Nathaniel and Dev both noticed the napkin. Jake probably did, too, but he didn't show it. I tried to act as normal as Jake and Kaazim, but I knew I failed. I wasn't sure I was even as smooth as Nathaniel. Dev was strangely good at it, too.
The waitress set the drink down on the napkin, and the moisture began to smear the writing almost immediately. She didn't look at me again, just handed out the other drinks. I checked my watch for the time and started keeping track of it. Was I supposed to go alone, or were there other people getting messages with their drinks? I was bad at undercover work for more than one reason. It made me antsy and gave me a huge urge to poke at things.
Edward got up first, though he had to make people move for him to get out. He didn't announce he was going to the bathroom, but it seemed logical. If I'd had Magda or Fortune with me, we could have done the girl thing of never going to the bathroom alone and I'd have had bodyguards with me, but being the only girl made it sort of awkward. Flannery got up next.
At four minutes, I made my apologies and got up from the table to meet our mystery woman. Dev started to rise, but Nicky beat him to it. He followed at my back like a shadow with no apologies that he was doing anything but guarding me. So much for clandestine.
The bathrooms were in a narrow hallway of their own that had another exit at the end of it. Nicky and I started to have a discussion on him checking the room first, but the door opened enough that Edward was able to motion us both inside. Flannery was already leaning against the sinks, looking unhappy. Once the door closed behind us, he let me know why he was unhappy.
"You cannot trust them, Forrester. It's why they weren't at the other meeting."
"If they are her animals to call, then they should know more about the local vampires than anyone we've interviewed so far," Edward said.
"Who are we talking about?" I asked.
"The local Selkies."
"Roanes for Ireland," Flannery said.
"Roanes, Selkies, whatever--who are they?" Nicky asked.
"Seal people," I said.
"You mean wereseals?" he asked.
"No, they're more like the clan tigers, born seals, not made by an attack," I said.
"They are also the animals tied to the vampire master of Ireland," Flannery said. "They may give us information, or they may spy for her. Until we know for certain that she isn't behind the vampires spreading through Dublin, we have to treat her as our major suspect for the mastermind behind all of it."
"Why are you suddenly so reluctant to talk to another supernatural being?" I asked.
"Because Auntie Nim warned me that the Roane are so terrified of their mistress, they will do anything she commands. If they fail her, she tortures or kills them. If that was the price for disobeying her, then they cannot be trusted, Blake."
"Or maybe that gives them the best reason to be trustworthy," I said.
There was a soft knock at the door, and our brown-haired waitress stuck her head in, as if checking that we were all there. She looked even paler than she had before; she was scared. Was she a seal maiden like in the old stories? The next person through the door was a man. He was only a little taller than me, about Mort's height, but he was more obviously muscled, as if he'd bulk up if he tried harder. His hair was black, straight, and long enough that he ran a hand through it to tuck it behind his ears. He had large, dark eyes so truly black that the color of his iris made it impossible to tell that he even had a pupil in the middle of that perfect liquid blackness. The eyes dominated his face the way that Nathaniel's could, and he was almost as fair of face as my fiance.
"My girl has put a closed sign outside the door, so we won't be disturbed, but we still must be quick." His voice held an accent that I hadn't heard before, smoother or heavier. I wanted to hear him say something else, just so I could hear the cadence of it.
Edward made the introductions. "Riley, this is Anita Blake, Nicky Murdock, and you know Flannery, I think."
"Not personally, but of him. Tell your aunt that we have nothing to do with this plague of the dead here in Dublin."
"You as in your people, or you as in your master?" Flannery asked.
"I speak for myself and no one else, but my people are not involved. I do not believe our mistress has done this, but I stay as far away from her as allowed. I am not part of her inner circle, but one of many of us who work here and other cities to bring in money for our people and for her. Other than some rents from properties she brings in nothing, like some great bloodsucking parasite."
