by Martha Woods
The echo of my fist on the door was clear even from where I stood, not all of the members of the household having gotten out of bed, or the crypt, or whatever weird place it was that they decided to rest their tired eyes. They must have been heavy sleepers, in that case, at least six of them were sleeping together.
“Amy!” Joseph greeted me, much more chipper than I had thought he would be given the circumstances. Either Mika and Ivanka had really done a number on him, or he really was just that ecstatic about the alliance that we had been building with the other groups. “Please, come in. No reason for you to be out here in the cold like this.”
“I… ok.” I let myself be led in, coat taken off my shoulders and hung up on the hook by the door. This was far more civil than I had thought it would be, and though I was ashamed to admit it my fight or flight response was going absolutely haywire because of it. I would like to be able to accept niceties at face value, but a lifetime of being a cop and a new life of being involved in the paranormal had absolutely stripped that away from me.
Of course, when we opened the door to the living room and I was greeted by a harsh, passionate cry ripping itself from Ivanka’s lips, I knew that everything was just fine.
“Please, take a seat.” Joseph pointed to the chair conspicuously right next to the gyrating pair of women, quite clearly not expecting me to call his bluff. “I’ll get you a drink, I would say that we have reason to celebrate, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course,” I said, staring him down while I took the offered seat. “But what specifically do you mean? The alliance? Or killing Alvin?”
“Both of course!” He handed me a tumbler filled with a bourbon that was older than prohibition itself, taking a sip of his own more out of common courtesy than any ability to get drunk. The only way he could do that was to drink blood that already had alcohol in it, and I wasn’t in the mood to offer up my own.
I took a sip of my drink, briefly wrinkling my nose before I got used to the taste, oddly sweet and a fuller taste than I had been expecting. It was a shame that the distillery likely didn’t exist anymore. “You’re really that happy about the alliance? I thought that you vampires were all about power politics?”
“We most certainly are, and that is the truly exciting part,” He said, “You’ve seen how vampire politics go, it’s always brother against brother, sisters plotting to stab each other in the back and holding others blood bonds hostage. It’s all very exciting but at the same time, it’s… so utterly dull.”
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself when you were at Olivia’s party.”
“I never turn down the opportunity for a good coup my dear, but you have no idea just how many played out just like that one did, with many of the same people in attendance. While exhilarating there isn’t much variation.” He leaned forward, eyes locked on me and not Mika and Ivanka right next to me, his gaze filled not with a lust for the body, but a lust for adventure. “What you have given us is an insight, and possibly an invitation into at least two completely different avenues of political intrigue, the much more tribal squabbles of the werewolves and the very rural interests of the witches. No offense intended of course.”
“No, it’s… I can see how you would describe it that way.” I placed my glass down next to me, swiping away a wandering hand that wasn’t welcome in my current state. Or perhaps it would have been too welcome, I was discovering more and more things about myself lately, why not that?
“I’m impressed Amy, you’re much more in control than normal.” He pouted, and once again I wasn’t sure how to interpret that. “Perhaps we’re losing our charm, is that it?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I just have some very important business to take care of tonight, can’t really afford to waste time watching your two favorites going down on each other.” I looked down at the drink in my hand, throwing my head back and swallowing the rest of the bourbon in one go. “But apparently I can afford to sit and have a drink with a vampire.”
“I like you, Amy, we all do. I know that you have some trouble believing that, and yes, it is true that we’ve used you for our own ends before and likely will again, but that doesn’t mean we’re not fond of you.” He gave me that look again, and for the first time, I realized I saw something resembling… sincerity. “We owe you quite a bit, from that mess with Olivia to helping us find a comfortable future, I believe it’s only fair that we do you a favor for once.”
I sat back in my chair, eyes closing while I thought over the details of the plan. It wasn’t necessarily the most concrete of plans, in fact, I would say that it was an incredibly poor one, but that didn’t change the fact that it was the only one we had, and the only chance it had at succeeding was if we could all agree to work together.
“We have a way to get Alvin to show his face, a way that’ll give us the advantage and leave him utterly surprised when we spring the trap.”
“Oh?” He rested his cheek on his hand, eyebrow arching in curiosity. “Well now you’ve got me interested, I’m looking forward to seeing that little prick squirm. Let’s hear it.”
“It’s far from elegant, what we’re planning is to have each of our groups meet up at a certain place and pretend to fight each other, doing enough damage to each other that it looks real. When he shows up to try and mop up the mess in one fell swoop that’s when we turn on him, ripping his followers apart and leaving him at our mercy.” My eyes went hard, even Joseph visibly shifting at my seriousness. “After that Alvin is mine and mine alone, no one kills him.”
“Well… you were definitely right, the plan is most certainly not elegant,” He chuckled, Mika and Ivanka finally finishing up beside me and disentangling from one another. Ivanka draped herself across his lap, legs curling over his own while Mika straddled me, my mouth going dry and my hands locking down onto the arms of my chair.
