enough enemies to choose from. Before we killed them all, we figured one of the other castes had to have set them up. We let our behavior stand as warning to anyone else.”

  “Do they function as a normal caste system?”

  He dipped his chin. “As far as we could tell. The ones who look most like the Four Season Court are at the top. As the likeness lessens, so too does the power and social stature.”

  I shuddered. Some human cultures still had caste systems, but I wasn’t a proponent of them. I was simply grateful I didn’t live in one of them. “Do you know what happened to your sister?”

  He shook his head. “We never learned everything. But she was getting better. Dealing, healing.”

  Pure, unadulterated evil, he’d said. Myriad options raced through my mind. Rage ate through me at what he didn’t say. “They stole her again, didn’t they?”

  His fists opened and closed reflexively. Heat pumped off of him in palpable waves while emotion swirled through the room. “They drained her. Of everything. As if they’d wanted more, but knew she had nothing left to give. They let us find her. When she’d healed enough to find her light again…” He shook his head.

  “I’m so fecking sorry you didn’t find the ones who killed her. Sorry you couldn’t rip their hearts out of their bodies and grind it to dust with your bare hand. If you ever need help finding them, you’ve only to ask and I’ll be there.” My words were soft, but they vibrated with passion.

  “I’ve vowed fealty to Vari.” He spoke so low I almost didn’t hear him.

  I blinked. “So did Ambrose and Hector.”

  Tavis nodded. “Vari told me. She told me she wouldn’t help me kill the Horde.”

  “Unless you can prove they are evil or have done something wrong, I can see that from her.”

  He turned to me. His grass green eyes went hard as emeralds. “And if I can show her?”

  My smile was hard. “Then you’ll probably just need to stand back and let her do it for you.”

  He shook his head as it lowered slightly. The flame of vengeance lit deep in his eyes. “They are mine.”

  “Then it seems we need to find some evidence.”

  “Evidence for what?” Vari asked as she walked back in from the far side of the room, a plate piled high with sandwiches in her hands.

  Tavis bumped my shoulder with his elbow as he turned. “Once we have it, we’ll let ye know.”

  She nodded. “I’m starving. So I made one of your minions go to the grocery store.” She smiled widely. “He wasn’t too happy.”

  I snarled. “Vari, for feck’s sake, woman, they are not servants.”

  Tavis’ laughter covered most of my words. “Good on ye, lass.”

  I punched him in the arm. “They aren’t fetchers, T.”

  Vari came to a soft stop in front of me. “Then no sandwiches for you.”

  “Vampire, remember?”

  She made a show of giving me her back as she turned and offered the plate to Tavis. “You can have one though.”

  Tavis smiled and took two off the top of the stack.

  “Which one did you send?”

  “Arnold. Augustus. Adam.” She shrugged and shook her head. “One of them with an A name.”

  I groaned. Armando was going to be a bitch for the next century. I just knew it. The man never let any slight go by. “You ditched him on the way to the throne room and then you forced him to get you sandwich makings?”

  Vari smiled around her bite. “I thought he looked familiar. He shouldn’t have a stick up his arse. Makes me twitchy. And reminds me of one of the scientists at home.” She bumped a shoulder into the air. “Not my fault he doesn’t like me. I’m extremely likable.” She glared at me as if daring me to contradict her.

  “I can only agree, mi amor,” Hector said as he and Ambrose came back into the room. “Who thinks to the contrary?”

  Vari opened her mouth.

  “Armando,” I hurried to answer. No telling what other names she would come up with. And the man himself was probably haunting the rafters, getting more fuel for his hate fire right this moment.

  I glanced up, scanned the eaves. Blew out a silent breath when I saw nor felt any lurkers. We’d dodged a major bullet on that one.

  “What did you find?” I asked the two ancients.

  They both shook their heads. “The room was wiped clean. Bleach and ammonia tossed around like water onto a raging inferno across every surface,” Ambrose said, ice in his pale blue eyes.

  Gritting my teeth, I clenched my hands into fists. This fecker was good at covering his tracks. He must have gone from the coven meeting to the hideout almost immediately. But how did he do it without leaving a scent trail?

  Vari finished one of her sandwiches and started on another. A low moan floated over the air currents as she chewed. Her face shone with light and awe, as if she were communing with a deity—not munching on a sandwich.

  “Has Gideon returned?” Hector asked as he took his seat on the platform again.

  I shook my head, unable to look away from the small, hungry woman in front of me. She wasn’t the only one hungry in here. And it wasn’t the plate of food in her hands that I wanted to devour.

  I can feel you looking at me, she said softly through my mind. Go open a vein if you’re feeling peckish. I’m not sharing my sandwich with you.

  Snorting softl
y, I walked over to her. Leaned down to speak into her ear. “If I open any vein, Vari, it will be yours.”

  Her jaw stopped moving as she turned slowly and looked up into my eyes. Golden amber eyes that looked like jewels blinked up at me. She quickly chewed, then swallowed. Licked her lips.

  She opened her mouth. Closed it without saying anything. Then she shook her head, lifted her sandwich, and took another bite that looked way too big for her mouth. Thoughts of other things that might be too big for her mouth drifted across my mind.

  The quick jump in my pulse when she looked up at me slowed back to a normal rhythm. My fecking guts ached from wanting to know what she was about to say. But we had an audience. And I wasn’t willing to share her—even visually—with anyone else. So it was probably for the best that she hadn’t provoked me.

  “Koehn!” Ambrose said.

  I shifted to look at him. “What?”

  He smiled as he shook his head. “Hector was explaining what else we learned tonight.”

  I turned to see the other ancient, a matching knowing smile on his face. “My king.” He dipped his head, his voice so sugary it made my teeth ache.

  Glaring at him, I nodded for him to begin…again.

  He nodded, his black hair glinting under the lights. His bright white smile was pointy. “We spoke with a couple of women who sold their services in that section of town.” He looked at Ambrose.

  Ambrose chuckled. “Not quite the prostitutes I would have recognized, but it is the oldest profession for a reason.”

  Vari chuckled. “You’ve known many whores, then, Ambrose?”

  His cheeks heated for a moment. “Not in the biblical sense, Mistress Vari. But enough of them, yes.”

  She saluted him with the remains of her sandwich. “Carry on, good fellow.” She winked at him.

  “Apparently, instead of cash or coin, one could buy these ladies’ time with marijuana, donations to a charity of their choice, or a pledge to help end wars and hunger.” Hector’s face showed his befuddlement.

  I snarled. “Hipsters.”

  Tavis nodded, rolled his eyes.

  “Not quite the World War II morale boosters, but everyone has a part to play to make the world a better place, yes?” Ambrose chuckled.