by Neill, Chloe
“I’m happy to announce the mayor has agreed to begin peace talks with the city’s supernaturals. The mayor also has agreed to engage Merit’s grandfather once again as supernatural liaison on a probationary basis.”
There were happy cheers and several friendly pats on my back. I would, of course, have preferred my grandfather become a fan of daytime television instead of dealing with more supernatural drama. But he was who he was. And it wasn’t my place to deny him that.
“But there is another issue we should discuss,” he said. This time, my stomach curled into a tight knot.
“Lakshmi Rao has traveled to Chicago to meet with us as a representative of the Greenwich Presidium to set forth the GP’s demand for retribution in the death of Harold Monmonth. As you may imagine, I don’t believe their demands have any basis in reality. But the GP is what the GP is. We will hear her offer, and we will act accordingly.”
He looked at me. “The world is changing. Our world is changing. We will do our best to meet the challenges we face with honor, with bravery, with respect for those around us. That,” he said, looking across the sea of vampires again, “is what makes us Cadogan vampires.” He raised his fist into the air. “To Cadogan House!”
“To Cadogan House!” shouted his vampires in unison.
I loved Ethan Sullivan. Lusted for him, in many instances. But I respected him most of all. And just like my grandfather, he was who he was.
It wasn’t my place to deny Ethan, either.
• • •
Ethan excused the House, and the vampires filed out the door, heading off to their jobs or assignments. Ethan and Malik lingered in the front of the room.
I glanced at Luc. “I’ll meet you in the Ops Room.”
He nodded. “Do that, Sentinel. We’ll be waiting for you.”
I walked toward Ethan, nodded at Malik as he clasped Ethan’s hand, then filed out with the rest of the vampires.
He still stood on the dais, a foot above me, looking down with hands on his hips. “Hello, Sentinel. I recall we’ve been in this position before.”
“So we have. When you named me Sentinel.”
He stepped down, touched a finger to the medal at my neck. “And much has passed since then.”
I looked up at him, ignored my fear, and spilled out what was in my heart. “We need a change. Vampires need a change, solid leadership, and a new direction. You could provide all that. You should challenge Darius. Make the GP respectable again.”
Shock and pleasure in his eyes, he stepped forward, wrapped his arms around me, and pressed his lips to my forehead. “There is much to be gained. And much to be lost.”
My heart pounded with sudden fear that he’d included me in the latter category.
“The future of the House is uncertain,” Ethan said, but he didn’t seem worried. He kissed me again. “For now, Sentinel, get down to the Ops Room and see about its present.”
• • •
I found Jeff tucked in with Luc and Lindsey at the conference room desk.
“How’s the search going?” I asked, taking a seat on the other side of the table.
“It’s not,” Jeff said, with unusual irritation. “Do you know how long it takes to search every square block of the city looking for trailers one block at a time?” He winced, ran his hands through his hair. “Sorry. I’m just frustrated. This is taking for-freaking-ever.” He looked up at me, and even Jeff—Jeff of boundless energy and good humor—looked tired. “And we don’t have any basis to narrow this down. We have no bio information, no personal information. I even looked online to see if Regan might have sent invitations electronically, and found nothing.”
I blew out a breath, looked at the whiteboard. The information about Regan was limited. Extremely limited. “She lost her mom,” I said. “Didn’t know her dad. Has some insecurities about that. Considers herself a kind of nomad, if the vardo is any indication. But what else?”
“You saw her at the grocery store,” Luc said. “Did she buy anything that might provide a hint?”
I closed my eyes, imagined her standing across the room, a grocery basket in hand. She’d looked at medical supplies, but that was all I could remember.
“She had good fashion sense. Jeans, red cape.” I glanced at Lindsey. “Come to think of it, it was an outfit you could have pulled off.”
“Of course I could have.”
“Designer handbag, too. If she likes fancy, maybe she likes fancy neighborhoods.” I glanced at Jeff. “Can you search neighborhoods based on per capita income? Maybe we can narrow down the search that way?”
Jeff nodded, was already busy tapping on his portable.
Helen appeared in the doorway, looked at me. “There’s someone here to see you,” she said. “A man.” With that announcement, she disappeared again.
I frowned, looked at Luc, who shrugged. “If she thought he was dangerous, she’d have kneed him in the balls. A fierce fighter, is Helen.”
I wasn’t sure about that, but I understood his larger point and trotted upstairs to the first floor.
Damien Garza—tall, dark, and sleek in his leather jacket—stood in the Cadogan House foyer.
“Damien,” I said, ignoring the looks of interest from the vampires in the foyer. “What are you doing here?”
“Regan,” he said. “I believe I can find her. But I need a team.”
• • •
He looked uncomfortable at the conference room table, his head four inches higher than anyone else’s. The fact that we were staring at him probably didn’t help.
“How’s Boo?” I asked, breaking the ice.
Damien broke into an endearing smile. “Good. Likes his kibble. Sleeps on an old T-shirt.”
“That is adorable,” I decided, and couldn’t help but wonder if he was bare chested while the kitty borrowed his shirt.
Apparently wondering too loudly. Luc kicked my foot under the table, smiled at Damien. “Tell us what brings you into the city.”
