Chosen by Blood (8 page)

“What do you mean, diminished capacity?” Knox said with a frown. “The Council serves an important role in our society. It always has.”

“The Council advised against a treaty with the humans, you ignored them. They can pass laws, but you can strike them. So be honest, Knox, the Council’s role is more advisory than anything else.”

Knox studied his brother. He’d heard rumors of unrest and plans to up the Council’s authority. To impose more limits on the vamp ruler’s ability to override its decisions. Up to now, however, they’d only been rumors. “Advisors they may be, but my mother and I hold them in great esteem. We respect their opinions, even though we may not ultimately agree with them. Do you—or your father—have a problem with that, Zeph? Is there something I should know?”

For a tense moment, Zeph merely stared at him. Then he shrugged. “The only problem my father and I have is with each other, but that’s nothing new, now is it?”

Knox hesitated, studying his brother closely. Then, sensing no malice from him, Knox said, “Your father is a difficult man, Zeph, but he cares for you, just as he cares for our clan. You and I may not always agree with his methods, but he’s never given me reason to doubt his loyalty. If he’s unhappy with his position on the Council—”

“I told you he’s not. And can we please not talk about my parental issues? I’m feeling sick enough as it is.”

Knox sighed but let the matter drop. “Fine. If you don’t want to talk about your parental issues, can we talk about mine? Because, well, Mother and I have been going round about several issues, as well.”

With rounded eyes, his brother raised a hand to his chest. “No. You? Mr.-Duty-and-Honor-Above-All-Else? What could she possibly find at fault with you? Other than your hard-on for a human, of course.”

“Don’t go there, Zeph,” Knox said, his voice flat. He couldn’t stand for anyone disrespecting Felicia with such talk, even his own brother, and reducing his feelings for Felicia to a bodily reaction was disrespectful to them both. “While I may seem a bit rigid when it comes to duty”—Knox gritted his teeth at Zeph’s combo snort and eye roll—“it’s because I’ve had to work twice as hard as the rest of you to earn the clan’s trust and respect. I’m well aware that if it weren’t for Mother’s failing health and my continuing strength, I would never have been allowed to lead.”

“True. It wasn’t as if the clan took your heroism, superior strategic skills, and your ability to kick ass into account.” Zeph scowled. “Get over it, Knox. You more than earned the clan’s trust during the War.”

“And lost much of it just as easily when I signed the Treaty with the humans. Your father never fails to remind me of that, Zeph, and he’s made his opinion of Felicia quite clear.”

“ Ahhh, that’s right. He thinks you’re better off with someone else. So how’d it go? The first meet-and-greet with your intended fiancée. I can’t believe I haven’t asked yet.” Zeph turned away, his shoulders rigid with what Knox suspected was the effort to keep himself upright. “What did you think of the beautiful Michelle Burgeon?”

“She’s beautiful, certainly. And willing.”

“Willing to take second place to Felicia?”

The sudden intensity in Zeph’s voice made Knox hesitate. “I explained the situation and she agrees that a union between our families and the production of a child is sufficient cause to marry.”

“Then congratulations. I hope Felicia has grown more open-minded in the past year.” Zeph coughed several times and winced as he turned to face Knox. “You know, you may be right about my needing to rest.”

“I’ll help you—”

Zeph glared at him. “The day I need you to help me to bed is the day I hire someone to cut out my heart.”

Knox froze. “Fine.” He watched his brother’s slow exit, then turned toward the east side of the residence. Remembering his mother’s request, he headed toward the children’s wing, which entailed taking a series of winding corridors. Along the way, he thought of Kyle Mahone and the woman who continued to affect his life despite her valiant efforts to stay as far away from him as possible.

Had Mahone told Felicia about Knox’s demands?

If he had, how would he deal with her refusal?

Because Knox didn’t doubt for a second that Felicia’s initial response would be refusal.

He heard the children before he saw them. They were having their afternoon history lesson with Serena, their tutor. Stopping in the doorway, he watched the twins, who sat properly erect in their little wooden chairs but for their swinging feet. They took turns making faces at each other while trying to pretend they were listening to their teacher.

