Linus greeted me in the foyer, breaking off a conversation with Woolly to smile at me. “Ready?”
“Hood is tucking in Lethe, and we’re meeting him at the gate.”
Anxious about Lethe, about the baby, about Odette, I forgot the challenger’s family had set up camp.
Woolly kept them off the lawn, but they were scattered along the edge of the property. I counted seven men and four women. They spotted me and started calling for Lethe’s blood. They dressed well enough, in jeans and tees for the most part, casual, normal, but the flash of their teeth and crimson sheen in their eyes outed them as supernaturals.
“Woolly?” I shut the door behind Linus. “Can you make sure Lethe doesn’t have to hear this?”
A few notes of a bolder melody swelled around me as she ramped up the wards to muffle the noise.
“We’ll ask Mother to send a contingent of Elite to clear the property. We can’t risk the neighbors getting interested in the gathering.” Harshness edged his voice. “And, while I respect that physical challenges to dominants are necessary for maintaining a healthy pack, I won’t allow you to be caught in the crosshairs of a power bid.”
The tattered cloak materialized around his shoulders on a chill breeze that blew hairs into my eyes.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I clamped my hand over his wrist before he stepped off the porch. “You’re not leaving without your sigil.”
The scythe had appeared in his hand by that point, and his deep cowl flickered like a hologram.
Another woman might have felt silly sweeping the hair away from his nape and drawing on a sigil designed to keep him safe, but I didn’t have that problem. He led a dangerous life, and I made it even deadlier by association. I would do anything to keep him safe. A few scratches of my pen were nothing.
Amusement glinted in his dark eyes when they met mine, but he let me fuss over him with a tiny smile.
“Now we can go.” I capped my pen, took his hand, and we bolted for the gate. “Hood ought to be on his way.”
From here, the gwyllgi couldn’t get to us, but we had an ideal view of the scope of the problem.
Now I counted a dozen more strangers loitering in the road and along the edge of the woods.
The odds sucked, but hopefully they wouldn’t be a factor for Hood. I still had no idea where he parked the van since he didn’t use the garage at Woolworth House, but he must have mapped out a back way to reach it since he always beat us to the gate.
“There’s Hood.” Linus touched my elbow. “We should hurry.”
The cloak and scythe earned him nods of respect from the gathering as we passed the stragglers.
A few of them sniffed in my direction, their eyes popping wide in realization I was pack.
The confusing combination of a necromancer packmate and a potentate in hunting mode helped us escape unscathed, but I was grateful they didn’t ID our driver. I would have hated to kill another gwyllgi.
One incident might earn me a slap on the wrist, but two? That would draw the pack’s—and through them, the alpha’s—attention to me. All I needed was for Lethe’s mom to rule that being pack meant the other gwyllgi could challenge me to settle their scores too. If that happened, the measures they had taken to protect me just might condemn me in the end.
Twelve
The Grande Dame met us at the door to her office, all smiles. For Linus. She enveloped him in a hug that ended with a kiss to each of his cheeks, which she patted for good measure. He sighed, resigned to the routine, and I wanted to tell him to treasure these moments while they lasted. One day, all he would have left of her were these memories.
“Grier, dearest.” She gave me a light hug that skimmed my shoulders. “I have good news for you.”
Sweet relief swirled through me. “You found Odette?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.” She ushered us in, and we took seats across the desk from hers. “It turns out, one of her benefactors owned the bungalow on Tybee Island where she has been residing for some seventy-odd years. The man died, a Rufus Sowell, and his widow decided to liquidate his assets. Since she has no use for Odette’s talents, she evicted the seer. Her possessions were boxed, the house cleaned, and the property listed by a local realtor.”
“I don’t understand.” I leaned forward. “Where is Odette?”
