Right. Exactly like that.
I set Sanguina down on a nearby chair, petting her fur as she dozed on, not even waking when I moved her. I shook my head in wonder. So dangerous, and so small. “Be good while I’m gone, Sanguina. I won’t be long.” She made a whimpering sound, tucking her cute little nose into her belly as I scooped up a small package from the ground beside the chair.
Samael grunted, shaking his head.
“Come on, Xylo,” I said, holding out my other hand. He grabbed it and I took a deep breath, opening myself up to my magic with a joyful smile. Then I Shadow Walked.
Chapter 34
We Shadow Walked to a house with an immaculate front lawn, shaded and decorated with ornately cultivated trees. It was sunset, and we’d arrived beneath a tree with a thick canopy, partially leaving us in growing shadows. Steps led up to a house with a massive, wooden front door, and three bodyguards stood out front.
They looked like they’d just ruined their pants to see us appear so suddenly.
Xylo leaned closer to me. “Your eyes are still glowing.”
“Oh. Right.” I wasn’t exactly sure how to turn that on and off, but I closed my eyes and took a stab at it, focusing on my Silvers. I felt a faint click in my mind, and opened my eyes, glancing at Xylo. He nodded approvingly, letting me know it had worked.
I turned back to the guards, and they looked even more troubled by this development. That this random chick just showed up on their lawn and she could just turn her glowing eyes on and off—like maybe one of them needed to go get a manager or someone higher up the food chain.
Remembering we were partially in the growing shadows, I stepped out to where they could see me more clearly and held out the bundle of clothes I had picked up from back at the Observatory—my white ninja outfit that I’d been given from the guards’ boss, Xuanwu.
The guards gasped to see the familiar threads, and now that I was in the light, they put two and two together, and finally recognized who I was, and that I wasn’t a threat.
“Mind if me and my good friend come inside?” I asked, smiling.
They practically fell over themselves, nodding and bowing as they hurried—backwards, since they didn’t want to appear disrespectful by turning their backs on us—to open the doors and gesture us inside with open arms. I smiled at each one, meeting their eyes.
But most of them were too busy staring open-mouthed at Xylo, forgetting all about their manners. Then again, meeting a skeleton probably hadn’t been covered in their lessons.
I led Xylo through the house and into the backyard area.
As I stepped out from the doorway, I smiled as the scent of apple blossoms filled the air. That mixed with the scent of sweat and dirt—since the men trained and honed their combat skills here—in a strange, complement.
And by men, I meant ninjas. Shinobi warriors. I wondered where Ryuu was. Something about him really drew me close. I wanted to know more about the mysterious leader of the ninjas. A lot more.
The sun had fully set on this side of the house—because I was pretty sure this was actually some kind of pocket dimension since the neighboring houses I had seen from the front were nowhere in sight, here. Also, in the distance, I could see a field full of apple blossom trees and mountain ranges—and there was nothing like that in downtown Kansas City.
A shirtless man was working a weapons form with a bo staff. He stopped mid movement, turning very slowly to face us. His chest was a raw red wound in the shape of a Crucifix, blackened around the edges.
From where I had burned him.
Roland Haviar, my old mentor. Ex-Shepherd turned Master Vampire.
He stared at me, dropping his staff, as his mouth worked wordlessly.
He didn’t even look at or acknowledge Xylo.
“Can I borrow your keys, old man?” I asked.
He nodded very slowly, reaching into his pocket to grab the keys and extend them to me, never breaking eye contact.
I stepped forward and took them. “Thanks. Also, I need a favor, if you think you can help.”
He nodded, still staring at me as if at a ghost. “Of—” he coughed, clearing his throat, wincing slightly as the flesh over his chest shifted at the sudden gesture. “Of course,” he finished.
“I need you to contact the heads of the Sanguine Council. Tell them I demand a meeting—”
He cleared his throat politely but forcefully. “They are already here in Kansas City, waiting to meet with you. I told them you would be back in a few days,” he said. “Alucard is with them right now. We’ve been taking turns keeping an eye on them,” he admitted.
