The Ancients: Book 3 in the Cedarstone Chronicles

by Sean Stone

  "If you bring their lot onto your team then they'll just take control!" Hillock burst out furiously. "How can you be so stupid?"

  "The only person in control of SIT is me and my deputy director." He indicated Jamal.

  "My pack put up with being ordered around for thirty years. Never again," Eric said.

  "If you want to hire mercenaries to try and establish order you are more than welcome to," Victor said in a slow drawl. "Jonathan Langford did the same thing. I led a team of vampires into the town hall and killed them all."

  "And that was just vampires. Now you're taking on vampires, werewolves and sorcerers," Adam chimed in. "I don't fancy your odds."

  "Are you threatening me?" Phil asked coldly.

  "Yes," Adam replied. Things were getting tense and Phil was doing nothing to help matters. If anything he was only making things worse. If somebody didn't step in soon, then a brawl was going to break out and the result would not be good for SIT.

  "Stop. Everyone stop arguing," Clara said. Everyone looked at her. "We are not trying to take over from the council. We don't want to tell you how to live or how to lead your people. All we want is to keep the peace in town so nobody is sent from London to kill us all."

  "From the way your boss is talking he wants to be our ruler," Richie said. "And we will not suffer another person telling us what to do."

  "Somebody has to be in charge," Phil argued.

  "How about this," Clara said quickly before the arguing could start up again. "Each faction names two people to join a… union, or council. Whatever you want to call it. Two people from each faction come together to rule the town. Each faction can continue to rule itself, but any matters outside of their own domain must be dealt with by the new council."

  "Like a supernatural congress?" Victor asked.

  "Exactly," said Clara. There was silence as everyone around the table considered it.

  "It's an interesting idea," Richie said, and those at the table who looked like they were going to argue decided against it. "Somebody would need to chair it, though."

  "That's where we'd come in," Clara continued, thinking on her feet. "If you all give five people like we've asked, then SIT would be an authoritative body made up from all of your factions. If there were any inter-species disputes then a meeting would be held and a vote taken. We'd then administer the outcome of the vote."

  "So no one person would be in charge?" Genevieve said.

  "Exactly," said Clara.

  "This isn't quite what I had in mind actually," Phil said, looking angrily at Clara.

  "Well it's the only thing I'm going to agree to," Richie snapped. Phil fell silent when everyone else around the table agreed.

  "So, you all agree to that?" Clara asked.

  "It sounds very democratic. A welcome relief from the way the council used to govern us," Victor said. "Three seats per faction would be preferable to two, however."

  Clara looked at Phil, but he shrugged sullenly. "Three is fine," she said. She was going to get one hell of a telling off after the meeting.

  "Well done, Miss Winters. This is the first time we have all agreed on something of such importance," Victor said with a kind smile.

  "If that's out of the way then we can move on to the first order of business for this supernatural union," Phil said, placing such emphasis on the last two words that they sounded rather silly. "The Thirteen."

  "Nickolas Blackwood," Serena muttered with utter loathing.

  "Yes, that man and his motley band of evil have been preying on our coven for several weeks now," Genevieve said haughtily.

  "And he killed our alpha," Eric said.

  "Not to mention the murder of your own leader," Richie said to Phil.

  "Hang on a minute," Jamal said, raising his hands to get their attention. "Do any of you have any evidence that Nick or his people are responsible for any of these crimes? And I mean hard proof, not suspicions and hearsay."

  The sorcerers and werewolves began muttering about not needing hard proof, but Richie stared at Jamal head on. "You witnessed William's murder," he said quietly.

  "I did," Jamal said. Clara could see him growing uncomfortable under Richie's penetrative stare. She placed a hand on his thigh where nobody could see and gave him a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

  "Which one of them did it?" Richie asked, leaning forward.

  "It wasn't Nick. It was Kristen Dagmar and James Tenson," Jamal replied, keeping his voice even.

