Blade to the Keep

by Dane, Lauren

  She pushed herself away from him, letting go, her face registering disgust as he sputtered and coughed, flexing his shoulder.

  “I’ll report you for this!”

  “You have fun with that.”

  She turned her back, and Clive held back a hiss. To turn your back in the middle of an altercation was the lowest insult. She didn’t fear anything this male could muster.

  Her power shone around her body, golden. Magnificent in its brutality and darkness. He fisted his hands to keep from reaching for her. Desire so sharp and overwhelming it seemed to drown his senses filled him up to nearly overflow. She was perfection.

  “I have business to attend to, so don’t get in my way.” She didn’t walk away. No, she sauntered. Click. Click. Click. Click. Towering heels sounded on the marble floors.

  Clive stayed where he was as the human picked himself up and grabbed his phone. “It’s Roth Wesslyian. I’ve just been attacked by Rowan Summerwaite with no provocation. I want her fired, and I want her arrested.”

  Clive’s incisors lengthened as an urge to maim this pathetic wretch coursed through him.

  “What do you mean?”

  Clive sharpened his attention to listen in on the other end of the conversation.

  “I mean, how on earth do you think we’re going to arrest her there, at his Keep? What did you do to her?”

  “Nothing! I told you she attacked me without provocation. I came here to protect Julia’s daughter, who she threatened just last night, and she tried to choke me.”

  “Roth, do pull the other one. She’s a mongrel, absolutely. She’s a violent, vulgar cretin, but she is not prone to attacking without provocation. Besides, if she’d have wanted to choke you, she would have.”

  “Have you so little faith in my ability? I’m perfectly capable of defending myself from a slip of a girl.”

  “She’s got a goddess inside her. She was raised by the Vampires. She’s absolutely a killing machine. So no, I have no faith in your ability except that I do believe in your ability to push her into reacting to whatever you said or did. You’re supposed to stop this amendment, not protect your girlfriend’s daughter. Keep it together, Roth.”

  “I want her fired. If you fire her, she can’t do anything here. It’ll put everything off by at least six months, until the next Joint Tribunal, and by then the Vampires will have done something else stupid.”

  “I don’t have the support to fire her. She’s a full partner, which means we’d need eight of ten to vote termination. She’s a partner and obviously would vote against that. The Espys would vote against, that’s three. And she has support beyond that. We don’t have the votes.”

  “Celesse.”

  “Celesse is not going to vote to fire her. Celesse may get tired of her antics, she might disagree with her methods at times, but she’s one of Rowan’s most consistent supporters. Think, Roth. For heaven’s sake. If you can torpedo this amendment, you weaken her. She’ll have to spend all her time hunting Vampires, and every time she does there’s paperwork. Her life will be filled with useless minutiae. We don’t need her fired, she’ll be stripped of her power if we handle this right, and we’ll be done with this game with the Vampires. The entire point of your presence should be to throw a wrench in this meeting and stop that amendment. Nothing else matters.”

  “You’re afraid of the Espys.”

  “You should be too, Roth. For all Celesse taught her, Rowan truly came into her own when Susan became her trainer. Never, ever underestimate them. Susan Espy is a brutal, vicious killer, and Rex has a political mind that people will write books about someday. And he can kill you with his bare hands and not spill his drink. Don’t you know anything about the people you work with? Can you be so ignorant?”

  “Valerie—”

  “Enough about that twit. I’ve wanted to punch her in the face more than once, so I can’t expect Rowan to sit idly by while Valerie fucked everything up there. Get to work and stop with this squawking.”

  “Bitch.” The human shoved his phone in his suit coat pocket and stalked away.

  Clive came out of the shadows and headed toward the dining room.

  Chapter Eleven

  She should probably feel guilty that satisfaction coursed through her after the little incident with Roth. It shouldn’t be acceptable that it pleased her to knock a human being around. A coworker even.

