by D. R. Rosier
Until all the werewolves started coming in that is. I thought I saw him twitch.
I glanced over at Brandt, and he was stone faced, I got nothing from him at all. Just one more complication for us to worry about.
All the supplicants seemed nervous as the morning passed, as if they’d rather be somewhere else. No challenges were brought up and the crowd merely stood there in a swirl of negative emotions. It seemed an intimidation tactic, a way to try and force Vince, and maybe myself, to move on completely. Silas seemed very risk averse in the public view. I worried what would happen outside the official venue though, visions of torches and pitchforks filled my mind and I had to suppress a laugh.
One thing was clear to me though looking out, Vince was right, if he challenged Silas and took the high seat it would tear the community apart. Did I really want that responsibility? Wrong question, did I need to take on that responsibility? I didn’t want to, but clearly Silas had not backed down, quite the opposite actually. Did I have a choice? What was the point in waiting?
I saw no reason to wait, but figured it was better to discuss it during lunch and make my move after. Of course, that’s when I was surprised again. When Silas asked if there was any other business before lunch he looked over at Vince pointedly. Almost as if he expected him to renounce his seat and run for the hills.
But it wasn’t Vince who responded.
Brandt said in a deep voice filled with contempt and disgust, “Yes, there is. I challenge you Silas, for head of the council. Moreover I charge you with manipulating races outside of your own, unjustified attacks made against one in our community, and abuse of your position. You have lost sight of your purpose and do nothing but scrabble for more power. It ends today. I suggest you step down and make your way from Chicago, this fight is one of blood and honor because of your crimes.”
Holy crap. I didn’t see that coming.
There was a brittle silence among all the people there, the swirl of negative emotions turned to confusion. Perhaps it was selfishness on my part, but I only felt relief. Sitting in my current chair was more than enough, I really hadn’t wanted to challenge Silas. I waited patiently as the crowd shifted their regard from Brandt as the shock of the statements wore off, and everyone stared at Silas waiting for his response.
I wasn’t surprised, only disappointed, when Silas backed down. He moved toward the back to make his way out, the vampires looked confused, not sure if they should be following or not. Before Silas made his way out Brandt spoke again.
“I expect you out of the city by sundown. You are banished from Chicago, come back and your life is forfeit. Vampires, you have two days to choose a new council member before our next session. This council will no longer judge over the minutia, pass the word, all problems will go to your representative first unless it involves cross race issues. As a result, there will only be two meetings a week, we will announce the schedule when we meet again in two days.”
He took a deep breath as if considering his next words carefully, “There will be no foolishness regarding the necromancer, he is a councilor of this community and if you act against him it will not be him you need to fear. The werewolves find him to be a being of honor, who performed a service for us, do not be fooled by Silas’s fear mongering, or James’ insipidness. They were the manipulators, throwing your lives away in a desperate attempt to hold onto power. Vince is not your enemy. Go, this council is closed for two days.”
He banged the gavel, and that was it. Silas was gone, for now. I could not help but notice a lot of the vampires followed. It wasn’t surprising, they were probably under compulsion.
Brandt motioned us to join him in the small conference room on the side. We all went in and sat around the table.
He sighed, “Much like you I was content to be alpha of my people, represent them and them alone and go my way. Silas had always been a schemer, but until recently it hadn’t been so… blatant. However it was my debt to Vince that truly spurned me to take this action. I want to assure you I have no interest in messing about in your domains, the idea of it is repugnant to me.
“This shouldn’t take long, we need to decide when to meet for meetings. I would suggest Tuesday and Friday mornings, if there are enough things to address we can extend to the afternoon if necessary. Does anyone have an objection to this?”
We all shook our heads. I was feeling pretty good about this outcome, he seemed to be completely no nonsense, exactly what the city needs after Silas.
He nodded, “Good. The second thing we will not resolve in this meeting, but I want you to think about it and we can get together an hour early in two days to discuss ideas. Silas left, like a coward, and only the laws and my respect for them stopped me from tearing his head off. He may even leave the city, for now, but he rules his vampires with compulsion. No doubt anyone he puts on the council will have orders to be disruptive, and actually be working for him.
“Unfortunately this means that for now, until Silas makes his final move and we can kill him, the vampires in this town should be dealt with warily and as our enemies. So take the next two days and think about what we can do to counter it. Or tell me if your group has no desire to commit to this, I will not attempt to force you in this matter, though technically it is a threat to our city and I have the legal right.”
He paused then asked, “Anyone have a question, or another issue to bring up right now?”
Vince asked, “I have to admit I am a little surprised, what exactly did I do to put you in my debt?”
Brant laughed. “Wonderful, you do not even know? I had pondered long on if it was a ploy of some kind on your part, I am glad to see my initial thought was correct. You are an honorable and good being.”
He collected his thoughts and said, “It is my job, my responsibility to protect my pack, I failed in that. You took out a cancer in my pack that was sitting under my nose, and did so by enabling a victim to take revenge on their murderer. That is what put me in your debt.”
