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As we headed for the door, Carter stopped us. “One last thing. You must go to the Elfin Queen and tell her of the danger. She has to be prepared, should the unthinkable happen.”
And on that note, we headed home for a quick nap and dinner before the Supe Community meeting. There was so much on my mind that I felt a million miles away.
Chapter 14
Vampires Anonymous was rocking by the time we took a nap, ate dinner, and drove to the hall, in what had once been the home of Sassy Branson, socialite vampire who had been on our side until her predator nature overtook her.
She’d bequeathed her mansion to the group, and now it was used as both halfway house to help vamps new to the life and the headquarters for the Pacific Northwest Regency of the North American Branch of the Vampire Nation. That was the long title for Frederick Corvax’s position. But everybody just called him the Regent, according to Menolly.
The mansion was surrounded by an electric fence and patrolled by hired guards during the day, by vampire guards at night. It had taken on the appearance of a fortress, but considering the fear vampires struck among the general populace, that wasn’t surprising. They were slowly assimilating into the public’s mindset, but while the Weres hadn’t had such a hard time being accepted, or the Fae, the vampires were the last bastion of discrimination.
Tonight, the guards were on full alert. I recognized several vampires from Wade’s VA group—including Brett, a comic book fiend who had taken on the superhero alter ego of Vamp-Bat once he was turned. But most looked hardened and experienced. Roman must have moved a new group of soldiers into the area when he officially took over for his mother.
Menolly had gone on ahead, as both Roman’s official consort and a founding member of the Supe Community. Even though Roman wouldn’t be there, she was expected to put in an appearance.
Smoky had come, along with Trillian, Vanzir, and Rozurial. Shade and Morio stayed home to watch over Hanna and Maggie. I saw a shimmer in the trees and a group of Fae walked through a portal—reps from the Triple Threat, no doubt. This was shaping up to be one of the biggest meetings we’d ever had.
As we pulled through the gates, I steeled myself. Facing the community wasn’t going to be easy, considering the pull Exo Reed had exuded. The backlash could tear the Supe Community apart, if our enemies had generated enough fear.
We entered the foyer. In the intervening time since Sassy had died the final death and Wade had taken over, the mansion had gone from genteel home to spacious but official offices. The personal touches were gone, while the elegance remained.
“Hello, the Mistress is waiting in the meeting room.” Erin Marshal, Menolly’s sired adult child, bounced over, a spring in her step I hadn’t seen since before she was turned. Erin had been through a lot, but now she was the official secretary for the VA, and she was doing an excellent job. Wade was helping her make all the adjustments she needed to know for her new life and she was learning far faster than she had with Sassy. She lived here, on site.
“Hi, Erin. Good to see you.” Camille raised her hand, shyly smiling. She and Erin had been good friends before Erin was turned. Now, they seldom got a chance to talk. Erin still needed to learn how to react around the living without supervision, and Camille never knew what to say.
Erin gave her a fangy smile and waved, before clutching her clipboard to her chest and taking off again.
We filed into what had been the parlor. Now a meeting room, it—and the smaller office next to it—had been opened up to form one large hall. Devoid of the heavy furniture Sassy had loved, it had plenty of space for a large group to congregate.
Camille and I moved to the front of the room along with Morio, while the others took seats in the first row. Menolly was waiting for us, talking to a European-looking man who wore a very expensive suit. Frederick Corvax. He gave me the chills, almost more so than Roman. Frederick had that same suave European feel that Roman did, but he hadn’t had time to assimilate to American culture. Roman had some semblance of familiarity, even though he was a vampire. Frederick was cold and aloof.
As we took our seats up front, I glanced over the sea of faces. They were somber, some tearful. Five deaths in the Supe Community had a far-reaching effect. Everybody had been touched in one way or another. From losing family and friends to the fear of being the next random target, the worry was apparent on every face in the room.
After a few minutes, Menolly and I stood up and approached the microphone. We could probably be heard without it, but considering there were well over one hundred people packed into the room, we decided to go for it.
“Welcome to the February meeting of the Supe Community Council.” I took a long breath, then plunged in. We’d do this by the book; that way it would assuage panic. I started with reading the minutes from the past meeting, then moved on to thanking Frederick—and Roman, by default—for the use of the meeting hall.
After a moment, I looked out over the sea of faces. How to dive in? How do you warn a group of people that they may all be targets because of the grudge of some madmen?
“We have a problem. By now, I’m sure all of you have heard about the explosion that happened at the Supe Community Hall. Here are the bare bones of the case.” I laid out the facts of what had happened, leaving out the demonic overtones. I also made sure to include Andy Gambit’s poking around the ruins the next morning. “We don’t want you to bother Gambit, but we have to do something to counter him. We have to discuss this as a community. Before we address that, we have a bigger problem. But first, any questions?”
As I looked around, one of the Blue Road Tribe werebears raised his hand. I pointed to him. “Jonas?”
“Was the explosion a hate crime?” He stood, a big bear of a man, burly and looking like a linebacker in a three-piece suit. With curly black hair and a tidy goatee, he looked like he could rip my head off without blinking.
I shook my head. “Your question brings me to the bigger issue I mentioned. This was not a hate crime in the sense you’re thinking. This wasn’t the Church of the Earthborn Brethren or the Freedom’s Angels who did this. Remember when the werewolves were killed a few months ago? We are facing the same problem again. Koyanni have moved into the area.”
Before even the thought of a backlash could occur, I quashed the seeds. “This is not the fault of the upstanding coyote shifters who live here—Marion’s family and the others. She lost her sister to them. No, we know the Koyanni moved in and they are aiming for her as much as they are for us. They’ve brought sorcerers with them. The explosion was caused, as far as we can tell, by a fire charm. And before the explosion, they struck at Wilbur Folkes, a friend and neighbor of ours. We found him this morning—still alive, but severely injured. They’ve also terrorized the Davinaka Mall and killed two people there.”
Jonas nodded. “What can we do? Who will they strike next?”
I glanced at Menolly. She nodded for me to answer.
“We don’t know,” I said, turning back to answer him. “The fact is that we have no idea who they’re going to target next. We’re following up leads to find them as quickly as we can. But until then, we have to band together. Check with your friends and neighbors. Make certain you don’t go out alone—go in a pack.”
“How is that going to stop them from blowing up someplace else? It just means more people might get hurt at once.” Another man stood. I placed him from the Olympic Wolf Pack but didn’t remember his name.
I wanted to reassure him. I wanted to offer some sort of guarantee, but the facts were that we couldn’t assure anyone of anything. “It’s not. But it may prevent these same sorcerers from dragging off lycanthropes again to make Wolf Briar, which they were doing before.”
