by Peter Dawes
Neither budged, even when we paused in front of the door. Vincent nodded at them both, saying, “An elder requesting audience with Master Zachary,” as a means of explanation. They glanced at us, but remained impassive, while Vincent knocked on the door and waited with us for a response. It took a few moments, but the sound of footsteps preceded a male voice chiming, “What is it?” from the other side.
“Guests, Master,” Vincent responded. “An elder who claims to be acquainted and his guard.”
“Which elder?”
Robin straightened his posture and smiled. “Zachary, please tell me you recognize Michael O’Shane,” he said, calling over Vincent’s shoulder. “I should like to think seeing me would jog your memory.”
“Of course I remember you, Michael,” Zachary said, his tone of voice turning more amiable. “Give me a moment to get better dressed for company.”
“Take your time, I know we’re early.” Robin folded his hands behind his back and fell silent, inspiring an awkward quiet to fall throughout the corridor as a whole. Vincent and the two guards refused to engage us any further in conversation, while I mused on how naked I felt without a weapon. The sound of the lock turning inspired a wave of relief, as did the sight of the door swinging open afterward.
A blonde-haired, human woman dressed in a short skirt greeted us on the other side. “Come in,” she said, her gaze lingering on Vincent and Robin before she turned and strolled back into the room. The former held the door open for us and shut it once we had made our way inside. I took a deep breath, eyes tracing across the decorations of the room in some effort to center myself. It bore a level of conservatism which seemed out-of-place for a vampire, the colors all shades of gray with accent rugs giving it only a touch of color. Robin walked ahead of me, and gave me somewhere to hide as we progressed into what appeared to be a sitting area.
The man I assumed to be Zachary lounged on a large, plush couch in front of us, another human woman curled up beside him. Clean-cut and dark-haired, he bore a few more years and a little extra weight than most vampires I had come upon, but still wore it well. A cigar burned between two fingers on his left hand, while his right lingered in the hair of the brunette seated beside him. The blonde sat at his other side, looking up at us as the other two did.
A light of illumination surfaced on his expression when he found Robin. “Michael O’Shane,” he said, delight evident in his accented brogue as he rose to his feet. Displacing his companions in the process, he also bent to place the cigar down on his ashtray before walking over to greet my brother. “It’s been far too long since we’ve seen each other.”
“Better than two decades,” Robin said, meeting Zachary in a quick embrace. As they pulled away, Robin’s hands lifted to rest on the coven master’s shoulders. “It pleases me that you remember me.”
“My Irish mother told me never to forget a fellow countryman.” The exchange of pleasantries distracted the other people in the room enough for me to scan it further. I noticed an open doorway leading into an office, but no windows or alternate exits anywhere else within my line of sight. Glancing back at the elder vampires, I directed my attention toward them in time for them to back away from their impromptu embrace.
“Alive and in the flesh,” Zachary said, his gaze skimming my brother from head to foot. His expression sobered. “Look at you. The grapevine says you should be perished.”
Robin laughed. “My word, news travels fast,” he said. “What had you heard?”
“Better not discussed in mixed company.” His eyes shifted quickly to Vincent.
“Understood, but just the same, I should like to discuss some matters with you.” My brother raised an eyebrow. “As a fellow elder.”
The coven master nodded. He glanced at Vincent and gestured toward his company. “Could you lead the ladies upstairs and have Isabelle get them settled? We’ll have to delay the festivities. Hopefully only for a few hours.”
“Yes, Master,” Vincent said, punctuating his response with a slight bow of respect. He looked toward the ladies, prompting them to their feet. They both kissed Zachary’s cheek as they walked past, but followed Vincent out without any argument.
Robin watched them leave, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I hope I am not interrupting anything,” he said.
“Nothing that can’t wait.” Zachary acknowledged my presence by pointing in my direction. His focus lingered with Robin, however. “If you want, you can have your companion bide his time with the others.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like him to stay.” Robin made his way to a plush chair opposite Zachary’s couch and sat. Crossing one leg over the other, he folded his hands atop his lap. “Let your guards mind your protection without needing to be concerned about mine.”
The coven master finally trained his sights on me, studying me with skepticism latent in his expression. I remained still under the scrutiny, eyes set on him in return through the protection of my sunglasses. “If we’re to discuss the matter of elders together, Michael, it should probably be without anyone else present,” Zachary said, looking back toward my brother. “No offense intended.”
My mouth opened, but Robin interrupted before I could speak. “None taken on Peter’s account, I can assure you. And while we’re on the topic, I go by Robin now. You are right that these are matters between elders, but be that as it may, I prefer Peter’s company. He has proven he can keep quiet about things best held in confidence.”
I bristled while Zachary sighed. “Always did have a soft spot for the type, didn’t you?” he asked, pointing toward an empty chair. Tempted though I had been to take offense to Robin’s words, the curious comment from the coven master befuddled me instead. The paternal smile Zachary offered in my direction did nothing to help. “Make yourself comfortable, Peter, but remember anything you hear discussed stays in this room. I trust your master enough to know he wouldn’t invite someone in who couldn’t maintain discretion, but still, it has to be stated.”