“Mika please, now is not the time.”
“Oh…” She grinned, lips ghosting across my cheek while she leaned into my ear. “Are you sure that we can’t have a little fun? I’ve seen the way that you look at Ivanka and me, maybe we could work something out…”
To my surprise, the next objection didn’t come from me, something which shocked Mika as well. Joseph raised his hand, eyes closed while he considered the plan and one simple word echoing through the room, “Enough.”
Mika turned back to him, eyebrows in her hairline and mouth hanging open in shock. “Do you really mean that? After all that we’ve been planning to do with one another?”
Joseph nodded. “I do,” He said, “What we have to do now is more important than anything else, this could determine the future of our very species. Any fantasies we may have about certain parties can wait until the situation is not so dire.”
I thought Mika would protest more, she had been so insistent every time we had met previous, but to my increasing surprise, she simply shrugged and hopped off my lap, going to the bar and taking a seat. “Ok Amy, you have my attention. Just remember that I will bed you one day, that much is certain.”
“Well, I wish you luck on that.” I nodded at her, turning my attention back to Joseph. “What do you think? Can we count on you and your people?”
He considered his options for a few moments more, fingers steeped together and resting against his forehead. “You can, as many as I can get to agree to it. I doubt that there are going to be many, not willing to help put an end to his reign of terror, you have the assurance of our help.”
It felt like a weight being taken off my chest, the knowledge that at least one of the groups in our very fragile alliance swearing to assist us did more to make me feel like an actual human being again than all the optimism and reassurances in the world. It was enough to make me almost kiss the three of them in joy, but I knew that if I did that there was no way I was leaving this house until next week, there were limits to how much they could suppress their desire and I was very aware of how close that limit was.
I stood to let myself out, feeling tha
t I could assist Damon in his negotiations with the hunters when Ivanka grabbed my arm, eyes filled with concern rather than the usual cloud of lust. “Amy, how are you feeling?”
“I… am fine, why is that?” I looked at the three of them. “Why do you care? I don’t mean that to be rude, I thought that you didn’t think of people like that?”
“We don’t feel love, well some do but we don’t really, but that doesn’t mean we can’t feel a friendly concern for those that we consider to be our friends.” Joseph nodded, stroking his thumb over Ivanka’s shoulder blade. “As for Ivanka here, I believe she is concerned about your feelings after… Vincent’s loss.”
Mika sighed, “I like him, even if he doesn’t feel the same about us. I hate losing people that I like.”
“He’s not dead, and he won’t be lost for long,” I said, the three of them looking at me in surprise. “That’s why no one will kill Alvin, he’s the key to getting Vincent back and if anyone tries to take that away I‘ll make them wish that they had never been born.”
They nodded, Joseph, looking at me with something resembling pride and Mika with admiration. “It’s such a shame that you’re not a vampire,” She said, “You’d make a very good one with that drive of yours.”
“Yeah well I’m not ruling anything out at this point, I could wake up tomorrow morning and discover that I’m a mermaid and I wouldn’t even be that surprised.”
“I like mermaids,” Ivanka said, “They don’t taste very good, but their tails are very pretty…”
“Well, I’ll let you know if I become one then.” I took a step away, smiling more genuinely than I thought I would be when I stepped into this house, their company rather pleasant when they weren’t trying to manipulate me for their own ends. Of course, after all of this was done they were probably going to try and do that again sooner or later, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy this little moment for myself.
“Happy hunting Amy,” Mika said, beckoning Ivanka over while Joseph stood, following me to the door.
“I want you to know that we’re all being genuine when we say that we owe you a debt of gratitude. Not many would think or desire to stick their necks out for vampires, especially when they would be likely to gain more power from staying out of it.” He smiled. “But that isn’t how you work is it? Vincent really wasn’t joking when he said that you were different.”
“He talked about me to you?”
“Talked about you? Amy, he would never shut up about you, I could hardly get a word out without him saying, ‘Amy did this, Amy did that if you three don’t stop trying to touch her I swear I’ll kill the lot of you.’” He shrugged. “Vincent is crazy about you, and I understand why from more than a lustful standpoint.”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m with Vincent.”
“I know, we all do, and for once we’re going to honor that.” His eyes glinted with mischief, arms crossing in front of his chest while he regarded me. “But that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to extend the offer to the both of you as often as we can. After all, we know that you don’t have any problems sharing your love around, maybe one day we’ll convince you.”
“Maybe, maybe not, guess we’ll have to find out.” I leaned forward, giving him a brief peck on the cheek. “Thank you for keeping your hands to yourself, and for being a gracious host. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting that from you.”
“That’s us, we like to avert expectations.” He opened the door for me, wrapping my coat around my shoulders and checking to make sure the steps were clear. “Don’t be a stranger, I have far many more alcohols to share with you, some of which are older than me.”
“Let me guess, I drink them then you drink me?”
