by Sarra Cannon
“Show me the way,” she said. “I’m ready to get changed and start this adventure. Paris! I can’t believe it.”
She twirled around once, holding her arms out as she laughed.
I took her hand, and instead of walking down the stairs to the ground level, I quickly shifted and flew us both down to a dark alley just beside the hotel. When we reformed, she held tightly to my hand and smiled.
“I could have shifted myself, you know,” she said.
“Oh?” I asked as we walked around toward the front of the hotel. “Since when?”
She shrugged. “Since yesterday. Mary Anne taught me how to shift into my crow form, and I got it on the first try this time,” she said.
She acted like it was no big deal, but I could tell from the way her eyes searched mine that she wanted me to be excited for her. And I was.
But it also made me nervous. The more she used her powers, the easier she would be to track. Her specific bloodline was one of a kind, and there were so many vampires out there who would love to get their fangs into her.
Not to mention the fact that her fake mother had been instructed to return Franki to the Mother Crow more than three years ago. There was no doubt in my mind that the Mother Crow wanted Franki back. Before the Devil, she just hadn’t been able to find Franki, because she’d been hiding her powers for most of her life.
Now, though, I wasn’t so sure.
I’d done everything I could to keep the truth of who Franki was from becoming common knowledge, but there were those who were bound to put two and two together after what happened with the Devil to figure it out.
“That’s amazing, baby,” I said. “Where were you guys? You weren’t in the city, right? Why didn’t you tell me you were meeting with Mary Anne to train? You know I like to be there with you or send someone to watch out for you when you’re casting.”
“I know,” she said. “But I was with Mary Anne in the woods. Far away from civilization. It was fine.”
Her voice trailed off as we paused in front of the historic Shangri-La Hotel that was once the home of Prince Roland Bonaparte. Her eyes scanned the entire building with a sense of wonder.
“We’re staying here?” she asked.
I smiled. “Wait until you see the room,” I said.
We walked into the opulent white-marble lobby with its checkered tile floor and beautiful archways and chandeliers. I waved a hand to the man standing near the front desk. Alexandre was a fellow vampire and an old friend. He returned a subtle nod as I led Franki toward the elevator.
She didn’t say a word as her eyes drank in the beauty of the building with its sweeping staircase, fresh flower arrangements and antiques.
“You would think after staying in your home for the past few months that I’d be used to staying in nice places, but I’ve never in my life stayed in a hotel like this,” she said once we were on the elevator heading up to our room.
“Worth missing a day of class?” I asked, eyebrow raised.
She bumped against my shoulder and laughed. “I’m not answering that question,” she said.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
She wrapped her arm around mine as the elevator doors opened and a man in uniform greeted us.
“Bonjour, Monsieur Rend,” the man said with a slight bow. “If you will please follow me.”
He led us to our room, and when he opened the door, he motioned for Franki to go inside. She practically bounced into the room, and I wasn’t sure that I’d ever seen her so happy and excited.
I took a large bill from my pocket and slid it into the hand of the bellboy.
“Merci,” he said, bowing again. “If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask. I have been assigned to your service for the entirety of your stay.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He left us, and I closed the door to find Franki exploring the large suite, a smile spreading across her face.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she shouted. “Look at this view.”
She opened the sliding door that led out to the large balcony and stepped outside. A tray of coffee and teas had been left for us on a small table there, and I poured a cup for her. My potion from earlier seemed to have completely lifted her fatigue from earlier, but she loved coffee. I fixed it up exactly the way she likes it and then poured myself a cup before joining her at the far end of the balcony where she was staring out at our completely perfect and unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower.
“Katy is going to die when she finds out about this,” she said with a laugh. “She’s always wanted to visit Paris.”
She took the cup and held it in both hands as she blew over the top to cool it.
“Maybe you can bring her here soon,” I said.
“This is perfection,” she whispered. “I can’t believe you arranged all of this without me knowing it.”
“I wanted it to be special,” I said, pushing a strand of her dark black hair behind her ear so that I could clearly see her face. I let my fingertips glide across the skin of her neck.
“I could go home right now and this still would have been the best day of my life,” she said, closing her eyes as I touched her softly.
I leaned closer and kissed the soft skin of her cheek. “I have entirely too much planned to go home just yet,” I said.
“Let’s get changed and get out there,” she said. “I can’t wait to explore the city.”
“Not feeling tired anymore?” I asked.
“Not even a little bit,” she said, turning to kiss me.
We went back inside, and I showed her the clothes I’d had delivered for her. Even though she had the ability to glamour herself in any clothes she wished, I didn’t want her to be using her powers at all in a city with so many people, so I’d had Lyla choose a lot of options in styles that Franki would like.
“Oh my gosh, I don’t even know how to choose,” she said, laughing.
“I’ll let you change,” I said, kissing her hand. “I’ll be in the sitting room. Take your time.”
