by Jeff Hale
“That is neither here nor there, however,” he continued. “If this individual wants you dead, and hired one of your own to do the job, then I must believe that your threat is genuine. Therefore, I will not try to haggle more than you’ve already given. The individual you are asking about is named Lochlan Shaughnessy.”
“Who? Why?” Then the last name hit me. “Oh, shit. That’s…. Why would he hire someone working with Baba Yaga to kill me?”
The La’Morte patriarch seemed almost amused. “Yes, the girl you know as Katelyn is his daughter. Perhaps your relationship with her has something to do with his recent wrath towards you. I do not envy you if you decide to move against him. He will not be an opponent to take lightly.”
“If he infiltrated your house, why not help me?”
He shrugged. “Ah, it is not as simple as that. My family is no longer involved with the day to day skirmish for power that the other vampire families play at. We removed ourselves from such ambitions long ago. That, and the harm done to my house was minimal. In reciprocation, the harm I do is minimal; I simply passed on information that you would have deduced for yourself eventually. You have your information. And remember that Lochlan is not a vampire, nor is he a shifter, but of both worlds, with the strengths of both and the weaknesses of neither.”
“So the rumors are true, he’s a rakshasa.” Rakshasa started out as shifters, and were turned into a specialized shifter/vampire hybrid through some sort of ritual. “Doesn’t matter. If he does decide to hunt me himself, an Aetheric fire blade through the brain will still finish him.”
“Will it?”
“Would it kill you?”
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Then it’ll kill him.”
“You are certain of this?”
“Well, I know it kills a regular shifter, and you just admitted it’d kill you, so I can only come to the conclusion that if it’ll kill a vampire and a shifter, that it’d kill a hybrid of the two,” I reasoned, although I wasn’t entirely sure. I’d never dealt with a rakshasa before.
“You would bring down half a nation on you should you do such a thing.”
“Then perhaps half the nation will be burned to ash!” I said, my anger boiling almost uncontrollably to the fore again.
“Such vehemence.” He waved a hand.
“I am tired of having people come after me thinking there will be no repercussions! If someone wants to kill me, they’d better do it because I will do everything in my power to stay alive, and I hold one hell of a grudge.”
“I do not believe those you call ally would appreciate your… destructive attitude. Perhaps you should go to them. Ask for their advice. Maybe they can help smooth things over.”
“Wait a minute. You didn’t just come by this information,” I said, suddenly suspicious. Though the vampire had never even shown so much as a facial twitch the entire conversation, I had a feeling the person he had gotten the info from was still here. It was a longshot, but I knew a vampire that dealt in hard to come by information, someone I had worked with grudgingly on my first case. My gut was certain that it was him.
“Where are you?” I demanded loudly, looking around the room, towards the stairs. “I know you’re here, Matt!”
There was an amused chuckle from the top of the stairs and then several of the watchers moved to allow a tallish man to pass by. He had shoulder length light-brown hair and was dressed in a tight fitting, midnight blue silk shirt and even tighter black leather pants that hugged an athletic frame. His pale features suggested British aristocracy but his words didn’t carry an accent. “Damn, you’ve gained in power since we last met,” Matt remarked as he descended the stairs. Most of the women in the room seemed to be watching him in appreciation and lust.
“Yeah, I have. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you into a pillar of flame where you stand!” I threatened.
“Because. I helped you. I got the information to you when no one else was in a position to do so. Lochlan… plays things close to the vest. Usually even the La’Morte family here doesn’t know what goes on in his camp. I did it despite my loyalty to him.” Matt walked over and stood in front of me, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Your loyalty?” I asked, a little confused now. “Why would you be loyal to a rakshasa? I thought you regular vamps didn’t like them much?”
Something flashed in Matt’s eyes, as though he were weighing his words. He sighed a little, then finally said, “Lochlan and I go way back, to before I became what I am now. He took me in when I needed a place to go. I owe him. But… I feel somehow like I owe you, too, and not just for not frying me when we first met. So, here I am.”
I understood a little of what he meant. We had first crossed paths when my first case had taken me out outside of Las Vegas. I had been prepared to kill him., but there was something about the vampire, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, that had made me stop and reconsider. He had helped me with the case and we had parted as allies, if not friends.
“Now,” Matt continued, moving to stand closer to the fireplace. “I know you have ties in Vegas. I know you have the support of MAGE as well as numerous factions within the fae community. Talk with them. If you have to, see if you can contact the vaunted Merlin. Smooth this over any way you can. It’s only going to get worse if you don’t. If you really want to do what is right, you’ll do me these small favors.”
His expression became very serious, his brown eyes narrowing. “Don’t start a war that no one will win. Begin diplomacy now, while it’s still possible. When it comes down to it, we’re all on the same side, or at least we should be. We have to provide a united front to the humans, and we have to show them a front that is willing to live peacefully with them in co-existence. Aetherics slaughtering each other won’t help. It will only prove to the humans what they already believe they know about us. And in the end, there are far more of them than us, and failing that, they’re the ones that have access to weaponry that will render this planet completely devoid of any life, and that does no one any good.”
