Bite Back Box Set 2

by Mark Henwick

  “I apologize, Diakon Huang,” I said, kicking myself.

  Stupid! Fix this.

  “I’m laughing at myself and my complete misunderstanding of the complexity of discussions between Panethus and the Empire. May I speak plainly? For real?”

  From the corner of my vision, I could see a tiny nod from Skylur.

  “Please do,” Huang said. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  “I believe Bian—Diakon Trang—wanted to use my request to talk to the Adept community in the Empire as a sort of screen for the main conversation she wanted to have, which was about your southern territories. It wasn’t the other way around.”

  Now Huang frowned.

  “Bian didn’t know why I wanted to make the request,” I went on. “It wasn’t an Altau topic. Skylur didn’t even know about it. As for me, I had no idea it was such a vital interest to Athanate.”

  I didn’t know if I’d done the right thing, or if this was the right approach, but Huang’s manner changed. It’d have been too much to say he snorted, he wasn’t that sort of man, but there was a hint of a relaxation.

  “So with our diplomatic games, we tie ourselves in knots we can’t see,” he said.

  “Yes,” Skylur said. “I had no idea there was a dragon spirit guide in America at the time of your conversation. I should also make it very clear that there is no formal association between Altau and the greater community of Adepts in this country. This is not our spirit guide.”

  “I see.” Huang closed his eyes for a moment and then leaned forward. “Let me be completely clear. A dragon is not like other spirit guides. It is far more powerful, far more difficult to host. It needs an entire community to host a dragon, and there are none outside of the Empire capable of that task.”

  “That’s why I asked to communicate with them. So we could learn,” I said. Tullah’s parents, Mary and Liu, had explained the problem with power to me already. It’d been their idea that I talk to Adepts in the Empire.

  “Unfortunately, it is not something that can be learned in the time available.” Huang waved away the idea. “The level of power unleashed in New Mexico was extraordinary, and unsafe for an immature dragon. Both the host and her dragon are in danger right now, if they’re not already suffering. You must take us to them.”

  “What would you do when you reached them?”

  Huang sat back in his chair. “We would invite them to come to the Empire, where a community is waiting and where they would be safe while they study and train.”

  Invite. Train. Must take us to them.

  I didn’t like the sound of that.

  Neither did Skylur. “I can understand why you’d want the dragon. A tremendous benefit for you—”

  “The benefit would be for all of us: Athanate, Adept, Were and humanity.”

  There was a moment’s silence before Skylur spoke again. “Interesting. Exactly how many dragons do you already have?”

  “None,” Huang said, astonishing me.

  None? Kaothos is alone?

  “No one has,” he went on. “That’s why this one is so important. With a dragon, Emergence is possible. Without it, the Emperor has his doubts. You see, House Altau, like you, we believe Emergence is inevitable and must be controlled.”

  Even Skylur looked shocked at that.

  We were silent for a minute while the implications started to sink in. Huang was delicately suggesting that Panethus was at least partly to blame for Emergence by not having enough control of what humans did in their domains, for ‘allowing’ the army to start to discover the Athanate.

  He’d then suggested a dragon would allow the Empire to control Emergence.

  Meaning the Empire would basically control everything.

  “You mean control by force?” Skylur said.

  “Not necessarily,” Huang replied, “though we would never forget that we have that option.”

  “So you’re saying a dragon not only has the power to force humanity to accept us,” Tarez said, “but also the ability to help somehow persuade humanity of the benefits of welcoming us?”

  Huang taped his fingers on the table, one, two, three: “A mature dragon, working within a suitable community, in today’s world. Yes, certainly. However, an immature dragon, without guidance, is simply a danger to the whole world.”

  I couldn’t shut up any more. “Well, we don’t know where they are. And, from my experience, they’re no danger to anyone who isn’t attacking them.”

  Or maybe hunting them, I wanted to add.

  “I gather whatever the lack of association between Altau and Adepts, you must have some kind of association with the host,” Huang said. “Tullah Autplumes, I believe her name is?”

