“Once they’re in the dining room, we’ll walk the gardens, make sure it’s clear,” she said to everyone. They took a position around Jason and Adam as they greeted Adelaide.
“Bienvenue chez moi (welcome to my home),” she said as she looked around the entire group, not just at Jason and Adam. Alex thought that was really decent of her. Her daughter, on the other hand, stared directly at Jason.
“Merci,” he said to Adelaide before he kissed her hand. Then he turned his eyes to Evangeline. “And this must be the lovely Evangeline. Belle de vous rencontrer (lovely to meet you).”
She smiled seductively as his lips grazed her pale hand. Her anemic complexion gave this damp day even more reason to be depressing. Before her mother could, Evangeline took Jason’s arm in her grip and pulled him to her. Adelaide rolled her eyes as Adam offered his arm to her.
“Please forgive my daughter,” Alex heard her say. “She’s influenced by this modern world. No respect for tradition.”
Alex wasn’t really sure what that meant, but if that was her mother’s way of calling her daughter a spoiled bitch, Alex had to agree.
They followed their hostess inside—Jason’s old team spread out and covered the entrance and front door. Alex and her team would stay close to Jason and Adam. Two guards would remain in the dining room while the Trackers checked the gardens with Adam’s security.
“Wow,” Amy sighed as they entered the grand accommodations. “That’s a Pollock,” she gushed as she pointed to a canvas covered in dull blobs of paint to their right.
Original artwork hung on every wall. Glass and ceramic vases stuffed with fresh flowers sat on every ornately decorated table. Down a long hallway, at the very end, big wooden doors swung open, held by men in black jackets and white gloves. All at once, the smell of food and flowers mixed.
The team took it all in as they were led into the dining room by Evangeline and Jason. They observed every corner, every closed door. At first, Alex thought they were just overwhelmed by all the opulence, but they were on the job.
To her surprise, they were doing what they had been trained to do: checking doors to make sure they were locked; Kai marked the exits with his eyes; Sebastian checked dark hallways like a pro; and Xavier counted the number of windows they passed, she could tell. Amy had even managed to put herself between the couples to keep close to Jason. David had done the same with Adam. Erin and Alex brought up the rear.
With a reputation like theirs, she shouldn’t have been surprised, but Alex had trust issues—especially when it came to this program. Her father had lied to her about so many things. He could have easily lied about this team as well. They could get into some scrap on the other side of the Atlantic and freeze up—then people would die. She wasn’t too keen on getting killed anytime soon. As luck would have it, they were better than she gave them credit for.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she heard Erin whisper as she used a handheld scanner that could detect listening devices. “We do know what we’re doing.”
They entered something akin to a ballroom. A big round table was set in the center of the room, ready for the visitors.
“Please, everyone, sit,” Adelaide said as Adam held her chair. “We don’t want lunch to get cold.”
Jason and Evangeline sat, as did Adam. There were seven more places set and Alex wondered who else was expected. Then Adelaide stood again and addressed her directly. “Ms. Stone, please,” she smiled. “I’m sure your team is hungry.”
“We’re working, Madame,” she answered. “We’ll eat back on the plane.”
“Nonsense,” Adelaide frowned. “We are safe here. You have my word.” She waved her hands at the empty places again. The look on her face and Jason’s told Alex she was not going to take no for an answer. And Jason would not be embarrassed by her refusal either.
Alex nodded and they were all seated. The only place left for her to sit was the next to Adelaide. She got the feeling that was intentional.
“Now,” Adelaide smiled again, “lunch is served.”
The team couldn’t drink on duty, even if the wine was Adelaide’s pride and joy. She understood and had two cases of it loaded into one of the trucks; for the flight, she said.
Lunch went at a leisurely pace—too leisurely for Alex. Her senses were on edge, and she wanted to get outside and look over the grounds, since they had another couple of hours to spend here.
Alex wiped her mouth and placed the linen napkin on the table. The others followed her lead.
She cleared her throat politely, “Madame, thank you for the wonderful hospitality, but we have to get back to work.” She stood and so did the team. “I’m sure you have a lot to discuss with Mr. Stavros.”
“I do, and thank you for being so polite,” Adelaide answered.
Alex nodded and the team also thanked their hostess before following Alex toward the big French doors that led from the dining room to the gardens. When they were outside with the doors closed, Alex moved further away from the house without a word. At the giant fountain with a horse and rider in the center, she stopped and faced the team.
“I want every structure checked and cleared,” she said. “She’s planning on giving them a tour of the gardens after they’re done. You have fifteen minutes.”
They spread out in pairs to carry out her instructions. Alex took a seat on the fountain and tried to figure out what she was feeling. Her eyes traveled up the ivy-covered walls and went from drape covered window to drape covered window.
There were men posted on the three terraces that faced the garden. Each acknowledged her presence with a slight nod. The jumpy feeling wasn’t because of them. When she stood, they all turned their attention to her. As she walked around the space, corner to corner, they watched her closely. Her hand was on the gun inside her jacket, and so were theirs.
