by J A Campbell
That just wouldn’t do.
Smiling, I punched him lightly on the arm. “Yeah, because I don’t want to talk your ear off.” I pulled him into another hug. I hadn’t seen him in so long.
“How are you?” he asked.
“What exactly did I get myself into?”
He laughed. “I don’t even know where to start. It will take a bit of time to convince the Council you aren’t their puppet. They will be excited to hook their strings in you. Don’t let them.”
“Right. And how, exactly, do I manage that?” I sank down into the couch.
“I will help, but really, be yourself. Hawk thinks you scared Rhiannon. Good. Scare the rest of the Council. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“So, I can start fights?”
“It would be best if you could goad the others into challenging you. And then win. Conclusively. You don’t have to kill everyone you face, just put them down hard and fast. That will be enough.”
“Anyone I should target?”
“Our last target is a council member, and that will take some doing before we can manage it, even now. The time will come, but not yet.”
“Okay. So, tell me what to expect.”
I kept Judas talking long into the morning; then, to avoid any mishaps, I decided not to go exploring during the day, and we both crashed hard. I had been awake for a long time and even old vampires needed some rest.
Waking up just before sunset wasn’t hard. I set an alarm. Judas wasn’t far behind me and we both, predictably, beat Rhiannon to the lobby. Maybe she just liked making people wait. I wasn’t going to worry about it. Those sorts of games didn’t bother me. It was the bigger games I was concerned about.
We didn’t speak much as the car drove us deeper into London. The council chamber was in a fashionable, yet historically appropriate, part of the city, with parking provided in a garage underneath.
I followed next to Judas, careful not to put myself into a subservient position to Rhiannon.
The building was a mix of modern glass doors, polished marble floors, and antique furnishings. A vampire sat at a receptionist desk with a computer in front of him. He glanced at us, but didn’t say anything as we walked past into the dark-paneled hallway. Objects I could only describe as artifacts sat on pedestals down the hall, along with works of art that were probably originals. This place had more ancient things than a museum, including the occupants—I was no exception.
Keeping up the disinterested, haughty air was exhausting, but I only had to do it a little while longer. I hoped.
Judas opened a pair of double doors and gestured for Rhiannon to precede him. She stopped in the doorway and looked at me.
“Wait here,” she said, then went inside.
I caught a glimpse of a dimly lit room.
Judas glanced at me and arched an eyebrow.
I shrugged, so he went inside and shut the doors behind him.
For a minute, I wondered how long they would make me wait. I stood by the door—there was no chair—for another two minutes by my watch, then decided I wasn’t going to play that game either. Likely, Rhiannon would leave me here for days if I let her.
So not happening.
I pushed open the doors and walked in. Rhiannon stopped mid-word and stared. The others, nine ancient vampires in total, stared at me. A hint of a smile tugged at Judas’s lips. The others managed to school their expressions into neutrality from the initial shock. I supposed people didn’t barge into the council chamber often. Glancing around, I spotted an empty chair and headed for it.
“What…”
“This one is mine, right?” I pulled it out far enough that when I sat I could put my feet up on the table and lean it back.
The silence was deafening. Judas was almost certainly fighting a smile.
“Ekatarine, show some respect,” Rhiannon said sternly. Perhaps trying to show that she had me in line.
I smiled. “Make me.”
Lord Franco stood and glared at me. “You can be replaced.”
He made it sound like that would be easy.
“Try.” I dropped my feet to the floor and stood, ready for a challenge.
Franco blinked a few times before he sank back into his chair.
Judas wanted them terrified. I really hoped someone would challenge me.
Rhiannon made one more try. “Ekatarine, this council chamber…”
“This council is full of vampires so ancient they’ve forgotten how to fight. You think I’m here to obey you? My job is to police the council and the House vampires and make sure everyone stays in line. Any of you want my job? Come take it.” I held her gaze with hard eyes, putting all of my anger at the vampires who had decided my sire had to die behind it.
