The Vampire's Alliance (Fatal Allure Book 14)

by Martha Woods

  “How many times have you set up for meetings like this?”

  “A fair amount, hunting doesn’t pay all the bills sometimes.” He coughed, clearing his throat and yawning, “If there’s nothing else I think I’m gonna go pick a spot and grab a few hours of sleep, let me know in the morning if the meeting is going to be happening and whether or not I should adjust my plans.”

  “You got it, thanks for helping us with this. I’ll try to make sure that you get an actual break after all of this.”

  “After this I think I’m gonna take a trip to Tahiti, or sign up for a research trip to Antarctica or something, something far away from cities and the paranormal, or at least as far as I can try to get. Just for a few months to clear my head.”

  “I don’t think you’d get a choice in Antarctica, I think those trips are a three month minimum.”

  “Perfect.”

  “Just… whatever happens tomorrow, please just be careful, ok? I just met you, I don’t want to have to bury you already.”

  He snorted, though it was thick with the sounds of sleep as well, “I don’t plan on dying anytime soon kid, don’t worry about me. Just worry about what you’ve got to do and I’ll take care of everything on my end, just remember that.”

  With that he disconnected the call, leaving me standing in momentary silence as I ran his last few words through my head. “Kid?” I asked myself, almost affronted, “He’s only like three years older than me…”

  “Well, a few years can make all the difference.”

  “Fuh what the fuck!” I jumped, spinning around and almost incinerating the space behind me before I recognized Claire, standing there with her hips cocked and her smile crooked, clearly enjoying the reaction that she’d gotten out of me. “Hope you’re happy with yourself.”

  “Always, and for more than one reason.” Spinning lightly on her heel and leaning on the railing next to me, waving over at Damon and Vincent, she opened up her jacket and pulled out an envelope. “I talked to him, he didn’t take much convincing at all. You really should have seen just how pissed off he is about this whole thing, he feels undermined and like his authority is in danger. I had no idea just how fragile he could be.”

  “Well to be fair it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of communication going on there, maybe he’s right about his authority being in danger.” I shrugged, scoffing gently, “Not that I’d have any objections to that, I still have a broken nose after all.”

  “He wanted me to express his warmest sympathies about that, as well as any injuries that you sustained in yesterday’s attacks, which…” She took a closer look at me, grimacing at what she could see of the stitches and the bruising. “Jesus, what the hell happened to you?”

  “I got into a fight with a bear, what do you think happened?” The fact that that sentence was completely, one hundred percent accurate was not something that I appreciated. “I didn’t kill any of them, but that won’t really matter will it? I still did enough to force them back, at least one of them will probably have really bad burns for the next few months.”

  “One came screaming back without his arm, I’m guessing that other werewolf was responsible for that?” I nodded, she laughed, “I figured she’d have a flair for the dramatic, a woman after my own heart. She apparently didn’t appreciate the message, but he thought it was kind of hilarious, I think that he’s actually starting to respect all of you and what you’re willing to do.”

  “Given what I know of him I’m not sure that I should consider that a compliment or not.”

  “For now, let’s just say yes. Especially since it means that all your requests for a meeting are definitely going to be met, though of course he doesn’t know that it was you who came up with the idea. I floated the possibility around him and he sank right into it, he told me to make myself visible to you as soon as possible and discuss where it’s to be held and when. I think he wants to be able to get some leverage before his wife decides to force another attack again.”

  “How wonderful, tell him that we want it to be held in the park near Turner and Rakefeld, at around dusk tomorrow. It’s close enough that he should still feel safe, but not so far out that we’ll be putting ourselves at unnecessary risk.” I leaned in to whisper, “If things go bad they know what you look like, but I’d still suggest dropping low and making yourself small.”

  “It’s not my first rodeo Amy, but thanks for the warning.” She lay her hand on my shoulder, sniffing gently and looking around to Damon. “Have you been crying?”

  He sighed, face the exact picture of someone who knew it was useless lying. “It’s been kind of a rough night, cut me some slack.”

  “Aww, the brother I knew would never have admitted to crying.” She grinned, thumping him in the chest and leaning against the car. “Good to see that you’ve grown up, crying’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “It is when your werewolf sister shows up being effortlessly cool, you kind of want to do everything you can to be cooler at that point.”

  “Hmm, that’s a good point. What a shame that you’ll never really be as cool as me huh?” She looked at me and Vincent, before whistling and waggling her eyebrows. “But a girlfriend and a boyfriend? Now that’s something that gives instant cool points, I’m gonna have to do some work to stay ahead now.”

  “Oh God,” He groaned, burying his face in his hands, “Please don’t start dating someone that I know, my fragile little heart won’t be able to take it.”

  “All I’m saying is that if someone’s willing to date a werewolf who has a literal vampire as their brother, somehow, then that means that I’ve picked up the coolest person in existence, which means that I’m back to being on top again.” She flicked his nose, popping her lips and smirking. “Enjoy your position while it lasts Damon, I’m not going to let you keep it.”

  “Ah,” Vincent said, watching the spectacle in front of us, “That’s what it’s like. I forgot what it’s like having a sibling.”

