by Helen Harper
I’ll be seeing you, kitten.
She growled at me but there was less anger than previously. I chuckled to myself. One thing I could say about Mack – I was never bored when she was around.
CHAPTER FOUR
I was sparring in the garden with Staines, distracting myself from thoughts of Mack, when Lucy arrived with the news. It was easy to tell from the look on her face that something was wrong.
‘What is it?’ I asked, calling a halt to the fight.
‘That ... thing is here again. The vampire.’
I frowned. ‘You mean Aubrey.’
‘I think that’s his name.’ She sniffed. ‘Although it’s a stupid one.’
I exchanged a wary glance with Staines. ‘Did he say what he wanted?’
‘Nope.’
I chewed the inside of my cheek. Even though he’d agreed that the bloodsuckers would host the upcoming Otherworld gathering, the way Aubrey had acted when the entire Pack was under threat from the red fever did not exactly make me particularly keen to sit down and chat to him. I’d set upon this course of achieving greater harmony across our different groups, however. The vampires, who were always on the periphery and tended to concern themselves solely with their own self interests, were by far the most dangerous of them all. It stood to reason that the closer I could keep them, the more I’d have a chance of controlling them. Or, if not controlling, then at the very least preventing them from causing chaos whenever they decided they were at a loose end.
‘You should go, my Lord,’ Staines said. ‘Find out what he wants if nothing else.’
‘Maybe I should be optimistic,’ I agreed. ‘Perhaps he’s made the choice to turn vegan and bring every damn vampire along with him.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘It’d certainly make the world a safer place.’
I sighed. ‘I have the feeling that the only thing that would keep the world safe from the vampires would be to de-fang the lot of them.’
‘One day, my Lord, one day.’
I grabbed my t-shirt from the side and pulled it over my head. It felt slightly sticky and unpleasant against the sheen of sweat on my skin but it wasn’t like I cared what Aubrey thought of my personal hygiene. It was tempting to make him wait while I took a shower but, after speaking to him, I’d probably just need to cleanse myself again anyway.
I strolled through the mansion to where he was waiting at the front. He seemed to be inspecting one of old paintings which had been displayed there for as long as I could remember – a young girl of around sixteen or seventeen with dark hair, clear innocent eyes and an open book on her lap.
‘Do you know who this is?’ Aubrey asked without turning.
I stared at the painted woman. As far as I was aware, no-one in the Brethren, not even the ancient librarian, knew the painting’s provenance or subject. ‘No,’ I said slowly, wondering what on earth all this was about.
‘Her name was Jane. Jane Grey.’
I frowned. That rung a tiny bell.
Aubrey continued. ‘As far as the humans are aware she is the only English monarch of whom there is no contemporary painting.’
‘You mean...’
‘On the throne for nine days.’ He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled coldly. ‘Before her execution, of course.’
‘You knew her?’
He waved a hand. ‘Before my time. But it’s because of us that she died.’
‘You meddled in the succession of the throne?’
‘My dear boy,’ he laughed patronisingly, ‘we meddle in everything.’
‘Why did you kill her?’
‘As I stated, it was before my time. But we disposed of her because it suited our purposes. And it wasn’t actually us who did the killing. It was far more delicious for us to manipulate the humans into executing her on their own. Of course with hindsight, when we eventually got Elizabeth as monarch instead of Mary, we probably should have kept poor little Lady Grey.’ He shrugged. ‘You can’t have everything though. We definitely didn’t want another Brethren sympathiser leading the country.’
I blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Henry tried to stamp you all out. His son, Edward VI tried to bring you back.’ His expression took on a chilling look of satisfaction. ‘We dealt with him swiftly enough.’ He laughed at my expression. ‘You had no idea did you? The only reason Henry didn’t succeed was because your lot pledged allegiance to the crown. The Brethren signed away half of their property and a good deal of their valuables to secure their own safety. Not to mention agreeing to twist the facts of history by never mentioning the deal to anyone again. So it’s not really any wonder that it’s not in any of your dusty old books.’ Aubrey winked at me. ‘You’d be amazed at what us vampires know that you don’t.’