"If neither you nor the Wicked Bitch of Ireland is behind the vampires in Dublin, then who is?" I asked.
"I don't know."
I frowned at him.
Edward saved me from asking, "Then why so much secrecy if you don't know anything?"
"I knew that you were Anita Blake's partner in the United States Marshal program. It's her that I wanted to meet."
"Why?" Edward said, and there was almost no happy Ted in that one word, just cold suspicion.
"We hear that Jean-Claude is fair and just, that he's forcing the vampires to treat their animals with fairness. We also hear good things about Micah Callahan and the Coalition he runs. We need help."
"What kind of help?" I asked.
"Our mistress has always been harsh, but lately she seems to have grown both in power and in cruelty. She is punishing us as never before. I fear--we all fear--what she will do next."
"Is she breaking the law?"
"Human law, yes. Vampire law that says we are her animals to use and abuse as she sees fit, no."
"That second part isn't as true as it was," I said.
"Can we appeal to Jean-Claude or Callahan for help?"
"The Coalition mostly handles disputes between animal groups, not vampires and the groups."
"Then as the new king, can Jean-Claude intercede for us with our mistress, before she destroys us as a people?"
"Is it that bad?"
"We are told you brought Damian back to Ireland with you. Is that true?"
"And if it is, what of it?" Nicky said.
Riley looked at the big man, but he wasn't afraid of him. "Ask him what she is capable of, and tell him when he wakes for the night that she has grown worse. She tortures those we love so she can feed on both their terror and ours for them. Those of us allowed to go out for work can never take all our families with us, so she has a hostage in case we try to leave her territory. We all know what will happen to those left behind if we try to escape, but many of us want to leave her."
"I can talk to Jean-Claude, but I can't promise anything," I said.
He started to take my hand, but Nicky got in the way so Riley had to just drop his hands to his side and plead just with his eyes. They were good at being sad, those eyes. "Tell him we would do anything to be free of her."
"Anything is a big offer," I said. "Do you understand what it could mean?"
"I know that we will never be truly safe until she's dead, truly dead."
"I'm not an assassin, Mr. Riley."
"I know you kill vampires in America."
"When I have a legal order of execution on a vampire who's killed people, yes."
"She's killed hundreds over the centuries."
"I can't convict her for centuries-old crimes. No one can," I said.
"She is hurting, torturing, maiming people here and now, in this time."
"If you can prove that, then the Irish police may be able to help you."
"If she finds out that I spoke against her to you, she will kill me or have me killed. You'll never find the body either, for the sea does not give up its dead."
"What do you want me to do for you, Mr. Riley? What can I do for you that's worth that risk?"
"There is a new vampire ruler for the first time in thousands of years. He seems to believe in equality for all preternatural beings. I ask--no, I beg--for his aid against the abusive monster that creates and feeds upon my people."
"I'll talk to him, but the original deal with the
European vampires was that Jean-Claude just rules America."
"Maybe that's why she's gotten worse: She doesn't think anyone can touch her now." He shuddered, pulling his coat a little tighter around himself.
"You could probably have gotten the same response in an email to him or Micah," I said.
He looked at me then, with sorrow in his face. It was the kind of look you see on the news when people stagger out of natural disasters or war zones. "Some things you can't put in an email," he said, and raised his shirt. His stomach was covered in scars. I'd seen worse, but not many.
Flannery made a sharp hiss between his teeth before he could stop himself. Edward showed nothing. Nicky was very still beside me. What did you say in the face of torture like that?
"She did this to me, because I was too afraid of her to want to bed her. She started cutting me and told me if I didn't find my desire that she'd cut lower and make certain I never desired anyone ever again. Somehow I found a way to . . . do what she demanded." He slid his shirt back in place, covering up the wounds.
"Evil bitch," Nicky said low and with feeling. It had to hit some of the issues from his own abuse.
"She is that," Riley said.
"You're proof, Riley," Flannery said. "Come to the police station. I'll help you fill out a complaint."