She looked away, then sat down, swallowing nervously.
Judas smiled slightly when I met his eyes and he shook his head, as if to say he wouldn’t challenge me. Next was an ancient Indian woman named Aditi. She wore the hint of a smile and also gave a quick shake of her head. Judas had spoken favorably of her in the past. Lord Herzog waved his hand as if my challenge was of no consequence to him. They had long been friends to House Veronis, so I had expected that. There were three vampires I didn’t know next in line and they refused to meet my eyes. Last was Steven, Lord of House Blair.
He was a tall, burly Highlander with an English first name that might have something to do with the giant chip on his shoulder.
“Think you can win in a fair fight?” he growled.
“You’re welcome to try.” I moved away from the table into a more open space. I didn’t want him to use the same trick I had used on Octavius.
“If Octavius could be taken down by being unprepared, he deserved to be replaced. I’m not convinced you’re as good as everyone seems to think, however.” He shrugged out of the suit jacket he wore.
I let my leather jacket slide off my shoulders and tossed it to my chair.
Steven rushed me, thinking I was distracted by my toss. I dodged, his fingers brushing along my sleeve. He was fast. I needed this to be decisive, but I also didn’t want to kill Steven if I didn’t have to. Judas had mentioned at least once that he was reasonably levelheaded. Coming in fast, I ducked low under his reach and drove my fist into his stomach, throwing my hip into the punch.
Steven grunted and fell back, but he was much bigger than I was and he was good at centering his weight, so I switched tactics. After angling away from his attempt to sweep my legs, I blocked a punch, caught his arm in a lock, and shoved, snapping his elbow.
He howled in pain.
Before he could recover, I punched him in the kidney—painful even for a vampire. He spun around to face me and I grabbed his arm and continued his momentum, spinning him around until his arm was pinned behind him. Before he could make the decision to dislocate his own shoulder, which was easier to do when you knew you could heal it later, I kicked his knees out from under him and shoved him to the ground hard.
“Yield,” I whispered against his neck, fangs brushing his skin.
He could keep fighting. He could get out of the lock I had him in, as I hadn’t immediately drained his life away, but it would hurt and he would have to accept both the pain and the advantage his broken elbow and dislocated shoulder would give me.
“Yield,” he said, barely above a whisper, but it was loud enough for the others to hear.
I released him and he twisted around, rubbing his shoulder with his other arm. Apparently, he had managed to heal his elbow already, at least enough to use it, though it probably still hurt.
Steven glared at me.
I offered him a hand up.
Warily, he took it.
“Good fight.” I smiled and headed back to my chair, put on my jacket and sat back down, feet up on the table.
Steven returned to his seat, and everyone stared at me.
“So, I think I’m here to meet everyone, yes? There are a few of you I don’t know.”
The silence lasted another
minute before Steven, who didn’t know I already knew who he was, introduced himself.
I knew there would be more games, more power plays, but hopefully I had headed off the worst of them. I suspected the less subtle ones I could avoid by simply ignoring them. The rest, well, Judas would watch my back.
I got off the airplane and wandered my way through customs upon returning Stateside. It didn’t take long and I headed out of the secure area of the airport to the lobby where Hawk waited for me.
He smiled when he saw me. I grinned back and gave him a long hug.
“Good to be home?” he asked.
“You have no idea.”
He chuckled and headed out into the humid evening. “Judas said you played your role admirably. So well that they practically wept with joy when you told them you had no desire to live in England and would be performing your duties from here.”
I laughed hard. “It was a thing of beauty.”
“They’re scared, but they’ll forget sooner than you might think. Convince themselves it wasn’t as bad as they thought. They’ll challenge you again.”
“Let them. I’ll be ready.”
He nodded agreement. “In the meantime, you’ve bought yourself some breathing room. There are a couple of people at home who are very anxious to see you.”
“I’m anxious to see them, too. Let’s get home.”
Hawk handed me the keys and I tried not to twitch when I noticed they were the keys to my Firebird.
