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“Let’s talk about it with Nathan and Kirsten, and Mordecai if they can pull him in, and then we’ll all decide together what Ryan is told,” Marco told Etta.
Etta tilted her head, considering. Kirsten says the Strigorii look a little like insects when they don’t remember to try to look human, and she has a point. It’s endearing when Marco does it, but I admit it’s more than a little creepy when Etta does so. I wondered, briefly, if Ryan felt the other way around about it.
“Ryan knows I fuck other people when I feed,” Etta told Marco, “and he accepts that, just as I accept he sometimes fucks people as part of his job. I didn’t cheat on him, that isn’t the issue.” She crossed her arms. “I can’t lie to him. I simply can’t face him if I’ve told him an untruth about sex, Marco, my Master. Also, he’d see the lie anyway, so there’s no use. I understand you get to decide what he knows about the skins, but after thinking it over, it’s my belief he needs to know everything I experienced.”
“And if I order you to continue the relationship without telling him, you’ll attempt to defy me?”
“Whoa,” I said. “Not cool, Marco. I’m in agreement that Ryan needs the full details, but even if I wasn’t, it wouldn’t work to put Etta into that position.”
“Etta is mine. I make these decisions about my people.” He kept his gaze on Etta when he spoke, and didn’t even glance in my direction.
“I thought you wanted to join us together? What happens if we do? Will you force me to do your will as you’re trying to force Etta?” I stood up straighter. “In fact, why don’t you do just that. Force me to back off and stop defending your Secundo. Show us all what a big, strong vampire you are!”
I know that giving vampires an ultimatum is a super-bad idea, but I just couldn’t help myself. He pissed me off, pulling rank on Etta in that manner. With my top people, while I can do so, I trust their opinions enough we talk about things when they feel strongly about something.
And I’d worried about just this thing — how he’d react if we joined together and then couldn’t agree on a plan of action. If he was going to try to subvert my willpower, I needed to know if he could do it now, not later.
“Do it, Marco. Force me to back off,” I repeated.
He shook his head. “Even if I won, I’d lose. If you feel this strongly about it, we need to back up and find another way.”
I’d been all geared up for conflict, and his words took the air out of my sails.
“So, we share everything with Ryan that Etta feels we should?”
“No, but we’ll all sit down and talk about it and see what agreement we can come to.”
“Works for me,” Nathan said. “I’m with Cora in that it feels as if we should keep him updated. He’s offered to help, and we could use the power, talent, and other resources he can bring.”
* * * *
Marco
They weren’t wrong, but my hands were tied, if I were to follow the Concilio’s rules, and it seemed a good idea to not give the ruling vampires a reason to detain me, considering the manner we’d just left their stronghold.
“Here’s the thing,” I told everyone in the room. “No matter what was said about wanting the slayers to know facts over rumors, I’m still obligated to keep the information from the slayers, and that means I must also control my people. This means Etta can’t tell him, and neither can I. Nor can I or my people vote that the group should tell him.”
“So, four of you voting against?” Kirsten said. “There’ll be five of us once we pull Mordecai in, but that means all of us will have to agree, and I have no idea how Mordecai is going to come down on this, or if he’ll even vote.”
I could sense a lot of telepathy happening, and then Kirsten, Cora, and Ranger were gone.
“They’ve gone to tell Ryan?” I asked Nathan.
“Yes,” Mordecai said as he flashed into the room. “And now I will take Nathan so he can hear the story as well. I’m aware of what happened, but I’d like to be present while it’s told.”
I was suddenly alone with Etta, Venom, and Furio, so I stood and motioned them to follow me. “Let’s head to my quarters. We’ll let Julian know we’re back, and we’ll get caught up on what we can while we wait.”
“I don’t think this will take long,” Etta told me. “Cora’s only going to tell him about our experience with the skins, the part we’re forbidden from telling, and then they’ll bring him back here, or will pull us to them, so we can tell him about the rest of the trip.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and tried to turn it on, but it was bricked. Etta did the same, and hers turned on.
“I have a laptop in my office here,” I told her. “I’ll message Julian that way. Cora will know where to find me when they return. I should call John-John in Charlotte and check in with him.” I sighed. “I’ll call Josef first, then John-John.”
Chapter 18
Cora
Ryan listened calmly, but only because Kirsten and I both promised him Etta was in the underground of Homewood with Marco and Venom, safe and secure.
