High Stakes (Codex Blair Book 6)

by Izzy Shows

  Something niggled at the back of my mind, telling me that going in without any backup was a bad idea. What if the vampires turned on me, despite my intention not to antagonize them? I couldn’t handle a crowd of vampires, no matter what tools I had at my disposal.

  Maybe it would have been better if I had Weylyn with me.

  He’d attract too much attention, though, and would instantly create an atmosphere where no one felt comfortable with me. It was going to be a hard enough sell with stakes on my thighs and my staff in hand--my full battle dress wasn’t something that made others feel comfortable.

  Still, I couldn’t bring myself to enter a warehouse full of vampires without at least some guarantee that I’d be able to defend myself.

  I didn’t even tell Fred what I’m doing.

  I frowned at that thought. Someone should know what I was up to.

  Correcting my course, I drove home. I felt a little bit better about my plan now that I was going to inform Fred about it--he could call in for backup if I didn’t check in with him at a specific time. And maybe I’d take Weylyn with me after all, but I’d have him wait a block or two away. We’d be able to stay connected through our telepathic link, and he’d know if I was in trouble.

  Yeah, this was a much smarter plan than it had been a moment ago.

  It only took me a few minutes to get back home. I left my staff in the car--I wouldn’t be here long.

  Fred was on the couch when I walked inside, and he glanced at me, confused when he saw the way I was dressed.

  “Miss? Is you patrolling?”

  “Not exactly,” I said with a grimace. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  It occurred to me that Fred probably wasn’t going to be very happy with the plan I had, and I could only hope that he wouldn’t put up too much of a fight.

  “I’m going to a warehouse where the vampires meet. I don’t know for certain that they’re going to be there, but my hopes are high. I’m going to try to talk to them, get some information out of them. I wanted you to know that, in case something goes bad. I’ll be taking Weylyn with me for backup, but, you know, if I don’t check in with you, I’d like you to call in the cavalry.”

  His brow furrowed. “The cavalry? This is not a good idea, Miss. Not good at all. You is going to get yourselfs killed!”

  I walked over to the couch and took a seat. “No, I’m not. I’ve thought about this from every possible angle, and the only way Dudley and I can get ahead of this rebellion is if we have more information. We need to stop being so passive about it and only reacting when they act. I want to get this handled as quickly and as quietly as possible. I can’t do that if I’m handcuffed by Dudley’s rules.”

  “But...”

  “And I’m not going in half-cocked,” I said. “I’m going to have Weylyn with me. And you have my permission to call everyone in if I don’t get back to you.”

  He frowned. “Who is everyone?”

  “Diego, Raven, Emily. Hell, even Finn and Shawn.” I grabbed a stray piece of paper from the coffee table and scribbled down the address of the warehouse I was going to. “This is where I’ll be. If I don’t check in, you call them and send them there, OK?”

  He swallowed, then nodded. “OK. I is thinking that maybe you has thought this through. But I is not liking it!”

  “I don’t expect you to like it.” I smiled. “But I do expect you to respect my decision.”

  “OK. When is you supposed to check in? And how is you doing that?”

  “That was something I was hoping you’d help me with.”

  His eyes sparkled. “I is having an idea!” He jumped off the couch and scampered towards the basement.

  Shrugging, I followed him down to the basement, where he immediately began shuffling through the shelves of the workbenches. At last, he pulled out two small, oblong crystals.

  “These is somethings Aidan made long time ago. They is communication crystals. I has one and you has one, and you cans call me if you is needing me.”

  I took one of the crystals from him and turned it over in my hand. “How does it work?”

  “You is not having to do anything special. Just has it in your pocket, and I cans hear anything in range of you. Is telepathic, so is not making any noise other peoples can hear. If I hear things is not going well, I cans call your people in.”

  That was awesome. “I’m going to make like a million of these. It would be so useful. I could give one to Emily and just call her before I go out on a mission and tell her to keep the crystal close by.”

  He looked so proud of himself. “Is good idea?”

  “Hell, yeah, Fred!” I dropped to one knee and wrapped him in a tight hug. “You’re the best.”

  “Good, good.” He patted my back. “Now, you is needings to get your job done. I is keeping the crystal right beside me all night long.”

  “Hopefully, you won’t need to do anything.”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  That was settled. I slipped the crystal into the pocket of my jeans, where it would be held tight against my skin thanks to the ridiculous style of women’s jeans. But at least that meant it wouldn’t fall out. I stood and headed out of the basement.

  Weylyn was waiting in the living room.

  “I am glad to hear that you will be taking me with you.”

  I smiled. “Diego did say something about relying on my friends. I’m trying to make adjustments.”

  “You will always have me to rely on.”

  Deep in my soul, I knew that with a certainty I’d never experienced before. While I was anxious about other people leaving me, I knew that Weylyn would always be there for me. I wasn’t afraid of him leaving.

  I nodded at the door, and he fell into step behind me.

  We got into the car and took off for the warehouse.