“I’ve got a cousin, a human, who lives in Lincoln Park. I’ve asked my friends, family, to keep an eye out for the carnival or anything else suspicious. She called me earlier tonight. There’s a new development in Lincoln Park called Briarthorne. Gated community, very exclusive. She lives across the street. Said she saw two big silver trailers pull through the gate last night.”
“Jesus,” Luc said, eyes wide and excited. “Regan’s trailers.”
Damien smiled. “That’s what it sounds like to me. And I want in on the op.”
Luc reached out, offered Damien a hand. “Sir, that won’t be a problem.”
“I’ve scoped them out,” Jeff said, the overhead screen zeroing in on Lincoln Park and the Briarthorne development. He ducked to street level so quickly my stomach flipped as if I’d actually been diving toward it, and then he began to scan the neighborhood.
The houses were luxe, with large pools and enormous garages, both rarities in Chicago. Jeff panned the shot through the gate and up the street, past one large lot after another. The neighborhood was huge; they must have razed a lot of real estate to fit it in. Streets gave way to a small park crisscrossed by sidewalks.
“There,” Damien said, pointing at the two sleek trailers that sat at the end of the park.
“Ballsy of her to put down in the middle of the city,” Lindsey said. “And in the middle of the money and power.”
“Not all the money and power,” Luc snarked. “Merit’s parents live in Oak Park.”
“Har-har,” I said. “Not ballsy if it’s a gated community,” I added. “That gives her protection.”
Luc nodded. “And the cost of admission gives her resources and makes them believe they’re seeing an exciting and exclusive safari.”
“I’ll tell Malik and Ethan we’ve found her,” Luc said, picking up his phone.
“I’ll cal
l Catcher and Mallory,” I offered, opting to give Jonah the night off. After all, we had an extra shifter.
• • •
By the time the entire crew was assembled, the Ops Room buzzed with energy and magic. Several vampires, two sorcerers, and two shifters. Jeff called Gabe to advise the Pack we’d found Regan’s menagerie, but they were still in Loring Park; waiting for them would have slowed us down. The longer we waited, the longer we risked she’d move again. And next time, we might not get so lucky.
The map of Briarthorne was still on-screen, giving everyone a sense of the location.
“Two trailers,” Luc said, pointing to the screen. “North end of the park, end to end. Jeff, Damien, Catcher, Mallory, Ethan, and Merit will go. We’ll stay here to keep an eye on the House just in case Regan decides she has a unique opportunity to test our security.” The idea was undoubtedly a good one, but he didn’t look thrilled about the idea of staying behind.
“Helen is preparing the ballroom for triage and shelter,” Ethan said. “Any sups who wish to come to the House can do so. We’ll have transportation at the park in order to get them here. We’ll also assist in reuniting them with their friends and families, wherever that might be.”
“And what about Regan?” Jeff asked. “At the risk of being grim, there are many, many people who will want a piece of her when all this is done.”
“They will,” Ethan agreed. “But our job is not to decide her fate.”
“When we’ve secured the sups,” Luc said, “we’ll call Detective Jacobs and advise she’s a suspect in the kidnapping of several supernaturals. That will keep her behind bars long enough.”
“She’s got magic. He may not want the responsibility.”
“The mayor created mechanisms to deal with Tate once upon a time,” Ethan pointed out. “They’ll deal with her, too.”
“We have a deal with the elves,” Damien said. “Taking Niera home, safe and sound. We’ll deliver her when they’re free.”
Luc nodded. “You get in, you free the sups, you contain Regan. And when it’s all done, you get a groovy sense of accomplishment, and we get Gabe and the elves off our backs. And probably dinner. I think Helen’s ordering pizza.”
Luc stood, braced his hands on the table, and looked us over one by one. “Be careful out there. And set phasers on awesome.”
Crickets chirped in the silence.
Lindsey shook her head and patted Luc’s hand. “Better luck next time, hon.”
• • •
It was late, and the neighborhood was mostly dark. We parked on the side opposite the trailers and made our approach, quietly, in the dark. The gates were black wrought iron, cresting to a point between two stone pillars. The streets beyond were quiet, dotted with ornate streetlamps.
I looked up at the gate, which had to be twelve feet tall. I was better with down than with up and didn’t want to fudge an ascent in front of my colleagues.
But a wrought-iron gate was no match for a Jeff Christopher. While we huddled in the darkness beside one of the pillars, Jeff pointed his magic tablet at the card reader notched into the stone until the light above flashed green and the gates swung open.
“Achievement unlocked,” I said with awe, and caught his flashing grin.
“I knew you were a gamer at heart,” he whispered.
We crept quietly through the gates and into the neighborhood.
“The park’s up the street and around the curve,” Jeff whispered, tucking the tablet away again. We stuck to the median that separated the parkway. The trees on the hillock were still empty of leaves, but they gave us a bit of a shield in case anyone bothered to look.
The road curved, and we followed it to a pretty park that took up a long ellipse between two sets of houses.
There, beneath the limbs of winter-bare trees, were two silver, gleaming trailers.
The faint vibration of magic hummed in the air.
