Blood Hunt (37 page)

“Why?”

“Do you believe the current structure will exist forever? People, even vampires, get old and tired. Sometimes they die. Jakob and Naomi will inherit this council soon enough, and you will find yourself even more deeply enmeshed than you already are in what goes on here.”

Sasha frowned, trying to keep from betraying the concern that welled up within her at this statement. William put a hand on her shoulder.

“There are many years yet before all of this comes to pass. Jakob has taught you well thus far, and will continue to do so, once we’ve found him.”

“If he’s not dead,” Sasha said.

William shrugged. “We’re working to prevent that, if it can still be prevented.”

Sasha sighed and nodded. It was as she had told Molly on the night when they had visited her fixer, Jerry, they were doing all that they could. That would have to be good enough.

A few more Ay’Araf vampires entered the cathedral, greeting those who had already arrived, and more came after that. Sasha waited, observed, glancing occasionally at her watch. They were ten minutes past when the meeting was supposed to start and there were still six council members missing, including Malik and Theresa. Sasha was surprised by this last, having expected Malik to be one of the first to show up.

Eventually, two more council members strolled in, and William turned to her.

“I don’t believe the Janssen twins will show up,” he said. “They’re notoriously unconcerned with this sort of thing. That leaves only Malik and …”

As if waiting for his name to be spoken, Malik banged through the cathedral doors, Theresa in tow, eyes ablaze. Sasha wondered if he had been sitting outside, waiting for the last vampires to show up before making his entrance. He made his way down the aisle and stood in the center of the arc of council members, glowering. William, standing at the podium, regarded him with a calm that impressed Sasha.

“This is against every law, every policy, every—” Malik began. William interrupted him.

“Then step up here, Malik, and lead. Your council needs you. Your
people
need you, and you have done nothing.”

“Jakob—” Malik began again.

“It is not up to Jakob to do these things, and would not be even had he not been abducted.”

Malik paused, frowned, his eyes narrowing.

“I am not here to take your council from you,” William told him, and then he smiled. “Though when Naomi gets back …”

Malik’s lip curled. “Taunt me as much as you like, William. You
left
your responsibility, and I had no choice but to pick up the load. If Naomi wants this council, she may come and try to take it. I doubt very much she will.”

“Oh, no?”

“Your apprentice has run away with her
Eresh-Chen
friend and that idiot Stephen. She’s been gone for months, impossible to contact. We’ve heard nothing from her, but I’ve heard from the European council. They passed their judgment weeks ago. Where is she, William? Where do you suppose she’s gone?”

William was about to respond to this when he was interrupted.

“Think what you will of me, Malik, but Naomi is very much alive,” Stephen said, walking toward the front of the cathedral with a sarcastic grin on his face. He and another guest, who was trailing behind him, her face obscured by shadows, had slipped through the doors unnoticed.

“Stephen?” Sasha asked, and she saw his grin widen at the shock clearly visible on her face.

“So surprised to see me, Sasha?” he asked. “Naomi called Jakob and told him we were on our way home. Did he not communicate the news to you?”

“Jakob has been abducted by the Burilgi,” William said. “It’s good to see you, Stephen. There is much to talk about.”

“Finally standing where you belong,” Stephen said to him with an approving nod. “Good. Yes, there is much to talk about. More than you know … but there must be more than I know as well, because this information about Jakob is new to me. I suppose this means he hasn’t rented the apartment Naomi requested.”

“Where
is
Naomi?” William asked.

“She’s here … but not
here,
clearly. There was another matter that she and Two had to attend to.”

“The
Eresh-Chen
?” William asked. “Is she a vampire again?”

Stephen grinned again at this but didn’t answer.

“The
Eresh-Chen
is not a concern right now,” Malik said. Stephen gave him an amused glance and looked back at William.

“Stephen, please, where is Naomi?” William asked.

“She and Two had an errand to run. They’ll be back in the city later tonight.”

“What errand?”

“One that’s going to wait for her to tell. Never fear, though, I’ve my own surprise for you. Why don’t you say hello, dear?”

