That explained the vaguely British tone of her voice. “Beatrice, what does relinquished mean to you? Other than the fact that my own mother has disowned me, I mean.”
“A relinquished hood is one who has had her powers revoked by her matron, and is rendered, as close as is possible, a huey,” she said as though reading the answer from a book.
I beckoned a silver bangle on my wrist into action, holding my hand in the direct view of the camera just over the speaker. My influence liquified the metal, boiling it into a pool of cool liquid that swirled on my palm before it obeyed my command and took the form I envisioned in my mind’s eye. The tiny, shiny Buddha didn’t vary too much from the kind you’d find an any Eastern goods gift shop, with the exception of its prominent middle finger erect on its right hand.
“As you can see,” I said, “I’m not relinquished in the way that really matters.”
“That does not mean you’re a righteous hood.”
This chick really wanted to piss me off, didn’t she? I plastered on my best fake smile and dipped my voice in honey. “Call Matron Chin, please, or I’m going to crash my car through the gate.”
A new voice spoke. “Do that, and you’ll be dead before you can hit reverse.”
Bingo.
Chin Zhu, a white hood from the lush valleys of China, had a history of disagreeing with my mother on matters of policy and practice. That she was talking to me took me by surprise, but I tried not to jump to the conclusion that it meant she disagreed with my banishment. It might, though, and if it did, she might be willing to agree to what I was about to ask. One could wedge open opportunities if only they knew where the cracks were.
Her German was pushed through a Mandarin sieve. “We are just about to retire for the day, Miss Kline, so if you would be so kind as to state your business succinctly, I would appreciate it.”
“Thank you, Matron Chin, for your consideration. First off, I wanted to ask why the council refused to offer the slayers sanctuary.”
“Perhaps Markus miscommunicated our answer on that. We are offering them sanctuary, if they agree to...”
“If they agree to anything to receive aid, it is not sanctuary,” I interrupted. “If you have conditions, then what you’re offering is payment. How is that fair? We thought the slayers were extinct for fifty years. Now we’re dictating the terms of their rebirth?”
“We are doing nothing, Miss Kline. You are no longer a member of this community.” A long sigh crackled through the speaker, and when Chin spoke again, her tone was more annoyed than authoritarian. “I’m not Grand Matron; I can’t unilaterally decide to harbor the enemies of such a powerful vampire as Vlad Tepeş without your mother’s approval.”
“His enemies?” My voice shot up an octave. “They were his prisoners.”
“I’m afraid that in this case, it’s a matter of semantics.”
“Slavery is never a case of semantics.”
“Geri, please!” Chin huffed. “I want to help. Trust me, I do. But this isn’t a dictatorship, and there are members of the council who aren’t eager to set us up on a collision course with the Ravens.”
I flinched at the mere mention of the name. “You know about the Ravens?”
“Recent events have made it necessary for your mother to send us a briefing on your family’s unique... history with them.”
Had my mother spilled the beans on my true nature to the council, and how it made me a vampire’s fountain of youth? It seemed unlikely. What would it look like for the Grand Matron of the legendary House of Red to admit her own daughter was part wolf? What would it do to all hoods to know that our story of Die Verräterin wasn’t entirely true? No, whatever Chin was talking about, it had nothing to do with me or Gerwalta Faust.
Maybe the birdie would sing? “I don’t suppose you’re willing to share that briefing?”
“No. Now, if the whole of your business was to come seeking resolution to a situation already resolved, then—”
Panic pushed my pulse into the red. “Wait, Matron Chin, I... I want to examine something in the archives.”
“You know you can’t...”
“Just for a few minutes,” I interjected, even as I tried to keep the desperation in my voice contained. “Then, I promise, I’ll go away and stop bothering you. Markus can be the liaison between the council and the slayers, but I really need to examine the logs of the condemned. You can be there with me if you want.”