“So much for trust,” she mumbled.
“We won’t ask you to report any personal holdings, Madame,” Jason said as he sipped his tea; Evangeline was glued to her phone. “Just those that belong to your clan as a whole.”
“Good,” Adelaide sighed in relief. “This winery has been in my family for six centuries; I was a small child when my father inherited it. I could not bear to have this taken from me.”
“It won’t be,” Adam assured her with a pat to her hand. “We will be as honest with them as we can without compromising ourselves or you.”
“Haven’t you already compromised yourselves in a sense?” Adelaide replied.
“What do you mean?” Jason answered innocently.
“The human protection you have with you,” she stated with a tilt of her head. “What’s wrong with our own people?”
“Their government insisted,” Adam hummed. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the problems we had back home recently. They’re here to track that threat, that’s all.”
Adelaide nodded, but she seemed unconvinced to Jason. “Can they be trusted?”
“Absolutely,” Jason smiled at Adelaide. “I trust them with my life.”
“So, Jason,” Evangeline finally joined in, “are you sleeping with her or not?”
Jason smiled at her. The look on her face was that of a bored child. Her pale, little fist propped up her small head as she stared at the smartphone in her hand.
“Sleeping with whom?” he replied. He already knew the answer though.
Word of their relationship had been placed, strategically, around both the main stream social media and the ‘dark’ web. Jasper now used that information to call attention to conspiracy theories and sinister plots that would compromise the integrity of the vampire community as a whole.
“That woman,” she replied, still glued to her phone. “Jasper says it was all just bullshit to keep everyone busy while our leaders sell us out.”
Jasper Jake had eyes everywhere. If he hadn’t had the scoop on something
in the last twenty years, Jason couldn’t think of it right now.
“Jasper’s a busybody,” Adelaide sniffed then took a sip of wine. “I can’t believe young people still listen to him.”
Evangeline rolled her eyes then dropped her phone on the table. “Everyone listens to him Mother. He’s never wrong.”
“He’s wrong this time,” Jason hummed. “We’re not selling out. We are forging new alliances.”
When Evangeline smirked at him, he laughed. “Alliances? Is that what it’s called these days?” she asked.
Jason just laughed and shook his head at her. “We’re friends.”
“Is that what you tell Nikki?” she grinned.
“Evangeline,” Adelaide huffed. “Ne soyez paz impoli! (Don’t be rude!)”
“It’s quite alright,” Jason laughed as he wiped his mouth politely. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read on Jasper’s grapevine. And he has been wrong once or twice.”
“Maybe, but he says this meeting is more than just a friendly sit down between our kind,” she sighed as the picked up her phone again. Her long fingers zipped over the screen, then she read the post in a dramatic way: “The big shots are gathering in the old country soon. What do you think they are doing? Selling out to the mortal world or about to take it over?” She looked up at Jason and her mother. “Which is it, Jason?”
“The world is changing; we have to change with it,” he stated plainly. “Adapt or die.”
“I like our world the way it is,” Evangeline sniffed. “In case anyone cares.”
“I care, and I appreciate your honesty,” Jason replied. “So what do you think I should say then?”
“About what?”
“Whether or not we should make our existence known to the world at large?”
He saw her expression turn cold, then she shook her head at him. “Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because we don’t belong in their world and they don’t belong in ours. What’s wrong with the way things are?”
Jason thought that was a fair enough question. What was wrong with the current state of affairs, really? Adam cleared his throat and joined the conversation. He’d been so quiet that Jason had forgotten he was even in the room.
“They are becoming more aware of our presence. It’s getting harder to keep our existence a secret.”
“Then their government should figure out a way to explain us away,” she frowned, “as they always have.”
“Or,” Adelaide interjected, “no more nightclubs and restaurants posing as places for humans to pretend to be like us—ridicules!”
“Oh Mother, please,” Evangeline sighed. “They are legitimate businesses.”
“They are lures,” she sighed back. “The Council allows some to exist because they are a steady stream of income, but to be honest, the rest are just hunting grounds. If we do not get rid of them soon, the humans will use that against us in any negotiation.”
Jason could see the amused look on Adam’s face. He found her statements, though true, to be naïve. The human government received healthy returns on those establishments as well. He wasn’t quite sure how they explained them to Congress, but income disguised as taxes and other subsidies were a welcomed boost in that economy.
“Evangeline has a point, Madame,” Jason stated. “If the humans can’t control their own then they’re fair game. We’ve made quite a few concessions ourselves by keeping our numbers in check. We don’t hunt indiscriminately,” he grinned. “At least not always.” He winked at Evangeline and she winked back. “We’ve held up our end. It’s time they did the same.”
“We’ll offer up some of the enterprises that have fallen out of favor, Adelaide,” Adam interrupted with a glance at Jason. “The Council provided us a list that should make everyone happy.”
“I should hope so,” she replied then emptied her wine glass. “Nous ne sommes pas les monstres, qu’ils veulent que nose soyons—pas plus (we are not the monsters they wish us to be—not anymore).”