Frankly, I had no idea whether he was telling the truth or not. It was similar to what Corux had told me. Maybe the ravens had brokered the deal. Or maybe it didn’t matter what you did or who you spoke to, the truth about the past would never be entirely revealed. If we allowed it, I was certain Aubrey and his chums would use their theoretically superior knowledge of history to lord it over us and twist our own self-beliefs. Except I didn’t care all that much about what had happened five hundred years ago. I only cared about the next five hundred. Learning from your mistakes was one thing – allowing them to define you was something else entirely.
‘Is that why you’re here? To give me a history lesson?’ I exaggerated my bored tone. ‘Perhaps you could just email over the salient facts instead. I’m rather busy.’
Aubrey made a show of looking my sweaty clothes up and down and wrinkling his nose. ‘So I see.’
I had to bite my tongue not to snap that at least I didn’t reek of rotting meat like he did. ‘If that’s all then?’
‘No. It’s not. Although it is, in a rather roundabout fashion, related to all that time.’
I suddenly thought of my recent trip to the Tower. Maybe I had an inkling about where this was going after all. ‘Go on.’
‘You’ve been talking to the ravens,’ he said.
I rolled my tongue around my mouth, debating whether to answer truthfully or not. Eventually, I shrugged. ‘What of it?’
Aubrey’s lip curled. ‘They gave you the Albus seal.’
I inspected my fingernails. ‘Perhaps you need to refer to your own sources. They lent us the Albus seal. We returned it.’
Aubrey hissed suddenly. ‘It’s not in your possession?’
‘No,’ I answered calmly. ‘It’s not.’
He took a step towards me. ‘We want it.’
‘It belonged to the Brethren. Now it belongs to the Tower. It’s really nothing to do with you.’
His expression took on a crafty look. ‘We ... collect objects of historical importance. We wish to collect this one.’
I had to try very hard not to laugh. I was betting I knew exactly why he wanted the seal – he’d heard about its supposed powers for encouraging shapeshifter compliance and had decided that now we were no longer on the verge of extinction, he wanted a different method of controlling us. For all his apparent historical wisdom, he wasn’t as smart as he thought. The thing was useless. Its function was ceremonial and nothing more. Not that I was going to help him get hold of it though. It would be far more fun to refuse and see what he chose to do next instead.
‘You’ll need to talk to the ravens,’ I said. ‘We don’t have it.’
His shoulders stiffened fractionally. ‘The ravens do not like us.’
It was getting harder and harder not to laugh. Nobody liked the damn vampires – didn’t he know that? ‘Then there’s nothing I can do.’
‘In the interests of our newfound alliance, it would suit you to aid us in retrieving it.’
‘In that case,’ I murmured, ‘bring it up at the next meeting. It’s only a few days away, after all.’
‘We would,’ Aubrey said stiffly, ‘prefer to keep this matter between ourselves.’
No doubt because he was
concerned that the Mages or the Fae had better record keeping skills than we did and would know about the seal’s supposed properties. ‘It’s your choice,’ I said. ‘But for now I cannot help you.’
There was a flicker of burning rage in his eyes. It was barely a second, however, before he managed to quell it. ‘Then I shall take my leave.’
‘I’ll see you at the party.’
He sniffed and departed. Staines, by now himself showered and changed, came up to my shoulder. ‘You should be wary of antagonising the vampires, my Lord. They can be unpredictable.’
I told him what Aubrey had wanted and my theory behind his motivation. Staines scowled. ‘Hang the lot of them.’
