Ian’s arms relaxed around me. “Don’t fret. If they set a trap for you or Marie in one of those homes, Ashael can teleport out of it. If they’re watching, they won’t bother with him because they don’t yet realize they have a quarrel with him, too. Phanes doesn’t know that he’s your brother, remember?”
No, he didn’t. Ian was right that Ashael probably would pass unnoticed, whereas if Marie or I went and Morana and Phanes were waiting to ambush us, that would put more innocent people in danger. It was already horrible that some had been murdered in their sleep simply for living near Marie’s house when Morana dropped her deep freeze bomb. Ghouls and vampires could come back from being flash frozen. Humans couldn’t.
From Marie’s expression, she was thinking the same thing.
“I’m so sorry,” I said softly.
Marie gave a sharp nod.
“They will be avenged to the last drop of their blood. My only cause for thankfulness is that it’s the middle of the night, so there are no tourists. Also, it’s hurricane season and very hot, as that vile creature noted. Because of that, many of the nearby homes will be empty of mortals, since they prefer the safer, cooler months of fall, winter, and early spring.”
A slight comfort, but not enough. Marie wasn’t the only one who felt responsible for each death. And Phanes! Oh, how I wished I would have broken free from that ice shell before he and Morana fled. I would have ripped into both of them . . .
Wait. Phanes had been here.
I’d been so distraught over more innocent people dying, I hadn’t digested the implications of that, but I did now.
“That clever bitch,” I growled.
Ian raised a brow. Marie looked around as if to say, Who?
“Morana,” I said. “She went on and on about how she hadn’t forgiven Phanes for betraying her, and how he was with Ruaumoko and not her, but he didn’t accidently show up because he ran across her while touring the neighborhood!”
“He was waiting for her signal,” Marie said, her hard gaze turning knowing. “That’s why she froze the entire district. She wanted that signal to be too big to miss because she didn’t want us to see him waiting for her.”
“Yes, if we survived.” Agitation had me pacing. “She didn’t know I’d be here, so this setup was for you. Morana probably intended to take you back with them like an ice-covered trophy if you refused to join her. Or kill you while you were immobile. She didn’t change the plan when she saw me because she didn’t know I could manipulate ice and water. My breaking free probably startled her and Phanes into bolting.”
“Ashael and I were only gone seconds,” Ian said. “They must have teleported away during that time. I’d have seen them if they flew.”
“They sure as hell wouldn’t try to get away by running,” I muttered, and then stopped in my tracks.
“What?” Ian said.
“Running.” Holy shit, that was it! “No one runs away from vampires because that’s too slow, even for a god. Back when Morana was talking about her and Ruaumoko’s deaths, she said that ghouls had trapped them in a gorge, but Ruaumoko hated vampires the most because they’d flown in to strike the killing blow.”
Ian began to smile. “Did she, now?”
“What of it?” Marie asked, sounding impatient.
“Means Morana and Ruaumoko can’t fly,” I summed up.
I should have realized that the moment I saw her. Yes, Morana had wings, but Phanes had flown both of them out of the netherworld when he broke them free. At the time, I’d thought Phanes had done it because their confinement had left them too weak, but how could ghouls have trapped Morana and Ruaumoko in a gorge if one or both of them could fly?
“Must not be able to teleport, either,” Ian said, dark expectancy sliding through his tone. “That’s how Phanes betrayed them. He left them to die instead of teleporting them away.”
“Then took credit for their deaths, probably by slaughtering the people who did kill them,” I added.
“That would tie up the necessary loose ends,” Marie said in a diamond-hard tone. “It would also explain why I couldn’t discover more about their demise despite extensive research.”
“When did you do that?” I said, surprised.
She gave me a look. “The moment my spies told me new gods had arrived. By the time Morana contacted me to request this meeting, I knew everything ever written about her, but”—she shrugged—“at best, history only ever whispers at the truth.”