“Pretty speech. How long did you practice that?” I asked him. I agreed with most of it, but I wasn’t sure I was willing to offer an olive branch to someone who had tried to kill me.
“It’s what I believe. It’s what Darien and Alex believe.”
How does he know Darien and Alex? I sighed. Of course. Through Kat. The thought didn’t improve my mood. “So?”
“It’s what Kat believes,” he pointed out, almost as though he’d read my mind. And maybe he had; for all I knew, he was a La’Morte. It would explain his presence here even more.
“And I should care because?” I asked tightly.
Matt gave me a look of incredulous disbelief. “Because, if you haven’t figured it out, outside of Darien, you’re the only guy that seems to be able to hurt her in ways that no one else can. You’re the only person, outside of Darien, that she has any feelings for. Hell if I didn’t know any better I’d swear she was in love with you, despite your overly-violent tendencies. She hates violence.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So if she hates violence, but she loves you despite that, what does that say?”
“That she’s going to choose Darien every time. They’re the same. I’m not. It’s okay. I’m fine with that.”
He shook his head and frowned. “You’re not too bright when you’re being spiteful.”
“Maybe. Anyway, I’ll see who I can talk to and see what they say,” I offered.
“Thank you.”
“Not for you, and not for Kat,” I pointed out. “But because I believe that humans deserve a fair shake. I don’t believe in this bullshit propaganda either side has against each other. I think deep down we’re all the same, Aether be damned.” Or at least I thought I believed that. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. There were times…. Anyway, it sounded good.
“Good. Then I had better go; sun is coming up soon. Good luck.”
I nodde
d, realizing I was probably going to need it.
FIVE
The rest of the vampires made excuses to retire shortly after Matt did. A male vampire I had never seen before, but who made me think ‘butler’ escorted me silently to the room I’d be staying in and then left just as wordlessly. The room was extremely lavish and excessively large in my opinion. No one’s bedroom needed to be as large as two average living rooms.
I dropped my backpack in an old, overly cushioned chair that sat next to the door as I walked in. All of the furniture was from the turn of the century, give or take a decade or so. The bed was a huge four-poster that had filmy curtains hanging on it. The desk was one of those old ones that had catches on some of the drawers. The chairs were worked wood with soft, luxurious cushions on the seat and back.
I headed toward the far end of the room to a curtained section that appeared to lead to a balcony. I passed another door to my left. It was open and the light in the other room was on dimly. I could make out what looked like a hot tub or small pool sunk into the middle of the floor and guessed that the room was also probably a private bathroom. I shook my head, but knew that I was probably going to end up in the tub at some point in the night. I turned back to the curtains and pulled them aside. There was a wide sliding glass door behind them that did, indeed, lead out to a railed balcony. I slid the door back and stepped outside, taking a deep breath of the night air. There was one thing I could agree with vampires on: the night was better than the day. The air seemed clearer, purer.
I could feel the Aether more acutely within the night air. Things here were… foreign, but I felt I could get used to it, even though I didn’t want to. I preferred Vegas. There wasn’t much to do here, and I actually had free time to enjoy now that I worked for myself.
I pulled in another lungful of air and reached out with my senses, feeling the Aether slide over and around me. I probed the Aether for anything familiar, searching. Kat was nowhere near here, but she had family here. Her mother, who was here checking in on her winery. As I got that information, I felt a brief connection, and I knew immediately that it had startled her, and then filled her with terror. It was a bit disconcerting and I had no idea why she would have reacted that way.
I pushed further, and connected with Lucien in Las Vegas, informing him that when I returned I wished to speak with him, and possibly the Fae Court. I felt his acknowledgment. It wasn’t telepathy, just a general sense of things on the Aether. Lucien was literally living Aetheric energy, so he could sense my intent where others would be completely clueless. Then I went searching, looking for the girl I had seen.
I felt a faint trace of her. I had no real connection to her outside having seen her, so all I got was a general location, somewhere in Summerlin. If I was in Vegas, I would be able to get a more precise location, within a couple of square blocks, but just the fact that I had gotten a location at all was good enough for now. I wasn’t seeing things then. Whoever it was, Serena or not, the girl did exist.
Nothing else caught my attention, so I withdrew back to myself, shivering a little. I went back into the bedroom and on into the other room I had seen, confirming that it was a bathroom, and there was a huge sunken hot tub in the floor. I started it up, then ditched my clothing and stepped into it. I was still healing from the fight with Malachai, and the warm water in combination with the air jets felt phenomenal. I sank down into the heat and relaxed, then let myself drift off into meditation.
A half hour later I sat straight up, alerted by something, and nearly calling my blades into existence. My eyes immediately focused on the person standing in the doorway to the bathroom. It was Kyra and she was watching me. I had no idea how long she had been standing there. She was still wearing the same clothes from earlier, which meant that she had somehow walked across a hardwood floor in high heels without making any noise.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. You looked at peace. I didn’t want to disturb you,” she said quietly, leaning against the doorframe.
