Night Myst (18 page)

Regina let out a soft laugh. “I thought so.” She turned to me. “Long ago, Crawl advised the Vein Lords to form a tight net on every continent, to watch over the Indigo Court and keep track of where they were spreading. There is a war coming, Cicely.” Her tone told me to ask no questions about it, but her words were icy and so confident that I believed her.

I glanced up at the Blood Oracle, who was leaning off the dais, like a long stick bug. He thrust his face through the flames surrounding the fountain and screamed as he lapped up the bubbling blood.

Regina gave me a soft smile, bowed low before Crawl who took no further notice of us, and led me back to the walkway. I was afraid he might come after us and kept glancing over my shoulder, but a few feet away from the dais, she said, “Have no fear. He is trapped there, unable to leave.”

“Who is he?” I softly asked.

Still speaking softly, she said, “Crawl, descended from the blood of ancient warrior kings, is one of the most dangerous vampires walking the earth today, second only to the Queen. She made him. He’s her pet. Not only do his second sight and psychic abilities defy categorization, but his entire focus is on preserving the Vampire Nation from harm, no matter what the cost, through his abilities to see into the future. He has no mercy, no fear, no love.”

“Is he mad?”

“I suppose, in a way, seeing that he’s so old no one knows when he was turned. But as for crazy, no—crazy like a fox, perhaps, but he knows what he does. He has full comprehension. He simply has outgrown any shred of humanity that he’s ever had. If he was human to begin with.”

“I know you may not want to tell me, but this war . . . it’s with the Indigo Court, right? You say I’m a catalyst. Is that why you asked me here tonight?”

I was trying to sort out things. Crawl’s words had sent more than shivers through me. There was a ring of truth about them that echoed in my gut.

“Cicely, I will be honest with you. We need you. And regardless of what you think, you need us. The Indigo Court is dangerous. Myst knows you are to bring about her downfall—she will not let you live. You know how they began.”

“Yes, Geoffrey sired Myst. He did, didn’t he? He’s the Geoffrey who led the raid on the Unseelie Court.”

Regina let out a soft huff. “Yes. Geoffrey was younger then, and had not developed the patience and foresight he now wields. The Vampire Nation simply seeks to be prepared to rectify a mistake we made so many years ago. So, we need you . . . and we are prepared to help you in return. If you do not agree, we will make your life a living hell. If you join forces with us, we’ll do everything in our power to protect you and your friends. No more now, till we return to the others.”

I decided to dare one last question, brought about by what Crawl had said to her. “Can I ask . . . are you Crawl’s daughter? Did he sire you?”

She glanced down at me and her smile faded. “Lannan and I carry the power of the Blood Oracle within our veins. It has been a long and heavy life for my brother and me since Crawl first came to our land and took us.”

And then, she motioned for me to step up to the crystal with her, and within a few moments, we were back in the hidden room.

As we entered Geoffrey’s office, Regina motioned for me to sit down next to Leo and Rhiannon. Shaken and wanting nothing more than to go home, I acquiesced.

“We need your answer, Cicely. Will you accept our contract and hire your services out to us? Or will we be forced to take more drastic means?”

“You realize that you’ve left me with no choice,” I said, already knowing what I was going to do. They were convinced they needed me. They’d as good as said that I was going to help them whether it was voluntary or not. I might as well get what I could out of it.

I cleared my throat. “Assent under threat of punishment isn’t exactly conducive to good will. But before we get into semantics, yes, I will help you. On one condition. The Indigo Court has captured my aunt and our friend Peyton. If there’s any way you can help us rescue them, then I willingly accept your offer.”

“The offer is to you, only, but your friends are tacitly included by association,” Geoffrey said. “I’m pleased that you’ve decided to make things easier. We will do what we can to help you rescue your loved ones. I was appalled to hear Myst’s forces would dare to capture Heather, or to kill Marta. Speaking of the offer, Emissary, your brother stepped out to get the contract and the first month’s payment.”

Regina smiled at him. “Lannan will help on occasion. He’s not always a stubborn mule.” Turning to me, she added, “We believe in paying in advance for services.” She beamed and I truly believed she was proud of what she was saying. “We don’t want you to feel used in any way.”

I bit my tongue. Pointing out again that I didn’t have much of a choice, that they’d use me with or without my permission, didn’t seem like the wisest move to make. After meeting Crawl, I
really
didn’t want to get on their bad side or they might send me back to him to let him convince me to cooperate.

Rhiannon slowly held up her hand.

Regina laughed. “You have a question?”

“Yes,” she said, softly. “We have some information on the Indigo Court, but there’s so much we still don’t know about them. They kidnapped my mother. Do you know what they want with her?”

Geoffrey stood, pacing behind his chair. After a moment, he let out a hollow sigh that had no breath behind it. “We have our suspicions. The members of the Vampire Nation generally don’t pretend to be fond of most mortals. We—true vampires—abide by the Treaty of Supernatural Conduct because it allows us to live alongside your kind without being hunted except by those bearing grudges. But we
do
abide by the treaty—except for the rogues—and we honor our promises. The Indigo Court . . .” He paused and glanced at Regina.

“The Vampiric Fae are chaotic, far more chaotic than we are,” she said, after a moment. “You may think us arrogant, but trust me, the world of the Indigo Court is far more dangerous than ours. They honor no treaty, no promises, and consider themselves above every rule except their own. They feed on blood and they feed on magic.”

“Where we strive to find some compromise to walk among the living, they seek to make the living their slaves,” Geoffrey said. “They hate us. We are their makers and they will never forgive us for being first to walk among the living dead. So they seek those with strength to ever add to their court, in order to eventually destroy us.”

While I knew the feeling was mutual, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

“We have a long history—” Regina paused as the door opened and Lannan Altos walked in. “Brother—you’re back.”