That was a fact, as was its frequent twisting based on who was writing it.
“Someone powerful must have suspected that Phanes wasn’t the hero he claimed to be, because he was exiled to his realm not long after Morana and Ruaumoko’s deaths,” Ian said.
Yes, and all that time with only his illusions and the people he teleported into his realm had made Phanes pine for the good old days when he and his warmongering pals had ruled down here. Then, he’d felt me crack the veil, and begun to plan.
“My father must have eventually suspected Phanes, too,” I said, looking at Ian. “He said Phanes was supposed to be my shelter, but later, he cloaked me so Phanes couldn’t find me.”
Not unless I used that power, which my vampire sire had forbidden me from doing in terms so strong that they had scarred me emotionally for thousands of years. But maybe Tenoch had had another reason for his appalled reaction to my ripping open the veil when I was young. Had my father warned him that doing so would cause disastrous results?
Was it . . . was it possible that Tenoch’s horror hadn’t only been caused by seeing what I could do? Could part of it have come from Tenoch trying, as he’d done so many times before, to protect me from people who wanted to use me for my power?
I wished Tenoch was still here so I could ask him. He wasn’t, though. He was dead, and far too many others would join him if Morana, Phanes, and Ruaumoko weren’t stopped.
“They don’t realize that we know their secret,” I said. “We can use that against them.”
Marie smiled, and though it made her face even lovelier, I had never found her more terrifying.
“Then let us find another gorge to trap them in, and this time, they won’t come back from their deaths.”
Chapter 37
Ashael returned within the hour with the grim news that ninety-six humans had frozen to death, and it was now snowing in all of New Orleans. By then, Jacques had rounded up Marie’s lieutenants and brought them to her house, where she directed them to immediately do damage control on the deaths and the supernatural aspect of the new snow. Before they left, she also informed them that ghouls were temporarily allying with vampires against the new gods who’d dared to strike in her city. No one dared to object, at least not to Marie’s face.
Marie then dismissed them and turned to me. “I will dispatch all my ghosts to look for Morana. Wherever she is, the others won’t be far.”
I nodded. “We also have ghosts looking for them, so with luck, they won’t be able to hide for long.”
A smile hovered over her lips. “No one can hide from the dead for long, which is why you only have twelve hours to bring the vampire council on board with this new alliance.”
I acted as if I wasn’t startled that she knew I’d come here without the council’s approval. “Of course.”
Her look became pointed. “They also must make their confirmation of this alliance public and official, as I have.”
They still hadn’t even rescinded their death sentence on me, but what was another impossible task on my to-do list?
“I understand.” I wanted to offer to help with the people who’d lost their lives, but Marie would probably take offense to that. She considered them hers to avenge, so she’d consider them hers to bury and provide for their dependents, too.
No, all I could do was try to ensure that no others lost their lives, which was Impossible Task Number One on my list.
“Ashael, we’ll need you to take us to the council,” I said.
Ian took my hand
and placed his other one on Ashael’s shoulder. “Start with Hekima. She’s the most intelligent.”
Very true. I also placed my free hand on my brother, who inclined his head at Marie.
“Until next time, ma belle.”
Whatever she replied was lost as Ashael teleported us away.
The next thing I saw was row after row of cherry trees. We were on a balcony overlooking a street that was famous enough for me to recognize it even without the tall, white obelisk of the Washington Monument spearing the sky.
“You brought the vampire council’s most senior member to the humans’ seat of power in America?”
Ashael grinned. “Twisted, right?”
Ian high-fived him. “Love it.”
I shook my head. At least this swanky hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue would be one of the last places that Morana, Ruaumoko, or Phanes would look for Hekima.
“You have to knock,” Ashael said. “I spelled her hotel room so that only Hekima could open the windows and doors.”
Smart. I knocked on the sliding glass doors to the balcony, though Hekima had probably heard us already. After a moment, the drapes were pushed aside to reveal her familiar salt-and-pepper hair. She frowned at us, but she opened the doors.
