14
Open Arms and Cold Shoulders
They chose to hide out in a motel on the outskirts of Manhattan called The Haskills Motorlodge. The place had probably been something to see back in 1960 with its ridiculous Art Deco awning set at an impossible angle over the drive-thru and the pendent chandelier hanging in the foyer. Much of the awning had given way to rust, and the chandelier’s faceted crystals appeared yellowed with age, but the maids kept the rooms clean, and the place was off the beaten path, so they rented four rooms and settled in for the night.
Too keyed up to sleep, Rose sat on one of the room’s queen-sized beds, chatting quietly with Olivia while Matt tried to catch some shuteye next to her. She had never mastered the technique of sleeping whenever possible like him. Given five minutes and a means of getting at least marginally horizontal, Matt would sleep, no problem.
“Is Piper answering your messages?” Rose gave up texting the vampire an hour ago for lack of response.
Olivia glanced at her phone. “Nope. She was pissed when we left her at the condo. We should give her some time.”
Though Piper had escorted Rose’s team from the building, she had split off from them the instant they reached the street. Her children followed after her into the shadows. Satterfield lingered for a moment as if she might stick with Rose before waving goodbye and running after her vampire hosts.
“She can be pissed all she likes. I stand by my call.”
Olivia shrugged one shoulder, and though it obviously pained her, she nodded. “I think it was the right one. We were getting mauled in there. You all got sidelined by the fear draw, and I simply couldn’t hang with Alice’s goons. They were too fast, too strong.”
“Don’t feel bad, neither could I.”
“I saw that. Looked like Alice was faster than you.”
“Yeah, she was.” Rose appreciated Olivia’s brutal honesty. It was one of the reasons the two of them had grown close, but that didn’t make it sting any less.
“I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Problem is, I was starting to think that way myself. It’s been so long since I came up against someone faster than me, I forgot what it feels like.”
“Feels like shit,” Olivia quipped.
Rose chuckled quietly so as not to wake Matt.
“Well, I forgot what it was like to fight succubi using the fear draw.” Olivia shivered for effect. “Reminds me of fighting David Lord.”
“Only, it was like five of him. Melody drew fear, too. Makes me wonder who they’re using for votaries.”
“You’re thinking there’s a new fear factory somewhere?”
Rose shrugged. “If what Kraft told us is true, there might be hundreds of private ones all over the place, maybe thousands.”
Someone knocked on the door, and Matt sat up, blond hair disheveled.
“Who’s that?” he demanded, though Rose could tell he wasn’t fully awake.
“Piper,” said a voice from outside.
Matt rolled out of bed, pulled on a pair of jeans, and opened the door bare-chested. Piper and Grace stood there. The younger vampire made an appreciative “ooh” sound. Piper whacked her lightly on the belly, though she glanced once at Matt’s muscled physique before returning her gaze to his face. “We need to talk.”
Matt stepped aside to let them enter and shut the door behind them. He made a point of pulling on a t-shirt before joining the group.
Piper wore an expression Rose couldn’t read—not precisely angry, but cold like the uncaring depths of winter. She didn’t sit on the bed but stood at the edge, staring down at Rose, her lips fastened tight about her teeth as if to hold back her words.
“I think I know what you’re going to say.” Rose sat up straight to gain some height. She considered standing but decided that might not be the best course of action when facing a pissed-off vampire who could take it as a threat.
“You might be surprised,” Piper said.
“Oh?”
“Mama thinks you were right,” Grace drawled. “She told me all about the fight with the Irish and how they used the fear draw on y’all, only it didn’t work on her or my sisters. She said you fought hard, but there’s nothing anybody can do when they get their courage stolen. Mama—”
“Grace.” Piper held up a hand to stop the girl’s babble. “I swear the girl does go on, but she’s right. I came here to apologize. I can’t tell you how angry I am with myself. I shouldn’t have pushed you to go after Alice after your people were nearly slaughtered. I don’t know what a fear draw feels like, but I’ve seen it used twice now, and it doesn’t look pleasant.”
