I take a moment, wanting to get it right. ‘Everything I’ve seen here, the way vampires and humans coexist, it’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I’m dedicating my reign to making a better world for humans and vampires. And I believe the Reaper model is the perfect solution. I don’t want to expose your network. I just want to use the same model.’
‘And if we won’t work with you?’
‘Then I’ll keep your secret.’
‘You’ve seen the news footage?’
I nod. ‘Cass just showed me. Another reason I want to get back. I need to fix this, not hide in the woods.’
Ira’s eyes narrow briefly. ‘All right. Let them both go.’
‘But General?—’
‘That’s an order, Captain.’
Cass’s mouth tightens, then she nods. ‘Sir.’
‘You both leave on the next transport,’ Ira says. ‘I’ll escort you personally.’
‘Thank you.’ Relief overwhelms me, my knees wobbling. ‘Thank you so much.’
* * *
We reach the clearing as the sky pales, the first fingers of sunrise reaching through the dappled leaf cover. A van pulls up, nondescript, the paint a faded blue. Ira, masked against thelight, opens the back door. Inside are seats, set against the walls. ‘Get in.’
Michael and I climb in, and Ira pulls the door closed behind him as the van starts to move. There’s a click, and a portable candle lamp blooms in the darkness, the glow faint but enough to see by as Ira pulls off the mask and goggles.
‘Do my parents know?’
‘That I’m a Reaper? No. And I’d prefer it remained that way.’ His voice is a rumble. The van sways.
‘And the club?’
‘Is a front. A transport point, for humans passing through. Sometimes they work in the bar while they wait for a space to open up.’
‘Like Toby?’ The young man I saw in a cage, the first time I went to the Dome. And who died in a dark meadow, torn apart by Mistral.
‘Yeah.’
‘How did he end up at the Moon Harvest? I know he wasn’t a rebel.’
‘How do you think?’
Sickness rolls over me. ‘Kyle.’
‘He fucked me over. He was a Reaper, as you know, but then got caught and sent to the pits. When I saw him with you at the Dome, I couldn’t believe it. He started working for me again, helping humans onto the network. But he was also working for Mistral. And sometimes, people didn’t end up where they were supposed to be. Toby, poor kid, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
‘Is that how you knew to check on me?’ Ira sent wine, after seeing Kyle and me at the Moon Harvest. A ruse to check I made it home safe.
‘I had my suspicions, but no proof. But I knew there was a leak somewhere in the network. It wasn’t until Kyle died that I figured it out.’
‘What about the North Wind? Did Jane and Andrew really knock on your door, like you said?’
‘No. They got picked up by a Reaper patrol after an illegal hunt, then brought to me. We thought they were prey, not the organisers.’ His tone darkens. ‘They asked for the meeting with your parents; told me they wanted to surrender. I think their funding was running low, once Mistral was killed. Perhaps they thought it was a way in.’
‘And I gave them a whole new community.’ I shake my head. ‘I’m an idiot.’
‘You were trying to make a difference. Never feel bad about that. You weren’t to know they were hunters.’