  “Autplumes-Leung,” I said. Nothing they couldn’t find out. “There’s nothing formal. I have no way of contacting them.”

  And if I did, I wouldn’t say.

  I’d decided that I didn’t trust the Empire of Heaven.

  But what if there really was a danger to Tullah and Kaothos? An injury? I had to talk to Diana. She had to know of some way to contact them.

  “Yet you may hold the answer,” Huang said. “As you seem to know them well enough to have an opinion on their state of mind, then maybe, in your subconscious, there is a clue to where they would be now. I offer my services again. You could defuse the Ibarre situation and we might find a hint to where the dragon could be.”

  “You mean read my memories of New Mexico?”

  “Yes. Nothing else, and I must emphasize again, Tullah and her dragon may be suffering, even dying, from the effects of destroying that lock on the Kumemnon.”

  Skylur was about to speak, but I’d had enough and interrupted.

  “Thank you, but I’m sorry, you and House Ibarre will not have my agreement to go digging in my head. Quite apart from the fact that it’s just political maneuvering, I have been appointed syndesmon to the Were. There were things that happened in New Mexico that the Were regard as confidential, and I’m not about to let Athanate see them, any more than I would allow it the other way around.”

  Huang blinked. He hadn’t expected that. Good.

  “Your Adepts are welcome to continue searching in North America,” Skylur said smoothly. “However, I must insist they be accompanied by Altau security, not just for their own safety, but also, as they are acting for an Athanate organization, to prevent any claim of precedence in my domain by other Athanate groups.”

  Without really planning it, we had Huang caught like a fish.

  The question was, what effect would that have? Was he going to cause a problem in the new Assembly? Would he simply return home? Or would he ignore Skylur’s demands?

  Chapter 13

  Skylur and Tarez took Huang off, leaving Yelena and me to fume until we got the all clear.

  Bian came in with bacon burgers as a peace offering.

  “We’re still loading Huang’s guys up with our security,” she said. “Skylur says to hold on until that’s done, ’cos Huang really has the hots for you. Your excuse about syndesmon wouldn’t mean shit to him.”

  “Not an excuse,” I said, “it’s a reason. And I’ve gotta get doing something again or I really will go crazy.”

  “Huh,” she grimaced. “Thing is, I’m not sure you’re done with therapy, Round-eye.”

  “What does Diana say? I’ve got to talk to her anyway.”

  “Not available.” Bian’s face closed.

  Worrying. Bian doesn’t know what’s going on?

  She huffed. “Well, if you have to be doing things then I think it’s time to start Tarez’s tasks—get your House in order, Round-eye.”

  “Dominé?” I asked, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Got to do it sometime.” She looked at her cell. “And already, Tarez is messaging about requests for you to contact the local Were. We could do with help from them tracking Basilikos while we’re so short-handed.” She slid the phone back in her pocket. “Once you get going again, the pac
e is going to go crazy. Binding Dominé is an easy start.”

  “Can you help?” I said. “I mean with Dominé. I’ve never—”

  “You handled binding with Jen just fine, Round-eye, and no, I have to stay here and coordinate security—Skylur’s orders.”

  “My eukori isn’t working,” I pointed out. “And I don’t want more kin. I have Alex and Jen, and that’s already a mess. If I can’t even rely on my eukori to feel my way around fixing that, the last thing I want is to upset them by adding another kin to the mix.”

  Bian frowned. “Jen and Alex are a problem how?”

  I couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed. “They don’t have a problem with me. They still have a problem with each other.”

  “That’ll pass.” Bian dismissed it. “And one human kin isn’t enough.”

  “Alex is—”

  “I know you think Alex’s Blood sustains you, and maybe it has, a bit,” Bian said. “It’s not enough. Why do you think Jen’s looking so pale? You’re taking too much from her.”

  I shut up. I’d gotten so self-involved I hadn’t really thought about it. Yes, Jen was paler. And there were the dizzy spells she’d gotten once or twice after I’d bitten her.

  I didn’t want sixteen kin like Bian, but I needed more Blood.

