She realized he was trying to make her feel better. However, it didn't. What she wanted was for someone to have answers. And what he was saying was that no one did.
The President's motorcade trundled down the highway and pulled to the edge of the road as it reached the off-ramp. It was time to put the show on the road and hope like hell that Paige could figure out a way to give their side a win. She also realized that in order to do that, she would have to somehow figure out how to make sure both sides felt as though they were winning. She wasn't certain how that was going to happen. The president wanted to incarcerate babies while she wanted to free them.
The President's vehicle came to a stop and several security personnel poured out with their sunglasses on and their earpieces, making it quite clear that they were there to protect and serve.
Paige and Tuck stayed out of their way. It wasn't their intention to restrict their ability to do their job. They just wanted to make sure—
Fuck. They didn’t even know what they wanted to do.
Protect the President? Protect their town? Save the paranormals? Free the kids? There were a lot of things.
Technically, they could be running a “save the kids” operation while the President was there. They didn’t need to wait except that Paige had wanted to be there just in case something bad went down. She really was the most powerful player they had outside of demigods. Balnore was still way more powerful, but she also didn’t want to wave that flag around like a trumpeting banner.
To say that Paige’s mind was racing was putting it mildly.
Tuck’s must have been as well because even the small talk stopped.
The President got out and walked down the off-ramp.
Paige and Tuck met her half-way.
The President raised her chin. “Do you have somewhere we could talk?”
Paige wasn’t sure exactly what the President wanted. To see the base of their operation? To see what life was like there?
Paige knew that taking her to the Mayor’s offices was a bad idea. There were a few of the freed inhabitants there and the rescue team for the kids.
Tuck gave Paige a one-eyed narrowed gaze. “Your place?”
Probably best, though Paige didn’t want to lead the President right into her home.
DoDO already knew right where it was, so it wasn’t like she was showing her hand or anything.
Also, it might be good to talk peace around Alma’s dining room table.
How many peace talks had that table seen already?
Paige nodded. “My place it is. I’ll fly ahead and make sure we don’t have any surprises.”
“Like?” the President asked, her interest piqued.
But not in a good way. It was like she was hoping to find ammunition to use in her campaign.
“Like kids, Madam President. They like to hang out and I need to make sure we aren’t going to be interrupted by a ton of freakin’ kids.”
“Who should be in school.”
“Except that school has let out for the day.” Which it had. Only just barely.
The President gave her a cool look. “Your phones work, don’t they?”
The tone in the President’s voice hinted at a rub-in, like she wanted to rub in the fact that they couldn’t power up their phones. Of course, Paige could totally be misinterpreting that, but she felt it.
“They do,” Paige said, not wanting to give the President any room to ask her to join her on the ride. “But kids don’t carry them. At least, not here. Most of us don’t have that kind of money, especially now that all income has been cut off.”
The President smiled. It was a flicker of a smile, like she was glad and then reminded herself not to show that reaction and took it off, though it never really fell away.
“Just follow the sheriff.” Paige didn’t wait. She changed into an owl and launched herself into the sky.
But halfway through, she realized she needed to fly faster and give the townspeople the heads up. So, she shifted into a white-throated needletail, which flew considerably faster. She then changed into a peregrine falcon for the dive, shifting into human form as soon as her feet touched the small balcony.
Suzanne jumped as Paige appeared, interrupting another meeting with more distraught parents.
Bobby sat quietly in one of the extra chairs in the office.
“Paige, I thought—”
“No time. Just keep everyone here. I’ll be back for the mission as soon as I can.” And then she was off again before Suzanne could do much more than sputter. She did, however, blow a kiss to Bobby and told him to behave.
He shot her a grin and winked.
She didn’t know him well enough to know if he was saying he’d be good, or that he’d be good at finding trouble.
Tuck was driving the speed limit, thankfully, which bought her a little time. He’d probably done that to give her the time to warn people. But that also gave the President an opportunity to see what they were doing with the town, which wasn’t exactly what Paige could call a bonus.
She made it to the house in time to clear everyone out, enlist the pack to keep an eye on the perimeter, and start the coffee pot by the time the President arrived.
Secret Service went through her house and did a quick sweep, coming up empty.
The President walked in as the coffee pot gurgled and clugged, saying it was done.
“Coffee? Cups are here. Sugar’s here. Milk’s in the fridge.”
“Creamer?” the President asked with a pleasant enough smile, setting herself to the task of making her own cup.
With that all squared away, Paige invited the President of the United States to sit at her kitchen table. “What do you want?”
“Right to the heart of it, I see.” The President winced. “Well, if you want it that way, I know you broke into one of our camps and released several criminals.”