Vince shook his head, “How did you even know?”
Brandt looked at Vince surprised at the question, “Why do you think May disappeared so quickly after dispatching that animal? She was full of energy and the ability to communicate, so she reported all that happened to me. Kim also told me her side of it the next day, did you believe they would keep it a secret?”
Vince said, “I guess I didn’t understand how big a deal it would for you and your pack. It was just the right thing to do, and I am being compensated for it after all, by May. It never occurred to me that you would be in my debt as well.”
Brant asked with a grin, “Anything else? I told my mate I’d be home early today.”
I couldn’t really think of anything. Well, except one, but I would have to give up my secret, or would I?
I said, “Just to throw the idea out there, so you can incorporate or discard it from planning. I do have the power to remove a compulsion, if we pulled the vamp puppet in here, I could undo it, and as long as Silas is kept from the city he wouldn’t be able to place a new one. Of course, there is no guarantee he or she would be on our side at that point.”
There was silence around the table for a few moments, then Brandt said, “Good, I will see you all in two days,” and we filed out for lunch.
Vince said goodbye, indicating he might stop over this evening. We met back up with Leanne and Lisa to go out for lunch. We avoided talking about the situation, though I imagine it was in the forefront of all our thoughts.
Lisa was far from shy now that we knew each other, it was her that brought it up.
“So when are you going to stop exchanging longing looks with Vince and seduce him into bed?”
I replied without thinking, “I do not do that,” do I?
Willa snorted and nodded at my confused look, “You do…”
I said, “It’s all moving a bit fast, I feel like I would need to get permission from you all about it, and talk about it, yet I’ve known you all for less than a week.”
Leanne grinned, “You have our permission… if you’ll share of course.”
Willa said, “As far as the speed, I think magic has a hand in it. Destiny maybe? We are all drawn to you as much as you are to us. You’re a good woman. I think it has been kind of fast too, but in my heart I know we just clicked. You were meant for us, and we for you. I think we all just need to go with it until our minds catch up to our hearts.”
Lisa grinned naughtily and said, “Also, you’re very talented.”
I blushed, I was at a loss of what to say, there were things they needed to know first, and I had no right to reveal it. Still, Willa’s advice was good. I would follow my heart, and either it would work out, or it wouldn’t.
I said, “I think I am going to spend the afternoon healing. I really miss it, it’s a big part of my life. Then I’ll join you at the house?”
Willa asked, “How will you do that? I imagine Silas did a good job blacklisting you.”
I smiled, “I can be sneaky, they’ll never know I was there. It’s better when I get to spend time with the patients and talk to them, that’s why I usually get the job of a nurse, but it’s not necessary.”
Leanne grinned, “Sneaky? Like a ninja healer?”
I wrapped my hand in power, causing it to fade out. It looked like my fork was floating a few inches away from my now stubby arm.
“More like the invisible healer.”
I started in the children’s ward. I set up a weak healing, blocking the problems out but letting their bodies recover as the cancers or diseases would be slowly destroyed over a month or so. I wished so much that I could just heal them overtly, and I had to keep the danger of humans finding out about us firmly in the front of my mind.
Even if the enchantment that hides our magic held for something so blatant, there would be an uproar about all the miraculous events. Still, it was hard to convince myself that letting them suffer for another month was a good idea.
I moved around the hospital then, giving the borderline cases some help, ignoring the ones that would recover on their own. My healing was precious to me, cathartic. A reason to live during the times when things were really bad personally, and although this wasn’t one of those times, it was still fulfilling to do it.
I just wished I could talk to them. It was always a pleasure to see them a little better each day. To see them opening up again to the world and the possibilities of life. It may have been a giving thing, but it always uplifted me as well.
I had always enjoyed healing, and had never regretted it before. But today that would change. How could I be so stupid as to leave them all on their own? I had forgotten in our good fortune that Silas would be more dangerous than ever with his power stripped away. I had forgotten that he had no reason at all anymore to even pretend to follow the rules.
I appeared by the grove, wrapped in my power and invisible after finishing up what I could safely get away with. It was so surreal what I saw, at first I thought it must be a joke. It was mayhem, the house was burning. Willa and about half her coven had retreated to the grove, the heart of their power, and was holding off a large number of vampires. At least twenty, maybe more.
They kept charging the coven, diving for the witches who looked tired, exhausted. The witches had called up a storm. They were using the wind defensively and the lightning offensively. There were a few vampires charred to a crisp lying close by and visibly decaying. As the vampires jumped for the witches they were pushed back by intense bursts of wind. It was a nightmare.
In the next second, I was broken out of my stupor when a witch screamed, I watched in horror as a vampire tore a witch apart as the wind pushed him back. He had gotten too close and had a hold of her.
No more would die like that. I released my power and the grove and surrounding land was lit with white light. All eyes turned to me in shock, the fight stopping in its tracks. I guided my magic through my mind and the twenty plus vampires attacking were overcome. My angelic power destroyed their undead bodies and they fell to dust.