“Imagine hell and multiply that by at least ten,” Matt said. “Then you’re getting close.”
“I should have realized your people couldn’t recover from that sort of thing in a few seconds. I’m lucky you didn’t run out of that building screaming. It would have served me right if you had. I attacked when I should have waited, and we all nearly paid the price for that mistake.”
Rose nodded, pleasantly surprised and relieved by Piper’s apology. It sure as hell beat arguing, but it didn’t change some of the questions swirling around in her mind. Some things about the situation made no sense. “Why did you attack her, anyway?”
Piper blew air between her human teeth and shook her head. “She accused me of killing Barbara Griffith. I should have shrugged that off, but I let her goad me. It was a childish thing to do.”
Discernment confirmed Piper’s words for Rose. She spoke the truth.
Except.
Grace, who had been standing patiently to her mother’s right, watching the conversation avidly, dropped her gaze to the floor when Piper spoke Barbara Griffith’s name. A long strand of blond hair fell across Grace’s eyes, and she absently pushed it behind an ear, but did not look up.
Piper lied. She did it so convincingly, Rose’s votary-boosted discernment couldn’t see through the deception, but her youngest daughter lacked Piper’s many years of practice. Grace had been a vampire for a mere two years, and at twenty, she wasn’t even old for a human. Not only did Rose detect the lie through Grace, she saw clearly that the girl detested it.
With an effort, Rose schooled her expression against her shock. Piper had killed Barbara Griffith. For what reason, Rose couldn’t fathom. Perhaps to open a way for the Order to establish dominance within Society? That might make sense if Piper were immensely stupid or ignorant of how Society functioned. Infighting over succession wouldn’t somehow make Society’s elites more open to slinkers taking charge. And since everyone knew the Order had allied with Piper, should her actions come to light, blame for Barbara Griffith’s death would fall on both sides equally. That would spell the end of their alliance, and possibly even their lives. Rose could well imagine Society elites using Griffith’s murder to excuse hunting her and all her people down for execution.
Piper was no fool. She wouldn’t take that sort of chance without good reason and forwarding the Order’s bid for acceptance didn’t fit that criterion. Rose could think of only one other goal that might entice Piper to kill Griffith—a simple aim that frightened Rose to her core. Piper wanted to destabilize Society for her own reasons, ones that didn’t involve the Order whatsoever.
“Sun will be up in a couple of hours,” Piper said as Rose’s attention returned to the present. “We’re going to get some sleep and then head home. Do you want to travel at night so we can coordinate protecting one another, and Olivia can stay with you? I wouldn’t put it past Alice to track us on the road. She’s not going to let this attack go unpunished.”
Drawing more discernment and adding mental acuity to it, Rose tried to think fast what to say and how to act to prevent Piper from suspecting her inner thoughts. She shook her head slowly. “I’m not too worried about that. You bit her. That should keep her down for a while. Maybe, if we’re lucky, she won’t wake for a few days. She can’t draw healing while she’s unconscious, so her body has to deal with your venom th
e way a human would.”
“I doubt it will be days before she wakes. My venom’s weak. That’s why I have so many children; it doesn’t kill humans the way most vampire’s venom does. A succubus like Alice might sleep a day, but she’ll rouse soon enough, and when she does, she’s going to be pissed, which means we all need to take extra precautions against reprisals. She’ll seek revenge on us sooner or later, and with her temper, I think it will be sooner.”
“All the more reason to split up.” Rose turned to Matt, pleading for him to agree without showing it on her face. “In fact, I think we should rent a couple more vehicles and split up our teams. They can travel back in twos and threes.”
“Definitely.” Matt lifted his eyebrows at her but otherwise hid his curiosity.
“You’re probably right.” Piper took Grace’s hand. “We’ll be in touch. If you have any sort of trouble, call me. I’ll make myself available, I promise.”