“We do one trailer at a time,” Ethan said. “Merit, Mallory, Catcher, and I will go inside. Jeff, Damien will wait here; keep an eye out.”
When everyone nodded, we crept to the closest one, found the door at the end. Ethan hopped onto a step at the back of the truck, pulled down a giant silver handle, and pulled open the door.
Steps descended, and Catcher and I followed Ethan inside.
“Jesus,” Ethan muttered, making a motion across his chest as if to ward off the evil.
The car was divided in half by a passageway, with fluorescent lights running above. It was clean and white and smelled faintly of pine-scented cleaner. Each side of the car had been divided into containers arranged like small sleeping pods. Each pod held a supernatural. I recognized a harpy, a leprechaun, his skin faintly green, a giantess sitting in the largest of them. They wore clean blue scrubs and looked to be in good health, but their eyes were blank and they stared absently.
Tears pricked at my eyes, but I pushed them back. Now wasn’t the time to grieve for the years they’d lost. It was time to give them the rest of their lives.
I looked over the cases, realized who was missing. “Niera and Aline aren’t here.”
“There’s another trailer yet,” Catcher reminded me. “They could be in there.”
“Then let’s get started,” I said. I moved to the first cage and put a hand on the lock—a long silver pin inside a complicated twisting mechanism—but Catcher slammed a hand against the door before I could open it.
I looked at him, bewildered. “We have to let them out.”
“We will,” he calmly said. “But unlocking the doors right now won’t help. If they’re charmed into this kind of oblivion, they aren’t going to be able to run out of here when we open the doors. And they might be spelled to attack.”
“What do we do?” I asked.
Catcher looked at Ethan. “I’ll take this trailer. Mallory can take the other. We’ll unwind the spells, get them ready for release.” He looked at Mallory. “You remember how?”
“Yep,” she said, crossing her arms to hide the tremble in her fingers. But I’d rather have her afraid than cocky and dangerous any day.
Ethan nodded and we walked outside again, explained what we’d seen.
“Damien, stay with Catcher. Jeff, stay with Mallory. Keep them safe while we find Regan.”
“One thing,” Catcher said, when Mallory and Jeff had left for the other train car. He pulled a set of connected silver hoops from his pocket. “Handcuffs, magically enhanced. It’s what we used on Mallory. They should hold her.” He tossed them into the air, and Ethan caught them neatly with one hand.
“Thank you,” he said. “Get them free.”
With a nod and a spark of magic, he got to work. Ethan and I surveyed the park.
“Odds are better if we separate,” I told Ethan.
“I agree. I’ll take the east side. You take the west.”
I nodded, adjusted the tension on my belt. “Will do. I’ll call if I find her.”
“Do that.” Before I could leave, he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulled my body against him, and pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “Do protect what’s mine, Sentinel.”
I made a sound at the possessive tone in his voice but still reveled in it. That I was strong enough to take down a foe didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy Ethan’s alpha male attitude every once in a while.
“Same to you, Sullivan,” I said, and headed off down the sidewalk.
The night was chilly, but this was Chicago, gated or not, and Chicagoans were used to the chill. A few people were out and about, walking dogs or returning late from work with quick steps around the edge of the park. Including one girl with platinum blond hair.
I’ve got her, I told Ethan. East side of the park, moving south.
I’ll circle behind, he said. You intercept, and carefully.
Without killing civilians or myself, he me
ant. Not unreasonable advice.
I stepped off the path, watched while she moved closer. She wore a long black coat, nipped at the waist and buttoned up, and a large glossy shopping bag hung off her shoulder.
As she neared, I caught the unmistakable scents of smoke and sulfur.
When she was four feet away, I stepped in front of her. “Hello, Regan.”
She stopped, eyed me curiously. “Merit, I presume. Sentinel of Cadogan House.”
“That’s me. I understand you have wings.”
I’d hoped to catch her off guard with the reference to something I bet she showed very few people.
The ploy worked. Her eyes widened, and her hands whitened around her bag. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I do, actually. At least, I think I do. Your mother told you your father was special.”
Her jaw twitched, and her voice was controlled fury. “You don’t know anything about my mother.”
“Oh, I know a lot about Annalissa. And your father was special, as it turns out. Magical and talented and very unique. I’m sorry to say that he’s no longer with us, but his twin brother is alive. Your uncle.” At least, that was the relationship I’d decided on. We were in the fuzzy territory where magic and genetics collided, and I wasn’t really sure of anything.
“Oh, and your uncle’s an angel.”
For the first time, she looked genuinely flummoxed. “What?”
“An angel, and a very good man, Regan. I can help you meet him, if you’d like.”
She snorted. “You think I’m going to trust you? You want to put me in a cage.”
She didn’t seem to get the irony. “You’ve committed crimes in several states,” I pointed out. “Kidnapping, primarily.”
She looked disgusted by my ignorance. “They weren’t kidnapped. They are my family.”
“They are in cages. Drugged and stuffed inside cages like animals while you’ve been out shopping.” She flinched, proving I was on the right track.
“Is that how you treat family? You keep them safely locked away so they aren’t gone when you return home? So they don’t leave you like your father did?”
