by Helen Harper
‘Go on,’ Medici says. ‘Introduce yourself to the crowd.’
Even from this distance, I can see the dullness in the new vampire’s eyes. His pupils are enlarged and I realise he’s been drugged. For what purpose remains to be seen.
He stumbles forward and opens his mouth. ‘I have sinned,’ he says in a choked whisper.
Medici nudges his back. ‘Speak up.’
He clears his throat and tries again. ‘I have sinned,’ he repeats. ‘I was a bad man when I was human. I raped three women. I hit my own son. Lord Medici tried to show me the error of my ways but I wasn’t smart enough to listen. Two nights ago I … I …’
‘Go on,’ Medici says silkily. ‘What did you do?’
‘I left the Medici mansion. I was hungry and I needed blood.’ His voice wavers. ‘I came across a jogger in the street and I attacked her.’ His head droops and he starts to mumble to himself. There’s a flash of irritation in Medici’s expression. His performing monkey isn’t saying everything he should.
‘Her name is Tara Wilkes,’ Medici interrupts. ‘She’s in intensive care at Brighton Hospital.’ He jabs a long white index finger at his captive. ‘Because of him she almost died.’ He inhales deeply, enjoying the rapt attention of several hundred people. ‘We at the Medici Family will not permit this sort of activity. We will not allow vampires to hurt humans or tribers. We want to make this world a better place, one where everyone is free to walk the streets whenever they wish. We have everyone’s best interests at heart.’
He whips off the hood from the second man and then the third. Both have equally unprepossessing features. Medici repeats the process with them, detailing their alleged crimes. Once he’s done, he steps back and shakes his head.
‘It gives me no pleasure to do this,’ he says. ‘But the public needs to be reassured that the Medici Family alone will act when one of our vampires steps out of line. We will take appropriate retribution against anyone who hurts another being.’
From behind, an older vampire steps forward and hands Medici a long gleaming sword. I stiffen. ‘He’s not going to…’ I start to move forward. I’m not going to let him do this. Michael puts a hand on my arm.
‘Don’t,’ he warns in an undertone. ‘He’s hoping for that.’ He jerks his head to the right: five Medici vampires are watching me and me alone. They want me to act then Medici can dispatch me too and claim it was because I interfered in his sick show of justice.
I halt. Medici’s eyes flicker once in my direction and I recognise triumph in their dark depths. He wins either way: if I act, he will denounce me as someone willing to let criminals get away with heinous actions; if I don’t act, I’m not the brave vigilante that everyone holds me up as. I clench my jaw so hard that it hurts.
Medici addresses the waiting journalists once again. ‘The Medici Family will ensure everyone’s safety,’ he says simply. He tests the blade once, swiping it cleanly through the air. He beckons the three to kneel and they do as he asks. As they close their eyes, he thrusts, lopping off all their heads in one single bloody strike. There are three nauseating thuds as each head falls onto the marble floor. Half the crowd turn away; the other half can’t stop themselves from watching.
Medici bows once, passing the dripping sword back to his attentive minion. ‘Let it be known that our retribution may be violent but it will ensure the safety of all. We only want what is best for England. We want this nation to be both great and glorious again.’ And with that he turns and disappears back through the front doors of his fortress.
There’s a moment of silence so studied that I think I can hear each racing heartbeat, then everyone explodes into a hubbub of disbelieving noise.
I glance up at Michael. His face is as pale as I imagine mine to be. Three or four journalists, recovering more quickly than the others, race in our direction. ‘What do you think of Lord Medici’s actions?’ one of them shouts, tape recorder thrust out for a soundbite.
‘We need to get out of here,’ Michael murmurs, turning me away. ‘They’re going to do whatever they can to get a response from you.’
Because I go after criminals too. Sometimes I even kill them. I don’t make a show out of it, though. Killing, whether it’s justified or not, should not ever include an audience. Even I have limits.
I nod in distracted agreement and we leave as quickly as we arrived.
***
‘This is all her fault,’ Lord Bancroft rages, thrusting his face into mine and snarling. ‘If she hadn’t made a living out of killing anyone she comes across and getting good press out of it, Medici would never have done the same!’