The President’s tone suggested that Paige was indeed in a lot of trouble and needed to be on the defensive. And if Paige and the paranormals were treated like citizens of the U.S., then, maybe she would, but Paige wasn’t afraid of the repercussions because… they were already criminals. For having been born or turned or whatever. “I didn’t release any criminals, but I’d like to talk about other things. We have more need for resources, so we’re going to need to find a way to get supplies in. Well, I mean, we will get supplies in. But would you like some say in how we do that? I could offer that. Also, we would like to know where some kids are. The paranormal parents were detained and they hadn’t committed crimes. Seems like they’d been turned in, with no other charges.”
The President’s gaze was cool. “They resisted registration.”
“Which isn’t even legal. So, that’s what we can expect? We’ve been living here just fine for generations, but now all of a sudden we’ll be criminals if we don’t volunteer to be collared?” Paige frowned at her, shaking her head. “Don’t you see the parallels here? We’re repeating history. It didn’t work for Hitler and the Jews. It didn’t work for the U.S. and the Japs.” She hated herself for using that term out loud, but she was trying to make a point. “It’s not going to work here either.”
“Paranormals are the enemy.”
“The only crime most of us have committed is having been born. Racism is the same, except now you’re adding jail time. So…” Paige tried to refrain herself, but her emotions were running a little hot. Well, not hot. But she had no idea what she should be saying, so she was letting her instinct guide her. “Racism.”
“Except we’re not talking about the color of your skin. We’re talking about teeth and claws and magick.”
“So, dentures, manicures, and mood swings.”
The President tipped her head to the side with a Mom-glare.
“I’m just trying to shine a light on the reality of your argument.” Paige understood the fear but didn’t want it to gain ground. It was till baseless. “Why the vendetta? What makes
this personal to you? Something to do with your daughter?”
The President set her coffee cup down on the table and her expression closed.
Well, that one hit close to home. “Was she bitten? Turned?”
“I was raped,” the President blurted.
Not surprising. Paige worked law enforcement. She had a pretty good understanding of just how many women had been raped in America. “By a paranormal?”
The President nodded. “A shapeshifter. When she was born, I didn’t know what to do with her. I was ashamed, but I kept her. I loved her. But then she shifted.”
This was a story Paige thought would be more common than it was, having the adopted kid shift in the middle of a birthday party or something.
“I took the matter to the pack and my rapist wasn’t brought before a court. Their leader ‘dealt with it,’ and then when I made a big display about it, they filed to take my daughter. And won. I learned years later that they won because the judge was also a shifter.”
“Hmm. So, you want more justice? You think he got off easy?” She didn’t get the feeling that the President was too broken up about having lost her daughter. It was more like she was upset over the idea of having lost her daughter, which just irritated Paige more.
“Your kind need to operate inside the law.”
Paige didn’t know how best to verbally take this argument. “Well, I can tell you that the pack probably did handle it. They’re usually pretty tough on rapists. And the alpha handled the situation so that the public didn’t get wind of it and turn it into… this. So, I can’t fault him for that.”
The President narrowed her eyes.
“Look at it from our side, Madam President,” Paige said, trying one more time to get through to her. “Your kind are really good only at being scared.”
The President narrowed her eyes. “Be careful what you say next.”
“Why? Because we might be declaring more war on each other? You might threaten to incarcerate more of our people, shut off more towns? And I’ll threaten to save more of my people? I mean, come on. We could do this all day.”
The President took in a deep breath. “I’m offering peace.”
Well, now. Paige wanted to hear the details on what her version of “peace” looked like.
31
“What does your peace look like?”
The President folded her hands around her coffee mug. “There will need to be certain concessions. The people are scared.”
“Because you fed their fear.”
The President tipped her head to the side and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Did I really have to try hard? As far as campaigns go, this one was easy.”
On one hand, at least she was being honest. On the other… “What about the kids who were separated from their parents?”
The President’s lips went thin, but then she opened a hand, palm up toward her. “They can be released.”
“And the other people you’re holding prisoner?”
“They will be as well.”
“To be returned home?” Paige wasn’t well-versed in peace negotiations, but this one seemed to be going a little too well.
“No.”
There it was, the point where things got hard.
“But we can discuss reservations.”
“Instead of prisons?”
The President gave a non-verbal acknowledgement.
This was insane. “Did that work out for the natives?”
“It did for us.”
“But… did it work for the natives? Why would I agree to this? Also, what lands would you ‘give’ us? There are no lands left.”
“We would have to move a few assets around, but, be assured, we do have lands available.”
“Why wasn’t this your first move? Why did you decide to use prisons instead, treat us like prisoners?”
“Because you’re criminals and terrorists.”
“Convenient titles to slander people in order to get what you want.”
The President clamped her lips shut and shook her head, glaring at Paige.
Finally, a reaction that wasn’t smug. “We’re not criminals or terrorists. We’re people. We’re parents. We’re brothers and sisters, daughters and sons. We’re wives and husbands.”
