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Trillian and Wade stared at us like we were crazy.
"You want us to cancel the meeting?" Delilah said. "Listen, we have a room filled with Weres, vamps, and other assorted Supes here, many of whom don't like each other. Do you really want to tell them they came all this way for tea and cookies?"
"What's going on?" Trillian asked as he closed in behind Camille and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I didn't say to cancel the meeting, but we have a problem." I nodded toward the crowd. "Grandmother Coyote warned us to keep our mouths shut about Shadow Wing. I'm not keen on going against her advice, especially when I've apparently got some whopper of a job coming at me in order to pay for it."
"Not only that," Camille said, "but we have another problem. Morgaine and Mordred showed up here—"
"Wait a minute," Trillian broke in. "You mean to tell me that Morgaine was in this room? As in Morgan Le Fay?" He glanced around, looking all too interested. Camille elbowed him a good one in the stomach.
"She was," she said. "Don't get too interested. She's not your speed. Apparently she and her little retinue are out to find and awaken the Merlin. We don't know why, but according to Mordred, it involves some plan to 'reclaim what is ours.'"
"Whatever that means," I said, interrupting. "Problem is, Grandmother Coyote warned us not to trust them—Morgaine is up to something and we better be cautious in any future dealings with her." I let out a little hiss of irritation. This was turning into a nightmare before it even began.
Wade, who had remained silent until now, cleared his throat. "You trust this coyote woman?"
"She's not a woman, she's one of the Hags of Fate. The Hags of Fate watch over the threads of destiny. Occasionally—when it suits their purposes—they intervene to right the balance." Camille rubbed her chin. "Believe me, if she gives advice, pay attention. She doesn't offer her help to everybody, and her advice doesn't come cheap."
Morio, who had been listening quietly, spoke up. "Camille's right. Ignore Grandmother Coyote at your peril. She's on our side, even if it doesn't seem like it at times. I have an idea on how to bail out of this mess. May I?" He gestured to the podium.
Wade cleared his throat. "Go ahead," he said. "I'm drawing a blank."
With a glance to see if the rest of us objected—and no one did—Morio moved to the podium as we took our places in the chairs on either side of the lectern. I could feel Camille holding her breath, and I knew she was wondering what the youkai was going to pull out of his bag of tricks this time.
Morio held up his hand. "Please take your seats. We're ready to start the meeting." Everyone slowly milled to his chair and in a moment, the room was silent, a pensive apprehension in the air.
"Thank you for coming out to the meeting and supporting our attempts to reach a broad section of the local Supe community. We appreciate your time and attention." He waited for the perfunctory clapping to subside. "I'm Morio, a youkai-kitsune, and as you know, these are Camille, Menolly, and Delilah, from Otherworld. And this is your host tonight, Wade Stevens, the leader of Vampires Anonymous. Together we're hoping to forge important bridges in the Supe community, especially given the serious nature of several events that occurred over the past few days."
That caught their attention. The crowd quieted down, waiting.
Morio motioned me up to the lectern. "Now would be a good time to mention the vampire slayings," he whispered.
Not entirely positive he was on track but willing to give it a try, I took my place in front of the microphone. "My name is Menolly D'Artigo, and I'm the owner of the Wayfarer Bar and Grill. The issue that set this meeting in motion is one that the Supe community must address. We need your help with an immediate crisis. Over the past few days, several rogue vampires have taken to murdering humans. They not only murdered them, but they've been raising them. This is not just a problem for the human community. These vamps could just as easily target Weres and other nonvampiric Supes."
A low murmur raced through the room. I'd caught their attention, all right. I cleared my throat and continued. "Obviously, we can't tell the general public about the slayings. We feel that, at this point, no other humans should know about this problem other than those affiliated with the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigation team. But we thought if we appealed to you, to the Supe community at large, we might be able to form a Sub-Cult network in order to better police ourselves."
The buzz that ran through the meeting hall sounded like a hive of bees. Back in OW, this would be a given. Earthside Supes had a ways to catch up, but that wasn't surprising given how most of them had stayed in the closet until the past couple of years.
Camille joined me at the podium. "My sister is correct. We must stop turning a blind eye to those who insist on breaking the codes of conduct, whether vampire, Were, or any other form of Supe. If we can create a network, we can prevent the innocent, be they human or Supe, from being targets of any—and I mean any—hate group or psychotic killer."
As the silence grew thicker, I realized just how touchy this issue was. But if we could manage to stir up a united front, then when the time came to truly inform them about the demons, they'd be ready and able to fight.
After a moment, Brett, a vampire who'd wholeheartedly thrown himself in with the V.A. group, stood. "I understand that nobody wants to be a snitch, but if somebody's hurting the community, they're hurting all of us. We owe it to ourselves to root out the troublemakers."
He appealed to the crowd. "We all lose if we let rogue Supes break our code of ethics. The leaders of all the clans and nests forged treaties and agreements long ago, in secret. They agreed to stand by those canons. What good are oaths and pledges if we ignore those who break the rules?"
Venus the Moon Child stood. All eyes turned. Everybody knew who the shaman was, and everybody—regardless of what clan they were from or what kind of Were or Supe they were—acknowledged his strength and wisdom.
Delilah, who was out in the audience, microphone in hand, made her way over to him.
"I'm authorized to make oath-pledges for the Rainier Puma Pride," the shaman said. "The D'Artigo sisters and their friends have made an excellent point. I need no more encouragement. Tonight I pledge the Rainier Pumas to help out in building a true Supe community, in whatever way we can. You have us as allies." The sturdy shaman spit in his hand and held it out to Delilah. She spit in hers before clasping it tightly.
As soon as Venus the Moon Child sealed his pact, the marshal of the Olympic Wolf Pack followed suit. The Sellshyr Nest, a group of vamps who ran the Sub-Cult club BloodVain, also pledged their support. Two emissaries from an Earthside Fae family, the Vineyard Nymphs, also pledged their family's aid. The Blue Road Tribe and the Loco Lobo Pack agreed to discuss the matter with their elders and get back to us by midweek.
"How do we do this?" one of the Loco Lobo members asked. "Who's going to be in charge?"
Morio took the podium again. "We haven't decided on details yet. We're hoping to form a unified council from all tribes involved. Ideally we'd like to forge a network so that when one clan or nest or pride has a problem, everyone knows within a couple of hours. Only through unity can we ensure that we don't lose our rights as laws are enacted that affect our lives. Humans are well aware of our existence now, and you can be sure that soon there will be groups trying to both protect our rights, and—like the Freedom's Angels seek to do—to strip them away."