CHAPTER FIVE
Considering the vampires’ interest in the seal, I took the decision to inform the entirety of the Pack openly that it was a useless object. To continue to imply otherwise, even by omission, was a dangerous tack to take. Sitting at my desk and reading through the various responses from around the country, however, I had to admit I was surprised. Only a few of the most gullible shifters had believed the theory that the seal contained magical powers. The vast majority were simply happy that I’d cared about the new Way Directives and was invested in their future enough to obtain the seal temporarily for them. It was more the official air the seal provided that they approved of, rather than any nonsense about legendary magic clinging to it. I felt guilty for making assumptions about other people’s inner most thoughts and beliefs. The more I wondered about what other assumptions I’d been making lately, the more worried I became.
I stewed for half a day and then called in Leah. She appeared in the doorway with a tub of ice-cream in her hand and a sardonic look on her face. ‘You rang, milord?’
‘Is that for me?’
‘Chocolate chip? No way.’ She dipped in her spoon and made a show of savouring a mouthful. ‘I need this. What do you need?’
I pursed my mouth, not sure if this was really a good idea. ‘Advice.’
She blinked rapidly. ‘I’m going to require a greater calorie count for that. Let me get another tub.’
‘Leah,’ I groaned.
‘Sorry, big brother, I couldn’t resist. It’s not every day that the esteemed and mighty Lord Alpha of the Brethren comes to me for advice. What is it? Are the werewolves giving you trouble again? I’m not sure I can help much if it’s the vampires...’
‘It’s a girl.’
She grinned. Then she thought about it some more and her grin grew even wider. ‘Let me guess. Red hair? Spiky temper? Used to be a shapeshifter but is now something else entirely different?’
‘You’ve met her?’
‘Nah.’ She hopped up onto my desk and took another scoop of ice cream. ‘I’m always away when she’s around. Everyone I speak to asks me about her though. Well,’ she amended, ‘they ask me about you and whether she’s your girlfriend or not.’
‘Nothing’s sacred.’
‘Nope.’
‘Her hair’s not red any more,’ I said. ‘I mean, it’s red, but she’s cut it all off.’
Leah’s eyebrows flew up. ‘All of it?’
I nodded. ‘She’s completely bald.’
‘She’s not joining a nunnery to get away from you, is she?’
Frankly, I wouldn’t past it her. ‘No. Something to do with hazing at the Ministry, I believe.’
‘Ah.’ She gave me an arch look. ‘Is she a mage then?’
‘No. I don’t think so anyway.’
‘You don’t know what she is?’
I shook my head. ‘Not a clue.’
‘Why don’t you ask her?’
I scratched my chin. ‘That’s kind of what I need help with. Every time we talk I seem to screw it up. I’m not quite sure what I’m doing wrong.’
‘Hmmm. Tell me what happened the last time you met.’
‘She got angry. Then she got soft. Then she got angry again.’
Leah rolled her eyes. ‘Tell me in detail. As if you’re a girl.’
‘I don’t understand.’
She sighed. ‘Where did you meet?’
‘At some counsellor’s place in the city. The Otherworld one.’
‘You’re getting counselling?’
‘Only for how to deal with annoying little sisters. No,’ I said, ‘it was Mack that was getting counselling.’
‘Oh, Corrigan.’ Leah tutted several times. ‘Oh no. You’re telling me you interrupted her private counselling session to give her a booty call.’
‘It wasn’t like that! First of all, I didn’t interrupt the session. I made sure I was already there before she went in.’
‘Did she know you were coming?’
I shifted uncomfortably. ‘No.’
She threw her hands up into the air. ‘Well, no wonder she was pissed off. There she is, vulnerable and needing help and then you show up probably all butch and masculine and growly...’
‘I’m not growly. I’m never growly.’
‘You growled just then. Was she happy to see you?’
‘No,’ I admitted. ‘But she didn’t run away or anything. Mainly because I...’ I hesitated. ‘I grabbed her wrist.’
‘What?’ Leah screeched. ‘You physically prevented her from getting away from you? Why didn’t you just club her over the head and drag her to your cave?’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ I protested.