  What about my eukori problem? Surely I couldn’t bind a person while that wasn’t working.

  Yelena cleared her throat. “There’s a Carpathian alternative,” she said.

  Bian looked skeptical. Her attitude toward Yelena had eased a little, but she was still that Carpathian spy who’d tricked her way into House Farrell.

  Yelena paid it no mind.

  “Carpathians don’t use the word kin like Panethus, or toru like Basilikos,” she said. “Kin who are part of a Carpathian House are katikia. This means they are bound to the House, not to an individual Athanate who is part of that House. They can also then be bound to an individual, like Panethus kin.”

  “Interesting bit of culture,” Bian said neutrally.

  “Amber is Carpathian, in her Blood and potential abilities,” Yelena replied. “I am Carpathian, in my Blood and abilities.”

  Bian waited. She didn’t say anything. Yelena’s slate-gray eyes checked with me before she went on. There were Carpathian abilities she didn’t want to discuss with Altau until they were less suspicious of her, but we had to start somewhere.

  “I believe I can help bind through Amber,” Yelena said. “This is something Carpathians do in training with eukori. I can share eukori, if you want to think of it that way. Amber bites this woman Dominé and then, working together with eukori, we can bind her as katikia.”

  Yelena was just full of surprises.

  Would it be that easy? I doubted it, but I needed any help I could get.

  Bian’s cell beeped and she spoke rapidly in Athanate to someone before turning back to us.

  “All clear,” she said. “We’ve tied up every Empire delegate with security and protocols. We know where they all are and where they’re going. That’s your cue. Go start fixing problems.”

  Chapter 14

  “Nice place,” Yelena said.

  We were on the Pacific Coast Highway, in Torrance, standing in front of the LA version of Club Vasana, Dominé’s newest sex club.

  It was in a little enclave off the highway, tucked away behind a screen of restaurants, shops and gyms, all surrounding a large parking lot. The building had once been an architects’ office, and intended as an advertisement for their services. It had tall, smooth, honey-colored stone walls, scored with pale horizontal lines and glowing in the late afternoon light. The monumental look was softened by rows of old Spanish-style arched windows with darkened glass, and the lobby, which emerged from the middle of the building like the triangular prow of a ship.

  It suited Dominé’s style—it looked open, yet the inside was hidden.

  “I hate the idea of just walking in there and biting her,” I said, not for the first time.

  I felt sick. Dominé was a friend. She’d risked a lot to help me in New Mexico. But I had orders from Skylur, and already too much of a history of disobeying.

  “I can do it for you,” Yelena said. “Bound to me is bound to House Farrell.”

  I shook my head. That would be cowardly, and an even worse way to treat a friend. If it had to be done, I had to do it.

  I sighed. “Come on, or we’ll be late.”

  For once, I’d called ahead. I was expected.

  The doorwoman, even before the club was open for the night, was dressed in a gray top hat and tails with white gloves. She tipped her hat, pressed a call button and opened the doors for us.

  “Please take a seat, Ms. Farrell,” she said. “Someone will be with you momentarily.”

  The chairs were comfortable and I sat with relief, running and re-running through what I could say to Dominé.

  Yelena remained standing, inspecting a wide rack of cloaks and masks. The cloaks were brightly feathered and iridescent, gleaming like oil on water in the dim lighting. The masks were Venetian carnival masks, full face and bone-white, with black and gold domino masks painted on around the eyes and forehead.

  Dominé always had themed costumes for her staff, but these looked to be for clients. I shivered. There was something slightly sinister about the masks, especially when Yelena put one on.

  Dante arrived.

  When I’d last seen her in Albuquerque, Dante had been dressed in a pinstripe Al Capone suit in keeping with the club’s theme. Today, with the club not open yet, she was in casual—a white, button-up man’s shirt and tan Capri pants. Her glossy black hair had grown out a little, but she still wore it parted and brushed to the right. And she still looked about sixteen to me.

  “Hello, Ms. Farrell,” she said.

  “Hi, Dante. You’re looking well.”

  She smiled a little.

