by Lucy Lyons
“You are awfully pragmatic for your age,” he muttered as pulled me onto him. “While I appreciate it, I hope I haven’t jaded you by bringing you into your full power so young.” I fought the urge to be offended by him bringing up my age, since I’d just done the same thing two seconds before. Instead, I wriggled into a more comfortable position and his body responded to me, which meant he’d fed recently.
I tried not to let it bother me that he had fed off someone else while I was sleeping, but it ruined the mood for me. Neurotic? Absolutely. But, what could I expect from the life I’d lived been raised in? I didn’t say anything, but pretended I hadn’t noticed and slid off him to the side to cuddle again. Sometimes, I’d learned, the best I could do was not start the fight, even though I reserved the right to be mad as hell if I wanted.
Now that I was paying attention, his skin was warmer than usual, too. It hadn’t registered, because Nick and I hardly ever woke up together. It seemed every time we tried to take some time for ourselves to take the next step physically, someone interrupted us about the club, or one of us was too wounded, or the vampire world was in a state of crisis.
“You know, everyone is in love with the idea of vampires, but no one really thinks about how hard we have to work to provide for our clan,” I complained as Nick ran his fingers down my arm to my hip. He nuzzled my neck while he massaged me with his unpinned hand, and all my coherent thoughts slipped out my ear and fell on the floor out of reach. “Adulting sucks,” I managed, as his fangs scraped my skin and raised goosebumps down to my toes.
He mumbled something I couldn’t understand and pressed himself against my behind as his fangs pressed against the muscular bend from my neck to my shoulder. I pressed my head into the pillow to give him room, and inhaled sharply as his fangs sank into me and his hand tightened on my hip, pulling me tight against his body.
I started pushing at the boy shorts I’d worn to bed and he gave me room to slide them down, just as a loud rapping sounded on the door.
“It’s a damned conspiracy, Nick. Pretend we aren’t here.” He groaned and licked the bite mark out of habit, even though I didn’t need his saliva to heal fast as his servant. Mostly, I figured he still did it because he liked the taste of me, as his girlfriend, not food. He slid off the bed and strode to the door. In the black silk pajama bottoms he was wearing, with his bare feet and messy hair, he still looked dangerous. But, only marginally more than the pure, animal, sex-appeal he exuded, even angry.
“This had better be good,” he snapped as he opened the door a crack. I glanced down to make sure I was covered when he didn’t open the door all the way, but the t-shirt I wore that matched the sleep shorts covered me, even if it was a little tight to be considered modest. I had a closet full of lingerie that Nick had bought me in anticipation for getting to see me in it all, but he’d started to understand that I was really not comfortable in all that silk and lace. Instead, he’d started buying pajamas like the ones I was wearing, comfortable and practical, if ever we needed to run from a fire in the subterranean fortress.
I heard Fin talking, but not what he was saying. Nick’s responses weren’t much better, and I gave up and rolled over in bed. I was the only member of the clan who regularly stayed up both night and day. Sometimes I wondered how much longer I could do it. Then I’d have that rare morning in bed with Nick for a few minutes before I had to work. Those minutes made everything better for a little bit.
Whatever they were talking about, they concluded their conversation and I head the heavy carved door fall shut behind me. I could feel apprehension from Nick, but bit my tongue instead of pushing him to speak before he was ready.
Nick sat on the edge of the bed behind me and rubbed my back without saying a word. I reached out to him through the power that connected us, and the doorway to his mind was slammed shut on me.
“Give me a moment, Caroline,” he softly commanded me, and my heart sank. What kind of information could be so bad that a centuries’ old vampire needed to compose himself before sharing it?
I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest resting my forehead on my kneecaps and waiting. I felt paralyzed as we sat there, incapable of moving until I knew what new manner of ugliness was attacking us now.
“Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together,” I finally offered. I turned to face him and wanted to rage at his cool, inscrutable expression. “You’re scaring me, Nick. Whatever it is, I’d rather know than be kept in suspense like this.”
“I’ve been challenged by Grandmaster Caius. He handed me a gilt-edged envelope, and I took out the letter inside. The paper was also flecked through with gold, which did nothing to minimize the horror of what was written on it.
To the Master of the Territories of the West Coast,
We of the council are most impressed with your ruthless conquest of the territories which you now hold, and the honor you bring to our people through the old ways you have sought to bring back. The shifters will be a most valuable asset to vampire-kind.
However, it is the wish of the council that you surrender your servant to Grandmaster Caius, that he may discern the core abilities that make these connections with shifters possible for your clan. You are free to divest yourself from your servant and choose another.
Failure to produce your servant to the council within two nights, will be considered a challenge to the authority of Grandmaster Caius and the council, and will be treated as such…
The letter went on detailing the address and manner in which I was to be surrendered, but my eyes wouldn’t focus on the words. I cleared my throat and took a few controlled breaths, then met Nick’s gaze.
“Okay, so what comes next?”