“Your clothes are wet,” she said to me in lieu of a customary greeting.
I glanced down. Yes, they were. I hadn’t noticed before now because it hardly mattered, but some of the ice left over from Morana’s attack had clung to me and then melted.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
She walked away, gesturing for us to follow her out of the bedroom. The four-poster bed was still made and Hekima was in elegant leisurewear instead of sleep wear, so we hadn’t woken her up. For vampires, three in the morning wasn’t that late.
“Your business must be urgent to show up unannounced, but you can discuss it in dry clothing,” she said to me, and opened a closet in the hallway. “Since I was dropped here without my belongings and I’ve been forbidden from leaving, I purchased several items from the hotel’s stores. I will of course reimburse you,” she added to Ashael. “In the meantime, Veritas, choose one.”
“Don’t bother reimbursing me,” Ashael said with a grin. “So many politicians have demon deals in this city that our entire race practically has an open tab here.”
It would be rude to refuse her gift, so I thanked Hekima, selected something that I thought would fit since I was taller and curvier than she, and changed in the bathroom.
When I came out, Ian and Ashael were helping themselves to bourbon from the tall, well-stocked bar in the living room, and Hekima was sitting on one of several couches. Ashael had certainly set her up well. The bedroom had been sumptuous, the bathroom had been wall-to-wall marble, and beyond this spacious, luxurious living room was a full-size formal dining room.
Maybe he hadn’t been joking about demons having an “open tab” in this city.
“Thank you,” I said, accepting the bourbon Ian handed me. After one taste, I set the glass down and gave Ashael a censuring look. “You spiked it with drops of your blood?”
His brow arched. “If you couldn’t use a real drink after what happened tonight, you’ll definitely need it for what has to happen over the next twelve hours.”
Hekima’s gaze narrowed. “What has to happen?”
I picked my glass back up. Ashael was right; I’d need a real drink for this.
“Nothing much,” Ian said in a genial tone while I swallowed. “The council need only not bollocks up the new alliance that Veritas has arranged with Marie.”
If I were human, I would have choked on my swallow. He did not just say that to Hekima!
“What Ian means—” I gasped out through an esophagus still full of liquor.
“Is that, for the first time in thousands of years, vampires have a wartime alliance with ghouls,” Ian continued. “One we’ll need, because Morana is offering the western hemisphere to whoever helps her defeat vampires, and there are many powerful creatures that will join her to collect that prize.”
“Is this true?” Hekima demanded of me.
I finally got the last of the liquid down to speak in full sentences. “Yes. Morana froze the entire Garden District in two seconds, killing dozens of humans, just to show Marie that she didn’t like being refused. She’s also claiming half of Eurasia, giving Phanes the Mediterranean, and Ruaumoko’s taking Australia, New Zealand, and whatever the hell Zealandia is.”
Hekima’s dark eyes widened. “Gods or no, three people cannot dream of conquering so much!”
“It’s easy when you don’t care how many people you kill.” Ian’s casual tone didn’t match his gaze as he set his glass down. “Let’s forget about Morana for a moment, which, with her ego, would incense her, but that’s off topic. All Ruaumoko needs to do is set off one, maybe two super volcanoes, and then we’d have a worldwide nuclear winter that would kill most plant, animal, and human life. Now, vampires and ghouls could survive the poisoned air, water, and extreme cold, but how long do you reckon it would be before we tore each other apart over the few humans left to feed from, hmm? Years? Or only months?”
Hekima’s features hardened. Ashael, however, whistled.
“That’d make worldwide conquering easy, all right. Demons haven’t wanted to eradicate humans, because they’re too much fun to trick, but Morana and Ruaumoko have no such reservations.”
I was going to be sick. I’d been focused on Morana chilling the world to where millions would die, but yes, Ruaumoko could bring about total annihilation. He’d transformed a mere mountain into an erupting volcano in only one night. Setting off a couple sleeping super volcanoes would be child’s play for him.
