Page 48 of Tainted Blood

“They aren’t, but Kaliya Sahni, the current Nagaraja, is known by her own people as the Demon Serpent because she’s married and mated to Warlord Raphael Alvarez, the leader of the cambions,” Isaiah explained.

I quickly realized this was going in a direction I couldn’t have even begun to guess at. It was a startling reminder that my education in just how large the supernatural world could be was nowhere close to finished.

“Cambions are a new addition to the supernatural community. For centuries, we dismissed that they were real since no one could find evidence that human myths about them were factual. We believed other supernaturals, like vampires, inspired them accidentally. Humans will come up with wild theories about everything to explain all sorts of supernatural occurrences and even many natural ones. But then Maria and I were given front row seats in the revelation that not only were cambions real, some groups and individuals had known for years and were using them for experiments to help supernaturals.”

“Oh.”

Isaiah only nodded at my response before turning back to Maria.

“What do you think?” he asked her, putting the images away and dropping them on the small table in front of his recliner. “I’m not in the position to reach out to Raphael himself, but I have a professional relationship with Kaliya.”

“Be careful. You and I discussed at length about the vampire response to the inclusion of real demons in the Tribunal and, in the end, you took the political hit for that. They might not want to discuss anything with you,” Maria said as she drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.

“We knew the cambions would be included, even if we both voted against it. Many of the other members of the Tribunal knew why we were taking the stance as well because they had to convince themselves.” Isaiah rolled his eyes as he threw up his hands. “We’re lucky we haven’t seen a completed demon summoning in a long time, but seeing it happen is an unforgettable experience that continues to haunt even the most arrogant and powerful immortals.

“In the end, they were accepted because they’re part human and generally raised as such. Plus, they hold the loyalty of the only known Nephilim in the world. In the end, I made my vote of protest a vote of caution, but it didn’t change anything. Kaliya isn’t a fool. I’ve never acted against her in any way that matters. She’ll understand and know that I don’t plan on starting a war on her husband’s people.”

“She’s not a fool, but she can hold a grudge,” Maria countered, but it didn’t seem like she wanted to argue any further. “When you find a chance, I would appreciate a status update. If you need assistance, I will provide it.”

“I can do that. Stay safe, Maria.”

“I will do my best. It seems we made the right decision to no longer attend these together…” Maria nodded to someone off screen, and her side disconnected. Isaiah hit a button on his phone, and his screen turned off as well.

“She’s handling it well,” I said in the silence, but immediately second-guessed myself, not wanting to make assumptions about a woman I had only met a handful of times and none of them were particularly deep conversations. “I think. She seemed that way to me.”

“She is because she doesn’t have an option to handle it any other way. Too many are dead, and if I’m destabilized thanks to this, she’ll be next. If she panics, she tells those who want to replace or remove her that she feels vulnerable, as if she couldn’t handle it if it had happened in her home.” Isaiah chuckled, but it felt like one of those moments where people laughed so they didn’t scream.

“How many people want your job? Or hers?” I wanted a hard number, a list, something. If this was a targeted attack for that reason, I needed something to go on before I started trying to hack into email accounts. I would do it in a heartbeat because anyone who thought this was the way to gain power clearly didn’t deserve it.

“It’s not about whether they want it or not, so I couldn’t tell you how many genuinely want to replace us. Removing us, though… there’s really no telling,” he said, standing up slowly. “There are a lot of people who don’t particularly want power, but they’ll destroy someone they don’t like who has it. I’m not the best person, but that’s not the problem.

“I’m not exactly what they want, so some out there would be happy to see me knocked down a peg or two. There are some here who would take their chance if they saw an opening. Caturix had been one of them, but he’s dead now. I’m certain Dago wouldn’t mind trying now that he has a chance to prove himself over Sucaria. He had to do that first, unless either of them is smart.”

“You’re hoping they destroy each other fighting over Belin, aren’t you? If they work together, they could challenge you and Maria.” I frowned, seeing how the two generals could pose a threat.

“Yes, but I’m hoping they start killing each otherafterthey leave,” he confirmed. “Better they do that because if those two created a strong front, they would get all the other warmongers involved. The thing about the war-type idiots is they spend a lot of time fighting each other. Makes them easy to contain. Most of them can’t tolerate each other long enough to have tea, but if anyone ever could get them to work together, we’d be looking at a bigger problem.”

“They would destabilize our entire society, whether it’s those two or someone else. While it has its faults, it also works for the majority of vampires,” Alexius said, shaking his head, not standing like Isaiah. “Someone would take your place and change everything, and that could lead to even more unrest, be it through war with themselves, war with other supernatural species, or even by deciding to abolish laws we need to keep in place. The more unrest among the vampires, the more we risk exposure to humanity.”

That was the one thing none of us could risk. As a human, it was easy to see why humanity couldn’t know about vampires and just how easily they lived in the world of their prey. They could never know how powerful and widespread their one predator truly was. It was a difficult adjustment for people working at the nest who hadn’t grown up knowing.

“I wish I could keep discussing how poorly this could go for everyone in this room and the people that rely on us for stability, but…” Isaiah looked at his phone. “I was just sent the new contact information for the Nagaraja. Before I make this call, I know Maria mentioned some issues with our relationship with the nagas and cambions. Those aren’t the only ones we have. As you both know, Imani is the Mistress of Phoenix. Kaliya lives outside the city in what everyone calls the cambion compound. It houses more than only the cambions, but it was built for them. Kaliya and Imani don’t see eye to eye. They are two conflicting personalities and have different views. I believe some of it is a lack of understanding of the cultural differences between them. There’s also the death of a young Orphan vampire between them I don’t believe Imani will ever recover from.”

“Did Kaliya kill the vampire?” Alexius asked, his voice tight.

“Not the one Imani won’t forgive her for,” Isaiah answered, a sad smile. “The average lifespan of an Orphan is shorter because there’s no hard leash to keep them safe until they realize they aren’t indestructible. He was Turned in her city, and she wanted to take care of him. I agreed to it, because she's… Imani. Carter wanted to follow the naga who saved him from being stuck with the vampires that had wanted to Turn him and use him. He died because he wanted to help Kaliya. Right before Imani and I learned he’d been killed, she was talking to me about sending him here so I could get him away from a dangerous friendship that was going to get him killed. Sadly, we had that conversation too late.” Isaiah pondered his phone.

“Imani holds it against Kaliya, but I don’t. I would be a fool to think Kaliya could have stopped Carter from being brash and loyal to her. A lot of free will and not enough common sense to go along with it. No one could have stopped Carter from making those decisions.”

“That sounds like a hard thing to deal with,” I said, looking away. A lot of free will and not enough common sense. I could practically feel the weight of Alexius’s stare on me.

“Yes, but we’ll have to hope everyone can look past it. I can… have for years now.” Isaiah’s monitor turned back on. “We also need to hope someone will answer the phone at this time. They’re several hours behind us.”

22

Isaiah pushed his recliner out of view. With that, Alexius and I put our chairs back as well.

“We’re standing for her because she’s the queen of her people, right?” I asked Alexius softly.

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