“Some of you have multiple husbands and wives.”
“Some of us are Wiccan, too. Some worship Thor and the old gods. Are you going to hold that against us?”
The President ducked her head. “We will give you parcels of land in—”
“How big?”
“—order for you to build your cities.”
“And will we be forced to wear the collars?”
“No.” The President said she was upset with the set of her lips, but her eyes promised something worse instead.
“What? Out with it.”
“But there will be a chip.”
Paige felt like she was pulling teeth from a mule. “And?”
“And…” The President sipped her coffee and carefully set her mug down before meeting Paige’s gaze. “There will be a perimeter. Controlled access. People can’t just come strolling in when they want, and you can’t leave. Even with your door magic. Anyone who leaves the boundary will die.”
“By the chip.”
The President smiled warmly.
“So, like a prison.”
“But you can build it like a town, make it feel better.”
“And the rules?”
“You will have to obey ours. We will provide our own police force. They will monitor things, provide enforcement of the laws and curfews.”
“Jobs?”
“Normal jobs. You can do whatever you want. You will need to create money, pay the taxes that will be invested in paying for your lands and protections.”
This wasn’t peace. “And the kids of the people we have?”
“As an offer of good faith, they’re already on a bus headed toward us as we speak.”
“Where?”
Her gaze was cool. “They’re three hours out.”
“So, that’s long enough for me to gather whatever councils we might have, discuss this, and give you our answer. And is their safe return contingent upon our answer?”
“Your surrender will be necessary.” The President stood. “You can keep Troutdale as one of your homes, but the humans will need to be removed. If they do not come willingly, I will need you to assist us with removing them for their own safety.”
Wait. “What?”
“We will be bringing all paranormals together, which will include those who drink their blood.”
“Vampires.”
“Yes. I noticed you have none here, but that will change. You will get vampires and many other paranormals here. I cannot risk humans’ safety.”
Paige clamped her mouth shut. Vampires and the Eastwoods couldn’t survive together because of the blood magick. It stirred a blood lust in the vampire they couldn’t control. Even the wards didn’t protect them.
“I look forward to your answer.” The President didn’t offer her hand. She just left.
Paige stared daggers at the President’s coffee cup, letting the information filter through her head.
Margo walked through the back. “Everything go okay?”
Not even close. “Anything happen?”
“Not a peep.”
“Good. Stay on alert. I don’t know what else she’s going to throw at us, but I know she’s not done.”
“Understood.” Margo slipped out the backdoor, sliding it closed behind her.
Tuck walked through the front door.
Paige met him in the hall. “We need to make sure they leave.”
Tuck turned on his heel and left again.
Thankfully, he didn’t ask any questions.
They needed a meeting, but not just the normal leaders. Tuck needed to be there. The leader of the incarcerated paranormals needed to be t
here. All the other leaders were needed.
And she had to work fast.
She flew to the Blackmans. She was getting used to flying fast, though fast flight also meant bigger appetite. She needed to eat at each stop. She talked with Phoebe who sent members of her covens to retrieve the other leaders, calling up doors and disappearing.
She then used the amulet Merry had given her and told her to meet at the Mayor’s office, which wasn’t going to be big enough. They needed to go somewhere bigger.
The high school gymnasium.
She called every person she could think of. Chuck, Danny, Suzanne, Michelle—who wasn’t taking her calls. So, she reached out to Harrison Walker instead.
They all gathered at the high school, and with an hour to spare, she had everyone she could think of there and represented.
She got up and spoke into the microphone. It looked like a mobile karaoke machine. It sounded like it too. “We have a peace offer from the President.”
She then went into the details of it, spelling out what the President called peace.
“This isn’t peace,” one woman said with a growl.
Paige agreed. They needed to vent their frustration, to talk things out. But they also needed to know what was at stake here. She held up her hands for silence. “The people we freed from the prison are missing their kids. The President is offering to return them if we accept her offer. They’re on a bus headed here right now. They’re almost here.”
Chuck stood, shaking his head, his blue eyes filled with disappointment. “You want us to accept these terms?”
Paige had been thinking about that while setting all this up. These were horrible terms. The only reason to accept terms like this was if there was no way of winning.
But if they didn’t, then they’d be declaring war on their great nation. They would be criminals. They would be terrorists.
It didn’t matter how many times she said that out loud inside her head, it didn’t make it feel any more reasonable to say yes. “No.”
The crowd shifted and the tension almost visibly released.
“But we need a plan to get those kids back to their parents and back to safety. We need to figure out a way to release the rest of our people. Where are they going to go because we can’t take any more refugees here. There will be traps at the prisons now. They will be expecting us and we have to be ready.”
Whiskey Storm Page 27
