“And who can do that?”

“We can,” Malik said, he of the numbers and figures and general math wizardry.

Ethan nodded in agreement. “We are not your enemies, and we’ve no incentive to lie to you. We have no ties to the old guard, and we aren’t interested in disguising the depth of the problem or the sacrifice you’ll likely need to make to fix it. If you don’t want us involved, talk to Scott. Or another Master that you trust.”

“I don’t want this leaving Chicago.”

Was he not familiar with the Internet? Two vampires in Venetian masks crashing a party at sword point? There were probably base stations in Antarctica that knew about this. The rest of the AAM wouldn’t be far behind.

“It’s undoubtedly too late for that,” Ethan said crisply, obviously beginning to lose patience. “And I agree with Chuck: This isn’t over. You did not do as they asked, nor were your guards successful. If you don’t get to the root of this particular decay, they’ll only want more. And it will be more than the murder of one man.”

Morgan was silent again, gnawing the inside of his cheek as he considered.

If only he’d been older—less human and more vampire—when he took the House, or when Celina had forced our hands, and lit the fuse that ended with her own destruction. He was such a canny, witty, confident man. But he’d seemed to struggle with being a vampire, and certainly holding the reins.

How much of that, I wondered for the first time, was because of the Circle? Because of the mess he’d inherited from Celina? Sometimes a vampire was dealt a really shitty hand. Pity replaced the irritation I usually felt when thinking about Morgan’s command failures.

Finally, Morgan looked up at Ethan, my grandfather. “We’d appreciate eyes on the House. I’m not comfortable having the House phones tapped, but I won’t hide any future contacts. I’ll come to you, directly.” He looked at Malik, Ethan. “You can come by tomorrow night to look at the books.”

Ethan looked at my grandfather, who nodded.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Ethan said, rising. “You should get back to your House, your vampires. I’m sure they’re worried.”

“Since you’re down two guards,” Luc said, “we can lend you one, have Grey give you one. They’d be working for us, but living with you. It would give you some extra bodies, some different perspectives.”

Morgan nodded, resigned.

“You’re doing the right thing here for your people, for your House,” my grandfather said, “getting Cadogan involved, letting them help you.”

“Maybe,” Morgan said. “But Celina is rolling in her grave.”

*   *   *

“There is not enough alcohol in the world to fix this nightmare,” Ethan said when Morgan and my grandfather were gone.

“It’s not Navarre’s finest moment,” Malik agreed, rising to grab a bottle of Goose Island root beer, a personal favorite, from Margot’s cart. He remembered that, held up another bottle for me, and at my nod, popped the caps. Margot had stored them in a silver bucket of ice, and a tempting little puff of frosty carbonation rose from the open bottle.

“Thanks,” I said when he walked back and handed it to me.

“You’ve been quiet,” Ethan said to Catcher.

Catcher crossed an ankle over the other knee, adjusted the hem of his jeans over the booted foot. “That woman has been the root of much misery. I hate to say that I’m not surprised she’s screwed her House again, but if the shoe fits . . .”

“If Morgan’s grasp of the situation is correct, she sounds like she was an addict,” I said after a bubbling sip.

Ethan rubbed his temples. “She had no need of any of it. She was lovely. The House is beautiful. She was well connected, and very much a part of the GP’s inner sanctum. I don’t understand it.”

“Respectfully,” Malik said, taking a seat again. “We don’t need to understand it. We just need to examine its depth and help them figure out a way to get them out of it.”

“Best-case scenario?” Ethan asked.

“A manageable sum certain the AAM decides to pay off?” Malik suggested.

“I don’t know,” Catcher said. “I don’t see the Circle being satisfied by any reasonable sum. You’ll gauge the damage, of course,” he said to Malik, “but what incentive do they have to turn off the faucet? I don’t see them walking away from this. Not with a catch this large.”

“Which means you don’t see them backing off unless the entire organization is broken down,” Ethan said.

Catcher nodded. “Morgan’s got an opportunity to do that, which I suspect is why Chuck wanted to walk him out. It would be a coup for the CPD to bring down the Circle.”

Tags: Chloe Neill Chicagoland Vampires Vampires
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