House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires 7)

"Maybe for just a few minutes. Perhaps I could take my bags upstairs and get settled, and then join you in your office?"

"Please," he said.

Helen appeared at Ethan's side, taking one of Lacey's suitcases and holding out a hand toward the stairs.

"You're in the guest suite," she said.

Helen escorted Lacey up the stairs, and the rest of the vampires - except the guards - dispersed.

"A moment, Ethan?" Luc asked.

"My office," he said, and we funneled inside, as if we were simply going about our evening . . . and the head of a vampire House thousands of miles away hadn't just shown up dressed like me.

It was undoubtedly going to be one of those nights.

* * *

Since we'd been on the first floor to greet Lacey, Ethan's office became an assemblage of senior staff. We gathered in a huddle, waiting for someone to break the bad news to Ethan. I was happy to let Luc take that one.

He got immediately to the meat of it. "The mayor has appointed McKetrick the city's new Ombudsman. He's got a different title, of course, but the job seems the same."

Ethan's eyes went wide. "She did what?"

"He's got an office and a staff," Luc said. "Which makes him, if not untouchable, a lot harder to touch."

Ethan looked skyward. "God save me from ignorant humans." He looked at me. "Do we have anything linking him to the vampires' deaths?"

"Jeff has confirmed the wood in the warehouse was aspen. But that's not enough to link him to Oliver and Eve. Not really. He also has flatly denied he's involved."

Ethan stilled. "And you know this because . . . ?"

"Because Jeff and I paid a visit to his office, which we believed was the safest possible location to confront him about his involvement."

Ethan made a vague sound that suggested we weren't finished discussing this particular topic, but he wouldn't push it in front of present company.

Also, interesting how I was learning to interpret male clicks and grunts.

"Have you heard anything from Paige?" Malik asked.

"He's about to."

All heads turned to the doorway. Paige - a lithe redhead with brilliantly green eyes - stood there, the librarian beside her, a file box in his hands. Neither looked happy.

"You were right," she said, joining us as the librarian dropped the file box on Ethan's conference table. "The contract is the key. The GP doesn't care if they lose you as a House; they care if they lose you as a set of assets."

I said a silent thank-you that Jonah had shared that tidbit and we'd been able to lead Paige to the right spot.

"And they don't use traditional mechanisms," the librarian said. "They look through the House's contracts with the GP for loopholes, and they exercise them."

"What loopholes?" Ethan asked. "Peter negotiated the House's contracts himself. There were no loopholes. I've read them."

"Not in the main contracts," the librarian said, pulling from the file box a red leather folio and extending it toward Ethan. "But there are other documents."

Frowning, Ethan took the folio and carried it to the conference table, where he placed it atop the other stacks of materials and untied the silk ribbon that bound it shut. Malik at his side, they perused the documents.

Luc and I exchanged a worried glance.

"What's in there?" I quietly asked Paige.

"The aforementioned loopholes," she said. "Extra 'parts' of the contract that were supposedly signed by Peter Cadogan."

Ethan turned back to us. His face was expressionless, but it was easy to see he was concerned. "The documents are signed. The terms are unconscionable and lopsided, but there is little doubt the signature is Peter's."

"What do they say?" I asked.

"In essence," Paige said, "that the bulk of any material gain obtained by the House since its creation belongs to the GP. That the House leave the GP with what the House brought to the GP - virtually nothing."

The room dropped into stunned silence. We'd believed the House had generally been in good financial shape because Ethan and Malik had made solid investments since the House's founding. We also lived in some luxury: The House was in immaculate condition; our rooms were simple but well furnished; food was always available; and our stipends were more than sufficient for personal necessities.

But it sounded like the GP was arguing that nearly all our funds belonged to them.

Ethan cursed. "We'll have to pay them off. And even if we negotiate down the figure, the check will be substantial. It will clear out a significant portion of our saved funds. We won't be bankrupt," he said. "But if the worst-case scenario holds, we could lose the nest egg that we've built."

"How does it serve their long-term purposes to put vampires on the street?" Paige asked. "That would only create public panic."

"Because it would strongly discourage any other House from attempting to leave," I predicted, and Ethan nodded his agreement.

"They're using you as an example," Paige said.

Ethan rubbed his temples. "That's likely correct. But for now, it's irrelevant. We focus on what we presently know, and whether we can negotiate a different result. It's quite possible the GP will be satisfied with hobbling us a bit, rather than destroying us altogether."

Given what I knew of the GP, I wasn't sure I'd put "destroying us" past them. For an organization created to help vampires survive human hatred, they weren't doing much to keep the Houses whole and healthy.

"I'll turn in the Bentley," Ethan absently added. "It was an extravagance, and certainly something I can do without." He looked at me. "I may need to borrow your car until we can replace it with something more . . . suitable."

"How 'bout a Schwinn with a saddle pack?" Luc asked.

"Denied," Ethan said.

"Hey," Luc said with a chuckle that was still tinged with insecurity. "We can do this. We've been through hard times before. The Great Depression? The 'seventy-three oil crisis? Capone's reign of terror?"

Ethan nodded. "We will survive and be stronger as a result. We merely have to get through this bit first." He picked up the folio again and passed it to Malik. "Have these materials messengered to the lawyers. I want them reviewing the documents first thing in the morning."

Malik nodded. "Liege."

"Is there any chance they can fix this?" Luc quietly asked.

"Not without a court battle, and the last thing we need is protracted litigation on a contract issue American courts don't have the precedent to deal with."