  “I thought you said that you remember her?”

  “Of course I do, I remember her. But the actual feeling of having a sister? That connection that you share that’s so special that nothing can break it… I lost my memories of that a very long time ago, I’ve felt so many other things since that I guess it just got lost in all the chaos.” He shrugged, smiling easily and watching with glee as Claire leapt onto the car to try and drag Damon down to the ground. “I’ll always have my memories of her, that’s the only thing that matters. But… I think that it’s almost like having a sister-in-law, isn’t it?”

  “Almost,” I said, sighing softly to myself, “Almost.”

  Chapter 8

  As the day went by while we waited for the meeting to start, I had ample time to sit and consider what kind of strategy we were going to employ against them if words really failed. No doubt everyone involved was going to try to be civil, I certainly still resented that my role had seemingly shifted from peacekeeper to warchief, but it didn’t matter how any of us felt about this, this hunter could very well just decide that he was fine with being undermined and attempt to kill us out of pure whim.

  I’d certainly come across enough men who were crazy enough to do so over the last couple of months, so I’m not exactly going to count on him being perfectly reasonable.

  “Amy,” Damon said, handing my phone over to me from his position on the couch, snapping me out of my moment of thought, “It’s Christine, she wants to speak to you.”

  “Oh, thank you,” I said, before standing and leaving the room with my phone in my hand. The least that I could do is give her a little privacy, even if Damon and Vincent could obviously be trusted, it was only polite. “Hello?”

  “Hello Amy,” She sighed, more from irritation at her injuries than anything to do with us, “I heard that you’re organizing a meeting with the man in charge of half of these shifters that we’ve been fighting against. That’s pretty bold for someone who’s as cut up as you are.”

  “Well, w
hat can you do right?” I asked, sitting down on the bed, “It’s a good enough plan with everyone backing us up, we might be able to widen the schism that’s opening up between him and his wife if we’re lucky.”

  “Schism? Why are you acting like a reverse marriage counselor? All I know is that Julian needs the help of some of my wolves, which of course he gets, but I’m coming into this completely blank.”

  “He didn’t know that we were going to be attacked yesterday, that was an order given by his wife, to another group of shifters that just arrived in town. According to Claire he’s furious, this probably interfered with any plans that he’d been building to ambush us or drive us into surrendering, now all we are is pissed off and stubborn.”

  “So you want to try and save us by… ruining his marriage?” She laughed, long and hard, before she hummed in thought, “That might actually work, I’ve seen fights won and lost for far stranger reasons than that after all.”

  “I can only imagine, all we have to do is be careful and watch him for any weird signs, and we’ll probably have to look out for his wife as well at this point. Even with that sign that you sent back to them, that could have just pissed them off too, we can’t forget that.”

  “Oh it absolutely pissed them off, but that was the entire idea. If they are angry then that means they’re reckless, and if they’re reckless that means they’ll make mistakes. But I think that we’ll have a day or two where the sight of their friend coming back maimed is stuck in their heads, they’ll be too scared to actually think about retaliating, and that gives us time to prepare and… do ridiculous things like this apparently.”

  “You’re going to be ok to fight if we have to?” I asked, “You were in pretty bad shape when we got you back to the warehouse.”

  “I’ve fought for longer and in worse shape before Amy, don’t worry. A few scratches like I got yesterday are nothing, they’re mostly all gone now anyway. All I need is a drink and an aspirin and I’ll be able to go for weeks if I have to.” Clearing her throat and leaning back in her chair, the old wood creaking into the receiver, Christine said, “I’m more worried about you, you’re nowhere near as durable as we are. You might be able to heal some more minor wounds, I saw the way those cuts were starting to stitch themselves back together yesterday, but get something bad enough and you’ll bleed out where you stand just like anyone else.”

  “Well I’ll just have to try and not get hit then won’t I?” I said, “Don’t worry about me Christine, I’ll be fine. I’ve got everyone looking out for me, I might be the safest woman in the whole city, even among those that aren’t involved in any of this.”

  “Well, considering that you share your bed with two vampires… I can’t really argue your point there. But just remember not to get sloppy, many people through the years have thought that they were completely safe from harm, and they were, right up until the moment that they weren’t. I don’t want that to happen to you because of overconfidence, always have a plan on how to get away or get the upper hand if you can, it’s the only real way that any of us will stay alive.”

  “How are the brothers treating you?” I asked, eager to get the topic away from my mortality, “They seemed dedicated to helping, have you found something for them to actually do?”

  “They definitely wouldn’t stop bothering me about giving them something to do, so finally I told them to just organize what shifters were able and the guards that we have watching the others into some kind of defensive force. If something goes wrong and we have to fight I’d rather not have to run through the madness to try and get everyone organized then.”

  “I felt bad not asking for their help specifically for this meeting, but there’s no way we could involve them, if he saw them out in the open he would absolutely pounce and try to grab them, they’re just too valuable.”