“Your French isn’t any better than it was before you visited France,
chérie
. Tell me, Joelle, what were you doing the whole time in France that you didn’t have time to study the language?”

Knox frowned at the critically phrased question. Joelle had been doing exactly what Knox had encouraged her to do. Playing with her cousins. Having fun. Running around the gated estate in a country where vamps still hid who they were and, for now it seemed, led better lives for their silence. At least, dharmires did. But Knox knew the “don’t ask, don’t tell” European policy he’d mentioned to Mahone couldn’t be sustained for long. The vamp vaccine had been widely distributed overseas, forcing Europe’s full vamps more and more into the shadows. That meant, whether they hid their true natures or not, they were practically on the verge of extinction. Moreover, although the rest of the world, when pressed, acknowledged the existence of Others within America’s borders, it refused to recognize them within their own. Most countries had even enacted certain visa restrictions that would, in effect, if not in express language, limit the right of any recognizable Others to cross into their land.

Thomas came to his sister’s rescue. “Madam Serena, I’m a little confused.”

“About what, Thomas?”

“Mademoiselle Burgeon seemed to be very fond of Papa, but he’d never met her before. How can that be?”

A short pause, then Serena said, “Friendships can be formed across great distances, Thomas. You have a pen pal in France yourself, do you not?”

“Yesssss,” Thomas drawled. “But when I met him, he didn’t cling to me half the time. Not the way Mademoiselle Burgeon did with Papa.”

Knox winced. Michelle had been extremely touchy the first few days, before she’d finally accepted Knox’s love for Felicia was real and unwavering.

“Well, I’m sure—”

“Do you know what else confuses me?” Thomas interrupted, clearly having lost interest in Michelle.

Serena sighed. “What’s that?”

“While in France, my cousin Bernard said Grandfather didn’t die as a soldier in the French Revolution, but because he was a traitor.”

Instinctively, Knox flinched.

“Thomas,” Serena whispered, then shushed him. Knox imagined her looking fearfully toward the doorway, but he’d already ducked out of sight. His heart pounded as he listened.

“I told Bernard he was a liar, but he said Grandfather admitted it. Admitted that he told his friend, André Calmart, how to kill vamps.”

“His name was Calmet and your cousin Bernard is a troublemaker,” Serena hissed. “You need to forget that name.”

“But why?” Joelle asked. “If Grandfather was friends with Calmet, he can’t have been bad.”

Knox closed his eyes as a voice from the past—his own voice—swirled around him. “My father isn’t a traitor,” he’d told Dante Prime, Zeph’s father. “So what if Calmet writes of vampires. That doesn’t mean Father told him anything.”

In response, Prime had read Knox a passage from Calmet’s

Dissertations sur les apparitions, des anges, des démons et des esprits, et sur les revenants et vampires de Hongrie, de Boheme, de Moravie et de Silésie
, a book in which the Catholic Church officially acknowledged the existence of vampirism for the first time. In that passage, Calmet had provided details, including the fact a vamp couldn’t turn a human without dying himself, and the one way to kill a vamp, by ripping out his heart and burning it. The only logical conclusion was that Calmet’s friend, Jacques Devereaux, had revealed secrets he’d sworn to take to his grave. Calmet’s book, Prime said, was the reason why the vampire mortality rate had skyrocketed during the French Revolution, leading to the deaths of over one-third of Knox’s clan, a clan that hadn’t been that large to begin with.

Still, Knox had refused to believe him. Even at twelve years of age, he’d remained unwavering in his belief that his beloved father would never willingly give humans the ability to kill vamps.

Until his father had confessed to doing just that.

“Stop pulling my hair, Thomas!”

Joelle’s shriek brought Knox back to the present. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat, then entered the room.

“Papa,” the twins cried simultaneously before launching themselves at him. “Where have you been?”

“Discussing business with your Uncle Zeph, who is lying down for a nap, so please don’t disturb him, okay?”

Thomas laughed maniacally, causing Knox to narrow his eyes even as he suppressed the urge to laugh along with him. “Thomas,” he warned.