I let my power recede and looked around, the area darkened under the clouds and rain as my light faded. Willa’s coven of twenty three, was now fifteen. I was missing something important as I looked at all the faces staring at me. Leanne was there, next to Willa, but where was Lisa?
Absurdly my mind corrected itself, with Amy it had gone from twenty four to sixteen, she just wasn’t here.
“Lisa?” I gasped out the question, my voice cracking.
No one answered me, but Willa glanced at the house and shook her head. I ran toward it but Willa’s pained voice cut through me like a knife.
“It’s too late, she and the others are gone.”
I fell to my knees in the mud. It felt like my life was draining out into the cold ground. Lisa, the youngest. She was barely twenty years old, so beautiful, so full of life, love, and promise. I tried to remember why it was so important for me to go healing today. How I was worried about how fast things were moving, to give me peace and allow my mind to catch up to my heart.
How worthless now, how stupid. Silas would die for this. The pain in my heart made things so clear. Less than a week had no meaning, I loved them. It was simply how it was. Trying to justify that fact, make sense of it, was a waste of time and effort. I stayed there, down in the mud, wanting to race off and find Silas, kill him, but I was also terrified to leave those I loved again. Not until the danger was passed.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my voice swallowed by the wind and rain.
I shook my head, I didn’t have time for this, the house was still on fire. I pulled on my power, this time as a sorceress. The fire in the mansion sputtered briefly and went out, smothered by my will and power. It looked bad, I wasn’t sure if it could be fixed or if it would need to be condemned and rebuilt, but I had done what I could. The worst of it was on the second and third floor, when I put out the fire I had known all the places it had been and was.
If only I had been here. I didn’t blame myself for Silas’s crime, but I did blame myself for not seeing it coming. I should have…
I stood up and turned back to the coven, walking through them until I reached Willa and Leanne, who pulled me into a hug.
I barely noticed the stares from the coven as we shared our grief. I didn’t care about my secret anymore, it just didn’t seem important. Hiding it hadn’t helped, people were dying anyway. Silas would pay, and I would no longer hide myself. This was my home, my family and those that I loved. I would defend it…
Chapter 11 – Vincent
A few hours ago…
When we got home Amy and I shared lunch together, then I got to work. I had always kept to myself, but that wasn’t possible anymore. I couldn’t deny the fact that a necromancer would make a perfect spy master. So I briefed my ghosts to go out and spy on the vampires, try and locate Silas, and keep an eye on Krista’s coven as well as that idiot James. There were no grumbles and they seemed genuinely happy for something to do. Up until now I used them as conduits of power, but with a few exceptions, most notably Hardin, I left them to do whatever they had wanted.
I told them only to report on things that could harm the community, and I really didn’t want to know who was fucking whom, or try and get any blackmail on people. I felt weird enough about invading their privacy, even though they were the enemy.
I didn’t send any ghosts to spy on my allies, I didn’t see a valid reason to. Something that I would regret shortly. Amy was giving me a pondering look and I wondered what she was thinking. Finally I looked over and raised an eyebrow.
Amy blushed and said, “I’ve just been thinking about things and wondering how to bring it up with you…”
I grinned, “Must be big then. You never seemed to have a problem expressing yourself before. I won’t get mad if it comes out wrong, just spit it out.”
She got up and swayed over to me and sat in my lap, giving me a kiss.
She said, “Been thinking about our future and the peo
ple we should have in it. I think… you need to tell our allies, especially our new friends in my coven, what you really are.”
I had been thinking the same thing myself, hiding it from a separate community was one thing, but hiding it from my friends was another. How could I ask for their trust without giving mine? Still, I was curious at her motivations. I felt like I was being maneuvered somehow, and while I expected the woman in the center of my life to do things like that on occasion, I felt it was important to put up at least a token resistance.
“I see, and why is that?”
“Well, part of it is your situation,” she hedged, “I was hoping they would be understanding. I have no problem at all with the fact you have to feed, but I thought it would be good for maybe my coven and of course, Kim, to take care of that. You seem to need… less with the supernatural. Plus I thought it would be good for you to care about those you sleep with, maybe even love them, instead of seducing humans and sneaking away after like you did something wrong.”
She whispered, “I love you, I’m sorry if that all seems a little, heavy handed.”
I was speechless. Not in a bad way. I did feel guilty picking up human women, who really had no chance in resisting me, and sneaking away after munching down on their souls, despite the fact I tried to focus on women who wanted one night stands.
No, what had me speechless was she was implying she wanted me to make connections and even have deep feelings for other women. Our soul bond did give her a large measure of confidence that nothing would come between us, but it still took me by surprise.
My voice sounded dubious, “That sounds okay to me love, but do you really think they would go for it?”
She just looked at me like I was dropped on my head as a baby, “If you hadn’t noticed, they are into polyamory, and they all look at you as if at a tasty treat they’d like to pick up.”