Page 80 of Redeemed
Anger and sadness.
We need to retrieve David.
I don’t want to start with something as banal asThank you all for coming, but I am grateful. “So here’s the deal. Sometime between now and midnight, Jacques Betancourt is going to try to siphon off Princess Tatiana’s life force to reinforce his own.”
“How?” Stone asks, a legit question.
Marcus surprises me by speaking up first. “He’s built a pyre and he’s going to burn her body. We gotta get David and Abby out before he does.”
That prompts a confusing round of chatter from everyone present, one that doesn’t end until Stone speaks up again. “No, I mean how is he doing it? Dude’s been a vampire a long time, but this shit’s next level.”
Trajan’s gone sheet white, his unruly hair blocking my view of his eyes. “He had them staked,” he says. He’s staring at his phone and when he straightens, all I see is horror.
Horror that echoes the rising terror in my heart. “Who?”
“He had Gillian and Peter staked.”
“Oh.” I sag with relief. If he’d staked David…
Trajan covers his face with his hands. “I gave him undeath, and now he’s gone. They’re both gone.”
Sheena’s sitting at Trajan’s side across the table from me. She wraps an arm around his shoulders, and when he looks up a second time, his aura is the bright orange of a caution sign. Anger verging on rage. “He cannot be allowed to live.”
Sheena’s arm becomes less about comfort and more about restraint.
I stand, intending to take charge before things get even more out of control. “The short answer is,” I say, speaking loud to cut through the noise, “we don’t know how he’s doing it. He’s tapping some unknown resources and he’s probably been doing so for a while. For years.”
“Warlock.” Albion Bird speaks into the relative silence. “He has a warlock on his side, for sure.”
“Yes, and apparently that warlock has created a legion of strigoi.” I’ve got their attention now. Lydia’s expression is grim. Sheena looks thunderous. “But we’ve got the Princess’s body, so there’s that.”
“What?” The elf leaps to his feet. “Why are we wasting time here, then? Give her to me. You must give her to me now.”
I look Kowalski straight in the eye. “No.”
He bursts into a storm of words, speaking in a language I don’t understand. Trajan stands, though, and snaps a finger in front of Kowalski’s face. The elf turns to Trajan, drawing a breath for more invective, and Trajan’s got him. They lock gazes and the vampire raises a finger.
Kowalski goes silent. Trajan gestures for him to sit, and the elf sits.
“Okay,” I say, drawing most everyone’s attention away from Trajan’s display of control. “We’ve got the Princess’s body, but Jacques has David Collins, his sister Abby, and our new packmate Cliffe.”
“Aw shit.” Lydia fists her hands, her knuckles going white. “How the hell did that happen?”
“Long story. Jacques has offered to make a trade, though.” This is the part that’s going to get sticky, at least in terms of the elf. “We give him the Princess’s body and he gives us David.”
“No!” Kowalski’s outrage bursts through Trajan’s control. “You will not. No wolf is worth the life of an elven princess. None.”
That sets off a firestorm of argument settled only when Stone hollers, “Shut up. All of you shut the fuck up and let him finish.”
Everyone quiets down, except for Kowalski, who has a dagger drawn on Sheena. She’s got ahold of his wrist, and her grin is the stuff of nightmares.
“Enough.” Stone channels his troll half and brings things to a halt. Once he has the room quiet, he nods at me.
In turn, I nod at Kowalski. “We have a replica of the Princess’s body. She will not burn, but if you can’t control yourself, you can go.”
“Replica?” he mutters. “Where did you find a replica?”
“I gave it to him.” Ananda Pendragon, the Morrigan, appears next to me at the head of the table.Shit.
