Heir to the Coven

by Melissa Leister

  “Is that for my benefit or theirs?”

  “Both.”

  I had laughed. It was the first time I had laughed since I came to the coven house. After the way all the others had treated me it would take awhile before I could be myself around them, but Kain I came to realize, had not been keeping his distance he had been appraising me. Even then he had had the good of the coven at heart. He had been my first friend and now I was supposed to believe that he had betrayed us all. How could I ever do that?

  I then remembered what Kain had said to me immediately after Gideon became dust, “You are a devious little one, sitting there calm as you please, eating steak with a spoon, all the while setting a trap.”

  Seems I wasn’t the only devious one in town this time around. What was Mercy going to think about what came next? She was going to hate me. I pulled out my phone and called Ben. “Bring him in.”

  Chapter 19

  Whenever a member of a coven was accused of a crime, their case was heard before the full household, meaning anyone currently inside the house. They were accused before the group, people were given a chance to defend or condemn the accused and then the questions started to fly. There had only been two trials in my time with the coven. One found the accused guilty and the other had to be referred up to the Elders who decided better safe than sorry and killed the accused guilty or not. They were a charming bunch.

  By the time I got home, Kain had been brought to the convening room and was seated at the table where all the coven members not on guard duty surrounded him. When he saw me he asked, “What the hell is going on Natasha? Frick and Frack here dragged me in from patrolling the lower side of town and stuck me here to wait for you to return.”

  “That’s what I was going to ask you Kain. What the hell is going on? If you confess I will kill you quickly instead of letting them tear you apart for the risk you took with all of our lives.” I had everyone’s attention with that line.

  “I have nothing to confess to,” he said. “Where is Rainor? Why isn’t he here to witness your psychotic break?”

  I glanced over at Fitch who said, “He is on his way downstairs as we speak.”

  “Good, I want him to be here for the accusation.”

  Everyone was murmuring to each other trying to figure out what Kain could have done to be put on trial. Mercy looked about ready to pass out as she approached me.

  “Tash you can’t think Kain would do anything to hurt the coven,” Mercy said. “What is this about?”

  “You’ll hear it along with everyone else unless Kain wants to speak up.”

  Mercy brushed past me and headed to the doorway where Rainor was entering. I noticed his complexion looked gray compared to what it had been earlier. This was really taking a toll on him. Mercy took his hand in hers and said, “This is madness sir. Tell them to let Kain go.”

  “That I cannot do Mercy,” Rainor said. To me he asked, “Have you accused him yet?”

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  I stepped into the center of the room. “The treaty has been violated in our city.”

  That was as far as I got before the room erupted into a cacophony of voices. Questions came at me from every direction. What part of the treaty had been violated? Was I sure? What was Kain’s role in all of this? Was this the reason I came back? If the treaty had been violated where were the Soong? Surely the Order would send someone to clean up this mess? I held up my hand for silence to no avail. Finally I shouted, “HEY!”

  Silence.

  “Thank you. As I was saying, the treaty has been violated and I was charged with finding out who was behind it before the Elders stepped in and made us all pay. The story in The Sun about a half vampire baby was about a half-caste baby born to a woman living in our city. Kain stands accused of holding the baby’s mother hostage and plying her with vampire blood to create a half-caste and violate the terms of the peace treaty in the hopes of restarting the war.”

  Rainor scanned the room. “Does anyone have anything to say that will damn or save him?”

  No one said a word. The only sound was a hiccoughed sob from Mercy. Everyone else seemed too stunned to speak or move.

  “Anyone?”

  Again no response.

  “Very well then,” Rainor said. “Natasha will begin the questioning.”

  “I know first hand that you visited Megan McCoy’s old apartment because I saw you there. Why were you there Kain?” I asked.

  “You were the person who jumped out of the bathroom window?” he asked.

  “Then you admit you were there?” I asked.

  “Tricky, tricky. Yes, I was there as were you Natasha. If that makes me guilty then you are just as much to blame.”

  “I was there as part of my investigation, as Rainor knows. Now we need to know why you were there.”

  Kain’s eyes flickered over all the faces in the room and found no sign of support showing on any of them. Mercy did give him a small stretching of the lips. He sighed. “I heard Fitch giving that address to someone over the phone. I didn’t know whom he was talking to, but given the situation it was strange enough I thought I would check it out to see if it led me to our traitor. Imagine my surprise when I wound up at an abandoned apartment where someone, who evidently was you Natasha, jumped out the window. It did make me ask some questions of the landlord and that’s when I found out who used to live there. I’ve been investigating it on my own ever since. I assumed whoever fled the scene had something to hide.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me what you were up to?”

  “Why didn’t you ask me? Trust is a two way street Tash. If you didn’t trust me enough to question my actions how was I going to trust that you would believe me or that the only thing you came back for was Rainor’s throne?”

  This was unreal. Here he sat accused of a crime and he was trying to cast suspicion on me! “I’m the one that told you about this you jerk. Why would I tell you about the baby and put discovery at risk when no one knew about it save our leader until I told you?”