Adam gave her hand a pat again. “Absolument pas, Madame (absolutely not, Madame).”
Jason stood, rounded the table, and helped Adelaide with her chair. “You promised me a tour of your gardens and winery,” he smiled as he placed her arm through his. “I’m sure my team has had time enough to assure themselves that I am safe.”
Adelaide smiled at him with a shake of her head. “I’m sure.”
Adam and Evangeline followed as they strolled through the open doorway that led to the gardens. Jason wanted to ease her fears, and what better way than a leisurely walk down to the winery? He let her talk of random things that had nothing to do with the meeting tomorrow night.
As they made their way down the stone path, Alex and her team followed but not too closely. She seemed on edge, but Jason didn’t have time to wonder why. It was her job to keep him safe and he had to trust that she would. For now, Adelaide’s dulcet tones were a welcomed change from the “do it or else” tone he seemed to get from everyone else.
When they reached the main building, everyone felt more relaxed. Jason didn’t feel the prickly vibrations of frustration in the air around him, not even from Alex. What he felt was relief. Alex was confident of their safety. Adam was confident in Jason’s ability to put even the most hardcore detractors in their place. Adelaide was finally on his side. Evangeline wanted to be in his bed, but that was not on his agenda—at all. As seductive as she was, she was missing one component Jason found himself most attracted to in both Nikki and Alex.
Evangeline, heir to her mother’s fortune and possibly her seat on the Council one day, would always have to answer for her actions. As a pure blood and an only child, she would always be Adelaide’s daughter. And she would be expected to keep her bloodline clean. No humans and no turned vampires, period.
Alex was not bound to anyone for her actions. Sure, Nikki and Jason had a different set of rules to adhere to, but they decided what happened in their personal lives. Jason didn’t demand that he be Nikki’s only lover, nor did she demand that of him. But she was loyal to him when it counted and that meant a lot to Jason. The fact of the matter was he did love her, in his own way.
He pretended that was the reason he agreed to marry her. In the back of his mind, he knew a marriage to her was beneficial to his upward mobility. Nikki was held in great esteem by quite a number of higher-ranking Council members, which included Adam and Conner Gale.
Nikki tirelessly campaigned on his behalf for this seat. And he won. Soon, once he reached a certain level, he could bring about more meaningful changes for the turned and introduce initiatives that would push all of them forward in ways the Council probably never even imagined. No one would doubt his word again.
He mulled that over as Adelaide described her family history in detail. Boring stuff, but if it kept her happy for another few minutes, he could sit through the history class for a little longer.
Chapter 16
“We could take them now,” the jittery blood junkie whispered behind him.
Coop turned toward him and grinned. “It’s not time yet. Relax.”
He peered at his old team and Alex through the binoculars because his vision was still slightly off. He was already stronger and faster than before. Those pills had messed him up though. Maybe that was the reason his power spiked then ebbed at the weirdest times. He needed to purge himself of their effects. With Tristan’s blood, he would eventually. With every new day came a stronger sense of what he had become: not just a vampire, but a vampire made by a pure blood. That made him a member of a small minority.
“What are we waiting for, Coop?” the junkie whined as he scratched at his arm. “We can take them out and snatch up that bitch right now!”
“Really,” Coop sighed. “The only person that’s gonna get taken out is you, idiot!” When Alex moved closer to the perimeter, he pulled
his companion out of her line of sight. They were far enough away and downwind, so she couldn’t catch the scent.
“He said we were going to destroy them,” the junkie continued. “I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t,” Coop said as he eased up and peered over the rise. They had moved back down the path toward the main house. Alex was bringing up the rear alone. “No one expects you to be smart, blood bag. So shut up and let me do all the thinking, okay?”
Back at the main house, Alex instructed the others to wait outside. Jason and Adelaide chatted quietly as she walked the edge of the room until they finished.
The blues and browns of an oil painting caught her attention right away. It was an original Romare Bearden, Jazz Group.
“It’s lovely, isn’t it?” she heard Adelaide chirp. “Romare was so talented. I miss him.”
Alex turned and smiled at her. “You knew him?”
Adelaide laughed as she crossed the room toward her. “Oh yes! We were great friends, he and I.”
“Was he a vampire?” Alex asked with the hope that she would say no; she did.
She’d met a few famous people, but no one she ever admired, like Bearden. His paintings and writings depicted life in Harlem during the early part of the twentieth century. Bold pictures of bold black people as they went about life in America. Alex wondered if he ever thought to write about someone like her—a bold black woman who fought monsters. If he had, he probably would have been the laughingstock of the Harlem Renaissance—a crazy artist that had sniffed too much paint.
If she had lived back then, she would have been invisible to them anyway. She’d have been just a girl in the background, unless the darkness came looking for them. Then they would believe in their own mortality and in her.
As they faced the painting again, Adelaide dabbed at the corner of her eyes with a crisp, white handkerchief. As she talked about her time with him, Alex could tell there was love there, platonic or maybe more.
By Blood Sworn Page 16