Page 36 of Blood from the Marrow
“I couldn’t ask her a sensitive question like that over the phone.” Librada’s broad shoulders drooped. “My expectations are not high. In the time I spent in The Order, I never heard a word of it.”
“But you weren’t there that long,” Zuri said with unstoppable hope. “You know, relatively speaking for you little bloodsuckers.”
Librada tilted her head to the side in nearly imperceptible agreement.
“I’ll go with you.”
When Librada laughed, Zuri resisted the urge to step back. It was the rusty sound of a waterlogged engine trying to turn over.
“To a sacred vampire space, absolutely not?—”
“You think I want to waltz into Dracula U?” Zuri rested her hands on her hips. “Fuck no, but you’re sure as fuck not going by yourself. If these people are living as rough as Bambi said, they’re definitely afraid of something. And let’s be honest, it’s probably you people.”
Librada straightened. “And what could you possibly do if?—”
“The same thing I did last time I saved your skinny ass. Fuck a bitch up.” She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. “Want me to show you what it feels like to relive the most terrifying moment of your life over and over until you’re sure you’ll never feel anything but abject fear?”
When Zuri took a step forward, Librada took a step back. The wooden crate was positioned in front of her like a shield.
Zuri grinned her satisfaction. “We’re in this shit together, and when Elena comes out of this hole she’s in, she’ll never forgive me if I let something happen to her precious baby girl.”
Instead of snapping back, Librada’s marble face flashed with something Zuri couldn’t read. She gave her a little space instead of pushing.
“Other cartel leaders,” Lib started slowly like she was testing the weight of something. Like she was dipping her toe into confiding in Zuri. “Many others have reached out to see Elena.” She looked at Zuri like a desperately lost child wandering the supermarket looking for her mommy. “They want to join her against Sayah now that everyone knows what she’s done. That she means to end our entire way of life. Our peace.”
Zuri’s chest heaved again. “And the silent treatment isn’t turning out to be a family exclusive item.”
Lib nodded with several lifetimes of regret. “I fear that…” She couldn’t bring herself to speak it out loud.
“That they’ll be forced to join that fucking sociopath if Elena doesn’t rally,” Zuri guessed.
Librada nodded again.
Mind working fast, Zuri only saw a single solution. “Can we vet them? Try to make sure there are no Trojan vamps sneaking in to do Sayah’s dirty work?”
“Only Elena is strong enough to compel vampires that powerful,” she admitted. “But there are a few who I believe would not betray her. The ones who were enthusiastic about the cartel system and have never shown interest in the world Sayah wants. Bernice of Louisiana lost all but one child in a skirmish for territory before the new ways.”
Having spoken more words at once than Zuri had ever heard, Librada was obviously eager to join forces with other cartels. Did she feel the old human instinct of seeking safety in numbers?
“Can you take that to the farm for me now?” Zuri gestured at the crate with her gaze. “I’ll consecrate the ground and then we can leave for Venice. Maybe I can come up with a way to test the other vampires we’re not so sure about while I’m sitting on that long ass flight.”
Instead of telling Zuri to stay the fuck out of vampire business, Librada nodded once and turned toward the door. Zuri took a deep breath and felt like a cat adopting an orphaned bird.
On her drive to the farm while Librada trailed behind her in an SUV carrying the crate, Zuri’s thoughts raced in multiple directions at once. She was debating how the hell she was going to turn into a fucking battle mage when her power was limited by her need to touch her target. At the same time, she was plotting a way to convince Elena’s vampire friends to let her into their minds. Not that she’d figured out how to make that strategy work—vampires that powerful could hide specific memories if they wanted. It would take so much time and energy to scour every corner. And she couldn’t check every member of every cartel. She could check the hell out of Clara’s memories, though, and she decided that she would as soon as she returned from Venice.
After Librada had delivered the crate to the center of the clearing surrounded by mango and starfruit trees roughly at the center of her property, Zuri stared into the hole her occasional groundskeeper dug for her. Dug without asking a single question. Before serving federal time for drug running in the 80s, he’d probably done stranger things than use an excavator to create a ten-foot deep square in the dirt.
Looking at the crate, Zuri regretted not having asked him to leave the heavy machinery behind. She should have at leastasked Lib to stay a minute. How the hell was she going to get the damn thing in the ground without breaking the plate? She looked at the enormous pile of dirt and wondered how long it was going to take to shovel that shit back in.
The late fall afternoon was unseasonably and unreasonably hot. By the time Avani and Candela arrived, Zuri’s T-shirt was sticking to her back, and she wished she’d worn shorts rather than leggings.
“Holy shit.” Candela’s attention was fixed on the crate, sealed shut to keep the dirt out. Even closed, the power that radiated from the three intact artifacts was palpable. Power that had grown exponentially when Zuri’s coven sisters arrived.
“I’ve never felt anything like this.” Avani closed her eyes like she was listening to a moving piece of orchestral music.
She swayed on her feet and a breeze rushed over Zuri’s sweaty skin. It seemed to move with intention. To announce its presence like a favorite great aunt Zuri hadn’t seen in years. The comfort of a familiar embrace wrapped around Zuri, warm and achingly loving.
“Do you feel that?” Candela asked, voice soft and distant like she was half-asleep.