“We have yet to locate her—she takes her clients’ privacy quite seriously—but we have no reason to believe she’s been harmed. As a matter of fact, she left a note for the realtors. Something about a leaky faucet.” Her pause invited me to admit I was already aware of that fact, but I kept my mouth shut. “I’m not sure why she hasn’t been returning her phone calls, or why she hasn’t contacted you, but she had a hand in this. I can’t imagine her ordering movers about under duress, so we must assume she was a willing participant.”
“That makes no sense.” I slumped back in my seat. “Why wouldn’t she tell me?”
“My understanding is the eviction was sudden.” A smile curled her red lips. “While packing away his belongings in his study, the widow found compromising pictures from her husband’s youth that featured Odette prominently. Learning he let her live rent free on a property she hadn’t realized they owned didn’t sit well with Matron Sowell.”
“That explains her getting kicked to the curb,” I allowed, “but not why she wouldn’t tell me. Or why the house was dusted with powdered bronze.”
Wherever she had gone, she had come back to oversee packing. The note was proof of that. But she hadn’t breathed a word of it to me.
“The indelicate nature of the situation may have embarrassed her,” Linus offered, covering my fidgeting hand with his. “She’s a private woman. Having intimate secrets from her past broadcast throughout the Society would strike a painful blow to her pride. She might have assumed you wouldn’t come looking for her since she called to let you know she would be out of town. Avoiding calls also makes sense if she doesn’t want to expend the emotional effort of explaining her new circumstances.”
“The bungalow was her home, has been for as long as I can remember.”
Resolve hardening to granite, I decided I would buy back the property. Money wasn’t the problem. Odette was plenty wealthy. But the scandal would attach a higher price tag for any of her patrons who wanted to help. Our connection was well-known, thanks to her friendship with Maud, so the widow might not sell to me either out of spite.
Not that I could blame her. That kind of betrayal hurt, and scandals like these ruined family names.
“My advice is to wait,” the Grande Dame intoned. “If she hasn’t made contact in a week, I’ll divert more resources to locating her.”
“Thank you.”
As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, it sounded like Odette had left by her own choice. That didn’t explain why she, or anyone else involved in the move, would have dusted the place with bronze powder, but Odette kept various herbs, metals, and minerals for brewing potions. The answer might be as simple as a mover dropping a jar, it shattering, dust coating the floors, and them not cleaning up after themselves.
“You didn’t come to talk about Odette,” the Grande Dame said, studying us with predatory interest. “What brings you back so soon?”
Linus took a breath to launch into his story, but I squeezed his fingers and cleared my throat.
“Corbin Theroux showed up on my doorstep a few days ago.”
The Grande Dame cocked her head at me. “Corbin Theroux showed up on your doorstep.”
“Yes.”
“The minimum-security facility where he was being held was no Atramentous,” she demurred, ignoring my flinch, “but I don’t see him escaping without help.”
The total absence of shock confirmed my suspicions she was aware of his current fugitive status.
“We had the same thought,” Linus said pointedly.
They fell into a staring contest where accusations were hurled and deflected without a word spoken.
“I don’t see him here.” She flicked a glance at the door. “Did you leave him at Woolworth House?”
Unable to read her, I blundered on. “I no longer have custody of him.”
“You understand he’s a criminal, correct? I reduced his sentence after his change in circumstances. The research value attached to his condition was worth the trade. Considering he is now one of the very creatures he once hunted, I judged his flight risk to be low. He has no friends, no family, no money, nowhere to hide. Without Society protection, Corbin would be hunted and killed. If not by vampires, then by his own kin.”
The continued evenness of her skin tone, the lack of mottling from rage, kept me talking. “I’m aware of his crimes. He confessed them to me.”
The Grande Dame arched a perfect eyebrow. “And you, in your infinite wisdom, decided to intercede on his behalf?”
“I did.” There was no point in lying. “I’m responsible for his condition, and I feel a certain obligation to him.”
