by Olsen, Lisa
Jenessa waved, apparently unconcerned with revealing our friendship now that I was the Elder. The wild surge of people trying to talk to me had dwindled, most people more eager to have a drink and a good time and I set my glass down on the platform, ready to go and mingle informally.
“Hey, I’m going to take a break from the receiving line here and go talk to Jenessa, okay?”
“Sorry, that’s not possible.” Rob laid a hand on my shoulder, not heavy enough to actually keep me there, but with enough pressure to let me know he was serious.
“Can’t I join the party too?”
“You’re meant to stay right here where we can keep an eye on them.” He gestured to the crowd.
“Oh, come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“Nothing, because you’re not doing it.”
I suppressed a roll of the eyes. Sometimes I really hated how stubborn and controlled Rob was all the time. “Haven’t you been listening for the past two hours? They love me.”
“All it takes is one, and I’m not taking that chance.”
I stared him down for a good minute and a half before I gave up, slumping back against the chair with a disgruntled, “Fine.”
“You’ve worked yourself into a proper sulk, haven’t you?” He said after I’d pouted for a few minutes.
I straightened in my chair, not liking how much I felt like a spoilt child when he called me out like that. “I’m sorry, I know you’re looking out for me. But I don’t even get to enjoy my own party. Look, there’s dancing. Can’t I have just one dance?”
“We both know that’s not a good idea,” he replied, an almost smile twitching for an instant before it was gone.
“I suppose not,” I allowed. “Not without the right partner.” Fine, let them have their dancing and fun talking about more than politics. I was content to sit there and almost flirt with Rob for as long as he’d let me. He straightened though as a man strutted past the line of security.
He was tall, casually dressed in a faded blue cotton shirt and a pair of Wranglers with pointy toed cowboy boots peeking out below. His sun streaked hair fell halfway over his face, in definite need of a trim, but it went with the rough and tumble style he was rocking. Clear, green eyes took in the lay of the land like he was sizing up the enemy, but a playful smile curved his lips.
This man knew things. You could tell it by looking at him. He had that swagger of a man who knows he’s got good looks and charm enough to catch the eye of most any woman in the room who has a taste for bad boys. I admit, he definitely caught my attention.
He didn’t say anything at first, just stood there inspecting me up and down like he was waiting to bid on a horse at an auction. “So, you’re the new filly. I approve,” he said at last, his warm drawl as smooth as molasses.
“And you’re the cowboy.” I had no idea who the guy was, but the boots and the shiny belt buckle the size of a grapefruit were a dead giveaway even with out a trademark hat.
“Macallister James, ma’am. Pleased ta meetcha.”
“He runs Texas,” Rob said at my ear and I was grateful for the intel.
“Hello, Mr. James,” I smiled, accepting his handshake. He didn’t linger over it or give me the bedroom eyes like some men did, but there was something in his smile. Something that led me to believe that if I ditched the party to hop into his car, I’d have one heck of a night. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” he nodded.
“Are you in town for long?”
“Just long enough to pay my respects and conduct a little business. Any chance you’re givin’ away private meetin’s to those of us who didn’t get an invite to this shindig?”
Bonus point for use of the word shindig, but I didn’t think it had the same connotation for him. “It’s possible. Why, do we have something in particular to discuss?”
“I can think of lots of things, us bein’ practically neighbors and all.”
There was that smile again, but as much as I could appreciate its power, he wasn’t quite my type. “We’ll have to see, my dance card’s filling up fast.”
“Long as you save me one, darlin’, that’s all a fella can ask for.”
“Talk to my secretary, maybe we can set something up.”
“No time like the present, is there?”
He was persistent, I had to give him that. “Talk to my secretary, tell her I said to give you priority level alpha status.” There was no such thing as priority level alpha status, but he seemed duly impressed and backed off, leaving me free to greet the next hanger on.
