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I can control my scent, so I smell like most kinds of shifters, all kinds of vampires, or a human, but my mother would scent the truth no matter what I did. I probably wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else doing so, and yet, I made enough to freeze some extra anyway.
When I was certain not even my mother would pick up Etta’s scent on me, I went through a number of portals before landing in the mountains of Northern Italy. I made my last exit back into the earth realm with my arms out to the side while shouting, “It’s Ryan, in the flesh!”
My parents arrived with weapons drawn, put feelers out to be certain it was me, and then my dad hugged me. My mom, however, waited for me to go to her. Yeah, she holds a grudge.
She did allow me to hug her, but the second I stepped away, she said, “I’m guessing this isn’t a social call?”
“We all know it’s not, love,” my dad told her, “but maybe we could’ve pretended for a few minutes?”
I met my mom’s gaze and said, “I’m a disappointment, I get it, but I still have a job to do, and I need some insight into anyone in the Concilio you have a sense of going off script. Someone with a secret, or maybe a small group who seems unusually chummy?”
“Apollonius asked us similar questions,” my dad said. “What’s going on, son?”
Neither of them argued that I wasn’t a disappointment, but I focused on the job at hand. “Someone with extra security? Or more traffic going into and out of a stronghold you can’t penetrate?”
“Aye, but how do we know you aren’t on the side of the monsters? Why should we share intelligence with someone who—” Mom stopped talking when my dad touched her arm, and I addressed my parents as if I didn’t know them, as if they were some Slayer Tribunal I was obligated to speak to.
“You know how close Blade and I were. Even if I didn’t approve of her choices, and I didn’t, there was no way I could support the death sentence you wanted on her head. She’s a good Slayer, one of the best, and she’s even better now, and that’s because she’s gotten to know the vampires so well.”
“And yet, she hasn’t added to the library,” my mom noted. “If she has all of this never-before-known data, she needs to record it and share it with her fellow Slayers.”
That was an argument I wasn’t stepping into. I understood why Blade was keeping information to herself, but there was no way to explain without digging a sinkhole I’d never argue my way out of.
“The humans in Blade’s city are safer from the supernaturals than those in most other major metropolitan areas in the world. She’s doing a stand-up job despite the fact she’s partnered with a Master Vampire.” Actually, probably in part because she’s partnered with the vampire and the wolf, but no need in going there with my parents. “She isn’t putting humans at risk. I’ve found that working with the monsters who are trying to do good helps me fight the ones who victimize humans. I will never advocate that all Slayers follow this plan of action, but for some of us, it works. Evil Master Vampires will always have to be treated as the foes they are, and even the vampires and shapeshifters who want to do right must be observed and monitored to be certain they don’t lose control or change their modus operandi.”
Both just stared at me, and I tried another tact. “My methods would never work with the Concilio as a whole. I believe it’s wise to partner with Apollonius and a few others who have proven themselves to be on the side of good over the centuries, but for the most part, the entire council operates too much like an insane game where there has to be winners and losers, rather than allowing everyone to just live their fucking life.”
I took a breath and recentered myself. It wouldn’t do for me to show too much emotion.
“You’ve never specialized in the visceral vampires,” my father noted. “I believe we should move someone with expertise in them to Chattanooga, and bring you back into the fold for a time.”
I would never return to their fold, and they knew it.
“It’s time I learned more about them. I’ve spent dozens of hours reading about them, and I’ve traded favors with a few specialists so I could pick their brains. The best way to learn is to do.”
“You’ll be dealing with Etta.” My mother said. “She should’ve been exterminated centuries ago, but she excels at riding the line, so we never had a legitimate reason to do so.”
Slayers don’t answer to any outside source, but in the past, when we’ve killed all monsters, whether they were killing humans or not, the wars between our people and theirs had ended up killing more humans than anyone could stomach — not to mention the loss of valuable Slayers. So, we’d negotiated with the Concilio so they wouldn’t retaliate for a class of legitimized kills. The monsters weren’t happy about it, but so long as we only killed them under specific circumstances, we didn’t piss them off enough to gather together and join forces against us, and it all worked out. Mostly.
“My first conversation with Etta was shocking not because I saw brutality in her, but because I saw a level of compassion one doesn’t often see in any race — slayer, human, shifter, or vampire. I feel confident Marco’s top five intend to behave. There are some eagle shifters I have my eye on, and one will likely die by my hand in the coming days, but so far, the vampires are behaving.”
“And the vampires brought the eagles?” my dad asked. Which meant in his eyes, the vampires were as responsible as the eagles.
“Marco left most of his security forces for the incoming vampire in New York. The Amakhosi wasn’t thrilled with the prospects of having a dozen or more lions in his territory who belong to a vampire. Nathan would’ve been strong enough to break the ties, and it’s likely his inner lion would’ve done so even if the human parts of him understood why it was a bad idea. So, Marco left his lions and hired a team of eagles. It’s a work in progress.”
Dad pursed his lips. “And the Amakhosi’s pairing with The Harlequin and Ares?”
“Mordecai and Kirsten, yes. The threesome seems as strong as ever. Only Nathan is in our purview. I no longer believe I could exterminate Kirsten. I would try, if she began harming humans, but thankfully, I do not see a scenario where that would happen.” Unless someone hurt or abducted Lauren, and then all bets were off.
“And the daughter? Do we know what she is?” Mom asked.
I shook my head. “She’s about to get her degree. I don’t see her often, but when I do, she still comes off as human. She doesn’t fight like one, but I have no answers where she’s concerned.” I had her on my list to check in on every six months, because I had a feeling something was going to change with her eventually. Odds were, I’d hear about it through the grapevine if anything changed, but I still checked in on her twice a year.
“There’s a coterie house very near the Piazza de Priscilla,” Dad said, and Mom shot him a look that told me she didn’t approve of him sharing. “It’s an apartment building — the upper floors for flock and a top-notch security team, underground floors for vampires. The underground provides access to catacombs that were originally an annex of the Catacombs of Priscilla, but are no longer accessible by any means we can find, other than through the sub-basement of the apartment building.”
“And you’ve noted high traffic?”
He shook his head ever-so-slightly. “We’ve noted magical disturbances.”
