Page 62 of Destined for Shadows
Chapter 18
Cori
From what Cori understood, every major city in the world had a supernatural master who governed all the rest of the non-humans in that territory. It was their job to keep control of their people and protect them from outside threats. The race of the leader varied, depending on who had been tough enough to fight their way to the top. It was almost never nephilim because, according to Melena, they weren’t wired for long-term leadership. They didn’t want the responsibility or to be tied to one place for long. They lived wherever they wanted and answered to no one except the angels—that last part reluctantly.
Because vampires were the other most long-lived race, they were the most common masters. It took longer for them to become strong, usually many centuries, but once they were powerful, few could defeat them. Werewolves often took control of cities no other race wanted. The last ruler of Fairbanks had been a twelve-hundred-year-old vampire named Nik, but in a twist of fate that ended in a beautiful and kind fairy dying, he’d lost his seat to Derrick—an alpha werewolf. Unlike all other werewolves, though, Derrick wasn’t mortal. Tormod’s father had made him powerful and immortal with his half-demon/half-angel blood. Cori didn’t know what kind of deal was worked out to make that happen, but she had to admit Derrick had done a decent job of running the city since taking over despite having a questionable background. He’d do anything to protect his territory and everyone in it, including humans.
She felt a certain sense of satisfaction as she pulled her truck up to the heavy wrought-iron gate that led to the master’s house. The whole place, including the surrounding land, was encircled by two-foot thick stone walls. Normally, the only humans allowed entry inside were those used to feed the vampires who lived there. Cori was the rare exception because she was friends with Melena, and she’d helped supernaturals out of some rather major binds in the past. They sort of treated her as an honorary “sup.”
Guards walked up to the doors on either side of her truck, so she rolled down the windows. The passenger side window had been stuck before, but thankfully Ned had fixed that problem while repairing the rest of the vehicle. Her truck ran so well now that she didn’t think she’d have problems with it for a long time, which was a relief since she’d paid a large chunk of her meager savings to get it back to working order.
A man peered closely at her face—probably a werewolf since the sun wouldn’t set for another hour. “Name?”
“Cori Marsh,” she answered.
He glanced at an iPad he was carrying. She caught a glimpse of the screen where there was a picture of her and a short bio. Too bad she couldn’t quite make out what it said. Probably something like “crazy human woman who is friends with the sensor, Melena Sanders.” The paragraph was a little longer than that, but she figured that could be the gist of it.
On the other side, another guard questioned her passenger. “Name?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Bartol replied.
Wow, he was in a cheery mood. She’d thought he was moody with her, but it appeared he was even less cordial around strangers. Cori had known he didn’t like to talk to them or be near them, yet this was worse than normal. He must not have liked that the werewolf had gotten too close to his face.
“Sorry, sir, but the master requires we confirm your identity before you can be allowed inside,” the guard said, a hint of fear shining in his gaze. Derrick got rid of any weaklings in his pack, but even the strongest werewolf knew they couldn’t take on a nephilim.
Bartol glared at the man. “Do I look like I’m in the mood to be questioned? You know damn well who I am.”
He rarely said curse words around Cori, which had made her think he didn’t say them at all. Now she wondered if he hadn’t just been acting old-fashioned in her presence. Bartol had certainly forgotten his manners now that a werewolf had made the mistake of angering him.
“But the master…”
“Expects me,” Bartol interrupted. “And if you don’t open the gate in the next ten seconds, I will rip it off its hinges, and we will drive through whether you like it or not.”
“There’s a spell on the place, Bartol. Even you can’t bust through uninvited,” Cori pointed out. Melena had told her all about the time Kerbasi had attempted to break the magical barrier around the mansion, and how he got burned in the process. The guardian was more than twice Bartol’s age and power, so no way was the nephilim getting through by sheer might.
A female voice came through the guard’s radio. “Stand down and let them through. How many times have I told you not to piss off our nephilim visitors?”
Cori recognized the voice as Kariann. She was a six-hundred-year-old vampire who worked on Derrick’s security team, just as she had for Nik before him. The woman was strong and not someone you wanted to make angry. With it still being daylight, she was probably holed up in the room with all the video surveillance equipment.
“My apologies,” the guard said and hurried toward a small building with the controls for the gate. It opened a moment later, which opened the magical barrier as well, and Cori started up the long drive toward the main house.
She glanced over at Bartol. “You’re as bad as Melena about harassing the guards.”
“They annoy me.”
“Everything annoys you,” she replied. “I think you’re only riding in the truck with me because you want to annoy me as well. It’s like a vicious circle or something.”
“It is not safe for you to drive alone,” he replied, keeping his gaze ahead.
She pulled into the parking area next to the two-story house. It was a huge place with beige siding, a gabled roof, and metal shutters that could shut out the sunlight during the day in rooms the vampires inhabited. She noted most of them were closed at the moment, though even the youngest vamps would be stirring by now.
Cori and Bartol got out of the truck and began the trek to the front door. Cori estimated there must have been dozens of bedrooms inside. There were two wings branching out from the main entrance, plus the central common area. Derrick had built onto the place since taking over, but he’d tried to keep the basic style of the house the same. It was designed as a refuge for supernaturals who weren’t ready to function in society, or who preferred living away from humans. Most of the guards and staff lived on the premises, as well as willing human blood donors for the vampires.
Two large guys—probably werewolves—paced in front of the entrance, swords and pistols strapped to their sides. They stopped to nod at Cori and Bartol, but they didn’t say anything. Someone else opened the door from the inside. The older man was dressed like a butler, wearing a black suit with a starched white button-down. He was short at maybe four and a half feet tall, had pitch-black skin, and his ears were pointed. He had to be fae, but Cori didn’t know which race from among them.
“Welcome,” he said in an unusual accent that was a cross between Irish and something else. Then he pointed directly across the foyer toward a large sitting room. “Please wait in the receiving area, and someone will be with you shortly.”
Cori and Bartol moved past him to where he indicated. It used to be a living room, but she noted it had been expanded and remodeled since she last visited. There’d been one fireplace before, and now there were two on either end. A piano sat off in one corner, a table with a chessboard against another wall, and Victorian furniture of all types made up the central area. Most of the wood floor was covered in a massive burgundy rug. It was rather formal, considering a werewolf ran the place, but maybe he was trying to give visitors a good impression of his home.