“What do I need to know about Macallister James?” I murmured to Rob as soon as he’d moved on.
“I think that’s better discussed in private,” he bent to reply, straightening as the next well wisher approached. He was right, of course. More than ever, I resolved to sit down and figure out who all the heavy hitters were, at least in my corner of the world.
Chapter Six
It was definitely time to do some homework. With the Gathering looming closer, I holed up in my study with Rob and Jenessa the next night, trying to make some sense of their random impressions of the other Houses. While neither one of them had ever been to a Gathering before, they’d both met some of the big players over the years.
We started with a map, and I was surprised to find out how much the West encompassed. Not only did I have all the states on the coast, but Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Over three fourths of Canada aligned itself with the West as well.
After about two hours, I had distilled their knowledge into a semi-coherent table of notes on each House:
- The House of Toulac – Based in Paris. Once more powerful, not so much now. Sort of waffley with their support so don’t trust an alliance. Run by Jean Pierre Severine. A bit paranoid and twitchy these days.
- The House of Salete – Based in San Paolo. Total party animals, won’t do much serious business. Run by Felippo Cristobal, already have an accord with them.
- The House of Valbjorn – Based in Amsterdam. Anything goes there, secret police clean stuff up. Secret? Leader is Erik Erlendur, people are totally loyal to him. Right hand man is Niels, does the day to day like Felix.
- The House of Thyssa – Based in Venice. Famous for double dealing, don’t sign anything without going over it with Felix. Run by Augustine Gianni but he prolly won’t go to Gathering. Warden is Dante Cipriano. Not a good guy to make an enemy out of.
- The House of Belonoc – Based in Berlin. Very forward thinking, rich. Rumor of experimenting on vamps to improve the species – ask about this! Run by Reindert (Rein sounds like Ryan) Faust. Jenessa thinks charming but a little intimidating. Rob thinks he’s too ambitious. Female Warden – Liesa Brahms. Have to meet her!
- The House of Nira’in – Based in Al Iskandariyah. (Google that later) What you see is what you get. Boss is Hasan Khalid – very honorable. Can trust him.
- The House of Jiao-Long – Based in Hong Kong. Used to be 3 separate houses, Kazai and Punleu recently banded together under Jiao-Long. Too worried about internal power stuff to interact much. Might not even come.
- The House of Rathak – Based in Prague. Prolly won’t come either, separatists.
- The House of Bakareh – Based in Alexandria. They haven’t come in hundreds of years, prolly won’t come either.
Looking back over my notes, I saw they were woefully inadequate, but at least it was a start. Vetis I already knew all about and next to Simon Corley’s name I just wrote ‘pretentious dumbhole’.
“Okay,” I said, taking a sip of cold tea. “The East I pretty much have down, unless there’s more you can tell me about Jennike Vendal. I know she had Tommy wrapped around her finger and she’s got delusions of running the whole U.S., but what about her personally?”
“Jennike’s ambitious alright,” Jenessa nodded. “Her drive and intelligence got her where she is today in a relatively short span of about two hundred years.”
“That’s a shor
t span?” I almost choked on my tea.
“Not everyone can fall out of the coffin and land themselves a plum position like you did,” Rob smirked. “She’s a cold bitch, but smart. You’d do best to avoid her as much as possible.”
“What about her Warden?”
“Hasn’t got one,” Rob shook his head. “Too power hungry I suppose.”
“He’s right,” Jenessa agreed. “You can bet that any deal Jennike brings to the table will benefit her alone, no matter how tempting it seems on the surface.”
“I wonder what she wanted Tommy to do?” I mused aloud.
“How do you mean?”
“When we all went to Vetis, I heard her on a call with Tommy. She wanted him to sign something with Corley, but I never found out what.”
“Felix would know, you’ll have to ask him,” Rob shrugged.
