House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires 7)

Their obvious friendship aside, I was curious why Ethan felt the need to hire an outside security expert, given that he had a full guard in the House and mercenary fairies outside it.

"What exactly do security auditors do?" I wondered.

I didn't mean for my voice to carry a tone, but I could hear the suspicion just as clearly as Michael Donovan undoubtedly could.

I blamed my father for that one. He was a managerial whiz, but through the course of his business dealings, I'd seen come and go dozens of outside "consultants" whose only value, as far as I was aware, was validating whatever my father told them. They were highly paid yes-men who brought nothing to the table except a willingness to praise my father and snipe at others who posed a threat to their careers.

"We do not facilitate synergistic synergy," Michael said.

"I'm sorry?"

"Synergistic synergy. It's one of those bullshit business phrases that make you pretty confident I'm going to steal money from your House."

I could feel the blush from my toes, mortified that he'd called me out.

He crossed his arms and smiled a little. "I appreciate your obvious skepticism. It's easy to call yourself an auditor. It's harder to provide a meaningful service for your clients.

"In brief, my job is to ensure the House is stronger after the split than it was before. Among other things, I've been reviewing the House's crisis preparedness and its physical and technical security. I'm trying to identify chinks in the House's armor and fill them, at least in the limited time we've had since the House voted to leave."

"And have you found them yet?"

He nodded. "Not many - Luc knows what he's doing - but there are things we can improve. Your infosec protocols - information security - aren't as strong as I like, and we've been updating them. Your House evac plan is top-notch, but I'd prefer if your alternate housing options were stronger." He leaned in a bit. "And frankly, I'm not a fan of the House's choice of outside guards, but Ethan won't hear a thing about it."

"The fairies can be fickle," I agreed.

"Indeed they can. But ultimately, this all comes down to the GP. I'm also no fan of Darius West's, but the man's got balls of steel and the vampiric prowess to back it up."

"Unfortunately, I'd agree." The members of the GP were reputably the strongest of the strong, with physical and psychic skills - like the ability to glamour humans - that gave them a leg up on other vampires. That was precisely why they'd been chosen to lead us, although it seemed clear that strength did not equal leadership ability.

"I don't know about you," Michael said, "but I'm also trying to speed up Ethan's reinvestment as Master of the House. Malik and I both believe it would help solidify the House's position. Ethan disagrees."

That was new information, but I certainly didn't mind that Michael was sharing it with me. "Why does he disagree?"

"I suspect he wants his reinvestment to be a more enjoyable occasion. A celebration, not undertaken in fear of the GP."

That made some sense.

"My turn with the questions," Michael said. His posture changed; he crossed his arms and dropped his chin, eyes narrowing as he looked at me skeptically. He was in security mode now.

"You were a graduate student?"

"I was. University of Chicago. English lit."

"And twenty-seven at the time of your turning."

"Nearly twenty-eight."

"You were part of this year's class?" Michael asked.

"I was. Commended in April as Sentinel."

"Did Ethan have to woo you?"

"Excuse me?" Was he asking about our relationship?

"Into the House, I mean. It can't be a coincidence that you're Joshua Merit's daughter. I assume that's why Ethan sought you out? Not that you don't have your own achievements, I'm sure."

My beginnings as a vampire weren't common knowledge - the fact that Ethan had made me a vampire to save my life after a vicious attack. Unfortunately, it wasn't unusual for someone to accuse me of having gotten my golden ticket to vampirism and immortality by using my father's connections.

"Ethan didn't recruit me because of my father." Quite the contrary: Ethan hadn't recruited me at all, although it would have been wrong to say my father hadn't been involved.

Michael looked at me for a moment, his expression perfectly neutral.

"Very well," he finally said.

"Was that a test?" I wondered. "To see how I'd react?"

"In part. And partly simple curiosity. Ethan often stands alone. To hear that he'd chosen someone to share his life with was a surprise."

Ethan walked back into the room.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Fine," Ethan said, but he stopped and looked between us. He must have caught the hint of tension in the air. "Is everything okay here?"

"Everything's great," Michael said. "We're just testing each other's defenses."

So we were, I thought.

"It's in your natures," Ethan said, then put a hand on my arm. "We've got work to do, Sentinel, if you'd like to head to the Ops Room and update Luc on the Rogues."

I could tell when I was being dismissed. I gave him a mild salute. "Of course, Liege."

Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Merit," Michael said. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

If he was here to guide Cadogan House through the final stages of the transition, there seemed little doubt of that.

* * *

On the way to the stairs, I found a message from Mallory on my phone, asking if I wanted to grab pizza.

I missed her, truly. Lindsey was a great girl, and I was glad I had friends in the House to commiserate with. But Mallory and I had history, and the comfortableness that had come from a long friendship.

I was suddenly struck with melancholy, missing my former life, when my only worry would have been whether I was ready for the next day's classes at U of C. I'd worried about due dates and dissertation chapters and grading papers, about whether my car would last through another Chicago winter (it had) and the Cubs would win another pennant (they hadn't).

These nights, I worried about murder, the safety of my House, and whether my best friend could keep her hands out of the black magic cookie jar.

But with those supernatural hassles came Ethan and the thrill of knowing I was truly helping the vampires of my House.

Tonight, that House came first.

CAN'T TONIGHt, I texted back. MIDINVESTIGATION. RAIN CHECK?

OF COURSE, she said.