  Acceptable or not, it cheered her up. Oh, she wasn’t so naïve as to think Roth wouldn’t try to get her fired or use his considerable power within Hunter Corp. to get her disciplined.

  She’d do her job. She hadn’t lied when she’d told Roth she had a path. The cost of failing to get this amendment through wasn’t just the lack of a way to deal with this new problem, but a destabilization to the Treaty in general. And the relationship between Hunter Corp. and the Vampire Nation would suffer. Eventually bickering would lead to skirmishes that’d lead to war. The Vampires were too powerful to be let off a leash, and Hunter Corp. had too many loose cannons with god complexes to not be held accountable by the Treaty.

  It wasn’t so much that she had a foot in both worlds, though that was true to a certain extent. But that she didn’t belong in either world completely. She was not a Vampire, though she thought like them. And she was not a human, though she fought for them and defended them. She was something other.

  Within her belly, She stirred. Approval filled Rowan then, and she realized Brigid had wanted her to understand that all along. Sages and goddesses and their damned need for mystery. Couldn’t anyone just tell her what they needed her to understand up front?

  “Ah, Petal.” Theo approached and took her arm, leading her into the dining room. “You’ve been a naughty girl, I hear.”

  She stifled a laugh. “It’s a terrible flaw, I’m afraid. Who spilled my secret?”

  He paused and then smiled, catching her up in the beauty and brilliance of it. He patted her arm, letting her disentangle from that charisma. “I do miss your humor. No one around me likes to joke much.”

  Yeah, well, you never knew if he’d laugh or beat you bloody, so she got why that was.

  “Someone from Hunter Corporation, I can’t remember his name. Frankly he seemed rather unimportant and silly. He claimed you’d threatened one of your coworkers. Then he wanted to register an official complaint that you’d been seated to my right.”

  “He...said this to you?” She might have to reevaluate Roth’s level of ballsiness.

  “Of course not. He’s an odious rodent. He mewled to one of my people about you. If you wish to eviscerate him and leave him for the small mammals to eat, your secret is safe with me.”

  She choked back a laugh, but couldn’t prevent a quick grin. “I’ll keep that in mind. Mainly, though, I think I’ll go about my business and ignore him. He and I had a meeting recently. I underlined my position.”

  “I do hope you made him bleed. Recht reports that your skills are exemplary. Not that I had any doubt.” He held up a passing server. “Mulled cider. It’s chilly.” He handed her a mug and she took it with her thanks. It reminded her a lot of her childhood, the non-scary part anyway.

  “It’s been some time since I’ve seen you in battle. The aftermath in Las Vegas was rather stunning. I should like to see it for myself the next time.”

  “I’m making a rather concerted effort not to kill or maim anyone during this meeting. I already have heat from the human you speak of for threatening one of my employees.” It was their refusal to understand and accept the way Vampires saw the world that made them dangerous, these people in Hunter Corp. who wanted to be rid of the Treaty.

  They thought if Hunter Corp. repudiated the Treaty, it would be easy to dominate Vampires. But those who held that belief were never field Hunters. They never faced Vampires in any sort of combat or dealt with them regularly. They did
not understand how Vampires thought.

  That ignorance and hubris would kill countless humans before it all ended. Hunter Corp. existed to serve as a defense between Vampires and humanity. It was frivolous to talk of war like it was an easy thing. War had to be avoided and the way to continue to do it was to amend the Treaty and move forward. They didn’t have to like each other. Hunters and Vampires just had to remember the cost if diplomacy failed. And she’d do everything she could to stop that from happening.

  “I have a rather low opinion of the Hunter Corp., Rowan. This is internal silliness and it should never be exposed to anyone in my camp. It weakens your position. I find myself of two minds. It’s good to see your opponent weakened, but not when your opponent is your daughter. I expect you to handle this creature.”

  She nodded as a wave of power flowed over her. “Understood.”

  “Good. I did manage to find a place for him at the table. Down at the very far end with all the assistants and such.” He sniffed his disdain and then froze before slowly turning toward the main doors.