She thumbed through the rack of designer clothes and nodded. I slipped into the next room and took out my cell phone. I needed to make a few phone calls before we started our full day.
I dialed Ryken’s number, and he picked up on the first ring.
“Any news?” I asked. “Was Campbell able to find anything out from the others?”
“It isn’t good, Rend,” he said, the tension in his voice obvious even across this distance.
Ryken was one of the ten vampires who had stood with me against the Devil a little more than six months ago. When the rumors of a summoning had started to come through the doors of my club, I’d contacted him and asked him to use his contacts to find out whether they were true.
Hearing that it wasn’t good news didn’t surprise me, but it was not what I’d hoped to hear.
“Tell me,” I said, glancing quickly toward the bedroom door. I wanted to keep the truth from Franki as long as I possibly could. I wanted her to enjoy this day.
“Silas is nowhere to be found.”
“That much I already know,” I said. “Believe me. I’ve had the wolves searching for him, too, but there’s no sign of him, anywhere.”
“It gets worse,” Ryken said. “Campbell’s spies reported that the Council has been meeting in secret for the past three days straight. A closed-door meeting at the castle with no one allowed near the grounds except the servants.”
I briefly closed my eyes, my throat constricting.
“That’s definitely not good news,” I said. “But why would it be taking them so long to discuss our fate?”
“Who knows?” Ryken said. I could hear his heavy footsteps as he paced the room. “Coming up with different ways to torture us before they kill us? You know those bastards are looking forward to exacting their judgment on us before this is all said and done.”
“Yes, but they’ve most likely been dreaming of ways to torture me for decades now. If th
ey’re looking forward to it, why not summon us already? Why all the secrets? Why the waiting?”
“Because they know we’ll hear about the meeting,” he said, speaking fast with a hard edge to his tone. “They want to let us know that we’re entirely at their mercy. This is just part of the torture. I say we grab all our best weapons and as many of our brothers who will follow us, and we just go in there and take the three of them out tonight. Put an end to this. Rend, they’re only making us wait so they can show their power. To torture our minds before they torture the rest of us.”
“Calm down, Ryken. No one is going into the castle with guns blazing, no matter how much we fantasize about it,” I said. “It practically took an army for us to defeat the Devil, and he had nothing more than a bunch of newlings at his side. Three of the first and most ancient vampires at once? We’d need a thousand at our side to even have a chance.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Rend,” he said. “Or me. We could take them. I know it. But once we get this summons, it’ll be done for us. The chance will be gone. If we show up with any kind of weapon, they’ll kill us on sight. We need to attack before they summon us, while we still have the advantage.”
“And how do you propose we approach enough of our brothers in the next few hours to gather our army? You don’t think anyone will tell the Council what we’re planning? There’s no advantage to that, and if you calmed down enough to think for a second, you’d see that,” I said. “There’s something else going on behind those closed doors, and I want to know what it is.”
“I told him to keep us updated on anything the spies find out, but so far, the servants have only been allowed inside the meeting chamber a handful of times,” he said. “When the servants are in the room, the Council is silent as the grave. No one says a word unless it’s a harsh command. I don’t think we’re going to get anything more out of them.”
I cursed under my breath. What the hell were they up to? Three full days of seclusion to discuss what? It couldn’t simply be a matter of coming up with our punishment or the manner of our deaths. It wouldn’t have taken them more than a handful of hours to dream up the most sadistic shit they could imagine.
No, there was more to it than that.
But one way or another, we were about to find out what was going on. I had a feeling once that meeting was over, the summons would come for all of us.
I just wanted to know what I was walking into before those black envelopes arrived.
“Well, tell them to keep trying,” I said. “If they see or hear anything that might give us some idea of what’s being discussed in that room, it might mean the difference between life and death for us.”
“I still say we go in there and—”
“Ryken, promise me you won’t do anything on your own,” I said, hardening my tone. “If you make a move now without everyone on board, it’s just going to get you killed, and I don’t want that hanging over my head.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing when I went in there to kill the Devil,” he said. “It was damn time someone took that beast out. He was destroying the Brotherhood, and now what’s left of the Council is trying to do the same. When we joined, they promised us power and brotherhood. They never said anything about manipulation and reckless killing of a massive number of witches. Children, Rend.”
“I know,” I said, my jaw tightening.
“I didn’t sign up for that,” he said.
“None of us did,” I said. “The Brotherhood needs to change, but first, we need to make it through this summoning alive. For now, we stick to the plan. Find out what you can, and let me know if those servants discover anything new. No matter how small.”
“What plan?” Franki asked.
Damn.
I hadn’t heard the door open, and I’d gotten so wrapped up in our conversation that I’d turned my back on the bedroom for a moment.
How much had she overheard?
“I have to go,” I said into the phone, holding up a finger for her to wait. “Don’t act on your own. Promise me.”
