Blood Games (Chicagoland Vampires 10)
“Sorry. It’s just—we’ve been off our game for a really long time, because I was a crazy witch for a really long time. And yes, I said ‘witch,’” she snarked, eyes narrowed. “And I saw that damn Tribune article. But we’re getting back there, because you’re giving me more chances than I deserve. And that means a lot to me.”
“It means a lot to me, too, Mallory.”
She went inside, and I heard the strain of the television and the snap and jangle of the door’s several locks.
So much for taking out the trash.
* * *
Cadogan glowed quietly in the dark of Hyde Park as I drove back into the basement parking area. The Ops Room was closest, so I dropped by there first, found Luc at the conference table reviewing documents in a binder, Lindsey and the others at the computer stations.
Luc glanced up when I walked in, tapped an unsharpened pencil on the tabletop. “What’s the good word, Sentinel?”
I took a seat. “The obelisk was magicked by someone with knowledge of magic, ability to improvise. Could be a sorcerer, could be not a sorcerer.”
“Not very helpful,” he said.
“No, it’s not, at least without more. But we did confirm the Magic Shoppe sold a Fletcher tarot deck last week. They’re going to look for the receipts, but they’re already boxed up. The store’s doing inventory. Mallory’s got the manager’s contact information. She’ll give him a call, and hopefully that will lead somewhere.”
“Good work.”
“What about you?” I quietly asked, leaning forward. “Have you spoken with him?”
The sudden tightness in his eyes told me they’d talked, and Luc wasn’t comfortable sharing the details.
“Just tell me—is he in danger?”
“I don’t believe so. I don’t,” he added, when I gave him a look. “He didn’t tell me all the details. Just hinted at the edge of it.”
Somehow, that was more of a punch than his not talking to anyone at all. He’d talk to the head of his guard corps about his past, and what he was about to face, but not his Sentinel? Not his future fiancée? What the hell was going on? What was he trying to hide, or hoping I didn’t find out about?
“This is really pissing me off,” I said.
The phone in the middle of the conference table rang—two short chirps—and Luc picked it up, lifted it to his ear.
“We’ll be right up,” he said, put the receiver down again, looked up at me. “It’s time. Darius is about to make an announcement.”
* * *
We were on the stairs when the message went out, when Helen announced over the rarely used Cadogan House intercom that Darius was making a statement, and vampires were welcome to watch in the televisions in the front parlors and ballroom.
By the time we got to the first floor, vampires were already gathering in the front parlors, where televisions had been turned on and tuned in.
History would be made today, one way or another.
It was the tenor we weren’t sure about.
My phone signaled, and I pulled it out, found a message from Jonah.
YOU TUNED IN?
ON MY WAY TO ETHAN’S OFFICE, I answered. GREY HOUSE WATCHING?
WITH BATED BREATH. HOPING SOMEONE MAKES A RATIONAL DECISION FOR ONCE.
IT WOULD MAKE A NICE CHANGE, I agreed. SORRY I INTERRUPTED YOUR DATE. GOOD ONE?
MORE FISH IN THE SEA was his response. I guess she’d learned he didn’t sparkle.
We walked to Ethan’s office, found the door cracked open, Malik, Helen, and Margot already in the sitting area, eyes on the television mounted above the bookshelves. The screen showed a pale green background, “Greenwich Presidium” written across it in neat black script.
Ethan stood slightly apart from the rest of them, hands on his hips, his hair tied back, the ends curling just below the back of his starched collar. His shoulders were rigid, bearing once again, I knew, the mantle of authority that so often weighed on him. But it was a mantle he wore willingly. It was a weight he honored and would wear for the American and European Houses if the GP would allow it.
And tonight, I supposed, we’d see about that.
I blew out a breath, prepared myself for whatever might come, and walked inside behind Luc and Lindsey.
Margot was closest to the door. She reached out and took my hand as I walked in, squeezing in solidarity. Say what you would about the asses in the GP, the vampires of Cadogan House were a solid bunch.
Helen looked up, nodded before turning back to the television. I let Luc and Lindsey take the remaining chairs, and I stood beside Ethan.
He turned and glanced at me, his eyes swirling silver with emotion. With bated hope, fear, readiness for the fight. For taking up arms and facing down enemies, instead of politicking, threatening, backbiting. God knew Ethan could politick with the best of them, had been politicking for much of his four hundred years, and with extra intensity the last few weeks. But he was still an alpha. Words had their place, but alphas preferred to get to the goddamned fight.
I saw that in his eyes now, that relief that things might move forward, even if going forward might be exponentially more dangerous.
Unfortunately, there was something else there: need. There was only a foot of actual distance between us, but the emotional wall might have been a thousand miles high. It was built of bricks of his past, mortared together with his pride, his fear.
I needed, as Mallory had suggested, a surprise play. Something to shake him out of his rhythm, and the very crappy coping mechanism he was using right now. I hadn’t yet figured out what that might be.
Maybe, for right now, kindness would be enough. I reached out across the distance, above the wall, and took his hand, squeezed, kept my eyes level on his. I was still angry; he was still angry. But we were still us.
“Here we go,” Luc said, and we looked back at the television. The green faded and Darius filled the screen.
His blue eyes looked sharp again, bright and clear. He wore a starched, striped shirt, and a little of the cockiness was back in his gaze.
He sat in a chair behind a large, pale desk dotted with antiques. A tapestry hung on the wall behind him.
“His office,” Ethan quietly said.
He adjusted the microphone at his lapel, linked his hands on the desk, and looked into the camera.
“Good evening, vampires. I hope this message finds you with peace, with prosperity, and with growth and renewal as spring spreads across our lands.
“I have, in the many years of my reign, done what I believed was necessary to keep the vampires within my authority safe and secure. Those decisions were sanctified by some, questioned by others. Some decisions had unintended consequences. But never doubt that they were meant to secure the safety of all vampires. Individual humans, individual vampires”—he paused but kept his gaze steady—“individual Houses, were not my concern. Our kind was and ever is my concern.