Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires 6)

"What did you have in mind?" Luc asked. "Do you know how to stop him?"

"I do not. I'd hoped your magical friend might have some idea. Her people bound Dominic and the others into the Maleficium in the first place. Perhaps we could bind him there again?"

I broke the bad news. "The Maleficium was destroyed when you split apart. But surely there's something else we can do. If he was born, he can die, just like the rest of us."

"We saw the footage from his attack at the lockup," Luc said.

"He's powerful. Strong. Bulets don't affect him."

"Bulets don't affect us, either," I pointed out. "He may be strong, but we already know he's susceptible to magic - that's why the conjuring spel worked. What magic could we work now to bring him down again? Could we create another Maleficium?"

"The Maleficium was the work of hundreds of sorcerers over decades," Seth said, raining on my parade. "That wouldn't be possible. Not in the near term."

And not before he kiled more people. Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?

"There must be a way," I said. "There wil be a way. There were battles against demons - Carthage, Sodom, Gomorrah.

There must have been some fatalities on the demons' side."

Ethan nodded. "We have to try something. We are immortal.

Better we take a chance on putting him away than humans he could so easily injure. Or worse." Ethan looked at Luc. "Find Paige and get her and Seth in a room together to discuss the magical underpinnings."

Luc nodded, then held out an arm to guide Seth back to the door. Seth walked back to us and picked up his cassock from the ground. He stopped when he reached me.

"I am sorry."

I wasn't sure I owed him honesty, but I decided I needed it.

"I kiled someone there, I watched my lover staked through the heart, and you made me believe my father paid him to make me a vampire. Forgiveness wil take time."

He nodded. "Then I accept the chalenge of my contrition."

He put a hand on my shoulder, then walked past me toward the door, lemons and sugar in his wake.

Lindsey leaned toward me. "Is it wrong that I realy want to eat a cookie right now?"

"Not at al," I said.

"Let's go, Lindsey," Luc said, ushering her and Juliet outside again. Linds gave me a smal smile, then left Ethan and me in the balroom together.

He'd come into the room fighting, and he'd been sulen for most of the conversation with Seth. I had a pretty good sense a fight was looming, so I bucked up my courage and made myself meet Ethan's gaze.

His eyes flashed silver. "You invited him into this House."

"Only after I was sure it was him."

"You believed he wasn't Dominic. But as you know nothing else about Seth or who he is, that may not have mattered at al.

Did you stop to consider what anyone in a position of authority in this House would have decided?"

I didn't appreciate the insinuation that I hadn't thought through the considerable consequences of bringing Seth into the House.

My own temper rising, I crossed my arms and glared back at him.

"There was no one else in authority," I said. "Because al the men in this House are too busy whipping theirs out for comparison with Darius West and the shofet. And, more important, I stand Sentinel; it's my job to protect this House. I did so."

"By bringing its enemy here?"

"Seth Tate is not our enemy. Dominic is."

"And Seth wil lure him right into Cadogan House."

"There's no evidence Dominic is looking for Seth. And we aren't exactly kicking Dominic's ass on our own. We need help.

I'l admit it was a risky move, but I evaluated that risk and made the best decision I could. Hearing him out was the only play I had, and I took it. Besides, you just invited him to make himself at home and you handed him a sorceress."

Ethan put his hands on his hips and looked away. My answer was perfectly rational, but that hadn't mitigated his barely contained anger.

"Tel me I'm wrong," I quietly said. "If I made the wrong cal, tel me I did."

He looked back at me, and there was something much worse than anger in his eyes. There was disappointment.

"The rightness or wrongness of the cal isn't the point, Merit.

It's far beyond your authority as Sentinel."

"I did what I was caled upon to do. There was nobody else to decide."

He blew out a breath. "He almost kiled you. How can you be so lackadaisical about your life?"

So that's what this was about. Not about the decision - because he had to agree I was the only one available to make it  - but because I'd put myself at risk. Once again, his desire to protect me was overwhelming his ability to make a good decision.

"Seth isn't Dominic!" I yeled, goose bumps lifting on my arms from the prickle of magic I'd sent through the room. I imagined my eyes were silver, too, and guessed that every other vampire in the House would be able to feel our argument as the magic permeated the building.

If that bothered them, too bad. I'd put my ass on the line, and I'd been right. I wasn't going to apologize for making the decision - not when I was cleaning up the messes of so many other people who'd flat-out refused to act.

"I was in that room with Dominic, Ethan. I've seen that shine of justice in his eyes. Dominic nearly kiled me, and he was excited by it. He reveled in it. But that was yesterday. I can't sit in a locked room for the rest of my life because he almost managed to kil me. Celina's Rogue almost managed to kil me.

Celina almost managed to kil me. Malory almost managed to kil me. McKetrick almost managed to kil me. I've been a vampire less than a year and I've topped any number of hit lists.

I can't help that, and I'm not going to sit here waiting for it to happen again. Not when I can do something about it.

"Seth isn't Dominic," I said. "And we need Seth. That makes the math easy for me. If you don't think I'm making the right kinds of decisions as Sentinel, then you know what to do."

A thought occurred to me. Not one that he'd want to hear, certainly, but something that needed to be said. "Are you realy mad at me, or is this because of Malory?"

"Does it matter?"

I took a step closer to him. "Ethan, for God's sake, if you're angry at me, then be angry at me. But if this is Malory, don't push me away. Let me help you. We are partners - we have proved time and again that we are better together than we were apart. We have battled back angry shifters and crazy Masters and vampire saboteurs. We can manage a skinny little sorceress."