“Understood completely, Master Zachary,” I said, walking over to the chair and settling myself in place. Robin glanced at me as Zachary walked back to his couch. Perking an eyebrow, I asked, “For the type?” telepathically, but my brother ignored me.
Instead, he met Zachary’s gaze when the coven master took his seat. “I see you had to move,” Robin said, fidgeting slightly before relaxing once more.
“A recent change, sadly,” Zachary said, resting against the back of his couch. “I’ve always been nervous, leading a group of immortals with the Supernatural Order so close, but things seem to have hit a head. I haven’t encountered this much tension since leaving Europe.”
“It seems the West Coast is usually where I have my entanglements with the Order.” Robin folded his hands atop his lap and frowned. “My maker is dead. My coven, in shambles. And now, there’s a rogue seer on the loose? Has the Order gone mad?”
Zachary barked out a laugh. “I think the Order has more sense than that. No, it’s not them as a whole. It’s just been one seer.” He raised an eyebrow. “I believe you know him personally.”
“Flynn.” My brother acted the part so well, I might have believed the sorrow sincere when his frown deepened. Glancing away, Robin shook his head, rueful. “I didn’t want to believe he’d incited this entire fiasco. It was hard enough accepting his actions in Philadelphia.”
“I can’t begin to imagine. Were the two of you…?”
“Friends. Nothing more. Well, brothers, but then he turned against us.” He sighed. “My mistress had played with fire in the first place by turning him. Such a pity the rest of us had to suffer for it.”
“She knew he was a seer?”
“Oh yes, and I tried to caution her against turning him, but she swore he could be used for her own ambitious ends. Then, he realized his gifts and went on a rampage. I think turning Flynn vampire only gave him more of a taste for slaughtering his own kind.”
“I was told he’d been trained an a
ssassin. That suddenly explains a lot.” Zachary shook his head as well. “I had a visitor recently who’d dealt with him as well. Ian Carmichael, from Chicago. Do you believe the seer single-handedly massacred Ian and his immortal children?”
“I take it this was a fair amount of vampires.”
“His entire coven decimated. The rest of us have held our peace only because he flocked to the Order for protection under their wing.”
“That surprises me. One would think they’d have no taste for a vampire-seer.”
“Oh, I think they have the perfect weapon in their employ. You even just said it. He has a taste now for murdering his own kind. His tear through Seattle last night read of the Order winding him up and setting him loose on us.”
“Flynn was never one to need much provocation,” Robin said, gesturing at Zachary with one hand. “But come now, we know they have more sense than that. The Order would be more likely to lock him behind bars and throw away the key than they would to set him loose like that again.”
Zachary raised an eyebrow. “What makes you figure that?” he asked.
“Well, if their disgust for having such an abomination under their employ wasn’t enough, he’s a walking contradiction. Hunter and vampire? I would fear his loyalties able to be divided.”
“Ian already attempted it. That was what got him killed.” He sighed. “This seer can’t be seduced.”
“Then, tell me this… Why would the Order provoke us?” Robin leaned closer, brow arched again. “If they were the ones who set him loose, then this could denigrate into a call for open war.”
“They might be willing to risk it.” The coven master hesitated, an idle glance spared in my direction before it shifted back to Robin. He reached for his cigar, the other arm draping across his lap while he brought the cigar to his lips. Several puffs ignited the end, a billow of smoke filling the room when Zachary plucked the cigar out and issued a slow, contemplative exhale. His gaze rose heavenward as he finally spoke again. “As I said, Ian had attempted to win his favor. He gambled and lost quite a lot, including his life. But he left us with one card left to play.”
Once again, I marveled at Robin’s ability to act. He looked genuinely surprised. “A card to seduce Flynn? Now this, I must hear.”
“Well, if you have nothing of value to offer somebody, the best thing to do is acquire something. Or so Ian reasoned.” Zachary paused, lingering on a thought for a few additional seconds. When his eyes shifted back to Robin, a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. “We have his watcher.”
“You have…” Robin looked ready to rise to his feet at any moment. “His watcher? Here? Are you courting death?”
“No, gods, no. We would have to be courting death in order to keep her here.” Sighing, he rested his cigar on the ashtray again. “I haven’t told you everything and for good reason. The more you know about this situation, the more of a target that makes you. And you haven’t become entangled in this mess.”
“But you have? Why, Zachary?”
A rueful smile replaced the smirk. “I already told you. So many years with the Supernatural Order breathing down our necks. We came to this city first, thinking we had a sanctuary, and lo and behold they built an entire headquarters right here, in our backyard. We’ve stayed here in as much to protest as because it’s our natural right.” His facial expression turned solemn. “My children have remained faithful. The newcomers aren’t convinced, however. Several have considering leaving and I can’t blame them. This latest attack only proves just how maligned we are, simply being what we are.”
Pity filled Robin’s eyes. “My friend, it has been like this longer than you and I have been alive.”
“And will continue to be unless someone does something about it.”
“But Ian Carmichael?” Robin shimmied further forward. “I am not ignorant about the man. He had no regard for the natural order.”
“Natural order? What damned natural order?” He huffed. “A human invention.”