“I promise,” he said. “I don’t like it, but I will follow you to the grave if that’s what it takes. I trust you.”
“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”
Ryken hung up, and I turned back to Franki. She had chosen a pair of tight-fitting black jeans and a white, low-cut t-shirt that made my heart race.
“You look gorgeous,” I said.
“These clothes are amazing, and everything fits perfectly,” she said. “How did you even know what size I wear?”
“I have my ways,” I said with a smile. The truth was that Lyla had spied on Franki’s clothes one night when she changed to dance.
“I bet,” she said with a laugh, but then her expression turned more serious. “Who were you talking to? What plan? Is something going on?”
“Can we talk about it later?” I asked. I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also didn’t want to spend our entire time in Paris talking about what was happening with the Brotherhood.
“As long as you promise you’ll tell me everything tomorrow, let’s just have a good time and not think about what’s coming next,” she said, and from her words, I knew she already suspected the summons was coming.
I placed my hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer. I kissed her forehead and leaned my head against hers.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Now, let’s go get that breakfast you promised,” she said, smiling. “My stomach is beginning to rebel. I just realized I never ate dinner tonight. I was so rushed after my session with Mary Anne that I guess I just forgot.”
I took her hand, and we walked out of the suite and down to the main floor, the entire City of Lights ours for the day.
Right Here In His Arms
Franki
Rend and I spent the entire day exploring Paris. The Paris most people never got to see. Sure, we went to cafes and museums just like any average tourist, but the cafe we went to for breakfast was run by an elderly witch named Madame Dubois.
Using a combination of her own magic and a special concoction Rend made especially for her, she baked the most amazing pastries.
They weren’t available to the general public, but those who knew about her specialty asked for the pastries by name. On Rend’s suggestion, I ordered a chocolate croissant and a few brightly colored macarons. One bite of the croissant, and I was immediately filled with joy and laughter. Each of the macarons had a slightly different effect, too.
The pink one made everything in the room take on a slightly pink hue, as if I were truly looking through rose-colored glasses. The bright green one made it look as if everyone around me had bright green hair. And the blue one made the room smell like freshly-picked blueberries.
None of the effects lasted long, but it was fun, and it made me love the little white-haired woman who took such joy in her creations.
As we ate over cappuccinos, Rend told me that there were people all over the world who used his potions and dusts in their businesses. Everything from food to jewelry to boutique furniture businesses. I had no idea there were so many who knew and relied on him to create their products, which were all specifically marketed to the supernatural community.
After breakfast, he took me to a fancy jeweler on the Champs Elysees. I browsed the various bracelets and necklaces on display while Rend excused himself and disappeared into a back room with the owner—a handsome man named Peron who Rend later told me was a demon from his own village.
When he returned, he told me to pick out any item in the entire store that caught my eye. After nearly half an hour of browsing the most beautiful and unique jewelry I’d ever seen, I finally chose a delicate silver charm bracelet with a single charm. The Eiffel Tower.
To most, it looked like any tourist trinket, but to anyone with the sight, it glittered like the very lights of Paris.
Even the Louvre was different for us than for most visitors
. Being with Rend opened doors I never could have dreamed of opening. We were given a private tour of the collections being restored in the back rooms before being guided through the museum by our own private tour guide.
The entire day felt like a dream. As we explored the secret supernatural side of such a beautiful and romantic city, I grew to love him even more. He simply had a way with people, and everyone we met had some story about how Rend had saved their life or helped them through a hard time.
Rend often talked about his life as if he had too many sins in his past to ever make up for the things he’d done, but the man at my side had a pure heart. I knew he had done terrible things. Things he didn’t like to speak of, and for his fierce rage, he was feared by many.
But what he didn’t seem to want to admit, even to himself, was that he had changed in a way most people never could.
There was no sign of the blood-hungry vampire today. He was a hero. A gentleman. The greatest person I had ever known in my life.
It didn’t matter to me what he had done in his past. What mattered to me was that he’d been strong enough to turn away from that life and to dedicate himself to saving those who needed his help.
By the time we returned to the Shangri-La, I was tired but so happy.
“Have you had a good day so far?” he asked, pulling me into his strong arms.
“I’ve had the best day,” I said, resting my head against his chest and breathing in the scent of him. I’d done the best I could to not think about his phone call earlier and the reason for this trip, but now that we were back in our room, I couldn’t help but think of it.
Between all the meetings he’d been having lately at Venom and the worried expression on his face most of the time, I’d already been suspicious that something was finally happening with the Brotherhood of Darkness.
Now, though, after hearing him talk to someone on the phone about their plans and this extravagant trip, it was clear something was going on. I wanted to ask him about it, but I didn't want to ruin what was left of this magical night.
Still, I couldn’t help wondering if this would be our only trip to Paris. Our last night together like this.