After an exaggerated bow in our direction, he handed a manila envelope to her. She kissed him deeply, tongue and all. I blinked. They’d apparently taken their brother-sister relationship to a whole new level.

“You’re lovers? But you’re related!” Leo blinked as the words burst out of his lips.

They looked at him, and Regina laughed. “Oh, truly, even the magic-born can seem so
human
at times. Yes, we are lovers, and yes, we are brother and sister. We are also best of friends and mated to rule over our family line.”

Leo gulped out an “Oh.”

“Any more questions?” she asked.

I decided to chance it. “Yes, actually. On that subject . . . if you are brother and sister, and mated, then why isn’t Lannan an emissary, too?”

As she shook the papers out of the envelope and handed them to me, she shrugged. “The Crimson Queen doesn’t care for my brother.”

I quickly glanced at Lannan, hoping her answer hadn’t brought up baggage he might be happy to take out on us, but he just let out a low laugh.

“True, very true. Regina is the mistress of courtly attendance. I do not suffer sycophants and toadies, and you must be diplomatic in order to do what my sister does. I am far from diplomatic.”

Geoffrey let out a snort. “Lannan, you are the epitome of politeness when you choose to be and the biggest ass in the world when you choose to be. To work for the Queen,” he added, “one must put aside one’s ego and submit one’s will directly to our beloved liege. And that, you will never do. You want to be cock of the walk, my friend.”

Lannan shrugged and cracked a smile. “Can you blame me? I bow to no man, though I answer to the Queen when I must. I answer only to myself at all other times. And,” he turned to Regina, “to my love.” He reached out and brushed her fingertips with his and an audible spark broke the silence.

At that moment, they both swiveled their heads to look at me and I suddenly felt like fresh meat on the hoof. I quickly buried my nose in the contracts. They were clearly written, though I noticed one loophole that stipulated if I should fail to report to them daily, the Crimson Court had the right to “administer remedy.” I also noticed they were offering me twenty-five hundred dollars a month to report to them on whatever I found out. Not bad money, for a job that didn’t require eight-to-five or asking, “Do you want fries with that?”

“I’m not sure what this means, but it could mean, oh, so many things.” I pointed to the clause. “What kind of remedies are you talking about?” Actually, I had some idea, thanks to skimming through
A History of the Vampire Nation
. “The wording on this has to change somehow.”

Regina glanced at it, then looked at Geoffrey. “Actually, nothing
has
to change, but perhaps we can amend it. There must be some guarantee she will not default or neglect her duties.”

Lannan leaned his elbows on the back of Regina’s chair. “Word it so that for every day she misses sending her report—which can be via e-mail if she likes—she must spend an hour with me, and I, alone, will be allowed to punish her during that time.”

A chill went down my back. “What
kind
of punishment?”

He stared at me. “Whatever punishment I choose.”

“No blood,” Rhiannon said. “You will not take blood from her. And you can’t maim her.”

Regina gave Lannan a long look and a veiled smile crossed her face. “Lannan would never maim such a lovely young woman.”

“Wait.” I caught my breath, feeling the world hedge in around me just a little bit more. The only way to avoid accepting their deal would be to leave town, but even then, they’d hunt me down. As she reached for the papers, I pulled them away from her.

“The part about helping us with my aunt—it’s not in the contract. I ask again: Can you help us rescue my aunt and our friend Peyton? If I’m going to sign something that puts my life in danger, I have to make more than a couple grand a month for it.”

Regina and Lannan looked at each other, then at Geoffrey. I had the distinct feeling they were conferring without us hearing a word.

After a moment, Lannan looked directly at me. I struggled to keep my composure and realized that if I looked away, they’d say no.

“You seek to up the ante, then you’ll up the service to blood.”

I started to protest but Lannan held up his hand.

“Once per month, I drink from you,” he said. “I won’t force you to drink from me, and I promise to avoid enthralling you, at least on a permanent basis. I won’t make you my bloodwhore, although I think I’d fancy that.
Yes
, I would. But you
will
remember who your master is. You may be of the magic-born, but you are still but a step away from human and we have not been anything near to human for thousands of years.”

Shit. If Grieve smelled Lannan’s scent on me, he’d freak. “Won’t that tip off Grieve that I’m hanging out with you?” Anything, anything to stave off being a living juice box.

“That remains your problem to deal with as you see fit.” Lannan shrugged. He waited, tapping his foot lightly on the floor.

Watching my future narrow bleakly, I shrugged. What choice did I have at this point? And if it helped save Heather and Peyton . . .

“I’ll do it,” I said grimly. “Just make sure you don’t take enough to leave me weak, nor turn me into a bloodwhore. If you’ll honor bind yourself to that, we have a deal.”

“You know, we don’t
have
to offer you any of this,” Geoffrey said. “But we do so out of our respect for your aunt, and for Marta, who we firmly believe was killed by the Indigo Court. That’s another possibility . . .”

“What?”

“Perhaps we should have you check in to her death. The police certainly won’t. And Anadey has her hands full. You might be able to confirm what we know. Truly, it remains easier to attract flies to honey instead of vinegar.”

“And I’m your honey,” I whispered, as Lannan took the contracts out of the room to be changed.

Regina smiled and walked over to me. I was still standing, so preoccupied in thought that I didn’t even think to curtsey. She stepped so close that I could feel the crackle of energy sparkling around her.

“My brother enjoys his toys. He may play with you all he likes, and I grant you permission to enjoy it—he’s a
very good
playmate. But remember: You are never, ever to believe that you can lure him away from me. We are a mated pair. You will not interfere or attempt to play one of us off the other. On the other hand, if you choose to play with both of us . . . I won’t object in the least.”