“No harm done. Can I do something for you?” I asked, suddenly aware that I was not wearing any clothing. I settled deeper into the water.
“I was just checking in on you,” she offered.
“Ah, well, I’m fine. Thanks.”
“You don’t like me.” It wasn’t a question
“I never said that.” I shook my head.
“You don’t want to be with me. Why?” Her head tilted to one side and I realized she’d taken her hair down from the ponytail. It fell over her shoulders in a mixed blonde and purple wave.
“And you know this because…?” I asked, leading her into the answer.
“My sister told you that I was planning on seducing you. She said it wouldn’t be a good idea because you would reject me,” she told me, sounding disappointed.
“Your sister didn’t tell you my reasons?” I asked.
“She did. But I wanted to hear you say them.” Her violet eyes met mine, almost daring me.
“It’s nothing personal, but I just can’t see myself having a relationship with a corpse.”
“I see, so she spoke the truth.” She looked at the floor, her shoulders slumping almost as if she were ashamed.
“Like I said, nothing personal. Look, I’m sure you’re a great person… vampire… whatever, but I just can’t sleep with a corpse. I would never feel comfortable with you. We’d never be physically intimate. Wouldn’t that bother you?”
She thought a few moments and then her head came back up. “I suppose it would, after a while. Yes.” She nodded. “But you cared for a shifter very deeply. How is that any different from bestiality?”
“It is. When they are in their human forms, they are human. Your kind will always be dead. You can’t change that.”
She frowned, then gave me a little nod. “I see. I will leave you to your evening, then. Good night.” She turned away abruptly.
“Hey. Wait,” I called out, and she stopped with her back to me. “Why did you hang out with my best friend all night at the concert if it was me you wanted?” I asked, perplexed overall by what was going on.
She looked at me over her shoulder, smiling somewhat. “To get to know you better. He was very resistant to talking about you though.”
“He knows that I hate gossip. You want to know something, talk to me directly,” I told her, furrowing my brow in slight anger.
“I understand. Have a good night.” And with that she was gone.
I felt bad because I was pretty sure I had hurt her feelings, if she had any, but I would never see vampires any differently. I could be friends with one, sure, but I would never be involved with one. I stood and stepped carefully out of the hot tub, much more relaxed, then dried off with a huge fluffy towel and slipped into the bed. I didn’t bother to get dressed. I had a feeling I would be left completely alone while I slept.
When I woke up the next evening, I quickly dressed in the clean clothes I’d brought with me and stuffed yesterday’s clothes into my backpack. Then I left the room and headed down the stairs. I could hear voices arguing and they seemed to be coming from the dining room. My hearing was better than any human’s, even better than some Aetherics’.
“You’re just lucky I don’t send you back to Lochlan in several small boxes, Mr. Lancaster.” I recognized the voice as the man who had been standing in front of the fireplace the previous evening, the La’Morte patriarch.
“You know that such an action would start a war between your house and the rakshasa, as well as several shifter packs, something you can ill afford in your professed neutrality,” I heard Matt counter.
Guess he isn’t a La’Morte after all.
“Perhaps I wouldn’t have to. Perhaps I could just inform Aerick that you were the first chosen to assassinate him. He would deal with you in short order if he knew that bit of information,” the patriarch threatened.
“Father, Aerick may do the same to you for withholding that information just as well.” Krysa’s voice. “He is u
npredictable at best and unstable at worst.”
“I might have been Lochlan’s first choice, but I turned down that job,” Matt said, and his voice sounded tight. “Lochlan understood that I had… an agreement with Aerick. Aerick and I may not be close, but we have an understanding between us. If things were different we might have even been friends. But things are as they are, and we both understand that.”
“Maybe we have remained neutral for too long. Our cousins have asked for our assistance in wiping the rakshasa out entirely, and they promise us autonomy in their expanding empire.” The patriarch’s voice again.
“You tread a dangerous line, Gregor. Remember that you owe Lochlan,” Matt said, a dangerous tone underlining his voice.
“Do not presume to remind me of my debts, whelp! The only debt I have is to my Lord who gifted me with my blessings! Never forget that. Next time I will send your still mewling form back to your master with the explicit instructions to send a more diplomatic emissary!”
I could feel Aetheric energy roiling up from the dining room, but after a moment or two, I realized I couldn’t feel any demonic taint in it.
What the fuck? Vampires get there powers from demons. What the hell is going on here?
“My apologies. I only meant to suggest that DeSoto has aided you in the past. DeSoto is gone; such debts are now owed to Lochlan,” Matt said hurriedly.
“Yes. DeSoto has, which is why we have not yet aided our cousins in their endeavors. It is one of the many reasons the La’Mortes stay neutral.”
There was a brief moment of silence and the Aetheric energy faded, then Matt said, “Much as I hate to, I must ask as a matter of formality. Will you hand Aerick over to my custody to take back to Lochlan?”
“Absolutely not,” the patriarch, Gregor, declared. “We have invited him to be a guest in our house, and we will not just hand him over.”