  “To make sure the Elders found out about it. I mean, why would anyone look at the heir who clued me in to help her hunt? We all know how much you hate vampires for the way you were treated as a child. You have more of a personal reason to set up Anton’s caste because most of them are of your bloodline even if he was the only one present in your life back then.”

  “So my motive was to have the entire Hadi line wiped out starting with a bunch of vampires who had nothing to do with my childhood and the one vampire most of you accuse me of wanting to screw? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.”

  “That’s why I was investigating, to find out the truth for myself.”

  “We are supposed to believe that every time you vanished you were secretly investigating this?” Rainor asked.

  Kain banged the table with his fists. “What was I going to do? Tell everyone we were keeping this from that I was looking into a secret mystery that I couldn’t talk about? Gee that wouldn’t tip anyone off.”

  “Is that why you were with Megan McCoy the other night?” I asked.

  “What are you talking about? I have never laid eyes on her,” Kain said.

  “You weren’t with a red-haired waitress?” I asked.

  “No!”

  Someone was lying to me. I knew why Kain would lie, but why would Dawn? I looked over at her and saw her roll her eyes as if to say, he’s not going to admit it now. “What did you find in the vampire quarter the night I was there on my date?”

  “I’d rather not say in front of everyone.”

  Rainor said, “Answer her.”

  “It has nothing to do with this.”

  “Answer her.”

  “I was buying Mercy an engagement ring!”

  Mercy yelped, “What?”

  “I didn’t want anyone to know since it is next to impossible to keep a secret in this house so I went to a jeweler in the vampire quarter. Stupid in light of recent events,
but not unbelievable I would think.”

  I asked, “Where’s the ring?”

  “Being sized. I picked it out and paid the deposit the night you saw me. I stole one of Mercy’s rings for him to measure and paid the rest of the money for it earlier today. He cut me a break on the price for paying cash. I’m supposed to pick it up next week.”

  “Do you have any proof?” I asked.

  “Well there’s the removal of $15,000 from my account.”

  “You expect us to believe that?” Max asked at the same time Mercy asked, “Tell me you didn’t pay that much money for a rock attached to some shiny metal you idiot?”

  She obviously believed him. Or she was in on it and trying to maintain their cover.

  “I’m going to need something more substantial Kain.”

  He thought for a moment. “I have a copy of the receipt to take with me when I go to pick it up. I didn’t see the point since a jeweler in vampire land doesn’t see many seven foot half-castes coming his way, but now I suppose it will serve a purpose after all.”

  “Where is it?”

  “I had on my brown bomber jacket this morning so it should still be in the pocket. I left it there to keep prying eyes from finding it.”

  Rainor looked at Gabriel. “Bring it to me.”

  Gabriel left and returned in a few minutes. “Nothing there.”

  “It has to be there!” Kain said. “It’s a pink slip of paper with ‘paid’ stamped on it. The address and name of the jewelry store is printed on the top. I double checked that it was there on my way to my room because it was windy out and once I got home I got paranoid it might have gotten lost.”

  “I turned all the pockets inside out on all of your jackets, there was nothing there man,” Gabriel said.

  “I think we’ve heard all we need to.” I turned to Rainor, “Don’t you agree sir? There is no need to drag this torment out longer like eating steak with a spoon and no knife. This is a simple cut and dry matter where Kain is concerned.”

  Rainor met my eyes for a moment. “Yes, I agree.”

  “Does anyone wish to disagree with the guilty verdict?”

  A lot of heads shaking were the only response I got.

  Keeping my voice level and free of anything but the lash of anger such a situation deserved I looked over at the guards and said, “Take him.”

  “No!” Mercy screamed.

  “Natasha, don’t do it this way!” Kain shouted as five men surrounded him to put the shackles on.

  “Sorry Kain, but you left yourself wide open for this. You are going to have to deal with it.”

  No one questioned why Kain did not fight those who came to bind him. If he really had been willing to put us all at risk by restarting the war, he should have been willing to fight to the death to save his own neck because this was going to get him executed. Did they all believe the evidence or were they too afraid to go against me to point out this strange behavior on his part? Maybe they thought I was behind it and would set up anyone who objected to Kain taking the fall.

  Wow. That paranoia of mine was still alive and well.

  Mercy just stood there with tears streaming down her face unsure of what to do. Should she fight to free her man or spit in his face? I really did feel sorry for her, but Kain had done this to them both with his secrets and there was nothing I could do at the moment to fix it. This was going to have to play out the way it was.

  Chapter 20

  With Kain’s shouts reverberating against the walls I turned my back on the drama of his dragging off and headed towards the staircase to go to my room. Dawn appeared at my side. It was probably wrong of me, but I couldn’t help but think this was the start of her bid to gain a larger portion of my favor and a larger piece of the power in the coven now that Kain’s position was open. I didn’t see her as an enforcer, but not every enforcer was the leader’s advisor as Kain had been. I didn’t see her as an advisor on anything other than where to buy traditionally sluty attire or chase men. Beach blondes were hardly intimidating figures to strike fear in the hearts of enemies and wrong doers. So this really was a wasted effort on her part if she was looking to be anything other than my friend; a position I had just proved got you nowhere.