Leah looked sceptical. ‘How much do you like her?’
Heat inexplicably rushed into my cheeks. Her mouth dropped open. ‘I like her quite a lot.’
‘Clearly. You need to be nice to her, Corrigan. Be charming. I know you have it in you. I’ve seen you schmooze plenty of women before.’
‘Plenty of women who weren’t Mack. And I was nice to her. I told her I liked her new hairstyle.’
She gave me an exasperated look. ‘Really? You told her you liked the new hairstyle she’s got, even though she’s now bald and essentially has no hairstyle whatsoever. In fact, the new hairstyle she didn’t ask for but received because of some kind of college prank?’
‘Um...’
‘You need to stop coming across all alpha male, Corrigan. She’s pretty bolshy, right?’
I snorted. ‘That’s one way of putting it.’
‘So let her be like that. Give her the respect she deserves by letting her get her own way instead of you bulldozing your way to what you want.’ Her eyes hardened slightly. ‘Unless what you want is just a quick roll in the hay.’
I ran a hand through my hair. ‘That’s not what I want,’ I said quietly. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted exactly but it was more than simply having Mack in my bed. She was like a damned itch I couldn’t scratch. A troubling thought struck me. ‘And if what she wants is for me to leave her alone?’
She regarded me seriously. ‘Then you need to respect that.’ She held out her spoon. ‘There’s always ice-cream. It’s a poor substitute but it can help a bit.’
‘I don’t want ice-cream.’
She smiled. ‘Look, she saved your life. She’s the one who found the antidote for the red fever.’
I nodded. ‘Yes.’
Leah shrugged. ‘Then she can’t completely hate you otherwise she’d have left you to rot. Let her lead the way and things will work out.’
‘It’s not really in my nature to take a backseat,’ I began.
‘Try, Corrigan. It might do more good than you think.’
*
Strangely enough, I had the opportunity to put Leah’s advice into action more soon than I’d realised. I was just padding from the shower to my bedroom with a towel wrapped round my waist when Mack herself abruptly popped into my head.
Ummm...
It was such a nervous opening that it immediately put me on edge. Mack, what’s wrong?
Hi Corrigan. Her Voice was soft and not at all like it had been before. How are things?
You’re contacting me in the middle of the night to ask how I’m doing? I cursed myself as soon as the words left me. I
wasn’t trying to provoke her.
Uh, no. I felt bad, no, I FEEL bad about what happened yesterday. You know, at the shrink’s place.
Except I was the one who should be saying sorry. Leah had said to let her take the lead, however, so I simply ran with it. Is this an apology? An actual apology from the big, bad, scary Mackenzie Smith?
Yeah. I guess it is.
I didn’t know how to respond. If I said thank you it would suggest that I agreed she’d been the one to screw things up, not me. Then she might get pissed off again. If I didn’t say thank you, then she’d think I wasn’t going to accept her words and she might get pissed off again. Whichever way I swung, I’d be screwed.
Corrigan? Are you still there?
I took a deep breath. The only thing I could think of to do was to tease her. Perhaps that way I could keep the mood light. I’m waiting.
Waiting for what?
Your apology. I tried to sound as if I was bantering. I wasn’t sure it worked though.
My...? She paused midway. I apologise.
Her lack of blue-aired blow-out at my provocation meant Mack was taking this very seriously. I made a quick decision and took her at her word. Thank you. I was willing to lay bets, however, that there was more to this than she was so far saying. So why are you really contacting me, kitten?
I, uh, thought that maybe I should do something. You know, to make it up to you. I behaved badly.
I licked my lips. Oh, I’m sure I could think of something or other that you could do to make it up to me.
Don’t get any ideas, my Lord. This is purely on a platonic basis.
I really could think of a few things she could do. I pushed the sudden swell of vivid images out of my mind and focused on the conversation. I will try not to let the disappointment overcome me. So what did you have in mind?