“Same here.” Rose stood and gave Piper and Grace each a hug, thankful for her draw on calm to keep her heart rate low. She followed them to the door and shut it after they left. Rose stood there for a long, silent moment, collecting her thoughts, wondering if she should include Olivia in what she wanted to say next, or save it and speak to Matt in private later. Olivia spared her the decision.
“Mother just lied to you,” she said, her voice flat. “I think she killed Barbara Griffith.”
Surprised, Rose watched Matt to gauge his reaction.
He nodded and stood up from the chintzy motel chair. “I suspected as much, but I wasn’t getting that vibe from Piper. She lied through my discernment like it was nothing. I didn’t know for sure until I saw how Grace reacted.”
“You saw that too?” Rose plopped onto the bed with a relieved sigh.
“You thought you were the only one?” Matt asked, one corner of his mouth turned up in a half-grin.
“I was working up the nerve to tell you. I figured you’d say I had gone insane.”
“The insane one is Mother.” Olivia, whose skin usually ran pale, grew whiter still as the blood drained from her face. She threw off the covers to pace the room in her stocking feet. “What could she be thinking?”
“She’s thinking about the future,” Matt said. He leaned back on the TV stand, arms folded. He started to say more, shut his mouth, and began again. “Olivia, you’ve been living with us for months now. I like you, and I know Rose does as well. Sometimes, I forget why you’re here. We’re friends, but we aren’t family.”
Olivia stopped near the motel’s dirty window. Wan light from a digital sign above the nearby highway washed over her, white on white, so she took on the appearance of a ghost. “You don’t trust me.”
“That’s not exactly—” Matt began.
“You shouldn’t.” Olivia turned to them, her expression pained. “I wouldn’t trust me in your place. I’m your treaty hostage, and the daughter of a vampire who killed your peoples’ leader then lied about it to your face.”
Rose crossed the room to take Olivia’s hands. “We trust you. What Piper did, that’s on her.”
“But you can’t know I’m not a part of it.” Pinkish tears glistened in Olivia’s dark eyes. “I might be playing you right now. How do you know I won’t inform Mother about your suspicions?”
“Because you voiced them first.” Rose squeezed her friend’s hands. “They’re your suspicions too, and I can tell they’re tearing you up inside.”
“At some point, we have to trust,” Matt said. “My discernment tells me you’re being honest.”
“The same discernment that didn’t work on Mother?”
“I don’t know Piper. I know you.”
Olivia began to sob, and Rose enfolded her in a hug. The vampire’s blood tears would probably stain Rose’s sleeping shirt, but that didn’t matter.
“What happens if my mother has gone out of her head?”
“She’s not out of her head.” Matt put a hand on Olivia’s shoulder.
Olivia lifted her chin to stare at him. “You said that before, but what else explains killing Griffith? It makes no sense. It puts us all in danger.”
“Not if Piper gains enough power to threaten Society.”
Rose nodded. “Exactly. She’s not thinking about the Order gaining favor in Society and then eventually helping vampires in turn. She’s planning her own takeover.”
Olivia reared back as if Rose had struck her in the face, her expression morphing from shock, to introspection, to eventual realization in the space of five seconds. “Oh, God. Killing Griffith fomented chaos in Society.”
“Enough to give her the time she needs to grow her coven queendom.” Matt shook his head in disgust. “I really think she’s planning to destroy Society.”
“I didn’t know any of this, I swear,” Olivia whispered.
“We know you didn’t,” Rose said.
“We have to stop her.” Olivia wiped at her damp eyes with a motel tissue. “I might not like Society, or how it treats my kind, but it’s stable. If Mother destroys it, the entire government will crumble. That’s not the sort of thing you can hide from humans no matter how much charm you have.”
“You get we’re talking about fighting Piper?” Rose almost said, “killing Piper,” but reined herself in at the last second.
“Yes, and I’m not going to lie and say I like the idea. She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. Whatever human parents I once had, those memories are faded. But she can’t do this. She’s putting millions at risk.”