“The council has to agree to this alliance,” I said. “Vampires can go back to bigotry as usual later. Survival comes first. Otherwise, none of us will be left to document how, like so many other cultures, we were defeated because we couldn’t stop fighting with rivals long enough to assemble against the greater threat poised to destroy us.”
Hekima held out her hand. I was confused until she nodded at my half-empty glass. I slid it across the table to her, and she drained it in one swallow.
“Smooth,” she said in a choked voice when she was finished.
Ashael hid a smile as he pricked his finger and splashed a few more drops of his blood into a fresh glass. Then, he filled it with bourbon and set it in front of Hekima.
She sipped instead of draining it this time, but she was still drinking what amounted to an entire bottle of vodka for a human. I didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad one.
“Even with the ghouls as allies, how can we hope to defeat them, if they are so powerful?” she asked once she’d finished half of that glass, too.
“A mixed-species vampire has a weapon that will drag Morana and Ruaumoko back into the netherworld,” Ian said. “She just needs to get close enough to them to deploy it. So, while you’re convincing the council to ally with ghouls, you’ll need to overturn the law making people like her illegal, too.”
“That’s not necessary,” I began.
“Oh, but it is,” Ian said at once. “Yes, you’ll risk your life to take them down anyway, but that is exactly the point. You’ll risk it all while asking nothing from the same group that will let you save their lives and then cheerfully murder you for the imagined crime of your existence afterward.”
Hekima sighed. “I would overturn that law in an instant. You know that, Veritas. But if I tried, I would be outvoted, again.”
“You don’t have to be.” Ashael’s rich baritone voice became even smoother. “You’re now the most senior-ranking council member, so if you invoke article seven, you can appoint the next two council members yourself, without the customary vote.”
Hekima gasped. “How do you know about article seven?”
I’d never heard of it, either, and I’d been the longest-serving Law Guardian in council history.
Ashael gave Hekima a tolerant smile. “Demons hav
e sparred with vampires since the days of Cain. Think Haldam was the first council member that was a demon mole? I probably know more about the secret articles of your laws than you do.”
“Then you know it has never been invoked before,” Hekima said in a stiff tone.
“Yes, but it was created for circumstances such as these,” Ashael countered. “There is a direct threat to the vampire species, and council seats have been unexpectedly vacated, preventing the passage of emergency laws needed to save your species. Simple, legal, and irrefutable. Come now, Hekima.” His voice deepened further. “You’ve thought of this already. I’m only saying it out loud.”
Hekima said nothing for a long moment. Then, she picked up her glass, drained it, and said, “Someone get the ghoul queen on video call for me.”
Ashael dialed Marie, and handed his mobile to Hekima.
“What?” Marie said when she answered, sounding both busy and annoyed. Then, surprise flickered over her features when she saw Hekima staring back at her instead of Ashael.
“Greetings,” Marie said in a new, formal tone.
“Greetings,” Hekima replied with the same formality, which was impressive considering that she must have quite the buzz now from Ashael’s blood. “I am calling to verify the offer of alliance with your people that Veritas presented to me.”
“I verify the offer, which is valid for the next eleven hours, and if accepted, stands until the resolution of the war against the three renegade gods,” Marie said.
Hekima gave a short nod. “Thank you for your verification, and for the clarified details of the terms. The vampire council will render our decision to you by dawn.”
Marie inclined her head. “Until then.”
“Until then,” Hekima echoed.
When they hung up, Hekima handed the mobile back to Ashael. “You’re keeping us in separate locations and you confiscated our mobiles so they couldn’t be tracked, but I know you have people watching us. Contact them, and use their mobiles to get the remaining council on video conference.”
“We’ll need a laptop,” Ashael said. “I can’t get all nine members on simultaneous video conference on a mobile.”
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