The murmurs and grumbles began anew, filling the room with a distinctly hostile buzz. De Santos silenced them again with a look. “Even humans are aware that some very mundane things can change the structure of a cell. Disease. Toxins.
“But outside of superhero comics, those things don’t allow a human to see in the dark like a cat, or hear a stocking footfall from a dozen yards away. They don’t allow a small, delicate woman to wrestle with a human man twice her size and almost win. Even if she can’t clean and jerk a Peugeot, she’s still obviously much stronger than a human woman of her build ought to be.”
“Pure speculation,” Leonard said.
De Santos raised an eyebrow. “Are you dismissing the concerns of our guests, Francis?”
“Of course I’m dismissing them. They’re nonsense. If they have the woman, they have her. If they decide to examine her blood or anything else, then they do it. Their findings would never be taken seriously by a human public obsessed with science. And in the chaos that still pervades Russia, even if they have access to a laboratory, do the necessary tests, and broadcast the results on satellite television, it’s doubtful anyone will pay attention, let alone raise an army to defeat us. To Unveil now would be preposterous.”
“And if you’re wrong?” Quinn demanded. “Wouldn’t it be better to reveal ourselves to the humans on our own terms and learn to coexist with them, rather than be dragged out into the open by panicked mobs bent on our destruction?”
“A move such as this would be utterly foolish,” Leonard spat out, his features tight and eyes narrowed in rage. “If we expose ourselves to the humans, it would be like painting bull’s-eyes on our chests and handing them the stakes.”
“Not all of us get nervous when we see someone holding a pencil the wrong way, Francis,” Emma Higgenbottham said in a warm, soothing, matronly voice that sounded utterly out of place amid the rancor filling the room. If she was like most brownies, the small, industrious woman usually wore a smile and offered a quick, merry wit. Right now, she was glaring daggers at Leonard.
“I think you give the humans too little credit,” the brownie continued. “I think most of you always have. They’re not so bad, really, once you get to know them. A bit thick, maybe, but that’s no reason to—”
“And what would you know about it?” Leonard sniped back. “Just because your people have been cleaning their houses for a few centuries without having the decency to kill them in their sleep is no reason to assume you’re experts on their behavior.”
Breath hissed between his teeth as Quinn mentally lowered his assessment of Leonard’s intelligence. Brownies might be looked on by most as jolly, industrious elf types, but he wouldn’t have pissed one off on a bet. There were reasons why humans used to leave them offerings of milk and brandy on their doorsteps. To keep them from torching their houses at night.
“We don’t live in the Dark Ages anymore,” Emma bit out.
Quinn seized the opportunity. “Exactly. And given the present circumstances, perhaps it’s time to give humans the benefit of a doubt that they might be ready to accept a few unusual truths.”
“Bullshit.”
The word shot from Cassidy’s mouth before she had a hope of stopping it. Judging by the look on her grandmother’s face, Cassidy supposed that Adele wished she could shove it back in, but her hands were tied by the large audience of her peers. So at that point, all Cassidy could really do was to go with it.
The Felix looked her way and quirked an eyebrow. “I take it you disagree with Mr. Quinn’s assessment, Ms. Poe?”
Cassidy shifted in her chair. “You could say that. But I’m sorry. I’m a visitor here, and it’s not my place to comment.”
De Santos smiled. “On the contrary, Ms. Poe. While the revelation of Ms. Mirenow’s kidnapping and the involvement of the Light of Truth may have come as a surprise, I had a sneaking suspicion regarding the intentions of our visiting delegates.”
Ooooohkay. That cleared up precisely nothing.
“I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”
“Your grandmother is very proud of you, Ms. Poe. She shared with me the impressive reputation you have earned in the study of human culture and intercultural relations.”
Cassidy blinked. They wanted her here because she was an anthropologist?
“I believe the expertise of a person who has dedicated her life and her very keen intellect to the study of how cultures interact, evolve, and react to change could prove extremely valuable to us, Ms. Poe. Especially an Other with such an extensive knowledge of human cultures.” Rafael smiled. “I also have a great deal of respect for your family. I have never met a Berry or a Poe who did not possess a sharp political mind. We can never have enough of those, can we?”
“With all due respect, sir, it doesn’t matter how much I know about human culture, or how great my family is at politics. It won’t change the fact that you already know the humans are never going to accept us. If we Unveil, we’ll need to be prepared for a war.”
“We may not be human, but we aren’t that dissimilar from them in many ways,” the Irish Lupine broke in. That damned accent of his only added to the difficulty Cassidy was having in processing data and, oh, remembering her name. “If we handle this properly, reveal ourselves in the right way at the right time, the European High Council believes we have a good chance to live with them in peace and harmony. And if we ever plan to do so, we have to begin pursuit of that goal immediately.”
“Such an assertion is nothing but nonsense, and you know it.” Adele replied for Cassidy, seeing as how her granddaughter was too busy trying to will a hole to open up below her chair and swallow her. “The humans have had hundreds of years to get over the fear that drove us into hiding in the first place, and yet they remain convinced that we are abominations cursed by God. Do you not go to the cinema?”