  It didn’t take long to get there, but I purposely pulled off into an alley several blocks away.

  “All right, Weylyn. I’m going to head into the warehouse first, but I want you to stay in this alley until I call for you. Hopefully, I won’t have to call for you, but you’re the backup plan.”

  He made a disgruntled sound. “You mean to tell me that you will be going into a nest of vampires unprotected?”

  “Hey, I’m not exactly a wilting flower over here. I can take care of myself, in case you forgot. And it’s not like you won’t be able to keep a link with me and know everything that’s going on. I have no doubt that you’ll be able to get to me in a matter of seconds if things go south. Am I wrong?”

  “You are not wrong. I will always come for you.”

  I grinned. “Exactly. I just don’t want you to get too close, in case they can smell you or something.”

  “I possess the ability to hide my scent,” he said, cocking his head as if he was confused.

  “Really?” I said. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

  Diego was going to teach me, but it would be really useful right now.

  “Better. I can impart the knowledge to you.”

  I blinked, puzzled for a moment before I shrugged. “Well, yeah, that’d be awesome. Let’s do it.”

  “Press your forehead to mine.”

  I did as instructed, and for a moment there was a blinding light and I felt like my brain was spinning at a thousand miles a minute. Then the light cleared, and I knew the spell. I knew how to do it.

  “That was amazing,” I whispered. “Can you do that with a lot of things?”

  “It is not wise to learn magic in this way for a prolonged period of time. You will not respect the limitations because you didn’t go through the trial and error that comes with proper learning. In fact, I would prefer to take back the knowledge after this night so that you might learn it with Diego and better understand how the spell affects you. I gave you the spell tonight because I believe you will need it for now.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “All right. Well, let’s go ahead and mask ourselves. You can wait outside the
warehouse, OK?”

  “That is acceptable.”

  We clambered out of the car. I centred myself, took a deep breath, and reached for the well of power within me. It was so easy, knowing what to do, to wrap myself in the magic and then press it tightly against me, suppressing the sound of my heartbeat and hiding my scent. I then performed the invisibility spell Diego had taught me.

  I could already feel the weight of the magic I was using, and my nerves were screaming at me for using so much of my own magic at once, but after a moment I adjusted to it.

  “Can you smell me?” I asked.

  “No. You are hidden.”

  Freaking awesome.

  We headed out of the alley to the warehouse. Weylyn entered an alley opposite the warehouse so he could observe and intervene if he needed to.

  I entered the warehouse through a door that was cracked open. Lucky night, for me. I kept to the back of the room, not wanting to brush against anyone and have them figure out that I was there.

  It was a packed building, absolutely full of vampires. At the centre of the warehouse was a small clearing, an imperfect circle formed by the vampires, within which two vampires were standing on their own.

  These would be the ringleaders, I surmised. I was lucky there were any vampires here at all. It could just as easily have been a night when they weren’t meeting, but that didn’t mean I felt lucky the leaders were here. I didn’t want to interact with them.

  They were the ones who had sent the three vampires after me. They weren’t going to want to talk to me, I just knew it.

  How was I going to play this out? This definitely wasn’t a situation I could fight my way out of, but I hoped fighting wouldn’t be necessary. They weren’t animals; they possessed the ability to think clearly, and maybe they’d want to talk to me just as much as I wanted to talk to them.

  They would recognize that I wasn’t Dudley and that I possessed the ability to think independently, right?

  I hoped so.

  “Welcome!” A booming voice came from the centre of the warehouse. One of the vampires had raised his hand. He turned in a small circle so that all the vampires could get a good look at him. “Thank you all for coming here tonight. I appreciate the danger that you have put yourselves in, leaving the care of our dear Baron to seek out the information I have for you. It is no easy feat to recognize that our leader has gone soft and to realize that steps need to be taken to keep our race secure. I commend you for coming to this realization on your own and meeting me here.”

  Damn, the man was charismatic. There were murmurs of assent throughout the crowd. He was really getting to them, and I knew it was only going to get worse the more he went on.

  “How many of you have felt that Dudley no longer listens to us, his chosen people?”

  Louder cries of assent this time as everyone raised their voices. I guessed there were maybe one or two in the giant crowd who didn’t speak up, but it was hard to tell.

  There was never a unanimous vote, though. Never in the history of the world did everyone agree on a particular thing, so I thought it was a safe bet that there were a few people here who’d hesitate to agree with the leader.

  “How many of you have wanted to take action, but have feared retaliation by an unfair and uncaring leader?”

  Even louder cries this time.

  A chill ran down my back. I didn’t feel safe here--who would feel safe surrounded by vampires?--and I knew this was going to get a hell of a lot worse before it got better.

  This was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the rebellion. This was nowhere near as bad as it could possibly get.

  I had to carefully choose my moment to speak up, to reveal myself and hope they didn’t immediately jump on me.