He didn’t say anything, but I could seem the smile on his face out of the corner of my eye. I cleared my throat in annoyance, but decided to simply enjoy the drive and let my bird fly.
The End
For Now
Keep reading for a sneak peak of The Cursed Knife
Neutral Zone and Boring, Colorado
“Elise, they took him!”
“Mom?” Elise glanced at the caller ID on the landline just to be sure. The voice on the other end did sound like her mother’s, but instead of the normal elegant tones, her voice sounded brittle.
“They took him. I know we don’t talk much about your other life, but you must know someone who can help.”
“Took who?” Elise tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut as she clenched her hands on the phone. There was only one person her mom could be referring to.
“Your father. He’s...he’s gone.”
“Who took him?” Elise fought to slow her breathing, to control her fear, to keep from breaking down on the phone while her mom needed her. This couldn’t be right. Her father joked he had the safest job in the world: the biggest threats he faced at the National Archives were allergies and hernias from lifting a box that’d been too heavily loaded.
“I...I don’t know. He’s just gone. The police don’t know where he is,” she sobbed.
“Mom, I’m on my way. I’ll get some help and we’ll be right there.”
“Thank you.” Her mother sobbed harder.
Elise wished she could reach through the phone and hug her mom, but she’d be there soon enough. Traveling the Ways would get her across the country in almost no time.
Though her heart was breaking, she kept her voice calm and buried her free hand into one of her border collies' fur to keep herself grounded. Sensing her distress, Jett and Raid pressed against her legs. “Mom, I’ll bring help, but I have to go so I can call. I’ll be there soon.”
Her mom sniffed, sobbed a few times, before she managed to get out. “I love you, honey.”
“Love you too, Mom.” Elise hung up the receiver and stared at the phone for a moment, taking deep breaths.
Someone had her dad. Who could possibly want to hurt my dad? He worked for the government, sure, but not in any capacity that would make people angry. No secret research, or hidden agendas, he was a historian. These days, he worked for a branch of the government involved in preserving antiquities. How could he possibly have pissed someone off? He wasn’t even in charge of acquisitions.
Elise pressed her palms into her eyes before glancing around for her cell phone. She needed to call Tallon. Then she needed to call Hagatha. She also needed to call Marcus. Then they needed to hit the Ways between her little town of Neutral and Boring, Colorado, and Alexandria, Virginia, where she’d grown up. She tugged at her hair and tried not to completely stress out.
She picked up her cell phone and found Tallon’s number. Though it was afternoon, the vampire would likely be awake. Ever since she’d made him a charm that allowed him to go outside in sunlight, he’d spent more time working during the day. The former cop would be the best one to help her with this problem.
“This is Tallon,” he answered. She could envision him from his voice: a tall wiry man with dark curls, whiskey colored eyes, and an infectious grin.
“Tallon, it’s Elise. Well, you probably knew that, caller ID and all.” She laughed, forcing herself to stop when she heard the frantic edge to her voice. “Sorry. I’m...just...”
“Take a breath and tell me what’s wrong.” His voice calmed her.
“Someone has my dad. Kidnapped or something. Will you help?”
“I’ll be right there.” The line went dead.
Elise dialed her kinswoman’s number, hearing the old rock Hagatha used as a ringtone in her memory. Usually that amused her. Today, Elise wanted her to drop whatever experiment she was working on and pick up the phone.
Finally, she did.
“Hi, Elise.”
“Hagatha... Someone has my dad.” Elise’s voice broke, but she held back the tears long enough to hear Hagatha reply that she’d be right over.
Before she could call Marcus, she heard a knock at her door. Both dogs perked their ears. Though she was in the observatory at the top of her tower where she conducted magical battles—all in fun—against Hagatha, she'd enchanted the door so the knock would be heard anywhere in her tower. Slade, her ghostly servant, would answer and bring Tallon up.