“We’re not their mothers. We’re their creators. They wake fully formed with no need of our protection, ready to go out into the world.” She sighed. “All of us feel the bond between ourselves and our progeny, but you must learn to ignore that tug. Otherwise, it will pull you under as your tally of offspring rises.”
That was a disconcerting thought. “I found a better situation for him.”
“Do tell.” She steepled her fingers. “I’m all ears.”
“I presented him to Gaspard Lacroix. Grandfather has adopted him into his clan.”
Faint wisps of black threaded Linus’s fingers, tickling over mine, but he remained otherwise composed.
The Grande Dame didn’t sprout fangs or horns. She didn’t start screaming or hopping up and down on her desk. Nor did she offer an intern the opportunity to do it for her. She didn’t call for the sentinels either, which, honestly, was the more likely scenario.
Her utter lack of reaction convinced me we had been right on the money, about everything, and that she had guided my hand in this.
“You understand you could be imprisoned again for the crime of aiding and abetting a known criminal?”
A punch of cold blasted from Linus, and my fingers grew stiff as a fine layer of ice crusted my knuckles.
Ignoring the numbness spreading up my arm, I lifted my chin and became Dame Woolworth. “I do.”
“I would have thought you would do anything to remain on this side of the gates of Atramentous.”
A shiver zinged down my spine, and the edges of my vision frayed, the gaping maw of the past eager to swallow me whole, but the fused mass of Linus’s and my fingers promised I would never be alone in the dark again.
“I should have contacted you the moment Corbin arrived at my home,” I said, failing to mention he only knew where I lived thanks to her dropping breadcrumbs. “I saw an opportunity, and I took it. I apologize for not consulting with you first, but I believe the intel he’s gathering will more than compensate for our crimes.”
“Our,” she echoed. “You want to bargain for yourself and him?”
“I do.”
“Very well.”
She speared Linus with a look devoid of all warmth of maternal pride, warning him not to interfere. This was the Grande Dame issuing an order to the Potentate of Atlanta. The midnight fabric of his wraith’s cloak fell from his shoulders, signaling the shift from personal visit to business meeting.
And there I sat between them with only the unfinished mask of Dame Woolworth for protection.
“Corbin estimates that Lacroix has gathered one thousand members to his cause and counting.” I struck with the most brutal numbers first. “He witnessed firsthand as the master vampire held the minds of an entire room of his blood-sworn clansmen.”
A cold light sparked in her eyes. “What evidence do you offer to support these allegations?”
“We can only guess at Lacroix’s numbers, but there must be a list of clans who have defected from the Undead Coalition. You can start by tallying those numbers and adding them to his ledger.”
Slender fingers curling, she lowered her arms. “As to your secondary charge?”
“He controlled the entire room, aside from those with natural immunity, at the ball.”
“You’ve been telling secrets,” she chided her son. “Did she figure it out on her own, or did you show her the footage?”
Footage.
As the home of the current Grande Dame, the manor would be under heavy surveillance. Add a masked ball into the mix, plus the expectation the master vampire responsible for the Undead Coalition crisis would attend, and the Elite would have kicked security measures up a notch.
Betrayal pricked me, sharp and swift, and my fingers went slack. Linus tightened his grip like he was afraid this might be the last straw, that I might walk out on him for not telling me. His shoulders rounded in anticipation of what I might say or do, and I hated that we still doubted each other.
The first test of my new resolve shouldn’t come so soon, but here it was, the decision mine to make.
I chose him.
One of the easiest calls I’ve ever made.
“Lacroix offered to mitigate the loss of life by holding Balewa’s fledglings in his thrall.” I tightened my fingers until my nails left crescents in his skin, ensuring he couldn’t get away either. “When she sicced her vampires on me, he gave me the means to break free and lure them away from the crowd.”
“The magic you performed on my lawn was unlike anything I have ever seen.” She sounded almost proud. “Linus has tutored you well.”
Ah. That would explain the pride.
“Yes,” I agreed, bumping my knee against his. “He has given me quite the education.”