I blinked at him. I’d expected it to take a few days to gather them all up, giving me enough time to formulate exactly what I wanted to say to them. Because I had decided I didn’t want to wait until their scheduled meeting that Samael had mentioned. I wanted to speak with them before anyone else had a chance to—any other Masters.
And I wanted them off their game, forcing them to come to me.
But it looked like my fight in the streets of Kansas City with Roland had already drawn them here like bees to honey.
Which meant I didn’t have time to plan out my talk. It would be impromptu. Great. “Can you take me there?”
He nodded. “When?” he asked, finally seeming to notice Xylo. His eyes widened marginally and Xylo smiled at him.
“No time like the present.”
Roland nodded. “Let me go change—”
“No. For what I have in mind, you’re dressed perfectly.” I glanced at Xylo and smiled. “Let’s take a car. I need to make a quick stop on the way.”
Chapter 35
Roland had called Alucard to round up the members of the Sanguine Council—all of the oldest, most powerful vampires in the world—so that they were ready and waiting for us when we got to the hotel. We’d taken a service elevator up to the penthouse suite, which had a large meeting space. I’d told Roland that privacy would be a necessity, so none of the publicly visible meeting rooms on the main floor would work.
I glanced at the shirtless Roland. His fresh wound was impossible to miss. And Xylo…
I smiled for his sake, but silently wished the store would have had more options for me to choose from. Oh well, any port in a storm, as they say.
I opened the door and strode inside without pausing.
Roland and Alucard followed me on either side like bodyguards.
A long table stretched out before us, and dim lamps illuminated the room, revealing a dozen faces ranging from fat to thin, pale to dark, and young to old, even though they were all on the ancient side. Alucard was seated at the head of the table farthest from us, grinning excitedly at our entrance.
He took one look at Xylo and his smile froze.
Xylo stared down the dozen members of the Sanguine Council—Master Vampires who had all known that Dracula still lived and who had reported directly to him in secret, vowing not to ever let anyone else in the world know that they weren’t actually the top of the food chain.
Most of the faces looked angry when they shot my way. Because they had come here to demand answers and explanations for whatever the hell had happened here, and to secretly find out why their boss, Dracula, had also been out of contact with them for so long.
Alucard stared at Xylo, shaking his head. “That is so fucked up,” he murmured to himself, grimacing at what Xylo held in his hand. But in a room full of creatures with supernatural senses, everyone heard him. They all turned to stare at the skeleton. They didn’t necessarily look surprised to see a living skeleton—because they had likely spent time at Castle Dracula and seen his guards.
But they definitely hadn’t seen one with silver streaks and smoke for eyes. Or a skeleton clutching a red foil balloon on a string.
It said Feel better soon!
An obviously dead skeleton with a Feel better soon! balloon. Yeah. Alucard was right. That was pretty fucked up.
But the only other option had been one that said Well
done!
And taking into consideration the fact that Xylo had spent a few years at the bottom of a well when he’d lost his first balloon, I’d decided the Well done! balloon would have been in even poorer taste.
But I’d promised myself that I would buy Xylo a goddamned balloon, so I wasn’t about to be picky over the design. Xylo didn’t seem to care at all about the words. I wasn’t sure if he’d stopped smiling since I’d given it to him—other than the moment we’d walked through this door, anyway.
Because he’d put on his mean face for the vampires.
The Master Vampires also stared at Roland’s chest with varying degrees of horror and disgust, letting me know he hadn’t shared that with them yet. Perfect.
I clapped my hands, drawing their attention to me. “Alright, suck-heads. I wanted to remind you that you all work for Dracula.”
They paled, looking uncertain how to respond to that since it was supposed to be a secret.
