West Coast Witch (30 page)

“No, but he’s lost pack mates to them before, back when the Emissaries were still
a force. The weres often believe that they can govern themselves, but don’t hold themselves
accountable for their own when they hurt others.”

I nodded. “So, he’ll be against us. Who’s the tie-breaker?”

“The leader of the Red Angels.” Teresa said.
 
“Queen Catherine. She’s four-hundred years old, Venetian by birth. She is…well, fickle.
We can only hope she likes you. Reds are a mysterious folk, and they don’t necessarily
have any single set of goals. Where as a vampire respects order, Reds really only
care about one thing and one thing only.”

“What’s that?”

“Growing. They’ll only agree to this if they see that returning the Emissaries will
be of a benefit to the Red Angels.” The way Teresa said it, she did not enjoy the
prospect of that.

“Lucien was Venetian too. Will she have a beef with me for killing him?”

Teresa chuckled. “Hardly. She and Lucien were not exactly close. Red Angels appreciate
culture and class, something that Lucien distinctly lacked.”

“All right. So, I have to convince her that I’m worth keeping. How long until they
get here?”

“They should arrive soon.” Ishmael said. “I just wished to brief you beforehand, so
you might be prepared.”

“Oh, just one thing.” I said. “Why are you all Lords and Counts, but why is Catherine,
the Red, a Queen?”

“Because,” said a feminine voice behind me. “Each Queen is a mother to her kind, and
only a mother could be so kind as to rule Red Angels.”

I turned around. Standing in the doorway was a woman I could only assume was the Red
Angel. She was beautiful. Not just a ‘girl next door’ pretty, but an absolutely gorgeous
woman. She stood tall, though I’m sure her suicide heels did something for that. She
wore a pencil skirt and blouse, both complimenting her long legs and fair skin. Her
hair was worn in loose waves of brown hair, cascading over her shoulders.

I stood and bowed politely. “Queen Catherine, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Please, just Catherine.” She approached me, and offered her hand. “You must be Eric
Carpenter.”

“I'm honored you know my name.” I saw that her hand was offered palm down. I took
the hint, and took her hand in mine, kissing it lightly before standing back up. My
ribs did not like that. I kept the poker face on, though.

“A gentleman too. Such a rarity.” Catherine flashed a bright smile at Ishmael. “I
like this one. But enough to be Knight to all of us? We shall see.”

She sat down at the table, while I stayed standing. There was only one more seat at
the table, and I didn’t think to presume to take it. I’d let Finnegan take it.

Finnegan turned out to be late. He walked through the door, two weres in tow. One
of them was Jackson, who joined me sitting at the bar. The other were, a skinny little
man, hung by the door.

“Hey, man,” Jackson nodded to me. “Heard you took on a master vampire and won.”

“Word gets around.” I grinned. “I like to think I did the community a service.”

“If half of what they said about Lucien was true? Hell yea.” He nodded.

Teresa cleared her throat, bringing silence to the room. “Welcome, esteemed rulers
of the Arcane for this little slice of the world.” She said. “Today, we bring forth
a proposition that has not been submitted in some time.”

“For good reason.” Finnegan grunted.

Teresa went on without even acknowledging him. “We are here to submit that the witch,
Eric Carpenter, be confirmed as the Knight of the Bay, assigned to this region as
a justice, a peace, and a mediator. The noble Count Ishmael, ruler of the vampire
courts.”

Ishmael spoke when Teresa finished. “Thank you, Teresa. Eric Carpenter offers a solution
to a problem. Arcanes have lacked any sort of method of interacting with each other
peacefully for some time. We have also lacked anyway to help the police in making
sure we are governed.”

“Why do the police even need to help us in governing?” Finnegan asked.

Ishmael gave him a cold look. “Your people are not any more innocent than mine. The
random killing happens. Do we want a hunt for shadows, so that they can pin the blame
on whatever is convenient? Would you prefer that the police just simply round us up?
Freedom is a right, but rights can be taken away if they are abused.”

“And what does the little squirt offer us?”

“I’m neutral.” I said. “I’m not a cop, and I’m not one of you. At least, I'm not a
vamp, were, or Red Angel. I don’t work for any of you, and I’m just interested in
helping people.”

“He doesn’t work for any of us.”
 
Finnegan snorted. “Yea, right. You’re the vampire’s puppet.”

“A vamp bit me, attacked me in an alley, Finnegan, and another kidnapped an old friend
of mine. I don’t harbor any more love for them than I do for you.” I shot back. “What
I want is to see to it that people are protected. You think Lucien was an isolated
incident? In the past week, we've had an abduction, gang warfare, a rogue vampire,
and more. Things need to settle down, and badly.”

Catherine nodded. “The witch speaks wisdom.” She said. “And, it begs the question,
young witch, what is your lineage?”

“My mother was Victoria Torres.” I said. “She was a witch, but she has passed on.”

“Torres. I know this name.” She nodded solemnly. “Thank you. I believe that we should
take our vote?”

Ishmael nodded.
 
“I vote for the elevation of Eric Carpenter to the rank of Knight of our fair territory.”

“As its sole member so you can have a pawn, you mean.” Finnegan growled. “I vote against.
Catherine, how do you vote?”

The dark-haired woman was silent for a moment. “Mister Carpenter is an anomaly. I
can count the number of witches I have seen in the past two hundred years on one hand.
This is not something to be considered lightly. Were it up to me, I would lock him
up so his race wouldn’t end. Of course, that would be rather selfish of me. However,
he was able to defeat Lucien. Lucien was a powerful vampire, and a rather disreputable
one. Mister Carpenter wishes to help people, and I think he could do a great deal
of help in his position.”