Rose nodded, filled with pride at her friend’s resolve despite the pain it caused her. “So, we stop her. Question is, how?”
“We could try warning Society?” Matt said.
“And have the elites declare open hunting season on vampires?” Olivia asked.
“Slinkers too, probably,” Rose added. “No. Society can’t protect itself. Their bigotry makes them vulnerable.”
“I’m not siding with my dad.” Matt looked Rose in the eye, his lips turned down. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
He knew her too well.
“He has loyal succubi and Rubio’s vampires on his side. We could do worse.”
“No. We couldn’t.”
“What about the Africans?” Olivia asked, cutting in before Rose got a chance to clap back.
“Couldn’t hurt to talk with them,” Matt said. “They claim they’ve kept the Irish out of their territory for more than a decade. Must mean they know how to fight.”
Rose shrugged reluctantly and at last nodded. “I’ll give them a call.”
“Good.” Matt dusted off his hands as if that settled everything.
“But first, I’m calling the twins.” Rose crossed to retrieve her phone. “I’ve got a story idea for them. If they like it, maybe I can win back some votaries.”
15
Fangs Out
Thandiwe Buhari asked Rose to meet her at the Thomas Brady Prescott library on Franklin Street in Richmond, Virginia. The location choice puzzled Rose until she entered the building. At 6 p.m., the library was nearly deserted. A handful of college students sat clustered around a table nearest the research stacks, chatting quietly or else jacked into tablets and phones. Otherwise, Rose saw no one besides two librarians behind a desk at the front.
A slim, muscular man dressed in a tan suit tailored for his physique stood when Rose, Matt, and Tanner entered the building. Rose was accustomed to meeting handsome incubi; their attractiveness, whether engineered by Providence or nature, served to make them more alluring to women—and men too when it came to that—but this particular incubus took her breath away. His broad chest and narrow waist gave him the look of an avid swimmer. That coupled with unblemished caramel skin, expressive brown eyes, and an infectious smile left Rose momentarily frozen in place.
“Rose Carver?” he asked, his voice low, his accent light but distinctly similar to Thandiwe’s. His brown eyes turned golden when he grinned.
Rose swallowed and nodded.
“My name is Chibueze. Director Buhari asked me to escort you to the meeting.”
A strong cloud of charm surrounded Chibueze. For a moment, Rose thought he might be trying to influence her thoughts, but no, the man simply exuded charm as a natural consequence of his existence. It billowed around him like steam rising from an underwater lava jet.
“Lead the way,” Rose said, resolutely NOT staring at his strong jaw, chiseled shoulders, and taut backside. To her dismay, even his calves showed through his dress pants to good effect when he walked.
Matt shook his head when he caught her staring but then shrugged and whispered, “Can’t say I blame you. He is pretty.”
Rose took his arm. “But he’s not you, love.”
They followed Chibueze along a wide hall framed in stone and hung about with paintings by local artists. Some of them weren’t half bad.
Tanner sidled up to Rose as they passed the last painting. “How much do we trust this Consortium?”
“I don’t know yet,” Rose admitted.
“I haven’t seen any obvious plants watching or following us.” Tanner glanced over his shoulder. “That means either they trust us, or they’re better at concealment than I guessed.”
“I think they’re showing a little faith in us,” Matt said. “They want the Order to side with them, and they’re not willing to threaten that by pissing us off on day one.”
“Could be,” Tanner allowed, his gaze roving about the library’s main hall. “Or maybe they suck at security.”
“Not if they’ve been holding their own against the Irish.” Rose knew Tanner loathed working personal security. He would rather manage the team outside, keeping watch for incoming threats, than babysit Rose and Matt, but she hadn’t given him a choice. After the disastrous fight with Alice and learning Piper had played the Order false, she wanted someone she could trust, someone strong, at this meeting. She knew next to nothing about the Consortium. This entire setup could be an elaborate trap.
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