“Logs of the condemned? Why would you want to study the darkest parts of our history?” For someone not related to me, Chin managed to perfect the tone of a scalding mother. “Miss Kline, this must end. You have no right to ask us for anything. I can’t make you leave Triberg, but I can have a tremendous amount of influence in the council’s discussion about the slayers. If you want us to help them, keep your head down and stay away from Schloss Wolfsretter.”
“Five minutes in the archives. Please, Chin, I...”
The floodlights mounted above the gate flickered on, rendering me blind. My arm went up to block the assault, but as my eyes recovered from shock and the figures standing just beyond the gate began to take shape, I knew the discussion was done.
Hoods dealt with other hoods in the weaponry that made sense to us: swords, daggers, slings and arrows.
With humans, we used guns.
Which, oddly, would work on a hood too, especially if you managed to shoot her in the heart or the brain. But one didn’t serve water in wine bottles just because it also quenched thirst.
I ground my teeth and the tires as I navigated the SUV through a three-point turn and headed back down the road.
FOUR
I managed to get back to the safehouse without hitting anything more than the proverbial wall. And the steering wheel, several times. By the time I parked the car, keyed in past the security door, and made it inside the yard, rationality had abandoned me. I paced in the backyard, the grass still crisp with frozen dew, as the sky began to yawn in the east. I couldn’t let the slayers see me like this; they were already on edge.
What I wouldn’t give to run. In my youth, the mountain had been a playground for me, the only condition was never be seen doing inhuman things by all-too-human eyes. Now I felt like an animal caught in a trap, held in place by the slayers, and able to see an escape I could not obtain without chewing off my own foot.
In the corner of the yard sat a stack of hay bales, propped atop each other to create a target for archery practice. If I had my grandmother’s dagger still, I’d hurl it over and over just to work out my frustration. Without it, I used a bit of silver I repurposed as a bangle to create a tiny penknife. The meek impact of so small a weapon didn’t satisfy, but it still felt good to chuck it at something I could pretend was Vlad’s face. When that failed to vent my ire, I turned to my fists, imagining the vampire was standing before me.
“So.”
Shoulder punch.
“Many.”
Chest jab.
“Damn.”
Groin kick.
“Obstacles!”
One final blow to the side of the stack sent hay flying directly into Yan’s arms.
I startled as the vampire dropped his catch and ran a hand over his brow to clear the debris. “Did you know I was here, or was it just coincidence?”
Met with the fact that I was no longer alone, my posture eased. Incrementally. “How would I know you were here?”
His bleached hair bounced when he jerked his shoulders. “From what Markus says, you are not like the other hoods. Perhaps you have some special ability to sense us, like the slayers.”
“None that I’ve noticed.” I didn’t want to be rude, but I also wasn’t in the mood to be hospitable. “Did you need something, Yan?”
The vampire restacked the bales with the ease of a waiter picking up a dropped spoon and setting it back on the counter. “Not me, them.” He pointed back over his shoulder to the house. “Markus says the slayers have come to see you as some sort of Jesus figure.
”
Even though I wasn’t particularly religious, I still curled in disgust at the comparison. “I wouldn’t say that.”
Yan twirled his right hand in the air. “You know Markus. He’s given to hyperbole. But at the very least, they hold you in great respect and have put their fate, at least for the moment, into your hands. You have great sway with them, and with their opinions of things.”
“And this is leading.... Where?”
“I mean them no harm, Miss Kline,” he continued from behind a twisty smile. “Like most vampires, I was under the impression their kind was extinct. I admit, their resurrection has me... curious. Perhaps in my questioning of their circumstances, I came off as aggressive. They have misinterpreted my interest for something sinister, when really, I am in awe of their survival. I was wondering if you’d be willing to say a word on my behalf, to set them at ease?”
I stepped forward to draw the silver penknife from the recesses of the hay, curling it back into a bangle on my wrist with a thought. “No.”
“No?” He repeated the word as though unclear of its meaning. “Perhaps I have also offended you in some way? Or is it because I am a vampire, and one of my kind currently holds your lover hostage?”