Elise stepped out onto the balcony, followed by her dogs, letting the fresh spring breeze dry the tears on her cheeks. The small valley town she and Hagatha lived near, and protected, stretched between their two towers. She spied a dust cloud that had to be Hagatha racing her way at breakneck speeds. Mountains bracketed them on all sides, though the valley had some unnatural features, like the deep canyon that ran east of town, and a few random hillocks resulting from magical battles of the not-so-friendly sort.
She loved her home, and she clung to that feeling while she tried to hold herself together.
Raid and Jett turned to stare at the door. They both liked the vampire now and wagged their tails when he walked out onto the balcony. He murmured a quick thank you to Slade before setting down his go bag with a laptop and supply of blood, another with clothing, and kneeling to greet the dogs. They pressed against him while he scratched behind their ears. Finally, ritual complete, Tallon stood.
“What happened?”
Clenching her hands together, Elise looked at the vampire and shrugged. Even as worried as she was about her father, her heart skipped a beat when she met the handsome vampire's gaze. Something of the predator he was always showed n his eyes.
“Mom called, frantic. She didn't give me any details, just said he'd been taken and asked for my help. Obviously she knows a little of our world. I thought you'd be the best person for the case.”
Tallon nodded. “I'm at your service, Elise. Once Hagatha gets here, we can go straight to your mom. Do you want to pack a bag?”
“Oh, good idea.” She nodded. “Slade, see to it.”
The ever-present ghost, a cowboy and ne'er-do-well in life, materialized next to her. “Ma'am,” and vanished again.
Elise had gained his loyalty in death. He and the other ghosts who hung around her tower kept the place up for her. Slade was strangely adept at packing clothing, among other things, like caring for her dogs and her skeletal unicorns when she was away.
“Let's go down to the sitting room. Hagatha will be here soon, and then we can l
eave.”
“Of course. Do you mind if I ask some questions before we head out?” Tallon and the dogs followed her back into the tower.
She led him out of the observatory before answering. “Of course, Tallon. Whatever you need to know. I'm afraid I may not have any good information, though.”
She opened the door to the spiral staircase that connected all the levels of her tower. She could have put in an elevator, or some magical contraption to make traversing her home easier, but she liked the exercise, and if she really needed to go quickly, she could use magic.
The dogs’ nails clicked on the stone floor. She'd added traction spells to her floors when the dogs moved in. They had the run of the tower and she'd added several outdoor gardens on a few of the other balconies for them. It seemed unfair to make them go all the way to the ground floor when they needed to relieve themselves. The dogs seemed quite happy with her. She'd even added ghost sheep for them to herd with Slade's supervision.
“What does your dad do for a living?”
“He works for a government agency in charge of preserving antiquities. He's a historian. He teaches a couple of classes at a local university sometimes in the evenings, too.”
“Does he do anything on the side that might make people angry? Gambling, or that sort of thing.”
Elise paused on a step before continuing. “I don't believe so. We can ask Mom, but I'm pretty sure his biggest chance of angering someone is by winning a competitive game of golf.”
Tallon chuckled. “Okay. Is their relationship good?”
Elise tensed, angered by his questions, but she knew he wouldn't ask if he didn't need to know. She’d called him because he’d worked twenty-plus years as a homicide detective and was licensed as a private investigator. He had a keen mind and was Head of Investigations at Grayson Security.
“Yes. As far as I know, they get along quite well. Mom is active in a lot of community groups and a gardening club, Dad golfs and helps with the gardening. Unless they've changed their routine, they go on a date night every week, usually Wednesday, and every Saturday morning they have brunch at the country club. They have plenty of money, some of it from Dad's writing books related to his work. When they were younger and Mom worked too, they saved every bit of her income and invested it while Dad paid the day-to-day bills. I don't think Dad has so much as watched a horse race in years, and I don't believe he ever gambled except for fun now and again. Mom told me once how he managed to pick the winning horse, even though it was a long shot, and take them on a cruise. That's it. They have a perfect life, or so Mom says. They both enjoy what they do and each other. It's all very drama free, in fact.”