She looked me straight in the eye. Her eyes were violet, like Emily Dupont's had been,
and they flickered with an intrigue of their own. “I vote yes.”

Teresa nodded. “And so it is confirmed. Eric Carpenter, you are the Knight of the
Bay. Serve us, and we shall serve you.”

After I was inducted, there were handshakes all around, and
 
I got contact numbers from Finnegan and Catherine, and they got mine. I really didn't
want to give them my personal number, but I also didn't want vampires and werewolves
showing up at the bar. I'd get a pager or something for this, I told myself.

After about half an hour of talking, I finally left the bar. The other Arcane leaders
were still in the meeting, talking over other issues. Amy was standing next to the
car, next to Sasha. They both saw me, and smiles crossed their faces.

“Well, well,” Sasha greeted me. “If it isn't the first Knight of the Bay to be appointed
in a century.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I said. “If people had told me, two weeks ago, that I was going
to be the supernatural lawman around town, I probably would have laughed at them and
told them they were ridiculously crazy.”

“I still think you are crazy.” Amy said. “This will not be safe.”

“If I was going for safe, I'd be working in an office doing some drone's job.”

Sasha looked at me for a moment, pondering. “He would look rather good in a suit,
I think.” I thought of Teresa, and wondered what the preoccupation was with female
vampires and suits.

“Men typically do.” Amy remarked. “Objectively speaking, of course.”

“Then you should get him to wear them. After all, he is a Knight. He should look the
part.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great, I haven't even officially had this gig for an hour, and
you two are already telling me how I should do the job.”

“Get used to it.” Sasha advised. “You're about to become very popular. They might
not know what you are, but you are the Knight still. That's something. People know
what this means, and people are used to going to you with their problems.”

“Tell me I didn't just sign up to get vampire cats out of trees.”

Amy shook her head. “That is not quite how mundane it is, but you should brush up
on various supernatural customs, learn how Arcane law works.”

“Arcane law?” I sighed. “Great.”

“That's not too hard, Eric,” Sasha said. “You keep coming to Pax, and I'll give you
some pointers.”

“Thanks, Sasha.” I offered her a smile. “Amy, I think we should get going. I've got
something I want to discuss with you.”

Sasha bowed her head politely. “Until next time, Eric, Amy.” She walked back into
the bar, leaving the two of us and the Jeep.

When we got in, Amy spoke. “So, what did you wish to discuss?”

“You remember that cop who I told you wasn't quite human?”

“Indeed. Detective-Inspector Li, correct?”

“Right.” I said. “I want to try to figure out what she is, to maybe see if she's been
watching me before this.”

“And how do you propose we do this?” She asked.

“I don't know, but I do want to get to the bottom of this.”

“We are going to be late, Eric.” Amy chimed in from the passenger's seat. It was the
day of the party, and I was due at Cameron's in an hour.

“No, we're not.” I said. “Besides, I owe this to her. I want to get this taken care
of. I mean, we saved her from hell knows what. Least we can do is visit her.”

She sighed. “If you
 
insist.” Amy sunk back into the seat of the Jeep.

“Damn straight I do.” I said. We pulled up to Sam and Diana's house, and I parked
the car. “What's your driver's license say?” I asked.

“I beg your pardon?” Amy gave me a confused look.

“Your last name, on your driver's license. I know they didn't just let you put Amy.”

She ducked her head a little, and answered, sheepishly. “Smith.”

“Smith.” I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, you pick the most common surname in the English
language?” I asked her.

“It suits me quite well enough for identification purposes.” She said. “It is not
like I use my last name for anything. Considering most of the work I do is not quite
on the books, Smith provides the minimum.”

“Of course.” I opened the car door. Why did I expect her to reveal anything about
herself unless necessary?

With a resigned sigh, I headed over to the sidewalk, and started towards Sam's place.
I didn't notice, until a moment later, that Amy hadn't gotten out of the car. I walked
back, and opened her door.

“Yes?” She said, arching en eyebrow.

I moved my finger in a “come here” gesture. “You are so coming with me.”

“I am not.” She crossed her arms.

“Yes you are.” I said, feeling a bit like a scolding parent. Some small part of me
enjoyed the situation.

It took a good minute of me staring at Amy for her to relent. The two of us walked
up the street to the house, and I rang the doorbell.

Diana answered the door after a moment. “Hey, Eric.” She smiled. “I was hoping you'd
stop by.” She looked to Amy, and her nostrils flared for just a moment, like she was
just picking up something in the air. “Who's she?”

“This is Amy,” I said, introducing her. “She was a big help to me in bringing Sam
back home.”

She furrowed her brow, and then shrugged. “Well, come on in, both of you. Sam's in
the living room.” She opened the door, and waved us in.

Sam was on the couch, wearing a tank top and sweat pants. She looked a lot better
than the last time I had seen her. Her bruises had started to fade, and a blond fuzz
was growing to replace the sheared hair.

“Hey, Sam.” I grinned, and walked over to her. “First it was Chaucer, now I'm bailing
you out of trouble with psychotic vampires.”

She blushed a little. “Cute, Eric.” She said, then looked to
 
Amy. “Hey there. Forgive me if I don't get up, but, well, I seriously do not give
a crap right now. I'm tired, hurting, and well, it's been a week and a half of crap.””

“It is quite all right.” Amy said. “I am Amy, Eric's partner in his work.”

Sam offered a smile. “Hey, thanks. Both of you. I don't really know what would've
happened if you guys hadn't been
 
there looking for me.”

Amy was about to speak, but I butted in. I did not need her saying what would have
actually happened. “Well, we did, so no need to dwell on it.”

“By the way, Eric, be sure to give Teresa my thanks.” She said. “The two of you make
a cute couple.”