  The sound he made in the back of his throat made the hair on her arms stand up.

  He muttered in the old language about usurpers and she wondered just who the very old female Vampire who’d walked in at Victoriana’s side was. Her power rolled out before her like a bank of fog. Chilly and sticky.

  Almonds. The scent wasn’t Theo’s. This was fringed by something heavy-sweet, like night-blooming jasmine. Rowan hated night-blooming jasmine.

  Clearly she was old. Far older than Victoriana and far more powerful. “A compatriot of Flavius’s, perhaps?” And that other player she’d been wondering about, no doubt.

  Theo turned to her. His eyes were lit with anger, lines around them on a usually flaw-free face.

  He didn’t deny it with a shrug. “More dangerous than that fop ever was. Don’t let your guard down, Petal. This one is a serious threat.”

  “Is she part of the Blood Front?” Rowan probably held back the lip curl, but it was in the words.

  He paused and then laughed. “I do agree that the name is quite absurd. She is the Blood Front.”

  The two female Vampires headed in their direction. “Stay with me here, Petal. I’ll do the introductions. And then you should do your homework.”

  Theo stood taller, going very still and regal. She breathed though her nose, letting the goddess take over a little to keep from being caught up in the flood of power he pumped out. Rowan didn’t look at him, knowing he’d be too beautiful. Too everything.

  Just then, Clive approached from the left and she latched on gratefully. His gaze flitted over to the approaching Vampires, and then he situated himself on Theo’s other side, giving Rowan a long look and the breath of a smile.

  Clive did not lower his chin to the two females, which Rowan found interesting. He was such an old-school gentleman that seeing him be even slightly rude was jarring.

  “Ovilius, you do remember your guests?”

  “Enyo, it’s been some time. What brings you to my Keep?”

  She showed him her wrist and cracked a smile that was as calculated as it was breathtaking. Her hair was easily waist-length, dark as night, pulled back from a face that had most likely graced many a canvas. Eyes more amber than hazel and lips drawn in a luscious bow. Enyo was a prime specimen of Vampiric beauty. “Tages, do I need a reason to see you?” Her accent was one Rowan couldn’t quite place.

  Theo nodded slightly, the tension in his muscles a tangible thing. “One does usually call in advance.”

  Holy sweet fuck. Tages? This crazy bitch named after a super-scary mythic figure just laid Theo’s Etruscan name on him? She’d known him a minute or two, that much was clear.

  Brigid pushed to the surface, filling Rowan hard and fast, the heat and power of a goddess overflowing as Rowan took a backseat. Rowan didn’t resist; She always had a reason.

  Enyo turned to take Rowan in. Rowan might not have looked a Vamp this old in the eyes, but Brigid had no such reservations. She cocked her head and watched openly, avidly.

  Turned out Enyo didn’t like that much. “Human, why do you stare so?” She still hadn’t given Rowan much attention. Which was her mistake. It wasn’t as if it was a secret that Rowan was the Vessel. But over and over again, even after she’d executed the old and strong of their kind, they always underestimated her.

  Which was fine. Because it got them killed.

  “This is the Hunter. The human companion to the Scion.” Victoriana said it without a glance toward Rowan, but Brigid didn’t care. Every bit of her attention was on Enyo.

  “She doesn’t remember me.” Rowan’s voice had deepened into something else. The goddess took over and magic seemed to pool around her.

  That got Enyo’s attention. “I’ve never met you, human.” She peered closely into Rowan’s face and started when Rowan didn’t glance away. “What are you?”

  Theo chose that moment to intervene. “This is my daughter, Rowan. She is the Liaison from Hunter Corp.”

  Enyo sneered and then Brigid laughed. She laughed loud, a sound tinged with so much power everything else in the room stopped as people turned to stare.

  “You’re still not more than the girl who made very bad decisions. What is your plan here? I will not tolerate your interference.”