“It has something to do with the vampire part, but it’s not about me.”
And then, for reasons I couldn’t quite fathom, I began to lecture in the backyard of my mother’s estate to a vampire who was basically a stranger and sleeping with my cousin.
“Hoods are raised to believe werewolves tiptoe along the edge of humanity, that lupines are only a hair’s breadth from being consumed by their animal natures and going apeshit on hueys. Since the time I was little, I felt in my bones that wasn’t right. I opened myself up to that possibility, so much so that I fell in love with one of them. My world hinged on his kiss, on our ability to overcome our natures and be together, despite traditions, biology, rules, my mother... And then—”
A silent laugh fell into my shoulder as I buried my head.
“And then, reality bitch-slapped me. All it took was one night for that illusion to break under its own weight. And that left me afraid. So very afraid, probably more than I even admitted to myself at the time. Not of lupines really, but of the idea that I might trust one of them—any one—with my heart, and suffer that loss all over again. Loving Tobias is the bravest thing I’ve ever done, and now... Now, I may have lost him, too. So, I’m learning that the fear is a good thing, Yan. It protects you. It keeps you from putting yourself in the path of danger. These slayers... Some of them spent their whole life under the Ravens’ control, and for them, every vampire right now is a Raven. So, no, I won’t ‘say a word’ on your behalf, because I know the danger of that. They shouldn’t trust you.”
I sighed, turning away from his sagging shoulders and pitiful frown. Great, I had to be an asshole, didn’t I? Guilt condemned me to say something nice. Close to nice? Not so mean, anyway.
“Look, Yan, for what it’s worth, they probably shouldn’t trust me, either. I have no idea what I can do to help them.”
“No, I... understand.” As much as a vampire could, Yan folded in on himself. “Thank you for your honesty. It makes me wonder, however, if I should keep my distance, stay away from the house. At least until such time as I can offer more than my passing curiosity.”
“What if that never happens?”
I didn’t know if I was asking for his benefit, or for mine.
Yan only shrugged. “In my many years, I’ve learned that ‘never’, never happens.” The vampire straightened out, before fixing me with narrow eyes and an amused smile. “If only more hoods were more like you, Miss Kline.”
“Like me?” I guffawed. “Falling in love with their historic adversaries and given to violent outbursts?”
“Perhaps. Your crowd is far too straight-laced for my taste.” He grinned. “Markus is an exception, of course. But no, what I mean is, I wish they all were so passionate about doing right, that they’re willing to be ostracized to do so. You are an inspiration.”
“Now that’s a high compliment. And... one... I’m not completely at ease with.”
“Well, then, Geri Kline, I hope you grow into the impression you’ve made on me through the years, because it is mighty, as are you.”
My mouth dropped open. “What do you mean, through the years?”
But just at that moment, Markus emerged from the door on the backside of the garage. “Yan? Are you back here... Are you... Oh, Geri?” He held up when he caught sight of me. “I didn’t know you were back. And with my boyfriend. Talking.”
Yan, beaming at my cousin, crossed the yard, pulled the solidly-built hood into his chest and brushed a kiss against his lips. “Amor, I think I will run into town for a bite. Can I bring you back anything?”
“Greek sailor, if you find one.”
The vampire grinned. “I would keep him for myself if I did. I think I will sleep up at the castle today. Your house is quite full with guests and I would not wish to cause you to accommodate another.”
“I told you that it doesn’t matter,” Markus said. “We can sleep in that attic for all I care. Just don’t...”
But the vampire didn’t hang around to argue. One more quick peck on Markus’s cheek, and Yan dissolved into a smoky patch that rushed over the grounds and out of the yard.
My cousin passed me the stink-eye. “Okay, what the hell? Why are you cockblocking me? Did you tell him he couldn’t stay here?”
“No.” I mean, I didn’t say ‘thou shall not commit adultery with my kin in the house of my mother’ or anything. “What does he mean he’s going to stay up at the compound?”
