The Chosen (22 page)

Whitney opened his mouth and closed it again several times. “Richard is dead,” he finally said. “The Mai killed him last night.”

“Oh,” Brian said. “Darn.”

“See, this is
exactly
what I mean!” Chloe said, frustrated. “Sergei was killing his own people for power, your people are killing your own people just for—I don’t know, old rules. Maybe power as well. And for
what?
” She looked around at everyone gathered there. “What really has been the reason you both have been at each other’s throats for so many thousands of years?”

“The Order of the Tenth Blade exists to protect humanity from those stronger who would easily defeat them,” Whitney said dramatically.

“Would you take a
look?
” Chloe threw her hand out at her Mai friends. “If your intelligence is
half
as good as ours, you know that there are less than a hundred of us in the West.
A hundred,
Whitney. That’s less than the Native Americans, or Tibetans, or Jews, or any
other
dwindling, oppressed minority!”

“Hey,” Amy muttered. “I don’t think we’re dwindling.” Paul kicked her to shut up.

“Forget the Tenth Blade: one good earthquake or fire or dirty bomb or terrorist attack and there’d be no more Mai west of the Mississippi. When was the last time,
exactly, the Mai actually posed a threat to continued human existence?”

“We have always been there to stop it,” Whitney said, drawing himself up. But from the looks on the younger members’ faces, he wasn’t really convincing anyone.

“And let us not forget the original reason for our existence,” a middle-aged woman said, stepping forward. “The villages and cities that were wiped out—”

“Because you raped and murdered one of our sisters!” Igor said, also stepping forward.

“Five. Thousand. Years. Ago. Jesus
Christ,
guys, let it go!” Chloe glared back and forth at both of them. “And may I remind you”—she addressed this to the Order—“the Mai are not
vampires
who prey on the living. You are not vampire slayers who protect the innocent.”

“They are fell, foul beasts spawned from the pits,” one of the other Tenth Bladers spoke up. “Their existence is anathema to God. Thus they are punished to never have a home and never commingle with true humans.”

“You sound like the Rogue,” Chloe muttered. “Who, by the way, is an insane psycho killer. And anyway, the whole five-thousand-year-curse thing seems to be over. Brian and I have not only, uh,
kissed
multiple times, but …” She didn’t want to say it, but if it would further the cause, as it were, well, illusions of her chastity didn’t really count much against dead bodies. “Last night, we, uh … Look, anyway, the point is, he’s fine.”

There were shocked looks from everyone, especially Amy. Chloe had
sworn
to her years ago she would be the first to know when It happened.
Technically, it wasn’t “It” yet
—she had no desire to get pregnant on top of everything else that was going on in her life right now. But what happened was close enough to It to count.

Brian was blushing furiously, trying to meet his dad’s eyes.

“In fact,” Chloe said, raising her voice so
everyone
could hear—and hoping she wouldn’t be considered a slut, “I made out with
another
human before I ever even met Brian.”

“Wait, what?” Brian looked shocked and a little sad.

Chloe ignored him. “And
he’s
fine, too. Look, the point is, there is no divine thingy against Mai and humans, uh, loving. We can mix and mingle and mate with no dire consequences.”

“The curse seems to have been lifted because we helped save two humans,” Kim spoke up, “Chloe’s mother and Brian.”

Chloe didn’t want to meet Alyec’s eyes, which were wide with disbelief. No doubt there would be awkwardness and explanations later, even though they were split up.

But her assumption that he was thinking about her was suddenly dashed when Alyec grabbed Amy and kissed her, long and hard. A little too long and hard—Paul and Kim
began to look away nervously—but Amy didn’t resist. At all.

When they came up for air, Alyec looked her in the face. Amy took a breath, waited a moment, then shrugged. “Nothing. I mean, it was great—but I don’t feel weird or anything.”

This was not exactly how Chloe had imagined humans and Mai would start to get along better, but hey, it was something. And come to think of it, her usually extroverted friend had been kind of quiet recently. It was only fitting that she steal the spotlight for a moment of silliness during an otherwise deadly encounter.

Edna and Whitney looked appalled, as did other older members of the Order—and Olga and some of the kizekh. Chloe might be mistaken, but some of the other ones looked intrigued.
Not everyone can study sexy cat people without getting a little intrigued
. Opposites attracting and all that.

“The Rogue was just arrested, by the way,” Paul interrupted, looking at the news on his phone. “About an hour ago. He’s wanted in connection with over a dozen murders…. Uh, anywhere else I would say it’s the death penalty with the sort of proof they have against him, but I think he’s probably going to be committed.”

“Welcome to America, lads,” Chloe said sweetly to the Tenth Bladers. “And
you
all were born here. This is the way justice happens, not through vigilantes.”

“You risk exposing the existence of your own people in doing this,” Edna said, but from the baffled look on her face it was obviously a move none of them expected.

“How?” Chloe asked. “You really think that they’re going to believe a raving serial murderer when he tells them that all of his victims were actually cats, with claws and slit eyes? Look, I’m still proposing a truce. A
real
truce. You can go on watching to make sure none of the kitties go rabid and start a killing spree, but no more violence. If something happens—on either side—it gets dealt with by the police. No more gang wars, no more internecine, uh, necines, and guess what that will mean?
No more innocents gunned down along the way
.” She gave Brian’s dad a hard look in the eyes.

“Even if we were to take you up on this ‘truce,’” Edna said, covering for Mr. Rezza while he recovered from the remark, “there still remains the little problem of inequity.”

“What do you mean? Sergei’s dead, Richard’s dead, the Rogue will probably go to prison or whatever,” Chloe said, thinking furiously. But she came up with nothing. “We’re even.”