“An eternal reality. Our entire bloodline is accursed.”
“Is it really, Michael?” Zachary raised an eyebrow. “I invite you to consider that we could just rise up and murder the seer, but we don’t. Do you know why? It’s because he’s as much the key to our salvation as he is to our damnation. This is why I housed Ian under my roof and gave him sanctuary. The seer was being judged by the Order and Ian tried reasoning with him. Even with his watcher in our possession, he still murdered the hand attempting to rescue him.”
“Now you’re telling me Ian was rescuing him, not seducing him. Which one is it?”
“Both. I suppose. The Order allowed Flynn to act as their defense when Ian tried to play his hand, and since then he’s been their favored son.” Zachary pointed at his chest. “I didn’t have any hand in that. In any of it. Ian had the witch hidden away well before he even arrived here.”
My disposition soured and I frowned as a reflex. Robin did as well, though I was certain Zachary read the gesture as concern for his benefit. “The level of your involvement hardly matters, “Robin said. “Zachary, if you think the Order are the ones who set him loose again, then you need only look as far as your own hands to find the reason why. You have one of their witches. And now, he has vengeance poisoning his mind. You are all damned. And so am I if I stay here much longer.”
“Time will tell, I suppose,” Zachary replied. “If you feel you need to leave, then go.”
My brother paused. I watched his expression shift to something unreadable while the silence that settled provided him ample chance to gather his thoughts. If I could have nodded at him, I would have. Somehow, I suspected finding Monica here, or her whereabouts readily apparent, would be too easy. Now, we had to change topics.
Zachary preempted my brother, perhaps aware of the terseness resonating from his final words. “Look, you aren’t wrong to be nervous. Or wrong to be concerned for my benefit. If he comes looking, he might very well try to massacre us, but he’ll find it impossible to discover where she’s been taken.”
Just as we had given up hope. Even Robin straightened in his chair. “So, you do know where she’s been taken.”
“Not precisely where, but should he come looking, he’ll be doing us a favor in the process.”
“A favor? How?”
“All I was told is her place of captivity borders a site of interest to us.”
My brother shook his head. “You speak riddles with me, Zachary, when I thought you’d deigned me trustworthy.”
“I have, but the others…” Zachary frowned. His gaze jumped away before finding Robin’s again. “There are secrets the uninitiated shouldn’t know. I thought you were an advocate of the natural order.”
“I am, but that doesn’t mean I plan on walking up to the Order and knocking on their door to tattle.”
“Granted.” He took a deep breath and held onto it for several beats before exhaling it. In the pregnant pause which lingered, I felt Robin and I both lean closer to Zachary, even if we did not physically move an inch. When he nodded, I fought the urge to prod him along, being forced into patience much the same as my brother was.
Finally, a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “The legend of the scrolls is true,” he said.
I blinked twice before perking an eyebrow. While the admission made no sense to me, I saw Robin’s expression sober dramatically, his brow furrowing first before a look of confusion and wonder took over his gaze. He glanced away, in my direction, though his eyes peered through me without completely engaging mine. When they regained focus, they immediately found the coven master. “I have heard this myth,” he said. “A very long time ago while traveling.”
Zachary nodded, his smile broadening. “We all have, at some point. It seems to make its way through Europe more than here in the States, but those of us who are past a century have encountered it somewhere.”
This time, I was completely convinced my brother had no need for acting. This only served to intrigue me
, tempting me toward a cursory form of telepathic prodding. “That mythology is ridiculous, though,” Robin said. “Like some bedtime story we tell as if we had our own personal St. Nicholas.”
“It depends on what form of the story you’ve heard, Michael.” Zachary punctuated the comment with a laugh. “Listen, I had the same reaction you did when Ian first mentioned it. But, my friend, I’ve seen it. Ian…” He hesitated for a moment, visibly regrouping. “Ian showed me and gave it to his children to take away with them.”
Robin raised an eyebrow. “I thought his children perished.”
Zachary waved his hand dismissively. “I said his coven had been decimated. I didn’t mean all his children had been slaughtered as well.”
“He had other children not with him?”
“Apparently. The point is, I don’t know where it is now other than being in better hands than mine.” He sat forward to pluck the cigar from the ashtray again, disturbing the embers on the end and knocking some onto the table. The next few puffs he indulged took on an air of exasperation; perhaps even nervousness. “Now, could we please discuss something else?”
Robin sighed, and in the space between Zachary’s question and my brother’s response, I found my voice. “He is lying,” I said.
Both Robin and Zachary shifted to look at me as my interjection hung in the air between us. As my brother blinked, his thoughts crumbling into a disjointed mass of rubble, I allowed my focus to diminish past the small glimpse I had allowed myself into both their minds. It had been enough to force my hand. “I beg your pardon?” Zachary asked.
“Beg all you wish,” I said with a smirk, “But you are not fooling either of us.” My gaze found Robin’s, whose eyes had widened with my words. Offering the only apologetic look I felt apt to give for my intrusion, I rose to my feet and paced closer to the coven master, focusing on him exclusively. I reached up to slowly remove my sunglasses. “Now, please try again, this time with a measure of the truth.”