“Those are your words, not mine.” He grinned, bowing lightly before starting to shut the door. “Goodnight Amy.”
The door closed, leaving me in brief darkness before my eyes adjusted to the dark of the night. “Goodnight Joseph.”
* * *
Pulling over to the side of the road, I pulled out my phone, searching through my contacts for Damon’s number and putting the phone to my ear. I hadn’t been as long as I thought I would be with Joseph, so it was likely that Damon was still negotiating whatever terms it was that Tristian wanted him to agree to. If I could help in any way then I considered it my duty to do so.
After a few rings, the call was answered, a seemingly haggard Damon speaking a single, “Hello?”
“Damon? What’s wrong?” I clipped my seat belt back on, starting up the car and preparing to speed off. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine it’s just… I forgot how much of a hard ass Tristian was, this is taking longer than I expected it would.”
“Oh,” I said, not hiding my relief that that was the extent of the situation. “What do you mean? Is he not agreeing to anything in particular?”
“He doesn’t think that we should be wasting our effort on ‘a couple of freaks who managed to not kill each other for once’,” Damon chuckled, “He didn’t like it when I told him that label applies to hunters as well, I think that set the negotiating situation back a few minutes.”
“As happy as I am to hear you ruffling his feathers, we need him and his men for this to work. Where are you? I can come by and help out with the negotiation.”
“Uh…” He said uncertainly, “Are you sure about that? You two don’t get along on the best of days, with all this pressure going on I’m worried that something might end up happening.”
“Trust me, Damon,” I said, pulling the car into drive and starting my journey down the road. “If he tries anything then he’s going to regret it, I know it, he knows it, we’ll just have to move past that.”
He sighed, clearly debating telling me where the meeting was before he finally relented. “We’re at the hunter bar, the place I told you to never go that you went to, remember that?”
“Yep, I remember that well.” That was where I was told that he had gone to eastern Europe after all…
“We’re starting the meeting again in fifteen minutes, so you’re going to want to get here quick. And Amy? Please don’t start any fights.”
“I won’t start any fights, Damon, I promise. But if someone else does I’m going to finish it.”
“Fair enough, see you soon… I love you.”
Even after how many times we’d said that, hearing it was enough to make me giddy. “I love you too Damon.”
* * *
“Ah, the witch herself graces us with her presence.”
I rolled my eyes at Tristian’s greeting, almost growling at the assorted laughter that accompanied it. It was a marked change in atmosphere compared to my meeting with the vampires and was immediately enough to make me reconsider if we really needed their help on this.
Though that was probably just personal bias getting in the way.
“Give it a rest Tristian, she’s trying to save all of our asses.” Damon’s tone was weary like he’d been saying the same thing for hours already and given what I had heard on the phone that was exactly what he had been doing.
“Do you mind telling me what part of the plan that you don’t think is worth it?” I pulled up a chair, pushing past one of the hunters who tried to block my path. “If you have a better one to take down Alvin I’m more than willing to listen to it.”
“I say that we let him take out all the freaks in one fell swoop like he wants, once they’re all out of the way we can take him out without having to fear getting stabbed in the back.” He sneered, looking down at the marking around my finger. “I know that you might not be able to see this, given how blinded by that juvenile love you are, but vampires and werewolves are not our friends, they have never been and they never will be. Trying to change that will only get you dead.”
“From them or from you?” I didn’t wait for him to answer, pressing on with my own. “It doesn’t matter how you feel about it, the world and everyone who inhabits it is changing, either you can ge
t with the times and cooperate with everyone or you can stay a caveman while everyone else moves on. I would rather that you went away forever, but we need your help on this.”
“And based just on your word we should betray everything we stand for? Work with monsters just to kill one more?”
“Why do you think to assume that he would be easier to kill once he’s wiped out everyone else standing in his way and gained unlimited power?” I gestured at him and the men behind him. “Are twenty men enough to end the biggest threat to the world? Why haven’t you done it already then?”
Tristian stepped forward, looking like he had something very heated and very loud to say to me before Damon held his hand up. “Tristian… it’s time for us to move on. We’ve been fighting for the world for so long but I don’t know if we’ve been fighting to save it or make it what we think the world should be.”
“You too? I expected that talk from the sympathizer but from you?” Tristian scoffed, “Say it isn’t so, they’ve managed to worm their way under your skin as well.”
“I’m far from fans of vampires, you know me better than that to think that’s just going to go away with a few meetings and some promises. I want to keep an eye on them, make sure that if they try anything we are in a position to stop them.” He stood up, so quickly and so viciously that two men behind him actually put their hands on their weapons. “That’s the operative word, ‘if’. Until this threat is dealt with we need to get past our bullshit and stop assuming that we can win this war on our own, because guess what? We can’t, and we haven’t.”
“You think our fight is meaningless?” Tristian slammed his fist down on the table, leaning towards Damon and snarling, “You need to get your head checked, you’ve been spending too much time with that vampire and his pet bit-”