“Not exactly.” Brian’s dad cleared his throat and spoke up, once again at ease. “There is still the matter of our member who Sergei killed at the Presidio. As far as I can tell, no Mai were even permanently injured in the tussle.”

“What do you want
me
to do about it?” Chloe asked
before she could stop herself. As soon as she said it, she knew it was a mistake.

“What Edna said. Equity. The boy Sergei killed and Sergei are dead. But the Mai who killed Richard is still alive. Sacrifice him or her, and we will consider your truce.”

Whitney smiled an easy smile of confidence.
I’ve won,
it said.

“No!” Ellen cried, not with fear, but fierceness. She grabbed Dmitry’s arm, her claws extending, her eyes slitting, elongated canines coming out.

As one, the Tenth Bladers stepped back. Chloe could see why just the Mai’s existence might terrify some people. Seen this way, they really were kind of like monsters.

“Ellen,” Dmitry said calmly, “if this is what the Honored One chooses, this is what must be done.”

Chloe panicked. All of her posturing about peace and truce and it had come down to this—a situation she couldn’t win.
Leaders sometimes have to make sacrifices they don’t like or don’t want to, to achieve their goals
. But she couldn’t just coldly offer up someone—someone she had watched
Star Wars
with, someone she knew—to die to seal a truce of her making. He even looked willing, as if he was ready to pay for what he had done. Or maybe it was just a look of hopelessness after Sergei’s betrayal of the Pride.

With one word, Chloe could send him forward, let the Tenth Bladers kill him, and guarantee a lasting,
bloodless future between the Mai and the Order of the Tenth Blade. Wasn’t it worth the death of one person?

Yes. But not his.

She
could
offer up someone else, however.

“No, not Dmitry; he was doing what he thought was right at the time.” Chloe took a deep breath. “I offer you myself in his place.”

A single white
gull traced a gentle arc over everyone’s heads before heading out over the water. In that one instant, everything was hushed. Then it was over.

“What?”
Amy, Brian, and her mom all shrieked at once.

“As the Chosen One, I have nine lives to be given in protection of my Pride,” Chloe said slowly. “I think this counts as protecting our future. I offer up one of my lives in the name of ‘equity’ if this will mean a truce.”

It was hard to say who was more shocked—the Tenth Bladers or the Mai. The Mai looked more horrified, the Order of the Tenth Blade more confused.

“I hardly think that’s fair,” someone from the back of the crowd of the Order called. “It’s not really like any-one’s going to permanently
die
on their side…”

“Oh, shut up, Carlos,” Edna snapped. A pair of tourists walked by, well within hearing range, pointing at the sea lions. “Whitney?”

“The choice is yours, Mr. Rezza,” Chloe said quietly. “You can let the killing go on or be remembered as the leader who brought peace to both sides.”

“And in a group that has a five-thousand-year memory, that’s not too bad,” Olga added. “For
both
groups.”

That was it. That was key. Blood sacrifice, sure, but ego was everything. Whitney was getting old, and it was obvious Brian wasn’t going to follow in his footsteps. The line that had ruled as head of the Order ended with his generation. His second choice, Richard, was dead.

The two tourists didn’t seem to notice what was going on as they pushed their way through the Mai and the Order to get closer to the sea lions. The kizekh and soldiers of the Tenth Blade shifted uneasily, but after two bright camera flashes the couple waddled off again, happily oblivious.

“Chloe, don’t do this,” Brian whispered.

It wasn’t like she exactly
wanted
to. Dying twice by mistake and coming back was strange—and, if you really put a lot of thought into it, possibly explainable. Her fall from Coit Tower and survival was a miracle. Being shot in the heart and recovering, well, it was really weird, but not completely unheard of. And her little trips to the Mai afterworld? Low-oxygen-to-the-brain hallucinations.

She didn’t have the trust in the Twin Goddesses that Kim had. She only had experience.

Chloe hoped her fear didn’t show.

There was a long, tense silence as everyone watched Brian’s dad, waiting for his response.

“I think it would be … amenable to us, this solution you propose,” he said slowly. There was something strange in his face as he looked back and forth between Chloe and Brian. Almost like he realized that his son, brutalized by his own people, was in love with a member of the race he hated.

Guess who’s coming to dinner,
Chloe thought, trying to bolster her courage.

Whitney gestured to a couple of Tenth Bladers. “Make sure no one … comes by and interrupts us.” Several military-looking men and women slipped quietly into the thinning crowds that strolled by the pier on the boardwalk.

“Do you really want to do this?” Kim asked, approaching her closely. Not saying no, not encouraging; just making sure. A salty breeze whipped around the two of them, muffling their voices.

“I think,” Chloe said, trying to control her breathing, which was a little fast and shallow as her heart beat out of control. “I think the Mai’s biggest sin is self-centered-ness. Being too self-involved. A little too inward looking, don’t you think?”

Kim raised an eyebrow, trying to understand Chloe’s crazy thoughts.

“What have we ever done for anyone except our-selves?” Chloe added.

Brian wheeled himself over to her.

“Are you
insane?
” Amy shrieked again, also coming closer. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I really do,” Chloe said, taking her friend’s hand.

“It will be by ritual dagger,” Whitney said, coming forward. He stopped short when he saw Brian holding Chloe’s other hand and the terror in her eyes.

“Can—” Chloe tried to steady her voice. “Can it be Brian?”

Both father and son looked equally surprised.

“I don’t see why not,” Whitney said finally. “It is … it
used
to be a high honor, performing this kind of execution.” There were hisses and murmured angry noises from the Mai. “It’s only fitting for the son of the head of the Order to do it. But the rest of us will be standing around closely to make sure there are
no tricks
.”

“Wow, Dad.
Thanks
” Brian said sarcastically.

“Brian, I …” His father’s eyes traced every injury and bruise and scrape and bandage on his son. “I didn’t think they would—”