  Rowan wasn’t sure what language she spoke in just then, but it sounded like maybe Greek. But different enough that maybe it was old? What she did know was that Brigid and Enyo had a history of some kind and Brigid considered her a threat or she wouldn’t have taken over the way she had.

  She wasn’t much for shows of power, not like this. Which meant Rowan stood back and watched, waiting.

  “You’re a very brave human to speak to me thusly,” Enyo spoke back in the same language.

  Theo kept his hand on her arm. Rowan knew his general feelings about Brigid, so it made her feel better to have his support, but also no small amount alarmed, because who the fuck was this chick to make Her surface and Theo align with Her in defense?

  Cataline approached, freezing when she caught the tension between them.

  “Yes, Cataline?” Theo spoke but he didn’t take his gaze from Enyo.

  “We’re ready to begin serving. Whenever you are, of course.”

  Theo did something manly and quick; he moved, placing himself between Enyo and Rowan, and nodded toward the table. “Let’s get this dinner started then. Enzo, please work with Cataline to find a place for Enyo at the table. She’ll be joining us for dinner.”

  Enzo nodded and took Cataline aside to make that happen.

  They moved to the long table and people sat where their placecards indicated. There’d been some shuffling from the night before, but Theo kept his arm on Rowan’s, leading her to the same seat she’d had the previous evening, so she sat and took a quick sip or three of the wine already waiting there.

  The Goddess still burned in her muscles. She hadn’t retreated to a lower part of Rowan’s consciousness yet. It was easy enough to manage when Brigid had taken full control, or when she lurked around at the back of Rowan’s mind. But this was something She’d only done a handful of times and it lent Rowan a sort-of double vision.

  Rowan needed to concentrate a little harder on her muscle control and basic movements because she was sort of in control but not totally. In the end it was fine because it kept her from panicking too much about whatever the hell was going on. She wanted to have David get word to Carey about Enyo but didn’t have the opportunity. Rowan figured he’d do it on his own anyway because he was just that efficient.

  Clive looked carefully around the room. He and Paola made eye contact, as he did with Warren. The other Scions all shifted, moving their bodies toward Theo. Rowan figured it was them giving support to their leader, which was a good sign.

  Enyo was placed
just a few seats away from Rowan, still below the Scions, but higher than most everyone else. Theo might not have liked her, but he certainly afforded her respect for her position. Whoever she was.

  Food began coming out, and Rowan tried to focus on that while also keeping her attention on the way people reacted to this new Vampire.

  She’d guessed the evening before that Victoriana wasn’t the real force behind the Blood Front and that there’d been another player somewhere. Given what Theo had said, it was obviously Enyo, though why Clive hadn’t said so when he’d given her the info on Victoriana she didn’t know. She’d interrogate him later. It might even be fun and naked.

  This meal, like the one of the night before, was also full of Rowan’s favorites. Brigid retreated a little, enough to let Rowan enjoy the trout and the fresh green beans.

  “What brings you here, Enyo?” Theo asked with dangerous calm. His words so precise and cool they sliced through Rowan on the way to the Vampire he spoke to.

  “I am deeply interested in this amendment business.”

  “Wasn’t Victoriana reporting back to you often enough?” Brigid had pushed forward again to speak words Rowan wouldn’t have, not at dinner.

  Clive made a very quiet, strangled sound and that amused Her as well as Rowan.

  “Your pet human has interesting manners.” Enyo ignored Rowan’s comment and spoke to Theo instead.

  “Rowan is no one’s pet.” Theo’s words about Rowan were not sharp or cold. “And, I find she’s got a point. This isn’t a house party. This is a meeting of great importance between duly appointed representatives from both the Nation and Hunter Corp.” He gave a look down the table to Roth. “Why people keep showing up trying to thwart an established process, I do not know. Nor do I approve.” He returned his attention to Enyo.

  Enyo hadn’t denied she’d been connected to Victoriana.

  “Sometimes, Tages, the established process isn’t the best process.”

  “Served you just fine for over a thousand years.”

  “Things change.”