Pink tinged his cheeks, so out of character for the austere mask of Scion Lawson that the Grande Dame scrutinized him until a light sweat beaded on my upper lip.
Maybe pulling the tiger’s tail had been a bad idea.
I really did not want to admit I was sleeping with her son.
“I was cognizant of lost time,” she said, thankfully letting the matter drop, but keeping her keen eyes trained on her son. “I was searching the crowd for Linus when the sensation hit me. I located him, and then he was gone. Vanished. I might have blamed his status for the blip if you hadn’t disappeared as well. I checked the footage myself to see if it was an isolated phenomenon and understood Lacroix had enthralled an entire ballroom full of necromancers as well as vampires who weren’t blood sworn to him.”
Framed that way, I began to understand the convenient timing of Corbin’s escape.
She had watched herself ensnared by Lacroix, utterly helpless against him, and she had panicked. And when she got tired of wringing her hands, she did what she did best. She started plotting ways to save her own skin.
“Then you’ve seen the evidence for yourself.” I held her stare. “What more do you need?”
The Grande Dame dithered a moment. “How do you know you can trust him?”
“He was a vampire hunter. He dedicated his life to protecting humans. Lacroix made it plain he takes no issue with vampires killing them. Corbin has no love for our world, but he’ll ally with us because it’s the right thing to do. He’ll stand with us to hold on to a sliver of his humanity.”
“I’ve asked myself a hundred times why you spared him. Why his light called to you in that dark place. A vampire hunter. You couldn’t have chosen a worse progeny. That’s what I thought when I heard the news. It’s one reason why I kept Corbin out of the limelight instead of introducing him at my inauguration, and yet I have developed a theory.”
Shock at my change in circumstances, at learning I had progeny, at discovering I was goddess-touched and what that meant, had shrouded that night in a hazy fog of memory, but I had assumed she wanted to keep the Deathless vampire’s existence under her hat to preserve my secret. There was no explanation for him that didn’t involve me. Odds were good her pride had battled with her common sense, and common
sense prevailed.
She had a goddess-touched necromancer and a Deathless vampire, proof of my power, in her pocket. She had all the time in the world to play her hand. There was no reason to call so early into the game.
“I believe in your moral code, Grier,” she said, “even if I can’t always afford to share your altruistic impulses.”
Altruistic impulses. Most of us just called it like it was—basic decency.
“I am convinced you saw something in him worth saving,” she continued, “that yours wasn’t a random act of kindness, but you correcting what you perceived to be an injustice.” She laughed softly. “Perhaps, with your judicious streak, you should have become a potentate.”
A faint crease, barely more than a shadow, hardly a smile, bracketed Linus’s mouth.
I kicked him where his mother couldn’t see for having the audacity to find her amusing. “Perhaps.”
Although I had agreed with her, she didn’t seem pleased by my response. She must have expected me to recoil from the suggestion, but Atlanta had given me a unique perspective on the duties of a potentate, and the job requirements didn’t scare me anymore.
“Do you have any idea what Lacroix plans to do? He’s dismantling the current vampire ruling body. That leads me to believe he intends to institute his own. While such coups are frowned upon, they are a legal gray area since no vampire has challenged the government we established for them.” Her nose wrinkled at the insult. “Are you aware of a credible threat against the Society that would enable us to move against him?”
As much as I hated admitting it, “Not at this time.”
“I’m willing to extend a little faith. You are family, and my son believes you acted in the Society’s best interests, or he wouldn’t be sitting beside you.”
Unsure if I ought to feel comforted or threatened, I kept my mouth shut.
“You have thirty days to produce evidence that Lacroix is a threat to the Society. Beyond that, we will be forced to act in our own interests. We will apprehend Corbin and interrogate him. Your role might come to light, seeing as how you helped him evade authorities, and that would be unfortunate.”
How to Live an Undead Lie (The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy Book 5) Page 18