  “Dominé would like to speak to you alone first.”

  I traded glances with Yelena, whose eyes were looking at me from behind a baroque swirl of black and gold paint. With my eukori on the fritz, I needed Yelena’s help to bind Dominé. If she wasn’t in the room, we probably couldn’t do it. But Dante had said ‘first’, so maybe later.

  Is it cowardly to not want to do it right away?

  Yelena slid the mask off and nodded.

  “You could watch the dancing rehearsals,” Dante said to her. “It’s a good show. And it’s okay, it’s not rude—they wear sweats for practice.”

  Yelena’s mouth twisted. “Then they’ll be less naked than I was when I danced.”

  “I can see you have a good dancer’s body,” Dante replied solemnly. “And that beautiful hair. You’d be very popular here.”

  Is this slip of a girl teasing Yelena?

  Yelena laughed, and we left her in the main club as Dante led me through to Dominé’s office at the back of the building.

  She greeted me with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks, European style.

  Her office was bright and airy, but Dominé looked tired and worried.

  As ever, her dress was elegant and her white hair was done, but there was something in her face. Had she sensed something threatening from me?

  “Wine? Champagne?” she said as Dante left us. “Rum?” Her French accent gave the rum a lovely growl.

  “Too early. Just coffee would be fine, thanks.”

  Dominé spoke into an intercom, and then pulled me over to a table covered with sketches.

  “Come. See my next set of costumes for the staff,” she said proudly, passion displacing worry on her features for a moment. “Here, I especially like these for my boys, don’t you think?”

  Shiny black pants, vacuum sealed to follow every contour of calf and crotch. Gray wool jackets with built-up shoulders and pattern stitching to mimic rib cages, open to reveal the abs, of course.

  The matching female costume included layered satin dresses like old-fashioned conical beehives, but split up the front.

  “You’re get
ting more elaborate,” I said, and then we were interrupted by one of her staff bringing the coffee. He was in jeans and barefoot at the moment, which made me smile.

  She shrugged off my comment, pressing a finger to her lips in thought.

  “People’s fantasies are becoming ever more compliqué,” she said. “If you wish, you can see skin on the internet at any time. Pah! At my club, I seek to immerse people. They must be the leading actors in their own movies. For this you need context.”

  “And the masks for customers? The cloaks?” I asked as we sat down. “They’re context too?”

  “It all helps. Masks have always been used to free the inhibitions.” She made a gesture. “Behind the mask of anonymity, our true selves can come out. The secret inner spirits are freed; even those we did not know existed. The cloak is a good device, too. That is how they say it, is it not: We cloak our desires?”

  We sipped the excellent coffee and I struggled to find the right point to start.

  “You have not come to talk costumes with me,” she said quietly. “Not even masks and disguises. But I am pleased you came, vraiment, for I have a problem.”

  “Tell me,” I said.

  And then I’ll add to your problems.

  “When we met Rita in Albuquerque, you heard her talk of meeting me here in LA?”

  “Yeah.”

  Rita was a were-cougar, a lieutenant in the Albuquerque pack. I wasn’t going to forget her, or her werewolf alpha, Zane, in a hurry.

  “Part of the deal I struck with Rita for protection was to open a channel for discussion with the pack in any city where I open a club.”

  “Zane wants links with the LA pack?”

  She nodded. “But this city!” She threw her hands up. “It is not one pack! It is insane! It’s three or four or five. They can’t even agree how many there are.”

  Interesting. I hadn’t thought it would start here, but of course, contacting the local Were was a task for the syndesmon.

  “But Rita’s not going to hold you responsible for the way the locals are organized.”

  “It’s not Rita that’s the problem.” She took a sip of her coffee and I could see her hand shake slightly. “The biggest of the LA packs, the Pasadena, is the most secretive. They will not even speak to me. Today, I spoke instead to the alpha of the pack that is based down in Redondo.” She replaced her cup neatly on the saucer and folded her hands in her lap. “He warns me that Pasadena have said they will kill me because humans are not supposed to know about the Were.”