  “I am here to tell you that all hope is not lost. We have Karl—an ancient vampire whom all of us respect--here to take care of us. He will see to the destruction of our Lord Baron and assume the position that is required in order for us to continue relations with the rest of our race. I know, I know, it’s an archaic system, and someday perhaps we will remove it. But rest assured, Karl has no intention of continuing the practices of our Baron. He will listen to all of you, and will only act when an agreement has been made that it is the correct course of action. But most of all, he will allow us to feed.”

  Why did it always come down to the feeding rules with these vampires? Did they not realize how bad an idea it was to let blood run freely through the streets? The humans would panic, and London wasn’t the only city in the world. Other humans would come to the rescue, the Order would react, and I’d bet money that the other vampire Barons would come in to quash the entire thing.

  It was a very short-sighted plan, but a part of me knew that this wasn’t their real purpose. The real reason for this meeting was that this leader--this Karl, who apparently wasn’t even here--wanted power.

  It always came down to power. Everyone wanted more of it and no one wanted to share it. There would always be greedy people in the world, people who were willing to use the fear and desires of others to further their own ambitions.

  That was what Karl was doing.

  But I could breathe a little easier, knowing that the actual ringleader wasn’t here. I wondered why that was--was this a small gathering by their standards? Not big enough for Karl to bother with?

  That was a little terrifying to think about. If this was small, then what was big?

  The crowd jostled together as they all cried out their approval. It was a truly chilling sight to behold, the way they all reacted to their leader. I wanted to point out that this was absolutely ludicrous--the way it wouldn’t work.

  But I knew they wouldn’t listen.

  They wanted this to work. They wanted this to be their salvation, because they didn’t see any other way to get it. They didn’t accept the way that Dudley led, and no pretty words were going to get through to them.

  Despair began to coil in my gut. How was I going to handle this?

  They had every reason to destroy me the moment they saw me.

  “Blair? Is everything all right? I can sense your distress.”

  “I’m fine. Just panicking a little bit, but everything’s still under control.”

  Weylyn sent me the distinct impression of grumbling. “I am but a moment away from you.”

  That reassured me somewhat. Weylyn would destroy an entire army to get to me, and I knew I could trust him to do that. He’d never let me down.

  Breathe. Just breathe and handle this, I told myself.

  Yeah, I could handle this. It really wasn’t so different from all the other impossible things I’d set in front of myself. But this time, I didn’t want to get into a fight.

  Would they be amenable to that?

  We were going to find out.

  The speaker held up a hand, and the group quieted, waiting for him to speak.

  This is as good a time as any.

  I dropped both spells.

  “Well, isn’t this a pretty sight,” I said, raising my voice to make sure everyone could hear me.

  Thirty Two

  Hisses of rage sounded around me, and every vampire in close proximity to me recoiled.

  Huh. Didn’t expect that.

  “The Hunter,” the leader said, his eyes narrowing.

  “One and the same.” I smiled at him as I stepped forward.

  The crowd immediately cleared away from me, no one wanting to get too close. What was up with that? I’d have thought they’d all be vying for the opportunity to rip my head off.

  “Don’t let her touch you!”

  “She leaves nothing but death and destruction in her wake. Don’t get too close, no!”

  The ones closest to me were yanked back by the ones behind them, though their words were whispered.

  As if they were afraid I’d hear them.

  I kept a cool look on my face, mimicking Dudley and Diego, so they wouldn’t see how their words affected me.

  A path of dea
th and destruction? Really? Is that how they see me?

  I’d always meant for them to fear me--that had been the plan with Dudley--but I was now seeing first-hand exactly what that looked like. And I didn’t like it one bit.

  Fear didn’t equal respect, and it would have been better if these people had simply respected me and understood why I did the things I did. If they understood, they might not antagonize the city, and things would be easier.

  I might as well wish for rain in hell. It was never going to happen.

  I walked through the crowd with my shoulders set back and my chin held high.

  “Murderer.”

  To my credit, I didn’t turn my head at that. But it cut me deep. How did they know about my nightmares? Where every person I’d killed pointed their fingers at me and uttered that same word over and over again. Condemning me.

  These people weren’t going to listen to me. That was clear enough now. I might have thought it was difficult before, but with the way they were all reacting to me, it was obvious that my plan wasn’t going to work out.

  There was only one other option.

  “I’d like to speak with your leader,” I said when I was standing in front of the speaker. My staff was gripped firmly in one hand.

  Whispers flooded around me, all of them hushed.

  They didn’t want me to hear them.

  They were afraid of me.

  “What would you have to say to Karl?”

  “I’d like to understand the pain of your people.”

  “You are the pain of my people.”

  “I’m the pain of those who harm my people. I see no reason why peace can’t be made, so long as both sides are amenable.” I cocked my head. “Do you not?”

  “Karl will not negotiate with you,” he snarled, baring his fangs at me.

  I didn’t blink, didn’t give away the way my gut had clenched. All it would take was one of them attacking me, and then the rest of the vampires would flood in and all would be lost.

  The fear keeping them in check was temporary. If they saw someone break through it, they’d swarm.