“With all due respect, ma’am, I don’t think movies or novels are any way to judge the capacity of the entire human race,” Quinn said. “They also write novels in which our kind are accepted members of society.”
Cassidy gave up on the restraint thing and screwed up her courage. She looked straight at the luscious Lupine. “Mr. Quinn, to use human speculative fiction as a basis for a decision of this magnitude is ridiculous. By and large, humans believe themselves to have very delineated boundaries between fact and fiction. They might enjoy the entertainment value of the latter, but they don’t allow it into their daily lives. They wouldn’t allow us into their daily lives.”
“You have the right to whatever opinion you wish, Miss Poe, however, I do not think it wise to discount—”
“I can say it with certainty, because this is what I do.” Drawing herself up in her chair, she felt her nerves taking a back seat, forced there by the confidence she felt in her professionalism. “I’m a cultural anthropologist. I study groups of humans for a living, what makes them tick, what unites them and what divides them. And I can tell you authoritatively that there is a lot more that divides us from humans than unites us.”
“I believe you may overstate the problem, mademoiselle.” Mireille Chaleur regarded her from behind those fathomless dark eyes, her face static and remote. “We have lived side by side with the humans since they crawled from their caves. They have dominated the earth for more centuries than I care to count. It has led to the unfortunate consequence of our kind coming to mimic their society. We have become like them in many ways.”
“Until they start turning fuzzy and biting into food that can bite back, I think I’ll stick by my statement.”
Mireille’s eyes narrowed and her mouth opened, but De Santos got there first. “Your expertise in this area is why your grandmother was asked to bring you to this meeting, Ms. Poe. I’m interested to hear why you think the idea of the Unveiling is so unwise.”
“We don’t need her to tell us her reasons, De Santos. We have enough of our own,” Leonard said.
Cassidy struggled not to make a face. She wasn’t terribl
y fond of Francis Leonard, but then, neither was the head of the Council. From the gossip Cassidy had heard, the vampire still carried a grudge over losing the leadership role to De Santos. It warmed her heart that someone so old could be so childish.
Leonard shoved to his feet. “I’ve had enough of this. These arguments are ridiculous and will get us nowhere. I am personally insulted that our brethren from Europe would even think to subject us to this ludicrous exercise. If it’s true that there is a threat from this human group, then let us take care of it and be done.”
“Take care of it?” Quinn asked much too quietly. Cassidy could almost see his hackles rising. “What exactly does that mean?”
“Kill them.”
A couple of voices murmured agreement, but most of the room looked uneasy at the thought, and Quinn’s lip curled in an incredibly wolfish snarl.
“It’s no worse than what they’ve done to us,” Leonard insisted coldly. “Or have you forgotten your history, wolf?”
“My people remember very well the witch hunts and the werewolf trials. We remember the burnings and the hangings and the burials where stakes were driven through the hearts of our people to bind them forever to their graves. Rest assured, the memories of all Others are long and vivid.”
“Very vivid,” Richard grumbled. “My great-grandfather was skinned alive by the human fisherman of a nearby village. They’d heard some legends and intended to use the power of a Selkie’s skin to control the weather. Don’t be telling us we don’t remember, vampire. We simply choose not to live in the past. And we choose not to sink to the level of murderers.”
“Before we devolve into name-calling,” De Santos growled meaningfully, eyes narrowing into glowing yellow slits as a hint of fang glinted between his lips, “kindly remember a few things. One, we are all civilized adults here. Two, this chamber is a place of diplomacy, not chaos. And three, I will quite happily knock together the skulls of anyone here who cannot keep a civil tongue in their heads. Do we all understand each other?”
There was a lot of nodding on either side of the table, but only the bravest of the assembly managed to vocalize anything like an assent. No one offered an objection.
“Good.” The Felix settled back in his seat, but no one was fooled into thinking he had relaxed. “Let me understand you, Leonard. You propose that we hunt down the people responsible for Ms. Mirenow’s kidnapping and simply kill the lot of them?”
“There’s no other way to be assured of their silence.”
“Are you daft, man?” Quinn surged to his feet and slammed his palms down onto the table. “There is no way to silence them. None. We are going to be revealed. Our only choice is to manage how it happens. Even if we slaughtered every fanatic in Moscow, even if we traced the order for the kidnapping to a cell in America and slaughtered them, another group will rise up to take their place. We have no more choices. We will be Unveiled.”
“What’s to manage?” Cassidy demanded, when her teeth had bitten all the way through her tongue and snapped her restraint. “The consequences are going to manage us, not the other way around. Unveiling won’t make the fanatics go away. It will provide a recruitment poster for new ones. There’s going to be a revival of Salem! The Musical! Right here on Broadway.”
“Enough of this,” De Santos grumbled, rolling his eyes. “You are turning my headache into a fully blown migraine with a side of annoyance. We’re finished here for the night.”
The room buzzed again, but Cassidy’s grandmother was the only one willing to stick her neck out in front of the Felix.
Adele scowled and thumped her cane heavily against the stone floor. “I hardly think we can adjourn and leave matters as serious as these unaddressed, Rafael.”