I rolled my eyes, pointing at Xylo. “Come on. I’ve been to Castle Dracula and brought back a souvenir. I’m not trying to trick you into giving up your secrets. I already know your secrets, because I just killed Dracula and took over his Castle. I’m your new boss, and I wanted to invite you to an Executive Retreat at Castle Dracula in three weeks. We need to do some serious team building to get through this change in management. Until that time, consider yourselves on probation and that you—and all your people—are on a blood bag-only diet. That’s non-negotiable. No warnings. No forgiveness. If you do even the smallest thing that I might disapprove of, I won’t even bother asking you about it. I’ll just come to your city, kill you, and then bring your head to our Executive Retreat in three weeks. You kill someone, you die. You jaywalk, you die. You cut someone off in traffic, you die. You pay your employees a day late, you die. You ask a stupid question, I punch out your fangs for wasting my time. Then you die.”
One of them jumped to his feet and began cursing violently, pointing a fat finger at me as his face grew purple with rage. I flung out my hand and decapitated him with a blade of air no thicker than a piece of paper and hot enough to instantly cauterize the wound.
His head thumped to the floor, still purple and still angry. The rest of the room was entirely speechless, stunned. Alucard was grinning widely, looking like he really wished he’d brought a bucket of popcorn.
Xylo calmly walked over, his helium-filled Feel better soon! balloon trailing after him on its string. He scooped up the head with one hand and set it down in the center of the table. He looked at it, cocking his head. Then he shifted it ever so slightly and brushed some of the man’s hair out of his eyes. Then he nodded and walked back over to stand beside me.
One of the Italian vampires lifted a hand. He was old, but handsome.
I nodded at him. “Go ahead.”
Xylo burst out laughing. “A head!” Even Roland grinned.
The Italian vampire did not. None of them did. He looked at me, and then the freshly decapitated vampire’s head. “Ustafa…didn’t speak any English,” the Italian said in a careful tone. “He was demanding to know who you were and what you were saying…”
The room was deadly silent.
Well, that was unfortunate.
Then again, I didn’t particularly hold any empathy for these men. They were Master Vampires of all the major cities in Europe and hadn’t gotten there by being sweethearts.
I shrugged after a few minutes. “Anyone else need a translator, or is it safe to say that the example with Ustafa was understood across all languages?”
I went from person to person, staring into their eyes. Every single one of them nodded and bowed their heads—even if they didn’t look very happy about it.
“Great. If you need anything prior to our retreat, Roland and Alucard are my generals.” Roland and Alucard kept their surprise from their faces—especially Roland, who was on my shit list. “Now, you gentlemen have a pleasant evening, and in case anyone forgot to tell you…” I trailed off, smiling warmly at them, “welcome to Kansas City.”
Then I turned to leave, motioning Xylo to follow me.
I made it a few steps before I stopped and held up a finger. I turned back around to face them. “I should probably mention that if Roland or Alucard so much as stub a toe in the next few days, I will randomly pick one of your heads to decorate my dining room table. Which means that even if you didn’t do anything wrong, you might still be the one I pick to make an example of, so you should probably spend the rest of tonight making sure you’re all on the same page.”
Then I smiled at them and grabbed Xylo’s hand. I Shadow Walked us directly from the room.
Balloon and all.
Chapter 36
We arrived back at Xuanwu’s home, and were instantly ushered in through the front doors like sorely missed family members. Xylo’s balloon trailed after him, making that crinkling sound as it bumped into every doorway we stepped through.
He chuckled to himself each time, grinning like an idiot, and I couldn’t help but smile. He’d finally gotten his damned balloon. We stepped out into the back garden and found quiet solitude. A few monks walked around here and there, but I saw no ninjas present. Just a quiet, peaceful evening.
Cain strolled down the path opposite us, carrying an armload of apples in his arms. He saw me and grinned widely, hurrying over. “Callie!” he crowed, dropping an apple here and there in his haste.
I smiled, wrapping him up in a tight hug. “I’m fine, you big oaf.”
Cain took one look at Xylo, blinked, and then glanced up at his balloon, nodding approvingly. “Sweet balloon, man.” Xylo nodded proudly but didn’t really seem to care to join in our conversation. He was watching the wind shift and tug at his balloon.
