“Ok, have the accountants and managers ready to meet tomorrow. I want to know what’s earning us money and what’s a drain on our resources.”
“Planning to sell?”
“I’ll run it by Rainor first, of course, but it’s bait cutting time. It sounds like we’re over extended and I’d rather have five outstanding businesses than ten mediocre ones.”
“Since when do you know business Tash?”
I smiled, but didn’t reply. Max came to say the car was ready. I picked up my fitted black leather jacket, slipped my arms into the sleeves and lifted my dark hair free from beneath the collar.
Kain said, “Think you’ve got enough leather on?”
So my pants were black leather too. And the corset over my red silk tank top. “You’re one to talk Kain, we match except for the red silk.”
“He’s going to comment.”
“Who?”
“You know who. He’s going to comment and you’re going to pop off.”
“I’ve learned not to pop off. I’m 109 years old!”
“Being in your eighties didn’t stop you, what’s another twenty years or so? There’s a pool going to see how long it takes until you hit him.”
“He’s our ally. Even when he wasn’t our ally I never hit him.”
“We’ll see.”
We were arguing about Anton. I had re-met Anton as an adult when I returned to the coven after an absence in the 1980s, but we had known each other when I was just a little girl. Lucius had turned Anton into a vampire 500 years ago and the jerk still liked to needle like a thirteen year old boy. I had had purple hair the last time our paths crossed. He called me a street urchin and I spit in his face. But I didn’t hit him. I pointed that out to Kain as we slid into the car. He only laughed.
Twenty minutes later we arrived at the meeting location. I’ll admit we didn’t exactly tell the vampires Rainor was sending a replacement. I was hoping to throw them a little. Through the tinted window I could see Anton sliding out his limo behind his three guards and glancing back at mine. I should have known he would sense me; he was always able to sense when I was near. He had not changed much in the two decades since I last saw him except his black hair was now short and worn in a spiky style. His black eyes still crackled with vitality and his face was still sharply gorgeous. He was dressed in a suit that screamed expensive.
Kain slid out first and held the door open for me. I could see him smirking as he saw Anton’s suit and glanced back at my leathers. I raised a brow at him and slid out. I heard the vampires hiss. They felt slighted Rainor had not come and those who recognized me were not pleased. I winked at them.
“Greetings cousins. Rainor could not be here tonight so he sent me as his second.”
A tall blonde vampire snarled. “We are not cousins!”
I raked him with my eyes. Being near any vampire gave me a prickling sensation, but a vampire who was Hadi I could feel a mile away and this one was not a Hadi. “No, we’re not related at all. Where did you find him Anton? The SPCA?”
The vampire growled.
Anton laughed. “Easy Tristan. Natasha likes to nettle and if she knows she can get to you she won’t stop.”
“A fine way to speak about your sister.” He hated when I called him my brother because he did not think of me in a familial way and no vampire liked to be reminded half-castes shared their illustrious blood.
“Do you see what I mean Tristan?”
Tristan said, “Yes Master.”
“Then you know you must restrain yourself or I will give you to her.”
Well that was unexpected. Anton was using me as a threat to keep his man in line and he was warning them there were consequences to slighting me. Very unexpected indeed. Damn. My manners were going to have to improve and I wanted to get a few more cuts in on him.
I inclined my head towards Anton, as the half-caste second should to the vampire Master now that we were all friends. “I take it my arrival was unexpected.”
“As you planned.”
“You need better spies then.”
“How is Rainor?”
The question was spoken with enough care and conviction I found myself wanting to answer honestly. But then Anton had once been my safe haven as a child and telling him my secrets had been a habit. This was going to be a very touchy working relationship. Oh, bad choice of words, I said to myself. “Our leader is being well taken care of and it is our hope that his path is an easy one.”
Anton raised a brow at me. I saw Kain’s mouth twitch when he realized where I must have gotten that habit from. Anton said, “Well spoken. It is not my wish to make any transitions harder. I came here tonight to offer Rainor my assistance with any matters he might not feel up to handling on his own, but I see he has a capable second at his side.”
The shock this statement gave the vampires with Anton was palpable. I think Kain’s jaw dropped for a second, but my own surprise was so great I really wasn’t paying that much attention. He was backing off?
Anton continued, “I know leadership is a new role for you Natasha, so I offer my services as a mentor should you need any guidance.”
Not backing off, regrouping. Same package new wrapping. I had my own plans. “Actually there is something I wanted to discuss with you. Tomorrow I plan to devote my time to going over our businesses. I want to know what we have and what we shouldn’t. Once I have a better grasp of our standing, I was thinking of trying something new. How would you feel about a joint venture?”
I had his attention. Anton took a step closer and Kain bristled. I held out my hand to keep the enforcer in his place. Anton said, “A joint venture?”
