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“Yes,” Cain says. “Roanac has an army.”
North shakes his head. “No, we need an army. If we’re going to go up against Roanac, we need to have an army to match his. Otherwise we’re not going to be able to get him alone, get him vulnerable. Kiara’s right. Her glamour is powerful, but it wouldn’t be enough to distract an entire army of shades. We have to match strength with strength. Then we can get Roanac separate from his army, keep the shades occupied, and possibly get him weakened.”
“That’s smart,” I agree. “But where are we going to get an entire army? I don’t exactly have a lot of friends I can call up and ask to help us out.”
“Maybe not.” North cocks his head. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t find some allies. This is going to affect the entire supernatural community, and it’s already affecting the fae.”
“The fae aren’t going to want to fight against Roanac,” I argue. “We’ve tried that. We’ve had to go into hiding against the vampires! The fae have already lost too much. We can’t risk ourselves for something like this and possibly get wiped out completely.”
“But if we don’t stand up to him,” Cain points out, “then we’ll be wiped out completely anyway. It’s a no-win situation.”
“I think most fae would rather take their chances with hiding and running after all they’ve already been through,” I reply. “That’s what I did. It’s a strategy that’s kept us from being wiped out. There’s no reason for most fae to think that it wouldn’t work in this case, too.”
“Both of you make good points,” North says, interrupting us, “but I’m not thinking of recruiting the fae. I’m thinking of recruiting the vampires.”
My jaw drops, but before I can say anything, Cain predictably explodes.
“You can’t be serious. Are you serious? How are you serious?” Cain’s demonic side shows as he snarls, his eyes glowing, his skin warming with his innate fire. I can smell brimstone. “Those assholes are good for nothing. There’s no reason we can ever trust them. Just look at Donovan. He’s not loyal to fucking anyone. He’ll do whatever it takes to save his own damn skin. Why should we trust any other vampire to stick with us instead of defecting to Roanac?”
“Because most vampires aren’t like Donovan,” North replies. He keeps his voice calm but firm, not rising to Cain’s temper but still reminding him who the true alpha is around here. “Vampires pride themselves on being powerful and controlling others. The idea of a vampire who will bow to another and be cowardly, and allow himself to be caught not once but twice by fae? That’s going to be a huge stain on his reputation. I don’t think most other vampires would stand for it. I hate the bastards as much as any fae, but Cain, you have to admit that Donovan’s actions aren’t their usual style.”
“I hate to say this,” I add, “but I agree with North. Vampires are proud. Arrogant. They won’t want to submit to Roanac or anyone else. Maybe if we go to them with the information that this mage is trying to take them over, they’ll listen. Especially if we tell them the shit that Donovan’s been up to.”
“You want us tovoluntarilygo to vampires,” Cain says. “And expect them not to try to fucking suck us dry. Good fucking luck with that.”
“People say that the new king is different,” Raven offers up cautiously. “That he’s not like the others.”
Cain scoffs. “I’ve also heard about people finding unicorns. You can’t believe everything that goes through the grapevine. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“How are you going to see it to believe it if you won’t go and check it out for yourself?” I point out.
“Et tu, Brutus?” Cain asks.
“King Malcolm is different from his father,” Raven insists. “He’s forbidden vampires to hunt fae like they once did. And he seems to be more interested in protecting the supernatural world than his father.”
The previous king was Carrick, and he was well known for always looking inward. He cared only about his own pleasure and power, for taking care of his people, the vampires, and not giving a shit about anyone else. If it benefitted the vampires then who cared if others got hurt along the way? He bought into that whole ‘the strongest deserve to lord over the weaker’ mentality.
I’ve also heard rumors that Malcolm isn’t like that. That he has started changing things. But is it really worth it to us to risk going to see for ourselves? We could just be walking right into our deaths. And just because Malcolm’s better in some ways doesn’t mean that he’s going to listen to a handful of random fae or that he’ll risk his people over a threat that we might be lying about.
“So, what, you want to just waltz into the Penumbra?” Cain asks Raven. “Who says we’ll even get to speak to Malcolm? You can’t just walk in and speak with the king. That’s not how anything works.”
“You got any other bright ideas, Cain?” North snaps. “Because as far as I can tell, this is the only one we have. I can’t go to the shifters. I’m weak to them because I can’t shift, they’re not going to listen to a weakling. And they don’t practice magic the way that we do. They won’t see Roanac as a threat to them until it’s too late. We can’t trust demons, obviously.”
True. You don’t go to demons for help unless you’re really stupid or beyond desperate.
“And there aren’t enough gargoyles to make up the kind of army we’d need,” North concludes. “But the vampires have got a stake in this too. Roanac’s got one of their own under his command and it stands to reason he’ll want others. Or at least will think that he can control them the way that he does Donovan. The other vampires won’t appreciate that. And where the vampires will go, others in the supernatural community will follow. Whether we like it or not…”
“And we don’t,” Cain mutters.
“Whether we like it or not,” North repeats, “the supernatural community really fears vampires. They’ll follow their lead. If we can get Malcolm on board, we’re sure to have a full army to combat Roanac.”
“Can we risk going to the Penumbra, though?” I ask. “I’m not saying that this is a bad idea. But it’s a big risk to go to the seat of vampire power. We’ll be completely surrounded. If things go badly, if they decide they want to eat us, we’ll have no chance of escape.”
I’ve never been to the Penumbra personally, but I know about it. All fae do. It’s located in the Appalachian Mountains in Maine, hidden away from prying human eyes. We all stay far away from Maine in general because of it. Can’t risk a vampire finding you because they were on their way to or from the Penumbra.
North nods. “I know it’s a risk. But it’s not any more of a risk than going after Roanac is, and we don’t really have a choice. We need an army if we’re going to have a hope of defeating him. And no matter what we do, our lives are at stake. So here we are.”
Cain still looks like he wants to put up a fight, but he doesn’t say anything. Probably because he knows that North is right, as loathe as Cain might be to admit it. I’m pretty damn loathe to admit it myself, but here we are.