“Right. That’s a perfectly legitimate question.” I just hadn’t wanted to ask him too many things right off the bat. I wanted to look as capable as possible in front of him and the council, even if it was based on half truths at best. “I think that about does it. Oh, but tell me more about Macallister. I’m a little fuzzy on what’s going on with Texas. Are they part of the East? Part of the West?”
“Neither. They’re independent.”
“So, they’re the House of Texas?”
Jenessa shook her head. “No, the other Houses don’t acknowledge Texas in its own right, no matter how strong they think themselves. They have little use for treaties and accords, preferring to remain largely lawless like the old wild west, I imagine,” she smiled. “They don’t have a formal government or House, but Macallister is their representative.”
“And Macallister himself?”
“Delicious man,” she sighed dreamily, and I traded an amused look with Rob.
“Are you going on personal experience?”
“I admit I’ve fallen prey to his rough charms,” she smiled. “It’s been years though, I’m sure he hardly remembers me.”
Which was all well and good, but didn’t tell me much about the man other than his talents in the sack (which honestly, I could have guessed just by looking at him). “But is he a straight shooter? He wants to meet with me before the Gathering.”
Rob gave the barest of shrugs. “I haven’t heard much dirt on him. You’ll have to form your own opinion of the man. Apart from his charms.” He raised his mug to Jenessa who raised hers in kind, but didn’t drink.
“I’d be more than happy to feel him out for you, Anja,” she offered, an eager light coming into her pretty, blue eyes.
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Knock yourself out. Maggie’s got his number. You can tell him you’re my envoy or something, if you need an excuse to chat him up, that is.”
“I might have to do that. A girl can’t work all the time, can she?”
“Speaking of which – what’s the scuttlebutt around the Order HQ about me coming to power? Are they freaked out or okay with it?”
Jenessa set her mug down, lacing her fingers together in thought before she replied. “There is definitely a watch and wait attitude going around. I heard Frost say it could be a positive thing, so that’s encouraging. I know many of them are scared though. They know how you feel about the Order’s policies. And Stone said something about getting in good with you to keep you from banishing the Order from the West.”
“Could I even do that? I thought the Order wasn’t subject to my rule.”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “It was office chit chat. I’ve no idea if there’s any truth to it or if Rome would rain destruction on your head for even breathing it aloud.”
Not a pretty picture. “Right. And thereby ends the topic of banishing the Order from our lands for the foreseeable future. Besides, I don’t want to banish them, I just want to tone down the death toll. Do you think we stand a chance of all getting along together?”
“You’ve come this far. I’m betting on you to pull it off,” Rob winked.
“From your lips…” I smiled, distracted then by the sight of them twitching into an almost smile and I lost my train of thought. Was it getting warm in here? Maybe I just needed to hunt.
I excused myself to go run some cool water over my wrists, pressing a wet paper towel to the back of my neck when that didn’t help much. I felt Rob approach a split-second before he appeared beside me in the mirror.
“You need to feed.”
I met his eyes in the mirror, wondering how it was he could always tell. “I know.”
His gaze slid away from mine, jaw tightening before he gave a single nod. “Jenessa’s gone on her way. I’ll take you.”
He didn’t sound all that happy about it, and I could imagine why. I wouldn’t want to watch the woman I love get all grindy over her dinner choice either. Suddenly it seemed like the worst idea in the world for him to be the one to take me. I didn’t even really need him to. My control had gotten much better, and I didn’t anticipate any problems in finding a suitable subject.
“You don’t have to. Gunnar can come with me if you think I need someone watching over me, or I can go another night.”
“No, it’s fine. You need to keep your strength up. Just… watch who you choose then, yeah? Pick someone who’ll give you as much as you need.”
“Are you offering?” My mouth went dry at the question, fangs descending the tiniest bit at the idea. His body swayed toward me, telling me he wasn’t immune to the idea either, but his voice was controlled when he spoke.
“I can’t give you what you need.”
“That’s debatable.”