Stephen’s guest stepped out of the shadows and glanced around at the other vampires, a small, serene smile on her face. She was short, thin but well-muscled, her skin dark and her hair black. She had straightened it and pulled it tight into a high ponytail, banded with gold. She was wearing a jade-colored sleeveless gown and every exposed inch of her brown skin, including her face, was covered with interweaving blue-black tattoos. These markings seemed almost to move on their own, as if forming words in some ancient, forgotten language.

“Greetings, children,” the woman said, and her accent was unlike anything the vampires assembled in the room had ever heard before. She bowed her head momentarily to William, still standing at the podium. “It is good to see that even in this modern age, you attempt to hold to the codes laid down by Eresh herself, so long ago.”

William tilted his head, inspecting this newcomer, unable to take his eyes away from her. “Madame … I’m sorry, but I must ask, who
are
you?”

The woman’s smile grew broad, her white teeth contrasting against her dark, inked skin. She looked up at William and spoke in that same calm, even voice.

“But child … surely you know who I am?”

There was a momentary pause, and then William’s body actually jerked with the force of his recognition, and he grabbed the sides of the podium tightly. His eyes grew wide, his jaw dropped, and when he spoke it was with a breathless tone that none in the audience had ever before heard from him.

“Oh,” he said, and then, after another moment, “oh my dear God …”

Chapter 21
The Offer

“Something is happening amongst the vampire council,” Jakob said. He was sitting with Rhes and Sarah in the living room of their temporary home, fingers tented and pressed against his chin.

“About time,” Sarah commented, and Jakob nodded.

“Yes, it could have been faster if there had been someone left in charge other than Malik, but something is happening nonetheless. Aros seemed quite agitated when he came to speak with me earlier. He didn’t explain much, only that my council was preparing to do something stupid and that he would be ready for it.”

Rhes sat forward, then back, shifted his legs, perplexed. “And then he let you come over here? No offense, Jakob, but I don’t get why he’s keeping you around.”

“He may have considered me a bargaining chip, but if that was the case, it no longer seems that he values me. He told me that if I had anything left to say to ‘the humans’ that now would be a good time. If the council is indeed planning something, I don’t think he intends that I be alive to see it.”

“So basically, when you leave here, he’s going to kill you,” Sarah said.

“That does seem likely,” Jakob said. His voice was calm, but he could not keep a note of distaste at his impending death from creeping into it.

“Can you … I mean, will you try to escape?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, and I’ll come for you if I can. I would prefer not to leave you here.”

Rhes coughed. “We’d prefer that, too.”

“There’s not much hope in an attack on the front gates, and I’m not sure I could climb a thirty-foot wall lined at the top with razor wire.”

“Pretty sure we couldn’t anyway,” Sarah said.

“Indeed. When we arrived, we came in below ground. We didn’t pass through the gates.”

“How do you know that?” Rhes asked.

“The drugs they used to knock you out won’t work on me. The best that Aros’s soldiers could do was blindfold me. Trust me: we entered a tunnel outside the grounds that led directly to the prisons in which we were initially kept.”

Rhes glanced around. “What if he has this place bugged? He might be listening right now.”

Jakob shrugged. “It’s a risk, but any escape attempt is a risk likely to end in our deaths. I’m not going to hide that fact from you. He will have all exits guarded. My hope is that there will be fewer guards below ground than above.”

“Worth a shot,” Rhes said. Sarah seemed about to speak, but abruptly changed her mind and closed her mouth.

Jakob continued. “I believe we passed through at least four security doors in the process, which are made of metal and require a key. I won’t be able to break them down.”

“Don’t need to,” Sarah told him.

“No?”

“Aros has a key.”

“I … don’t think he is likely to part with it,” Jakob said.

Sarah blew air upwards through her pursed lips. “You can take that patronizing bullshit tone elsewhere, Jakob. I’m not an idiot. He leaves the keys in his desk.”

“You sure, hon?” Rhes asked.

“I heard him drop his keys into the drawer the night he got us out of there. Remember when we stopped in his office? Left side, top drawer. Heard him open it, heard the keys drop, heard him close it.”