Cain rounded on me. “I heard you came back, but you left before talking to me! Tell me everything.”
I smiled, having missed his cheery, carefree attitude. “It was a love story, believe it or not. Like the Notebook,” I said, thinking about Samael and Lily. Then I remembered that Cain’s parents were Adam and Eve, and that Adam had allegedly made some bad calls with Lilith. I clammed up.
When it was obvious that I wasn’t going to elaborate, Cain turned to the skeleton with the balloon.
Xylo noticed our attention and nodded quickly, picking up on my anxiety. “Definitely a love story,” he quickly said. Cain frowned dubiously, picking up on our obvious discomfort. Xylo pressed on hurriedly in an attempt to shift the subject away from the demons he apparently wasn’t supposed to talk about. “We fucked Dracula and his Brides. No. Her brides,” he said, correcting himself. “We fucked them all. Back-to-back. It was exhausting—”
“And that’s quite enough out of you,” I cut in, blushing furiously.
Cain burst out laughing, and Xylo lowered his eye sockets guiltily, not understanding exactly what he’d done but knowing that it had embarrassed me in front of my friend. He jolted suddenly, staring at Cain’s apples.
“I like this guy. Where did you find him?” Cain asked me, still chuckling.
I was frowning at Xylo, though, watching as he narrowed his eye-sockets. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have sworn Cain had just pissed Xylo right the hell off.
Xylo slowly lifted his head, glaring at Cain but speaking to me. “Who is this creature?” he asked in a dry, frigid tone.
Cain’s smile withered away, and he dropped his apples, squaring his shoulders instinctively at Xylo’s tone, let alone his words. “Creature? Who the fuck are you to call me a creature?”
“You dropped your apples,” Xylo said, making it sound like a threat.
Cain shrugged. “I found them on the ground anyway. I’ll pick them back up in a minute. Right after we work out your attitude problem.”
I interrupted, not understanding the sudden tension. “Cain is my brother. He watches my back and keeps me safe. Take it easy, Xylo.”
But Xylo didn’t take it easy. “You mean like how I kept you safe in Castle Dracula? If he is your br
other, shouldn’t he have been there to keep you safe?” He leveled Cain with an open, judgmental glare. “As her brother, are you not your sister’s keeper?”
Cain and I both froze. Ho boy. That was a very dangerous topic to bring up with Cain.
“Alright, boys. Let’s table this for later. Cain, pick up your apples and take a walk. We’ve had a rough couple of days. I’ll tell you all about it later.”
Cain grunted, looking like he wanted more than anything to clock Xylo in the jaw. He bent over to pick up an apple. “Fine—”
Xylo chose that moment to lift his hand up to my face, as if telling me to shut my mouth.
“Hey!” Cain suddenly snarled, taking an aggressive step forward. “Don’t you dare tell her to be quiet!”
Xylo didn’t react. “High five,” he told me through clenched teeth.
My eyes widened in alarm, and I shook my head anxiously. “I am not giving you a high five for this, Xylo. You’ll kill him. Cain, you really need to go take a walk. Right the fuck now.”
Xylo ground his teeth harder, his embers and sparks flaring uncontrollably. “I can control it,” he lied. “Trust me.”
And in my mind, there was a frantic desperation in his request. He was practically quivering with need. I thought about it, but still hesitated with his wildly flaring embers and sparks—that had really freaked Cain the hell out. Cain looked about as baffled as one could be with two people talking over his head about a nuclear high five and one of them spitting sparks from his joints.
“Please, Callie,” Xylo rasped, letting go of his balloon and not even seeming to notice.
And that right there told me that this wasn’t some simple pissing contest. Something was happening. Something I couldn’t comprehend.
Still, I wasn’t going to let Cain die for it. I took a quick step back, holding up my hands for both of them to calm down. Xylo gritted his teeth and lowered his hand, so I turned to Cain. “You really need to get out of here while I figure this—”
Godless: Feathers and Fire Book 7 Page 22