“It’s really not.” Rob stepped out of the bathroom, refusing to look up at me again. “Come on then, you’d better get going before all the people have gone off the streets for the night.”
Grateful I wouldn’t have to take my whole security staff with me, I threw on some shoes and the next thing I knew we were driving through the darkened streets of San Francisco. At first I wasn’t sure where to go, but I found myself directing him back to the Hunter’s Point area, looking for that rundown tavern Jakob had taken me to. Maybe I could find Chad there? He seemed like as good a choice as any, and at least I wouldn’t have to worry about him belonging to someone else.
Rob accepted the directions without comment, though he did look somewhat dubious when I guided him to the final street. “I’ll have to park a few blocks over. If I leave the car here, won’t be nothing to come back to.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be in that bar across the street there.”
“That place?” The corners of his mouth turned down as he peered through the windshield. “You’d better wait for me.”
“I’ll be fine, I’ve been there before. It’s not as bad as you think.”
I thought he might argue the point further, but he just unlocked the car door. “Right then, I’ll be back in a flash. Don’t open a vein ‘til I get back, yeah?”
“I’ll be good, I promise. I just want to get inside and scope things out.” If Chad wasn’t in there, I might have to reconsider. The few people on the street didn’t look all that healthy.
I wasn’t all dressed up to go out like I was the first time I was there with Jakob. Still, I stuck out like a sore thumb as soon as I walked into the dingy tavern. There weren’t too many patrons in the place, and a quick survey found my options limited. Now, I know Rob asked me not to eat anyone until he got there, but I started thinking… Why make things harder on him than they had to be? Wouldn’t it be better to pick a guy, take what I needed and then leave by the time Rob showed up?
Taking my cues from Ellie and her rushed feedings, I strode right up to the guy closest to me, trying not to notice the dirt crusted under his fingernails. I flung my compulsion out ahead of me, catching hold of him before I even opened my mouth. “You and me out back, right now.”
The guy didn’t even hesitate, immediately following me outside without a word. A few nasty laughs and catcalls followed us out, but I didn’t care. Let them
think what they wanted, as long as I got what I needed.
The closer I got to him, the more I noticed the sour reek of old gin and tobacco that seeped out of his pores and the less I felt like getting my fangs anywhere near that, but I was hell bent on getting it over with as quickly as possible. I didn’t know his name, and I didn’t want to know, especially when he gave me a smarmy smile.
As soon as we got out into the alley, he reached for me, but I shoved him back against the building, not wanting those hands anywhere near me. Unfortunately, the door to the bar opened, and couple of guys stepped into the alley.
“Hey,” one of them called out, his breath steaming in the cold night air. “Hey, chicky. You’re a ballsy one, aren’t ya?”
Frak! That was all I needed, an audience. “Not right now, fellas. We’re kind of busy, and I’m not in the mood for a foursome.”
“She’s not in the mood for a foursome…” He gave a short, ugly bark of laughter. “What are you in the mood for then? Huh, chicky? ‘Cause a foursome’s what you got.” He and his buddy circled around me, cutting off my exit to the mouth of the alley and the door back into the tavern.
I half expected Rob to step out at any moment, but he was nowhere in sight. Had he left me to fend for myself? A cold sliver of worry sliced through my belly at finding myself completely alone and vulnerable before I realized… I wasn’t vulnerable. I was the one with all the power, and I refused to let them intimidate me.
“Privacy actually. Why don’t you go back inside?”
The mouthy guy nodded absently, already turning to go, but my designated victim decided he wanted to get in on the action, and his brawny arms pulled mine behind my back. “Come on now, be nice. Don’t make us give you a lesson in manners.”
For a good two seconds I wished I’d thought to compel him into submission, but I hadn’t gotten that far. Only, it wasn’t necessary at all. It was laughably easy to pull free from his grasp, and my elbow swung back in a perfect arc, cracking across the bridge of his nose with a satisfying crunch.