  “I can’t believe it was Kain,” she said. “He was Rainor’s right hand while you were gone. If you hadn’t come back he would have been our leader and he was going to put all our lives at risk.”

  “Thanks for the recap,” I snapped. I needed to process before I talked to anyone about this.

  Dawn stood her ground and gave me a supportive smile. “I can’t imagine how hard this is on you. I know he and Mercy were your closest friends and just think if he didn’t start a war the Elders could have killed you as the person who ran the coven that violated the treaty. That has to sting. I mean he was your friend and now you’re going to have to kill him unless you pass it off on someone else to do. And Mercy, she will never forgive you for ordering the death of the man she loves no matter how deserved she knows it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if you wound up having to put her down too.”

  “Dawn!” The last thing I needed to think about was having to kill Mercy because she was bent on revenge. “She is as much your friend as she is mine, neither one of us should be thinking about killing her. Right now you can do all three of us a favor and forget gossiping so you can comfort her. She needs a shoulder right now, not me. I know the score tonight; she has a harder path than even Kain does.”

  “Of course. Sorry for trying to be your friend.” She turned on her heel and strode off in the direction I had last seen a sobbing Mercy trailing after Kain as they dragged him off in chains.

  *****

  After an hour spent pacing my room and deciding that I really needed to redecorate I realized that pacing and worrying about décor were not burning off the angry, nervous energy I needed to burn off. I needed to be free of these walls and the secrets they held before I lost my mind and my ever thinking about what the room I slept in looked like was a sure indicator that I was on the edge of insanity. Time for Plan B.

  I was getting ready to go out on a sweep of the city when someone knocked at my bedroom door. Honestly I was not in the mood to deal with anyone after everything that went down with the vampires earlier this evening and with the Kain fiasco as the capper. About the only thing I wanted to do was go out and find something to hit until I managed to hit on the alternative to Kain having been the one to betray the coven. So far I was not coming up with a lot of options. While I may have played it cool during his take down, I was neither so certain nor so calm about it internally. Yes, hitting something or at least searching for something to hit was a much better option for me at this point than dealing with whoever was on the other side of that door. That person was either really brave or really desperate.

  “Open the door Natasha,” Mercy said.

  Damn. I really did not need her right now. “Mercy, I know you are upset, but it’s not going to do either of us any good to pursue this now.”

  “You locked up the man I love! The least you can do is hear me out.”

  At least she didn’t play the “you’re my friend” card. That would not have gotten her in the door the way the boyfriend card did. With sigh I unlocked the door and let her in. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were swollen. From the look of her hands I think she may have hit the wall a few dozen times before coming to see me. They would heal by morning for her, but for tonight they were going to be painful. I needed to make sure the thing I hit tonight was not her, she had been through enough. “What can I do for you Mercy?”

  “You can tell me why.”

  “You know why.”

  “But you didn’t even look at anyone else. You dropped this bombshell on the coven at the same time you announced the supposed guilty party. How long could you have been investigating this?”

  “Since the day I came back.”

  She didn’t have a response to that.

  “Look Mercy, I kn
ow you are upset, but you need to accept what happened.”

  “How can I accept it? How can you? He was your friend!”

  This was clearly going nowhere. I brushed by her and left the room. She followed me down the hall, down the stairs and into the foyer where I had hoped to leave her behind and escape into the night, but she grabbed my arm. “Let go.”

  “No, not until you hear my theory.”

  “What theory?” I asked as I yanked my arm free.

  “That someone else is behind this and they set up Kain.”

  “You obviously have someone specific in mind, Mercy. Tell me your theory.” I sounded cold and bored even to my own ears, but I could not let emotion sway me or appear to have let emotion sway me.

  “There is someone, a half-caste, who has been asking a lot of questions; most of which are about our breeding habits from what you have told me. An uncovened half-caste has no loyalty to anyone if he has an axe to grind with those who created him.”

  “Christopher.”

  “You told me yourself that he asked about the type of women who bore half-castes willingly and what type of man would allow his child to be caste and not eventually try to rescue it. Let’s face it; he didn’t set foot near you until he saw you knock Dawn off her stool the night you met him. Don’t tell me you aren’t slightly suspicious of him.”

  She had a very good point. Chris had no fear of what I could do to him and he did ask a lot of uncomfortable questions. I hadn’t thought of them in terms of the coven, I had thought of them in terms of my mother, whose decision to be a dessert had always horrified me because it made her a plaything at another’s whim, and what that said about her. His questions about a man who would father a child bred for such a purpose had touched the nerve of not knowing who my own father was. To the vampires that raised me, it did not matter; Lucius was my father to them because it was his blood in my veins, but I had always wondered about the man who had donated the seed that made me and secretly asked myself why he never checked in on me. He was nothing to the vampires except a tool or dinner so they never would have thought about telling me his name or his fate. Even Anton did not mention him and he occasionally brought up my mother.