My cousin looked at me like I was stupid. “He’s the resident vampire. You know, the one the Matron Council employs to wipe the minds of any hueys that see something they shouldn’t? How did you think I met him?”
“Maybe using one of my methods? Work in his university research lab. Or be really old-fashioned: storm his house to free his prisoners,” I deadpanned before realizing my attempt at sarcasm was probably the most honest thing I’d said all day. Which, of course, reminded me that the slayers—and Tobias—were in greater peril with every passing hour. And me? I could do nothing about it.
The weight of incompetence pressed down on my shoulders, pushing my back against the hay bales and my butt to the ground. “Why am I here, Markus? Why am I just... hovering here?”
Markus softened, leaning down next to me and putting a hand on my shoulders. “I’m taking it Chin wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
“I never even left the car. Shame for them, really. It would have made shooting me easier.”
Markus’s mouth dropped open.
“They didn’t shoot me, obviously,” I amended. “But they did draw against me, so... You know, three-quarters intent, or something like that.”
My cousin mused a moment before saying, “Actually, it’s a good thing they refused to let you in.”
“Good? How in the hell is that good?”
Markus slid down on the ground next to me. “Because I’m willing to bet they don’t know you’re an asinine.”
“Asenaic.”
His hand cut the air. “Whatever. The point is, your mother did everything she could to keep that secret, and no matter what you think of her right now, I don’t think she did it for any other reason than to protect you. Outside of this house, hardly anyone is hip to that nugget, and maybe we shouldn’t just go throwing it around willy-nilly.”
“Duh, do you really think I was born yesterday?”
Markus buried his chin in his shoulder, his voice growing soft. “Well, I mean, you wouldn’t have to tell them.”
“Hoods have many great powers.” I, for one, was totally digging silver wielding, now that I could do it. “But I’m pretty sure being psychic isn’t one. How else would they know? Can matrons read minds and no one remembered to tell me?”
Actually, thinking back on a few times when my mother had caught
me trying to sneak off and see Cody back in high school...
Markus gawked at me like I had just said the most idiotic thing ever. And he was a fan of Monty Python. “They’d know the way any hood knows when a wolf is near. They’d sense you.”
Ice shot down my spine. “Markus Kline, are you telling me you can sense the wolf in me?”
He nodded. “I mean, not all the time.” He ran a hand through his brown, wavy hair before cleaning it on his sweater. “It’s weird, though, the energy... I mean, it’s definitely wolf, but not consistent or very strong. I only get whiff of it when I’m as close to you as I am now. It cycles with the moon. Except when you’re near Tobias, and then it gets crazy strong. Or at least it did that last week in Istanbul.”
I looked into the distance, into nothing and everything in particular, seeing the light that lit the room, though the room had seemed empty before. “Because we’re pack.”
He laughed. “That’s ridiculous. I mean, even if you are descended from D.V.’s kid, that was, like, more than three centuries ago. There’s no way the tiny bit of lupine DNA you got is going to line you up for beta duties.”
He had a point. Possible to have a few traits? Yes, very. Likely that it was strong enough to bond as pack? Unlikely. But the moment I said the words, I felt the weight of truth fall into my hands.
Markus continued, “I mean, what’s next? You going moonmad if you two are separated for too long?”
I glared at my cousin. “You think I’m holding it together now?”
“I’m serious. If you’re wolf enough to be in pack, that probably means you’re wolf enough to be struck with lunacity.” Suddenly, Markus’s eyes brightened. “Have you tried taking your fur yet?”
I rolled my eyes. “Pretty sure if that were possible, it would have happened by now.”
“Yeah, but you’re different somehow, right?” He pulled closer, putting an arm around me. “I mean, even on a hood level. You can wield silver now, but you never took your fire. Maybe whatever happened to you that made that possible, also ramped up your wolfishness.”
He could have a point. “It’s possible. We’d never know for sure without proper studies. Test and control cases. Lots of lab work.”
Rebellious Hood Page 4