I hold my ground, even though I have the very nasty feeling that he’s correct. ‘I’m right here, you know,’ I tell him. ‘You don’t have to talk about me in the third person.’
‘What’s next?’ he continues. ‘Gunning down people in the street for petty crimes?’
Michael steps between us. ‘You need to calm down.’
‘Calm down?’ Bancroft splutters. ‘Calm down? Who the fuck are you to tell me to do that?’ He throws up his arms. ‘You’re all maniacs!’
Michael turns to Lord Stuart, who is watching the byplay with narrowed eyes. Gully is in the corner, studying his phone. ‘Do we have any word on the immediate reaction to Medici’s little show?’
‘It’s the middle of the night. Most of the country is asleep,’ he points out.
‘Actually,’ Gully interrupts, ‘not everyone is in dream land.’ He holds up his phone and we turn to look at the live stream he’s displaying. He flicks up the sound.
‘While I cannot completely condone Lord Medici’s actions,’ Vince Hale, the smarmy politician I read about when I was waiting for Jonesy, says, ‘it is his prerogative to deal with his own vampires as he wishes. That is the way the laws of this land work and we must adhere to them. We should be grateful that he is taking matters so seriously. Perhaps if the other Families did the same, decent folk wouldn’t be so afraid of the vampires in the first place.’
‘Who the fuck is that?’ Bancroft demands.
‘He’s a politician,’ I tell him. ‘Openly anti-vampire.’
‘He’s not that anti-vampire if he thinks that conducting open-air executions is a good thing.’ Michael frowns. ‘He’s all but stating that Medici should be admired.’
‘Medici’s gone completely insane,’ one of Lord Stuart’s people says. ‘There’s no other explanation.’
There’s a murmur of agreement. I shake my head. ‘You’re all idiots. This was planned, every single part of this was planned.’ I point at the camera. ‘Look at where Hale is.’
‘The Houses of Parliament?’ Bancroft gives a sneering shrug. ‘You already said he was a politician. In case you hadn’t realised, that’s where they tend to be.’
I gaze at him in irritation. ‘At four o’clock in the morning? Which politicians are so dedicated to their jobs that they hang around in the middle of the goddamn night? He knew this was going to happen. I bet he’s working with Medici. All this is part of a larger plan.’ I point at them all. ‘A plan to discredit you.’
‘Killing his own vampires isn’t going to discredit us.’
‘Yes, it is,’ I say. ‘Medici is acting when others won’t, when you won’t. Do you really think it’s a coincidence that those three he killed are probably the ugliest-looking recruits he has? He wants the world to think that what he’s done is right. Tara Wilkes, whoever she is, was probably paid off. Medici comes out looking like a hero.’
‘Well, you’d know all about manipulating public opinion,’ Bancroft sneers.
‘I don’t want a fan club,’ I snap back. ‘Everything Medici did was designed to attract as many eyes as possible. He’s not crazy. He knows exactly what he’s doing.’
‘So what’s next?’ Michael asks. ‘What’s his next move?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You don’t know anything. You’re just a jumped-up little girl who…’
‘That’s en
ough.’ Michael’s tone brooks no argument. ‘I think it’s best if we discuss this alone.’ He gestures to the other three Family heads. I know why he’s doing it: he’ll be able to control them more easily when it’s just the four of them together. It still galls, though.
Everyone starts to file out. I wait until the end and then make to follow. Michael pulls me aside just outside the door. ‘I’m sorry. They’re old-school. They don’t like the idea of a new vampire who’s turned rogue telling them what they should have already worked out for themselves.’
‘I get it.’ I don’t like it, but I get it.
He sighs. ‘Thank you.’ His eyes search my face. ‘I’d really like it if you stuck around,’ he says quietly. ‘Medici notwithstanding, we have a lot to talk about.’ There’s a lot left unsaid in his expression. I reach up and gently brush my fingers across his cheek before glancing outside.
‘Dawn is almost here,’ I answer softly. ‘I’ve got people waiting for me back at home. And Kimchi will need to be fed too.’