  “They’re still collaborating with the witches and vampires to find out what other ways they can help, so they’re far from idle. And even if they might be annoyed at it, I’m fairly confident that they’d understand, they might be young and brash but they are very far from stupid, they know there’s no way they can step within five miles of him and not have it be open war. I just wish they would stop annoying me…”

  “Oh trust me, half the conversations that I’ve had I’ve been hoping that they would go away and leave me alone as well, but they have a weird way of growing on you don’t they?” I laughed, brushing a strand of hair out of my eye and shrugging at no one, “I should probably leave you to heal, but I hope that you’re up to speed now.”

  “Up to speed and confused nonetheless, but I’m accepting of that. Just send word if you need more help, we’ll be there in an instant, no hesitation.”

  “No doubt about that, goodbye Christine.”

  Dropping the phone into the sheets, I drummed my fingers along my thigh before falling to my back and blowing a breath through my lips. Fighting was certainly a possibility tonight, and if that was the case we had incredible backup behind us, but I don’t think that the meeting is going to turn in that direction. Why then was I so uncertain about everything, is it because everything could actually go to plan for once? Or was it something else? I’d like to be able to say that I can foresee everything to do with everything, but that would be a lie… but I do know Cara.

  Grabbing my phone and dialing her number, I barely waited a moment after she picked up the phone to ask, “Have you had any other visions?”

  “I… hey to you too Amy, I’m doing fine thanks for asking.” She breathed, lips popping as she started a sentence before giving up. “Yeah, I had another little one after the weird dream last night, but it wasn’t anything like the old one, it was… I dunno, it was in the same place but nothing was there, why?”

  “Have you seen anything about a park, anything outside like that? Whatever you can remember will help.”

  “No I’m telling you Amy, that’s really all that I’ve seen. Maybe it means that it’s not going to happen anymore, maybe I’m just seeing another time now, I don’t know, but if I saw anything about any of you guys I would tell you right away, you know that.” A door closed on her end, obviously her getting more privacy. “Is there anything that I should know about? Because if there’s anything major going down then I might be able to tell you something specific if I actually know what’s happening.”

  “We’re having a meeting tonight, the leader of the first group of shifters and me, it’s in the park at around dusk, does that jog anything?”

  She thought for a moment, the only sound her breathing and the clicking of her tongue before she hummed in the negative, “No, nothing at all. I’m sorry Amy. Or… maybe I’m not? I don’t know, if I’m not seeing anything then maybe that means that nothing’s gonna go wrong?”

  “Maybe… we don’t really know anything about how your powers work, maybe you can only have a vision about something going wrong around you, not when things go right. Has Tariq come up with anything?”

  “Not yet, he’s looking through all the books he has, getting in contact with some of the elders he’s met before, but so far nothing. Looks like I’m still a mystery huh?”

  “You’ve always been a mystery Cara, since the day that I met you. No we’re just finding out how much of one, hell you’re even more remarkable than I am to the witches that we know, just let that go through your head for a moment,” I laughed, “I can occasionally talk to ghosts, occasionally, when their mood is right. But you can apparently look into a possible future and also erase us from just about every sense known to man aside from sight. Do you have any idea how amazing that is?”

  “I mean it is pretty cool,” She agreed, “Like I’m some b-tier X-Man or something, but I want to actually get to the point where I understand my powers and can be helpful, maybe I have a cool costume or something as well. This not understanding and being scared part fucking sucks.”

  “Well they always have a few issues when they’re first introduced where they’re all scared and useless befor
e they have that big moment of waking up to their powers, and you’ve already saved two people with yours, maybe even saved a lot of us depending on how much we’ve managed to change the future because of your vision, you’re getting started off early.”

  It was a strange kind of pep talk, but it seemed to do the job well enough, her grateful laughter the most wonderful sound I could hear as she fell back into her own sheets. “What would anyone else think if they knew that you did nerdy shit like read comic books?”

  “Please, I was a forensic investigator, that’s about the nerdiest job that you can possibly get, reading comics is a prerequisite almost. Maybe if the other guys at work picked up an issue or two they could have unwound instead of trying to kill me with the stick up their ass.”

  “Was that their mutant power? A big stick that came out of their ass?”

  “With the posture some of them had? Yeah maybe.”

  She snorted, laughing for a few moments before she sobered. “I’m still scared of all of this, of all the things I just hate not knowing, you know? I just want to know everything already instead of having to wake up to something new happening to my body, I hate not having control.”

  “I know Cara, I know,” I said, not even trying to convince her that she was wrong for thinking so, she wasn’t. “Once all this is over, and it will be soon, one way or another, we’ll spend all our time finding out what you can do, deal? You’re my best friend, and that still means something to me even after all these years and all these responsibilities, you’re going to be my first priority.”

  “Well, the next best thing that you can do is make sure that everyone stays safe and in line tonight, that’ll make me feel a whole world better about all of this.”

  “I’ll do my best, but you know the kind of hot heads that we’re friends with,” I laughed, smiling when she did too, “But if I can convince Damon and Vincent to not kill each other long enough to hop in bed with me and start caring about each other then I can sure get a couple of mortal enemies to sit around a table and be polite for a few hours.”