“I am not proposing that we leave anything unaddressed.”
“Good,” Leonard said. He wore a smug smile that didn’t just make Cassidy’s skin crawl, it made it dance a tarantella. “Then the only thing left to do is arrange for the Russians to take care of their cell. I’m sure they can extract the information we need to find the accomplices on our shores. If they’re anywhere in the tristate area, I might be willing to do the job myself.”
Rafael sent him a frigid look. “I’m not ready to order an execution, Francis. There’s no reason to look so excited.”
Cassidy frowned and her tongue ran away with her again. “You can’t actually be thinking of planning an Unveiling?”
“I take it you remain convinced this would be foolish.”
She ignored the hostile gazes of the Lupine, the Selkie, and most of the rest of the Council, and sighed. “I don’t think the Unveiling itself is unwise, sir. I think it’s inevitable. I just don’t think that now is the time. In the past decade, human society has been growing more insular, more intolerant and protectionist, not less. Hardly the hallmarks of an enlightened society.”
“In Western Europe, the values of tolerance and acceptance are finding a wider audience, not a smaller one. The EU has strict policies on individual rights and freedoms.”
Quinn practically spat the words at her, and she shook her head. Only she could manage to make a man crazy with desire and maddened with anger all in one banner evening.
“Mr. Quinn, I’m not saying there aren’t some humans who could learn to accept us. But by and large, do you really think the majority of them are going to be overcome with warm fuzzy feelings for things that grow big, long fangs and eat raw meat, preferably while it’s still twitching?”
The Lupine said nothing, but she saw the muscles in his jaw twitch. He shot a glare at Leonard, then appeared to take a deep, calming breath before he answered her. It wasn’t she who had him so angry, she realized. It was the vampire and his bloodthirsty solution to the night’s problem.
“I think we’re going to find out, Miss Poe, whether we want to or not.”
“And I think that before we jump to any conclusions, we need a great deal more information,” De Santos broke in. “We need to know exactly what information the Russians have that leads them to conclude there is a Light of Truth cell here in the United States. We need to know whether this group was involved in the Mirenow kidnapping, as well as what their immediate plans for our demise consist of. And I know exactly how we’re going to accomplish it.”
The Lupine frowned and Cassidy got the uneasy feeling something unpleasant for her was about to happen.
It was confirmed when the Felix fixed her with his gaze. “Ms. Poe, from what your grandmother has told me over the years, I gather that the study of fringe cultural movements and their relationship to larger society has been something of an area of expertise for you.”
Uh-oh. Cassidy did not like where this was headed.
“I don’t know if I would say that,” she began, but he didn’t give her time to finish.
“That’s why I called the dean of your department at Columbia to ask his opinion. He confirmed that you are one of the foremost authorities on the matter.” He aimed his blasted, charming smile at her. “I would like you to do something for the Council, Miss Poe. I would like you to learn everything you can about this group that calls itself the Light of Truth, and then I would like you to discover what, if any, truth there is to the rumors that the group is currently active in the United States. You will, of course, need to work very closely with Mr. Quinn on this, but I don’t foresee that being a problem.”
Cassidy just sat there, stunned, and tried to ignore the sudden glint in the Lupine’s eyes.
“And you, Mr. Quinn, will keep in constant contact with Russia. If there is a trail leading here, I want you to find it. And if there is an organized cell of the Light of Truth operating in this country, I want you to find that.” He nodded to Quinn and then to Cassidy. “The two of you will be working together very closely until this is resolved.”
Before Cassidy could say a word, De Santos nodded to the assembly, stood, and sauntered out of the Council chambers.
Had she thought unpleasant? Try nightmarish. Slowly, she turned
her head and met the gaze of the Lupine across the table, and goddammit if he didn’t lick his freaking lips.
Bastard.
Nine
She bolted faster than a thoroughbred from a starting gate, and Quinn was still grinning over it the next morning when he, Richard, and Cristos trekked the distance from their hotel back to Vircolac. Didn’t she realize by now that running only made him that much more eager to chase her?
He wasn’t sure if it was anticipation, adrenaline, or just a night full of very satisfying dreams, but he found himself in a rare mood this morning. He had enough energy for ten men and was glad they’d be starting work early and getting something done. As they’d been leaving the club last night, a member of the staff had delivered a message from the head of the Council requesting that he, Richard, and Cristos return at ten the next morning for a conference call with Gregor Kasminikov. The Felix was anxious to move forward.
“Not quite what we’d hoped for, was it?” Richard grumped without real rancor about last night’s meeting. “Bloody Yanks.”
“I do not think it was so horrible.” Cristos grinned, hands buried in the pockets of his khaki trousers. “I had half expected them to laugh us out of the room. You might agree that things went a small bit better than that, at least.”
“Actually, I do agree,” Quinn said with a smile he hoped didn’t appear too smug. “I think this plan the Council leader has for us to work closely with local experts will be a very important opportunity.”
Richard snorted. “I’m talking about the welfare of an entire continent of Others, Quinn, and you’re thinking only of getting into the lass’s pants. It’s not like you.”
Quinn frowned.
Wolf at the Door Page 7