“Did you hear anything?” Jakob asked Rhes.

“No, but I was probably distracted, and anyway I don’t hear like she does. I’m not sure
you
hear like she does.”

“I assure you—” Jakob began, and Sarah interrupted him.

“I assure
you
that you don’t need to use your ears like I do. Whether they’re better or not doesn’t matter. Look, I know what we’re planning here. I know the stakes, and I’ll put our lives on what I heard. That’s where he put his keys.”

“What if he moved them?” Rhes asked.

Sarah shrugged. “What if we open the first door and he’s standing behind it with an army of guys, waiting for us? We’re trying to escape from a lunatic vampire who’s probably going to murder us all. I don’t think there’s any safe plan.”

“Good point,” Jakob said. He was smiling slightly, amused and impressed by Sarah’s decisive manner. “My apologies for the ‘patronizing, bullshit tone’ in my voice.”

Sarah made a shooing gesture with her hand. “Whatever, forget it. Help us get out of here and get somewhere safe, and all is forgiven. I just want this shit
done
with. I want to go home, find my daughter, bury my dog, put new locks on my door, and never deal with another vampire again.”

“A reasonable list of desires,” Jakob said. “Very well, then I will—”

He was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, and footsteps in the hallway. Aros emerged from the front foyer into the living room.

“It’s impolite to enter without knocking,” Jakob told him.

“It’s my house,” Aros replied, and the tone of his voice told them that he was in no mood for frivolity. Jakob looked unimpressed but made no reply.

“Can we help you with something, Aros?” Sarah asked after a moment, and Aros turned to look at her.

“I thought perhaps we should finish our earlier discussion,” he replied. “The time of change is coming. We are in the final hours, now. Soon, there will be no more Eresh, no more Ashayt, no more Ay’Araf. They will convert or die and we, the Burilgi, the
horde
, will be transformed. It has been told to me, and I have foreseen it. The Lady Eresh herself has come to me as I sleep. She speaks into my ear and tells me of her blood and its powers
. One will arise
. That is what she says to me.”

Jakob stirred but said nothing. Aros glanced at him, giving him an ugly grin.

“The humans will continue to move through their days and sleep through their nights, unaware, providing my people with the services we desire, just as they’ve done for you and your aristocrats for centuries. They will be what they have always been: unwitting fools whose only purpose is to toil, to serve, and, when their usefulness is at an end … to die.”

“Enough, Aros,” Jakob said.

Aros turned fully to face him and pointed toward the door. “Get out. Your guards are waiting to take you back to your room, but I wouldn’t worry about spending much time there. I do hope you’ve made the most of your last moments on earth.”

Jakob shrugged, stood, looked at Rhes and Sarah. “May we meet again,” he said.

“Hopefully soon,” Sarah replied. To her left, Aros snickered.

“Good luck, Jakob,” Rhes said.

Jakob nodded, and to Rhes’s surprise, left the house smiling. Aros waited until he was gone, and then spoke Sarah’s name. She turned toward him, head slightly cocked, listening.

“Let me make you more than what you are,” Aros said.

“I like what I am,” Sarah replied, but Rhes could hear the doubt in her voice. So could Aros, and he laughed.

“Don’t lie to me. You hate what you are. I can make you something better, and you know it.”

“I … you’re the one who’s lying,” Sarah said, but her heart wasn’t in it.

“You know I’m not. I’m sure you’ve asked Jakob, and I’m sure he’s confirmed the power of the blood. I can give you your sight back, make you whole again.”

“She’s already whole,” Rhes said. He was resting his hand lightly on Sarah’s leg and could feel the tension in her body.

“Is she? Think of how
he
would look, Sarah. Think of how it would feel to see him for the first time, to see his smile, to look into his eyes with your own.”

“Don’t you fucking use me against her like that!” Rhes snarled.

Aros glanced at him, then back at Sarah, unperturbed. “He is angry with himself because he can’t sacrifice his own happiness for yours, even though he knows that he should.”

Sarah’s jaw was clenched tight, her head tilted down.

“Baby, that’s not true. I’m trying to keep you from making a mistake,” Rhes said.