“Yes. This city has half-caste clubs and vampire clubs and the humans who aren’t vampire groupies pretty much gawk at both but stay away unless one of us pays one of their establishments a visit for kicks. We are missing out on a valuable cash crop. I want to capitalize on their curiosity about us. Why not open a club run by both of our people that allows anyone to enter? You don’t eat the clientele and we won’t kill you.”
Tristan laughed. “Master, this is absurd! There is no way we can share space with them and humans in the mix is simply a temptation for one of our brothers or sisters to slip so they can justify wiping us out.”
Anton’s white hand lashed out and Tristan was on the ground. If he had been human I doubt his neck would still be in one piece. “Who gave you leave to speak?” Anton’s eyes had gone red.
Tristan wiped blood from his mouth. “No one, Master.”
“Then hold your tongue or I will hold it for you.”
Tristan’s head bowed.
Anton turned his attention back to me. “An interesting suggestion Natasha. May I ask why you of all people want this meshing of societies?”
I had to be careful how I said this. “Because someone else maybe taking advantage of an opportunity we missed.”
“What have you heard?”
“There are rumors that someone is violating certain trade agreements. Quiet rumors, but ones that travel far.”
“Only if you have good ears.”
“Mine are excellent.”
Anton smirked. “From what I’ve heard, excellent could be an understatement.”
“Do you really want to know for sure?”
“No.”
Now it was my turn to smirk. “If we establish a better trust we can see if someone isn’t willing to play nice or if someone is trying to start a fight.”
“We can also keep an eye on those who like to get too close to things they shouldn’t. They are the ones that lead to trouble.”
“Exactly.”
“I will give this matter serious thought Natasha. I will let you know my decision.” Anton extended his hand.
It was a dodgy thing to shake a vampire’s hand. They all have claws and it gave them a really good chance to rake open your wrists. But my reflexes were as good as theirs and I had my own claws. I took his hand and shook it. “I look forward to hear
ing from you.”
Summoning Kain, I headed back towards the car. I didn’t look behind me, but I had the feeling Anton was looking at my ass as I walked away. Once we were inside, Kain asked, “What the hell was that about Tash?”
“I didn’t just come back to take over Kain. We have a big problem brewing and if you haven’t heard about it, it could be bigger than I thought.”
“How big?”
“The treaty has been violated and it happened in our city.”
Kain had no comeback for that one.
When the war began, we needed to be able to replace those we lost, so half-caste covens began abducting vampires, draining their blood and feeding it to our pregnant women or to willing pregnant human women. Needless to say the vampires did not like this and they made it part of the peace treaty that this “act of rape” as they called it be stopped. We had agreed only if, after 50 years of peace, they lifted their internal ban on making half-castes so vampires could willingly make them again. Three months before my return, a half-caste baby had been born in this city. The mother said she was kept in a room and fed blood by someone who had warm skin, but who was very strong, she had seen him rip a door off its hinges in a fit of rage.
It sounded like one of us was making half-castes again, especially when there were rumors of vampires in the city going missing and we weren’t supposed to be killing them for fun anymore. There were a lot of half-castes that were not happy with the peace so violating the treaty and increasing our numbers would benefit them, but the fact remained that vampires could swell their numbers in a few hours while it took us nine months and close to two decades to have a mature half-caste at full strength. It was incredibly stupid to spark a new war this way. But a vampire who hated the treaty could make a new half-caste and make the mother lie about her pre-birth experiences. And a vampire trying to spark a war was not a good thing either. Our Elders wanted the peace kept and their Council said they wanted the same. That meant we had to find out whose side was creating this problem and why before enough vampires disappeared that Anton had to act and everyone’s attention was drawn and it could not be ignored.
Kain shook his head. “Rainor never said a word to me. My sources in town haven’t mentioned a thing. Was he testing my skills?”
“I doubt it. He and Anton knew. I assumed Rainor thought if you found out on your own, fine, if not, it was best kept quiet. I don’t think Anton told his people either. After all, the person responsible could be one of our own.”
“So I’m a suspect?” Kain’s body had gone tense.
I put my hand on his arm. “I’m coming into this fresh. I know a lot of the players, but I haven’t been part of this game in awhile, loyalties can change. I know you Kain, I know you are loyal to the core, but you lost as many people to this war as I have and that could be an issue. At this point everyone is a suspect, but you’re low on the list for me.”
“Well that’s comforting,” he dryly. After a few moments of silence he said, “You knew before you came.” It was not a question.
“I’ve always been close to the Elders since they looked after me for several years. They are concerned.”
“Did they send you here for this?”
“Did the Elders send me? No, the Elders didn’t. Rainor’s condition just worked to my advantage.”
“So the club…”
“Is actually a good business move, but it will let us see which humans are vampire groupie enough to possibly agree to be breeding stock if the vampires are making half-castes and which humans think half-castes are a good way to get a taste without getting bit back. Because this could still be a human girlfriend lying for her half-caste lover.”
“So you’ll be paying her a visit?” he asked.