A muscle throbs in his jaw. ‘And where is home?’
I stare at him. I really want to tell him but I’m still not sure what X will do if I give away my location. Medici is scary but X…
Michael’s face closes off. ‘You’ll declare your love for me in front of a room full of vampires but you won’t tell me where you live?’
‘It’s complicated.’
His face twists. ‘I’ll bet.’ He turns to walk back into the room.
‘Michael…’
He stops but he doesn’t look back at me. ‘I believe you when you say you love me, Bo. I have to. But I can’t live like this. You need to make up your mind ‒ either you’re with me all the way or you’re not. Anything else simply isn’t going to work.’
I bite my lip, cursing to myself as he disappears and closes the door behind him. Why can’t anything ever be easy?
Chapter Sixteen: Multi-Tasking
I’ve barely put a foot in the door when O’Shea leaps up off the sofa and starts babbling. ‘Have you seen what Medici has done? It’s all over the news!’
I sigh tiredly. ‘I saw it. I was there.’
‘It was a calculated move. It has to be.’
I look at him approvingly. He might be a petty criminal only just emerging from the strangling throes of grief but he’s a hell of a lot smarter than most of those bloodguzzling idiots. ‘I agree. I don’t know what he’s up to,’ I say, ‘but he’s laying the foundations for something.’ I pause. ‘And whatever it is, it’s not going to be good.’
‘What are you going to do about it?’
Maria appears from around the corner. ‘She can do nothing. He is Lord. She is nothing.’
O’Shea frowns. ‘No, she’s not,’ he says loyally. ‘You’d be surprised at what Bo is capable of. She’s not called the Red Angel for nothing.’
‘Maria’s right.’ I meet his eyes. ‘I’m not sure what I can do. Michael has made it pretty clear that what happens with Medici is for the other Families to sort out. I’m not part of the Families.’
‘You’re just going to let him publicly execute three people and get away with it?’
I sit down heavily. ‘What can I do? I can’t get inside the Medici house. Even if I could get Lord Medici face to face, he’s so strong he’ll make mincemeat out of me in seconds.’
O’Shea shakes his head. ‘He’s up to no good. You know it, I know it, hell, even Kimchi knows it.’
Hearing his name, Kimchi leaps up with unbridled enthusiasm. The tension of the night has even got to him.
‘I can’t take on two thousand damn vampires,’ I growl.
‘No.’ Maria’s voice rings out across the room. ‘You can’t. But the daemon can.’
O’Shea starts. ‘Whoa! I’m no match for him.’
‘I not mean you.’
‘Then who?’
Maria raises her eyebrows meaningfully at me before turning away again.
‘Who does she mean?’ O’Shea persists. ‘Bo, do you have other daemon mates that I don’t know about? Because I think I should get to vet them first. I might only be a quarter Agathos but I have a great bullshit detector and I know a lot of the players. If you’ve been hiding away from me because you’ve found a stronger daemon as your sidekick, then you should be very careful and tell me who it is.’
‘I was hiding away from you,’ I say, with more honesty than I thought I was capable of, ‘because it’s my fault Connor is dead and your life has been ruined.’ Before he can interrupt, I keep going. ‘And I can’t tell you about the other daemon because if I do he’ll probably kill you.’ I grab my phone and stalk away into the kitchen. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to need some peace.
It takes X a while to answer. When he does, he sounds as happy as he did last time. I try not to let it irk me.
‘Hello, Bo. You’ll have to excuse me. I’ve been having a rather wonderful night watching all the little bloodguzzlers run around in a panic.’
‘I’m a little bloodguzzler,’ I grind out.
‘I suppose you are,’ he says. ‘I don’t lump you in with the rest of them though. You’re … special.’
I’m not sure I enjoy X’s brand of special. ‘I want to talk to Michael,’ I say.
‘So talk to him. You don’t need my permission for that.’
‘You know what I mean.’
There’s a pause. ‘You want to tell him about me.’
‘I don’t want to keep secrets from him. I haven’t even told him where I live because I’m so afraid of what you’ll do! It’s ridiculous.’