  "That isn't very precise. Which of them actually killed William?"

  Jamal thought on it for a second and then said, "James. He shot him with one of the weapons."

  "That's all I wanted to know," Richie said and sat back, smiling once more.

  Phil looked around awkwardly, the brief conversation seemed to have made many of those around the table uncomfortable. "Anyway, the Thirteen. They are a burden that cannot be tolerated any longer. We have to get them out of town."

  "Tell us how and we will," Isabella said roughly.

  "Surely somebody knows a way to kill Nick?" Clara said and the table erupted into laughter.

  "If there was a known way to do that do you really think he would still be living?" Victor asked her casually.

  "I guess not," Clara admitted, looking away.

  "I've got someone searching for a way," Eric said. He neglected to elaborate any further.

  "We're working on something too," Toni said suddenly, as if in competition. All eyes fell on her.

  "But we won't talk about it yet," Adam cut in quickly. "We have a theory we're working on."

  "Tell us," Jamal said at once.

  "We'd rather keep it to ourselves until we're certain it will work," Adam replied.

  "I think you should tell us now. We're all working towards the same thing," Jamal insisted.

  "No. I'm keeping this close to the chest for the time being," Adam said, that infuriating grin still on his face.

  "This union will never work if we don't trust each other," Jamal said, getting agitated. Clara put her hand on his leg again to try and calm him, but it did no good.

  "I think we can all agree that we don't trust each other," Adam replied.

  "Tell. Me. Now," Jamal demanded, and seemingly without thinking he sent a wave of power at Adam. Adam held up his hand and diffused the power, but the force still knocked him back slightly.

  "Rasul!" Phil shouted. "Leave. Now!" he glared at Jamal, his entire face turning almost purple. Jamal looked at him in surprise, then he stood up and stormed out of the room without a word.

  "I am sorry about that Adam," Phil said, embarrassed. "Please keep your theory to yourself until you have determined whether or not it will work. In the meantime, I am going to arrange a meeting between Nickolas and myself. It seems foolish not to attempt a peaceful resolution to this matter. I look forward to meeting the new recruits you all provide." With that, Phil stood up from the table. Clara and the others followed suit and the entire team filed out of the room leaving the others alone with each other.

  "What the hell was that?" Phil roared as soon as they were clear of the meeting room.

  "It was getting out of hand. I thought things were going to turn violent," Clara said.

  "Don't you ever hi-jack one of my meetings again. When I want your input I will ask for it," he said.

  "You needed my help. You were losing control," she argued. If it hadn't been for her, Richie would probably have ripped his head off. He could be a little grateful.

  "You do not make decisions like that. I am in charge. You are a subordinate. You completely ruined my plans and changed things to your own ideas."

  "She also saved your backside in there," Sidney said as he appeared from the surveillance room. Phil flushed red and turned to him. His fists were clenched at his sides.

  "She completely undermined my authority and ruined what I had planned."

  "It was clear from the start of the meeting that your plan was not going to work," Sidney said calmly. "You cannot go
into a room full of egotistical supernatural beings and try to scare them into doing as you say. Your plan failed and Clara saved it for you. She did good work tonight. The only one of you who did apparently. Both the director and his deputy seemed keen on throwing a spanner in the works. On one hand there was you trying to dominate the entire town, and on the other hand, Rasul was trying to pick a fight with them."

  "I'll deal with Jamal," Phil said sheepishly. Clara took a small amount of satisfaction from his telling off. He deserved it after the way he just spoke to her.

  "I already did. I've given him a dressing down and you can consider this yours," Sidney said. "MI5 expects better. Good work tonight, Agent Winters," Sidney said and then retired back to the surveillance room. Phil gave her a stern look before storming out himself.

  *

  "Well that was interesting," Henry said, once they were all back in the car and on their way home. Toni was driving and he and Genevieve were sitting in the back. He couldn't care less for the whole union voting stuff. It was boring tish-tosh that did not concern him in the least. He had no intention to stick around long enough to start voting in a union. Jamal on the other hand. He was interesting.