“I’ve ordered Fin to get the soldiers ready for an invasion. The wolves will need to be notified and brought in, and the humans who work for us brought down to the den from above so they can be protected.”
“Can’t we just tell them to stay home?” I asked, and Nick shook his head.
“Louis was in the club. He saw many of our humans, probably marked them for later culling. They made this about you, Caroline, but it isn’t. They are appalled that I have humans working for me and give them a wage, that we have the potential to become so powerful.”
“They’re jealous. Even though we’re not doing anything to anyone, and on top of not bringing any negative publicity to ourselves, we’re offering a model in which humans and vampires can coexist and vampires don’t have to hide, or drink animal blood or from donor bags exclusively.”
“Grandmaster Caius is not the head of the council. The head of the council has been in hibernation for over a thousand years. She wiped out so many humans and vampires in a mad attempt to drain the world dry, that the other council members worked together to bind her to a sleep that would last forever.”
“Wait, she drained vampires? No wonder they put her down.”
“Caroline, she was the last to have animals to call. When they forced her to sleep, they killed every shifter they could find, because they were afraid of her connection to them.”
“They were afraid that the shared dreams we have would be a way for her to communicate and free herself.”
Nick nodded and waited for me to catch up on the full implications of letting Caius have me. He was so old, no one could put a number to it, and that made him powerful in ways I couldn’t imagine. Not to mention the abilities that I might not have seen before or even read in the watchers’ library.
“They want to force me to find all the shifters, and then they’re going to kill us all.” I closed my eyes and squeezed them shut tight, as though I could make the world disappear by pretending it didn’t exist. We were close to the biggest battle we’d had to fight, and this time, we didn’t have the Venatores backing us. They may never have loved my relationship with Nick, but when I still worked for them, and Nick was my side-bit, they’d at least leant us the support we’d needed to stop the bad guys. Now, they were one more reason for us to keep looking
over our shoulders.
The bed shifted and I felt cool hands slide up under my t-shirt to stroke my back as Nick pulled me close to him. The skin to skin contact instantly took the knife-edge off my fear and the hammering of my pulse slowed slightly.
“Okay. What do we do now?”
“We prepare for war. I hope it will not come to that, but the shifters need to be ready to fight for their lives.”
“I’ll go get Dominique and have her contact her people in the Vatican.”
“The Venatores will not help.”
“This is their fault, Nick. The Venatores have set off every major division in the path we’re on. They sent me to California for a paid vacation. Convenient, no? Then they were the ones behind the murders that put us in the room with the wererats that you never realized existed… in your city.”
“You think the Venatores wanted us to fight the council?” he mocked. “The Venatores don’t even know the council exists. To them, the grandmaster vampires are the scary story you tell little baby hunters so they’ll be good.” He was right. Part of me wanted them to find out the hard way how wrong they were. But, mostly I just wanted the council to stay in Europe, terrorizing small rural villages and leaving us alone.
“I think the Venatores have been maneuvering for end-game, and we’ve been playing along without realizing it.” I kicked a pillow and slid off the bed after it, pacing the room. “They’ve wanted us to fight ourselves, the shifters, anything that would decimate us and force vampires to attack humans to maintain our numbers and survive battle.”
“It’s all been a smear campaign to make vampires look like the scourge we were in the middle ages.” He affirmed.
“God. We’re in the middle of a Venatores Lamiae fundraiser,” I laughed. It came out hollow and strange, and I felt tears sting my eyes. “My own people sacrificed me. I was believer. I would’ve volunteered. Instead, they sent me like a lamb to slaughter, then blamed me when I not only survived, but returned with information that contradicted all their lies.”
“Caroline. My love, you need to calm yourself.” Nick’s voice grew distant as I went over every word, every mission, every interview I’d conducted after my kidnapping. The same time that Dominique had taken me as her apprentice, even though I was only a student.
“I’m going to teach you everything you need to survive,” she’d said to me the first day. She’d pounded spells into my head, forced me to work until my power and my body gave out from sheer exhaustion.
“Dominique knew,” I said aloud, and felt pressure release in my ears with a popping sound, like I’d come down from a high altitude quickly and needed to readjust. I glanced over at Nick, who was staring at me with his hands out in front of him, reaching for me.
“Thank you for coming back to me, Caroline. If I’d been a human, I think I’d be unconscious from the sheer pressure of your power, right now.” He arched an eyebrow and I blinked rapidly and looked around. Gold flecks danced through the air and landed on my outstretched hand like glitter at a party.
I rubbed the flecks between my fingers, confused about where they came from, and Nick pointed at the scorch mark on the bed where I’d lain the council’s demands. I’d blown it up in my emotional overload.
“Caroline, I think you should try to get ready for the night. Fin contacted our people, and they will be joining us shortly.” Nick made the command gentle, but it was a command nonetheless. I looked at the burnt spot on the bed and silently started reinforcing my shielding. Nick didn’t need the distraction of my fear, or the possible small explosions from emotional overflow.