With a sweet smile, Thomas patted Knox’s hand. “No worries, Papa. I shall leave Uncle Zeph in peace.” The “for now” in his promise was clear, but Knox didn’t call him on it. Instead, he hugged them closer and thought fondly of Noella. “Grandmother is feeling better today and would love to see you.” The children clapped their hands, thrilled with the idea of seeing their grandmother and, Knox was sure, getting a sweet treat— most likely caramels. “I also wanted to tell you that I’m going to be away for a while. I have important business to attend to, but I’ll be back when I can.”

“ Are you going to see Aunt Felicia?”

Knox frowned, but he couldn’t accuse Joelle of reading his mind or anyone else’s. Vamps didn’t begin to develop their powers until after puberty hit. “Why do you ask?”

Joelle, the spitting image of Noella, shrugged. “You just got that look in your eye when you said ‘important.’”

“You are certainly very observant,” Knox said, flicking the end of her nose. He looked up at Serena, who didn’t do a good job of hiding her disapproval. Because he’d interrupted their lesson? Or because of Felicia? Knox shrugged. If it was the first, she should know by now that when he wanted to see the kids, nothing else was more important. If it was the second? Serena had better make sure Knox never confirmed it was the second.

He smiled at Joelle and Thomas. “It so happens I am going to see Aunt Felicia. And I’m hoping that sometime soon, I’ll be bringing her here to visit. Would you like that?”

The children squealed, and he talked with them for a while longer before he encouraged them to get back to their lessons and be good for Serena. As he left, Knox realized he hadn’t qualified his statement about seeing Felicia. Obviously, he didn’t doubt he
would
be seeing her.

Yes, she’d refuse the moment Mahone told her his demands. But Knox was counting on Mahone to persuade her otherwise. If he didn’t, Knox would.

One way or another.

Three days after hearing about the antidote, Knox returned to Mahone’s office.

Mahone gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Thank you for coming. I’m hoping you’re ready to accept the Bureau’s offer?”

Lips flattening, Knox remained standing. “ Assuming you’ve done what I’ve asked, then yes. But I am curious about one thing, Mahone. Something we failed to discuss the other day. Since vamps are the only race in danger of going extinct, exactly what are you using to entice the others?”

Steepling his fingers on the desk, Mahone’s gaze didn’t waver. “We’ve offered you due consideration in exchange for your serving the United States government. What we’ve offered the others is irrelevant.”

“Hope for my clan and the protection of my children are not what I view as consideration; they are absolute necessities. Plus, if I’m going to be leading these Others, then what motivates them is damn well my business. More so even than what would have motivated your scientists to sell the antidote they created in the first place.”

“Money isn’t too difficult a concept to grasp,” Mahone drawled.

“And as I told you before, it’s not just money, Mahone. Not if all five of the remaining scientists are involved. I need to read their minds. I need to know who and what we’re dealing with.”

Knox threw out the assertion for kicks. He didn’t really expect Mahone to agree. To his surprise, Mahone hesitated.

“Mahone?” Knox prompted, his tone suggesting that Mahone was a recalcitrant child trying to keep a secret.

Mahone glared at Knox. “I told you it wasn’t about me. The President was concerned about you accessing more information than you should.”

Not missing Mahone’s phrasing, Knox stepped closer. “And now?” Knox asked softly.

“ And now that we have reason to believe North Korea bought and obtained the antidote, the President is reconsidering.”

Knox raised his brows, his blood tingling with a rush of adrenaline. Since his initial meeting with Mahone, Knox had made lists summarizing the information he knew, as well as every potential theory he could come up with. As far as a possible buyer was concerned, North Korea was certainly on his list of potential governments that would benefit by the antidote. Whenever possible, it promoted itself as an Others supporter, which was laughable really, given North Korea’s fanatic pursuit of homogeny in all things.

If they obtained the antidote and provided it to vamps, secretly or not, they would gain a powerful ally. While Knox didn’t believe anyone in his clan would be so weak, there were other clans—clans smaller in numbers, clans that were fractured and dissatisfied with the terms of the Humanity Treaty—that might.

“The vamp guard you were telling me about the other day, is he guarding the scientists now?”