  "The meeting or the outburst?" Genevieve asked coolly.

  "Both, naturally. But I was talking about Agent Rasul's outburst," said Henry. He hadn't expected to be attacked by another sorcerer at the meeting and much less a warlock. He was sure that Jamal Rasul was a warlock, he could tell the difference between natural and stolen magic and Jamal's was stolen. No doubt about it.

  "I will confess that I too was surprised by that, as was his superior," Genevieve said.

  "Certainly spiced the night up a bit, though," Toni piped in.

  "He's more powerful than he seems," Henry told them. "The force of the magic that hit me was… it was something."

  "I mean no offence, but you never struck me as being particularly powerful yourself, Adam," said Genevieve. How is that not offensive? Henry mused.

  "Well then you've been underestimating me, Genny," Henry said smugly. She raised her eyebrows.

  "Genny? I think that you are getting too familiar," she said haughtily. Henry smiled. "On the subject of Agent Rasul, however, I have always had an odd feeling about him. There's certainly something unsettling about that man."

  Interestingly she didn't get a bad feeling about Henry.

  "I assume that the three of us are to be the coven's representatives in the union?" Genevieve asked. Always trying to grab power.

  "Sure," Henry said noncommittally. He didn't really care.

  "How long until someone breaks the agreement?" Toni said.

  "As long as it isn't us it doesn't matter," Henry said. He didn't really care about the agreement, but he wanted things as uncomplicated as possible whilst he secured his revenge, and the Thirteen were enough of a complication without spicing the pot.

  They dropped Genevieve off at home and then went home themselves. Henry was still staying with Toni although he thought it would probably be prudent to move on soon. Toni went straight through to the kitchen to put the kettle on and he followed her through. There was a matter to address.

  "I prefer to keep my plans quiet until I am ready to reveal them," he said quietly from behind her.

  "I'm sorry," she said. She stopped pouring the sugar whilst she spoke. "I didn't think. I felt like I had to put something forward. I should have kept my mouth shut."

  "Yes, you should have." He stepped forward, inches away from her. He could smell the coconut shampoo she used. "Not to worry, though, what's done is done."

  She turned and jumped at how close he was. "You forgive me?" she asked, a smile tugging on her lips.

  "Naturally," he replied. She smiled fully, staring into his eyes. He knew how she felt about him, well not him — Adam. She barely even attempted to hide it. Her feelings for him were strong, borderline love. It was obvious that she would give anything for just one night with Adam and who was he to deny her that? After all, it had been over a century and he had needs too. In Henry's day sleeping with a black woman would have been looked down on, especially for someone of his station, but these days it seemed to be the norm. Not that he ever cared what other people thought anyway. He leaned in to kiss her and as their lips met he heard her sigh. Then to his surprise, she pushed him away.

  "No," she said. He could see the regret on her face already.

  "I thought this was what you wanted?" he asked, confused.

  "It is. I want it so much. But you're not yourself," she said. His heart beat quickened until he realised she didn't mean it literally. "You're still grieving. You need time to come to terms with everything properly."

  "I have come to terms with things. It's been a long time now, Toni," he said. He hadn't been that fussed about taking her to bed, but now he'd attempted it he wanted to see it through.

  "It's been ten days!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry Adam but no. You need… You need to grieve." She smiled once more and then wished him a goodnight before taking herself upstairs and leaving Henry alone, confused and without a cup of tea.

  *

  "I want those fucking weapons!" Richie fumed as they returned to the club. He stormed over to the bar and poured himself a drink. If he'd thought that this was a possible outcome of giving William the money to buy the labs, then he never would've done it.

  "I'll get the weapons," Victor said, holding his hands out in a calming gesture. There was a but coming, there was always a but with Vic. "But, we shouldn't do anything to jeopardise the agreement. We all have a say in the running of the town now."