‘You work for me, Bo. Romantic entanglements notwithstanding, you left the Montserrat Family.’ There’s a menacing undertone to X’s words. ‘Besides, tell him about me and he’ll never trust you again. He’ll always be wondering whether everything you do is because you’re dancing to my tune. In any case,’ he says, lightening up again, ‘I think I’ve already made myself very clear. Tell anyone about my existence and I will kill them.’ He trots out this last sentence without a trace of malice. He could be discussing the weather.
‘You’ve broken that agreement,’ I point out, ‘by demanding to meet Rogu3 and Maria.’
‘The boy has no idea who I am. He could hack every computer system from here to Timbuktu and he wouldn’t discover my true identity. I don’t exist virtually. Not in that sense anyway.’
I take a deep breath. ‘And Maria?’
‘She’s different. Special.’ He pauses. ‘Like you. Anyway, you knew I was going to say that. Michael Montserrat is not the reason you’re calling.’
X may as well be as psychic over the phone as he is face to face, considering how many times he knows what I’m thinking. ‘Medici.’
He laughs. ‘Yes. What about him? Because I assume you mean Lord Medici, not the entire Family.’
‘As of this moment,’ I growl, ‘they’re one and the same. He’s the single biggest threat this city has seen. If I’m cleaning up the streets then I need to deal with him.’
‘And?’
I grit my teeth. ‘And I’m not strong enough. He’s far older than I am and far more powerful.’
I can almost hear X shrug. ‘So take him on and die, or leave him alone and live. It seems straightforward to me.’
‘You’re hell-bent on getting me to prevent crime. If you are really that bothered by it, then you should do something about Medici.’
‘Is that an order?’ His voice is silky smooth but I’m not stupid. I have to choose my next words very, very carefully.
‘I wouldn’t dream of such a thing. I’m just saying that he’s up to something. The one triber in this city who is in a position to stop him in his tracks is you. I’m curious as to why you’re leaving him alone.’
‘I don’t like to dirty my hands, Bo. You should know that by now. Why do you think I’ve hired you?’ He exhales. ‘Don’t answer that. You should leave Medici to your pet Lord and his buddies. They’ll deal with him in their own way. You need to conce
ntrate on Lisa Johnson.’
‘I’m working on her case,’ I tell him flatly. ‘Of course I am. But I can chew gum and walk at the same time. It is possible to do more than one thing at once. I’m a woman; multi-tasking comes naturally.’
‘Multi-tasking is a myth. Lisa Johnson, Bo. Focus on her and everything will turn out alright in the end. Trust me.’ And with that he hangs up.
I scowl at the phone. I don’t understand why he’s so concerned with one human girl. As he’s pointed out before, there are many criminal cases occurring all over London. I appreciate that Lisa’s involves more than just her; there’s Melissa Greek as well, not to mention enough whispers of other disappearances that I should be sitting up and taking note of. But X is a Kakos daemon. Why would he care about a few humans when the vampires are on the brink of civil war? It just doesn’t make sense.
The phone rings again. Without looking at the display, I answer it immediately. ‘X,’ I begin.
‘Eh?’ Rogu3 says. ‘Ex what?’
Shit. ‘Nothing,’ I mutter.
‘Uh, okay, then.’ He’s clearly confused but too excited by his own news to ask any more questions. ‘I thought you’d be up. I was just contacted.’
My mind is elsewhere. ‘Contacted by who?’
‘Whom, Bo. Contacted by whom. And isn’t it obvious?’
I snap back into reality. ‘The tree people,’ I breathe.
‘That’s not how they introduced themselves but, yes, the tree people. Their name is Tov V’ra. They want a meeting.’
I search the recesses of my brain. ‘Good and evil,’ I say slowly. ‘That’s what Tov V’ra means. It’s Hebrew. It relates to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The one which Eve took the apple from.’ A shiver runs down my spine. The graffiti Foxworthy told me about wasn’t placed near religious buildings by accident after all. Any time criminal kooks use religion as their backbone, it spells trouble. At least we’re finally getting somewhere. ‘When do they want to meet?’