“What if the wolves won’t come?” I asked. I was still afraid for Clay, Dirk, Henny, and Rae.
“Then I do not know what the outcome will be for them. Go on, start a shower. I think tonight it’s best if you get ready by yourself.” I looked at the time on the clock, even though I could feel that the sun hadn’t set yet. Two days to prepare for an all-out war, and try to figure out how to avoid human collateral damage. There is one way, I thought as I started the shower. After all, the council didn’t declare war. They just asked Nick to give them me.
These were my people now. Knowing Nick could survive losing me, changed everything. I let the shower water roll over me as I came up with a plan of my own. For once, I was going to choose not to fight. I’d inadvertently begun the chain of events that led us to where we were. It was time for me to end it.
Chapter 8
When I got out of the shower, the bed was remade and there were clothes laid out for me. Rachel was still tidying up, which answered the question of who had done all that in the ten minutes I’d spent trying to force myself through the mundane tasks of washing my hair and body. My mind had not wanted to cooperate at first, but once I made the decision to turn myself over, everything cleared again and I’d been able to finish my shower quickly.
Neither of us spoke as she bustled about the room and I dressed, but when I slid the burgundy tank top over my head, my holsters and wrist sheath had materialized on the bed where my clothes had been. I’d special ordered the shoulder holster to accommodate my hanger, a short cutlass almost small enough to be called a dagger. I slipped it over my arms and jiggled it until the sheath sat comfortably between my shoulder blades. The hanger slid home in its sheath and I flipped my damp hair back to cover it, then added my Beretta to the holster and locked it in place.
Rachel knew my tastes well enough that without having to ask, I found a semi-sheer black button-down shirt at my elbow when I looked down again. I glanced over at her and managed a wry smile, and she nodded and went back about whatever Nick had asked her to do.
“Has he been gone long?” I finally asked as I secured the narrow buckles of the wrist sheath on my left forearm. I didn’t often use my throwing knives, but I wore the forearm and thigh sheaths everywhere. You could never overestimate the value of having a knife to pull, when fighting creatures preternaturally faster and stronger than you.
Last, I stood by a mirror and brushed back my hair, cursing Nick for demanding that I leave it so long. Brushed out, it fell in a long, straight curtain past my ribcage. It was great for hiding weapons, but was hot and I thought I looked ridiculous. Rachel stepped up behind me and deftly braided the top half of my hair, then tied it up in a bun near the top of my head with a leather thong that I used to secure the curved, razor sharp karambit. With my sleeves of the shirt rolled down, the only visible weapon was the knife on my thigh, and although I didn’t like to, I could take it off if necessary.
I looked myself over in the mirror, satisfied that I could walk out in public and not start a panic. I added mascara and lip gloss, the only makeup I regularly made time for, and turned to face Rachel with my arms spread.
“Do I look okay?”
She sniffed and shook her head. “You always look beautiful, Caroline.” She handed me my Glock 9mm and I slid it into a loop I’d sewn into the back of my pants. The shirt hid the gun, and the fabric loop was enough to keep the gun in the most comfortable position at the small of my back. I needed to just bite the bullet and add another holster, but I was used to the weight distribution of my weapons the way I carried them, and didn’t have the time to get used to anything new.
I stood for a moment, wracking my brain for another reason to stall joining the clan meeting. Rachel brought me my favorite shoes, a pair of black and white, wedge-heeled Converse I’d fallen in love with, and left without another word. I continued to go through my weapons, and added a hunting dagger in the tall shaft of my right shoe. Out of reasons to stall, I headed up a level to the conference rooms we had set up for both Pulse and clan business. I waved to Fin as he ushered a couple of shifters through the door ahead of him, and he gave me a quick one-armed hug before I followed them into the room.
Nick was already at the head of the table, with Rachel standing behind him to the left, and Colette standing behind the empty seat to his right. That empty seat was mine, if I could get past the crush of bodies to join h
im at the head of the immense conference table. I felt eyes on me and scanned the room until I met Clay’s gaze from across the room. My eyebrows shot into my hairline and my jaw dropped, and I pointed toward the head of the table so we could speak.
Impatience finally won out, and I pushed out with my power just enough that everyone fell silent, and those nearest me scooted away quickly. Nick chuckled and shook his head, as I leaned down to kiss him.
“That could be construed as abuse of your power,” he reminded me as I sat next to him.
“Nonsense. We have a meeting to get started. I simply encouraged everyone to find their place quickly and quietly.” I leaned over and took Clay’s hand in mine. “Are you here on your own, or as pack emissary?”
“Since I haven’t oathed to the pack yet, they had me come as a liaison with Parker,” he replied gesturing down the table at another wolf seated a few seats away. I nodded in greeting and he returned it with a smile.
Nick cleared his throat and stood, which silenced any remaining whispered conversations between the members of the clan and packs that were in attendance. I tried to memorize the faces around me, afraid that our numbers were going to be far less at the next meeting, if I couldn’t find the courage to go and submit myself to the council.
