Page 50 of Blood Magic

“May we come in?”

“That depends. Who are you and what are you selling?”

“We represent the council,” the man said, his voice low. “You called us, Ms. Silver. Let us come inside.” He was slightly balding, with light brown eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses. He was also wearing a suit, and he was also a little aggressive.

The third woman looked similar to the first woman but she was shorter, plumper, and looked a little nicer. Her smile seemed genuine.

I stepped back. “Come in.”

After I showed them to the living room I invited them to sit down and offered them refreshments, which they refused. I had to admit I was curious about their visit and honestly, I was shocked that they’d shown up at all. I hadn’t even expected a call back.

I sat down across from them and Ash plopped down at my feet, chewing one of his toys—not a squeaky one, thank goodness.

They got right to the point. “I’m Mrs. Nash,” the first woman said. “This is Mr. Olson, and this is Ms. Rose.”

Mr. Olson gave me a nod, but Ms. Rose got to her feet and offered me her hand. “Lilah,” she said.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I told her.

“The councils have become aware that the county master is wandering into forbidden territory,” Mrs. Nash said. “And our attempts to bring him back are met with denial.”

“Lies,” Mr. Olson said. “Our attempts are met with lies.”

“What do you want me to do?” I leaned forward. “Give me his daytime resting place and I’ll take his head and make it so he’s no longer a problem for any of us.”

They gaped at me.

“Ms. Silver,” Mr. Olson sputtered. “We neither condone nor sanction the cold-blooded murder of our county masters.”

I wrinkled my nose, confused. “Then why are you here? And before you get too comfy up there on your high horses, let me remind you that Axton is fucking with the humans. Killing them. Causing them to kill each other.” I narrowed my eyes, pissed at them. “And I plan on taking that asshole out, with or without your sanctioning.”

“The councils don’t want to kill him,” Mrs. Nash said. “They want to control him. And they will. But they have a proposal for you—one that does not involve you staking the county master.”

Too bad for them. “Proposal?”

“You are a wolf, but that’s not all you are.”

I recoiled, but only inside where they couldn’t see. I was pretty sure I kept my face blank. I said nothing.

Finally, Lilah spoke. “Kait,” she said, gently, “we understand you are a powerful woman who has a foot in both the nonhumans’ and the humans’ worlds. You are a wolf, but you have connections to the vampires. You have connections to the spirit world, the demons, the shifters, the humans…you are trusted, strong, and you are a truly…good person. You are fair. You are a protector. You defeated an exsoloup—which means that even if you’re not a demon, there’s something inside you that…” She spread her hands. “Well, we don’t quite know. Not yet. But the councils want you.”

My mouth went dry and I reached down to run my fingers over Ash’s body to calm myself. “The vampire council wants me to spy for them?” I asked, finally. I wasn’t sure what the powerful council would do to me for turning them down, but I reckoned I was about to find out.

“Not only the vampire council,” Mrs. Nash said. “All the councils. Vampires, each shifter council—”

“Being the councils’ tattletale,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “That doesn’t sit right with me.”

Mr. Olson sighed. “Not a tattler, Ms. Silver. More of a disciplinarian, really.”

“A tyrant, then,” I said drily. “That’s better.”

They were not amused by my sarcasm. “We need help policing the local nonhuman groups,” Mrs. Nash said, anger in her eyes. “You do this already. Why are you reluctant to do it for us?”

I shrugged. “Maybe because I don’t like authority, and if I worked for the councils, they’d try to tell me how to do what I do. Right?”

They looked at each other.

“We only want to give you the authorization and authority to police the nonhumans in your city,” Lilah said finally. “Exactly the way you do now but without the part where you have to beg for permission to do it.”