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He did exactly that, and Furio went to the refrigerator and brought me a bottle, so I assumed Marco asked him to.
Furio threw Marco’s empty bottle away, and went back to his seat.
The table in this room is round specifically so we don’t have to deal with politics before deciding where everyone will sit, but that doesn’t help the fact no one wants to sit with their back to the door. We have two mirrors on the wall to help dampen the heeby-jeeby effect, and I noted Ryan took a few moments to situate himself so he could easily see both doors in the mirror. The underground at Homewood is secure, so it isn’t like it puts anyone in danger, but I totally understood how he felt.
I began the story, and Marco added some details here and there. I’m used to giving reports military-style, because that’s how Drake Security trained me. It’s good because you can succinctly give the narrative of events as they happened in as few words as possible, but for this, Marco was correct that there were some subtleties everyone needed to know as well.
Marco told the group the events of the ball, since I wasn’t there, and then we skipped over what happened after the ball, and I picked up with when they returned to the hotel room late the next day.
And here was the trick, because we didn’t want to focus on the skins once they were here, but we had to tell the rest of the story. I only needed to say that they already knew about the scene with Pio the dolphin shifter, and that they had the gist of what had happened when Marco and Bran had gone to the meeting together, and I detailed everything that had happened on our end, during the meeting and after.
“Leonardo has mostly stayed out of politics for several thousand years,” Marco said. “He joined society during the time of Mozart and Vivaldi, and was a big benefactor of the music scene. We saw him again, briefly, during both world wars, but as far as I know, he’s mostly lived his life in seclusion since sometime around the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.”
“He keeps his own town,” Nathan told us. “In the mountains of Austria, a dozen or so miles from the Italian border. Officially, the family that lives in the castle passes the baton down from father to son, over and over, and they keep to themselves so the townspeople never see them, but it’s just Leonardo living in the castle and having everything brought to him. My guess is that the magical skins are the first thing in thousands of years to have interested him, besides the music of the classical period. He became active in the Concilio during the big wars simply to help make sure humanity didn’t wipe itself out, and probably because he had to work some political magic to keep the Wehrmacht out of his little town, though they’re so far off the beaten path, and so difficult to get to, perhaps not.”
Wehrmacht? I telepathed Marco.
German army. The regular troops.
Thanks.
“The slayers are not able to get into his castle,” Ryan said. “The last dozen or so who were sent haven’t been seen or heard from since their infiltration attempt. There are whispered rumors of atrocities that take place in the dungeons, possibly genetic manipulation now, but the mixing of species through breeding programs in previous centuries. Monsters, hybrids. If the rumors are accurate, a few hundred years ago he successfully bred a male honey badger with a female grizzly bear — both are from the same genus, caniformia, and it’s possible the female grizzly wasn’t all grizzly, but the offspring was truly monstrous. He managed to breed several babies from this male and female, but thankfully, he was unable to breed the children with each other, or with either of the parents, or with other bears or badgers, and it’s clear he tried. Most likely, the offspring were infertile, as are most mules.”
“There are also rumors he’s bred a hyena and a leopard, and the offspring could give birth,” Marco said.
Ryan shrugged. “As well as a hyena and mongoose, and a leopard and mongoose. The offspring aren’t especially terrifying, though I imagine they’d cause problems within the ecosystem if freed, but he’s operating in secrecy, so this hasn’t happened. If he can successfully mate something as feral and aggressive as a honey badger with something the size of a bear, and breed enough of them to turn loose on his enemies?” He shook his head. “But everyone we’ve tried to get inside — slayer, shapeshifter, and vampire — have never been heard from again.”
“Which means they may be lying,” I noted. “They’re saying the Strigorii aren’t interested in creating a feral, animalistic army in the shape of humans, but based on what we know of Leonardo, it’s possible that’s exactly his interest.”
“Bran has excellent security,” Ryan said, “but he’s going to need to beef it up if Leonardo has set his sights on Madeline.” He looked at Marco. “I hope you’ll be on board with me taking Etta to my home in the coming days. I need to report to my people in person, and now that I know Leonardo is one of the vampires she’s terrified of, I’m not of a mind to leave her here without me to watch over her.”
I hadn’t been sure Ryan was capable of a relationship, when I’d first heard he and Etta had a thing going, but I was happy he continued to show he was capable of truly caring for someone.
“You said yourself that slayers can’t take Leonardo out,” Marco said.
“We can’t reach him in his stronghold, but neither do I believe he could reach us in my stronghold, or in yours, so long as I’m close at hand to help with strategy and add to your power base.”
“If Kirsten will transport you there and back, I’ll agree to her going with you, but no longer than three days.”
Ryan looked to Kirsten, who gave him a nod to let him know she would, and Ryan looked back at Marco. “I was hoping for five, but I’ll do my best to keep it to three. It’s possible I’ll need four, but if so, I’ll keep it to three nights and four days.”
“Give me the dates and I’ll do my best to work with you, but it’s going to depend on what we have going on here.”
“Do we really think Leonardo will come here?” I asked.
“There are two females here who’ve interested him,” Nathan said. “Given the fact he was denied access to both, I think we have to prepare for it.”
Marco looked at Nathan. “Can Homewood keep him out?”
“I’d like to think so, but it’s possible the best way to protect Cora is to put her somewhere he isn’t aware of.”
Oh no. This was my home, and I wasn’t running scared. Not happening.
“We have several places we can keep her,” Nathan told Marco. “He’ll look for her here first, then the coterie house, then the coterie-owned businesses. He won’t know where our Drake safe houses are, and if he can’t find her, he won’t be able to take her.”
* * * *
Marco