  "I'll leave it. For now," Richie said begrudgingly. "But if this starts to turn into another Langford situation then I'm killing everyone," he warned.

  "Understood. With no one person in charge of things it is unlikely to escalate to another Langford situation," said Victor.

  "And I still want those weapons. Anything that can harm us needs to be destroyed."

  "I'll find them," Isabella promised, a sultry smile on her lips. Richie looked away uncomfortably.

  "Good," he took the bottle and glass over to his booth and waited for the others to join him. Victor slid in opposite, but Isabella sidled up next to him, a little too close for comfort. Victor pretended not to notice. "Let's talk about James. I want him here. Answering to me."

  "It would be better to wait,' Victor said.

  "What is it with you and being cautious, Vic? Back in the day, we used to run in screaming and worry about everything else after," Richie reminded him. They'd had a lot of fun in the old days before they'd settled in Cedarstone.

  "You did. I've always tried to exercise a little caution. We should wait to deal with James until everybody is ready to move against the Thirteen. If we go for James now then Nick and his disciples will strike back and we have no means of defence. If we wait then there will be no Nick or disciples to strike back. You can do to James whatever you wish."

  "You make it sound so seedy," Richie jibed. "Alright, you win again. I'll wait. But I swear you're caution will be the death of me one of these days."

  "I find that unlikely," Victor replied. "I've had an idea about how we can locate Set."

  "Let's hear it."

  "Alistair. He seems to know everything that happens in this town. If an ancient has walked in and set up somewhere then he'll know about it."

  "Good, go and see him. Get the answers we need," Richie said, wondering why he hadn't thought of that himself. Alistair was the go-to man for almost all supernatural problems. Victor stood up and exited immediately. Hopefully, he'd have something to go on when he returned.

  Richie stood up to leave, but Isabella put a hand on his arm. "Stay and drink with me," she said. He could see her intentions clearly in her lustful eyes, but he couldn't refuse.

  "One drink. I've got a lot to do," he said, sitting back down. She pulled his glass over, poured him some vodka and then took a lengthy gulp before passing the glass to him. He turned the glass so he wouldn't be drink
ing from the part her lips had touched. Not because he was concerned about the passing of germs, but because he wanted her to be clear that there was nothing between them.

  "You needn't worry about MI5 or SIT or even Osiris," she said, still looking at him seductively. "When we turned up here this Clan was split up into several smaller clans. We conquered them and brought them together and nobody can ever take it away from us, and God knows enough have tried," she said.

  "You don't need to remind me," he said, smiling at the memories of their victories.

  "We are strong," she slid even closer to him on the seat. "You are strong." He knew it was coming now, he could tell by the way her eyelids were falling shut. She leaned in, lips pouting. She closed her eyes fully. He took her shoulders firmly in his hands, holding her away. She opened her eyes, the pain in them clear. Even after all these years she still hadn't grown used to the rejection.

  "Izzy. I'm sorry," he said as gently as he could. "My feelings for you haven't changed."

  "You mean your lack of feelings for me," she said sulkily.

  He sighed. "Don't be like that."

  "Is it her? Lydia? Do you love her? I saw the way you were with her," Isabella said and he knew that if he told the truth he would crush her and he couldn't do that. She meant too much to him for him to hurt her so badly. He owed her more respect as well.

  "There's nothing between me and Lydia. We're just old friends," he lied.

  "You promise?" she asked, giving him the puppy dog eyes.

  "I promise," he said, and now there was no going back. Luckily Lydia did not share Richie's feelings so there was no risk of Isabella ever learning the truth. Isabella nodded and took herself from the room. She held herself together in his presence, but he knew that as soon as she was alone in her room she would let it all out. She'd probably go out later and take it out on some unsuspecting human. Richie tried to force her from his mind. Lydia too. He wanted a woman-free thought zone. He poured himself another drink and then began thinking of all the things he was going to do to James Tenson.