“Thinking about it. I don’t want to tip my hand too soon and have everyone know that I had two reasons for coming back. For now I want the city to think I’m only here to take over the coven.”
We rode in silence back to the house. I was trying to decide my next best course of action about everything and I suspected Kain was still stung by the fact that he wasn’t given absolution from wrong doing at the start. As I started to get out of the car, Kain’s voice halted me.
He said, “I was thinking the whole way home how lucky we are the Order didn’t just descend upon us all and wipe out every vampire and half-caste in this city to protect the peace. I mean they never lost the right to kill one of ours without explanation to the coven leader, but since the war ended, the Order’s right to kill any vampire in any city without a by your leave from their Master or their Council was reinstated. Not that they didn’t do that during the war, but now their kills don’t violate the treaty. Those who belong to Soong can kill anyone anywhere.”
“They are vicious enough to take out an entire city without sending an emissary to investigate first. It would send a strong message. One more thing to worry about.”
As I walked towards the house, I could feel Kain’s eyes boring into my back. No one ever said I was the comforting type.
Chapter 3
The basement of the coven house was outfitted as a training area. New members learned how to fight and the rest of us honed our skills there. At this particular moment I was hitting things to help me think. Most people would question if training was still necessary, but aside from preparation should the peace fail, there were always vampires who did not belong to Anton to be killed if they hunted in the city and Anton’s vampires to be chased back where they belonged if they strayed into our area. The rules for who could hunt where and why were complicated. Anton’s people could hunt his territory and kill their victims if they wanted, so long as they kept it quiet, but they could not even take a sip from a human in our territory without our permission. No vampire could drink from a human in our city without Anton’s permission and if any vampire killed their dinner and it made the news, they were up for grabs from either side. We couldn’t kill Anton’s people and his people couldn’t kill ours unless one of us killed of the other without a legitimate reason. Fun no longer counted as a legitimate reason. The same rules tended to apply across the board now that the war was over. As Kain said, only one group could hunt a city at will for a half-caste or vampire without permission and without rebuke, and they were the Order.
Soong’s Order.
I hit the punching bag too hard and put my hand through it. The last thing this situation needed was the Order stepping in full force and taking everyone with a drop of vampire blood in them out. I needed to find out who made the new half-caste and where the missing vampires went, if not into casting that baby, sooner rather than later. My plan to open an all inclusive club would be a good start, but that meant I would have to turn one of our existing businesses into what I needed. Starting from scratch would take too long. Good, that meant I could put off that part until my meetings tomorrow. Next worry: Anton.
He had been a little too accommodating to me tonight. That usually meant he was up to something. I went to the cabinet and took out the stars to practice tossing beheading throws. It also didn’t hurt to practice pinning someone to a wall with them either. Plus it was fun. But I was getting off topic. Anton. He was most likely at home calling me his pet half-caste and cheering my pending ascension as being the same thing as him running our territory because I had the same blood as ninety-five percent of those who served him. This was the one time he would not mind reminding his vampires that I was Hadi and I had climbed out of the car and declared it for him. Damn it! I had compounded it by playing right into his hand, before he even knew he had a hand, by offering to share a business with him.
The stars thunked into the wooden target with a vengeance.
It was still a good idea, I told myself. We would be equal partners and if he gave me crap I could always star his ass to the wall. Just picturing that made me laugh.
“Does that mean you’re done killing the equipment?”
“Dawn!”
“In the flesh baby. I can’t believe I w
as on patrol when you got in yesterday.”
“What did you do to get sentenced to a week of border patrol?”
“Kain told you.”
“Kain. Mercy. Gabriel. Harris. The guy who delivered the paper to the house this morning.”
Dawn snorted. “Like you were up when the paper was delivered.”
If there was one member of the coven who did not look like a half-caste, it was Dawn. She was all golden hair and tanned skin. Put her on a beach and she could be Miss July. Actually you could put her on that beach for the next fifty years and she could still be Miss July. “Spill.”
“I pissed off Kain.”
“By?”
“He and Mercy had a fight so I sent her a stripper to cheer her up.”
“Very nice.”
“I thought so.”
Mercy and I had been friends for decades before Dawn joined us. In fact Mercy and Dawn had buddied up while I had been away the first time. I came back and the three of us hit it off. “No one ever said Kain lacked a sense of humor.”
“Well I figured since you were back to protect me maybe the three of us could have a girls night out tonight. It’s only eleven, we could hit the clubs.”
Did Rainor’s heir have the right to go party? It would not be dignified. What the hell? What fun was living forever if you spent all your time being serious? Besides the city needed to get a look at me. “I’ll go change.”
*****
“Why is it when I dress like a human I look all the more like a vampire?” I asked when no one else at the bar would come near me except Dawn and Mercy.
Mercy laughed. “You look beautiful Tash, you just give off a vibe. It can be intimidating.”
“It’s the skin and the way you move,” Dawn said. “It screams vampire. You could pass if you had fangs.”
Heir to the Coven Page 2
