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“I tend to believe visits with the seer are best left as a surprise.”
There was a profound logic in this, since no one in their right mind would want to spend time with Monica if they didn’t have to. I used to think Sig was the most frightening vampire I’d ever met, but that was before spending ten minutes alone with Monica. She might have been permanently trapped in the body of a cute little girl, but it wasn’t fooling anyone. Her blind eyes saw everything, and I couldn’t imagine a person alive or dead who wanted their past laid bare by her.
“You have a plan, then?” Holden asked.
“In all the time you’ve known me, Mr. Chancery, have you ever found me to be unprepared?”
“No.”
“Two thousand years is an awfully long time to come up with contingency plans.”
“So what do you have in mind?” I asked warily.
“We may want to invite your friends downstairs. You’re going to be here awhile longer than you anticipated.”
Chapter Eighteen
“No. Nope. Uh-uh.” I shook my head emphatically. “We aren’t staying. We have a city to save. Sorry.”
“You are not a superhero, my dear. The city is not yours to save, and I’m afraid for the time being the people of New York will need to continue to fend for themselves.”
“Did I say no? I’m pretty sure I said no.”
“You said no,” Holden agreed.
I pointed to him as if to say, See, he agrees. Sig was unmoved.
“Once you have appeased the council, you may go about your business however you choose to. If that means throwing yourself onto the pyre this city has become, then by all means. I will even volunteer the assistance of whichever vampires I have at my disposal to help you find and destroy these irritating necromancers.”
I sensed a but coming.
“But you have no choice in the current matter. You will stay here until the elders are satisfied, and I will not be swayed in this.”
“I can’t—”
“Don’t make me remind you I can force you to stay like I forced you to come down here. My invitation earlier was a polite suggestion compared to what I could make you do. Have you forgotten so soon?”
How could I forget what he’d done? I had barely walked away from it with what little sanity I had left. “I remember.”
“Then you will stay.”
What choice did I have? He was right. He could make me do whatever I wanted, and any free will I thought I had here was no more than an illusion. I was going to stay whether I liked it or not, and I definitely did not like it.
“Mr. Chancery, would you be kind enough to collect the rest of your group?”
“Tribunal Leader Sig?” he replied, his voice hesitant.
“Hmm?”
“We’ve made an alliance with Lucas Rain’s werewolves. They and several human police officers are expecting our return and know we’ve come here.”
“And?”
“Might I suggest we have one of the wardens deliver a message to them? So they don’t send in reinforcements when we don’t immediately return.”
“I could go myself,” I suggested. Both vampires gave me condescending glances. Nice. Really nice. “Or not.”
“Send Sutherland,” Sig declared.
