Page 65 of Blood from the Marrow
Elena metabolized the open threat. Reading their body language, Librada took a step away from the door, but Elena stopped her with a look. She and Bernice stared at each other unblinkingly, Elena letting the air fill and crackle with tension. Let it gather like lightning before a strike. She held it pinned there, refusing to be the one to break.
And then Bernice grinned. “I’m betting on you. Don’t make me regret it.” She twirled around to Librada. “Now, where’s a girl gotta go to get a drink around here?”
Concealing her relief, Elena signaled for Librada to take Bernice’s second to the wine cellar. Bernice settled in like she couldn’t wait to see what came next. A dozen other cartel leaders arrived before Lib announced Cordelia Hayward.
Blonde, bright, and with the honor of having taken part in the first ever debutante ball in Charlotte, Cordelia breezed into the room like she was there for a party. All blinding white teeth and vintage pink Chanel.
“Elena,” Cordelia said, low country lilt softening every edge of her words. She extended her hands toward Elena like they were girlfriends meeting for brunch. “I’ve been driving Librada crazy asking after you.”
Elena took Cordelia’s hands but kept her distance. According to Lib, Cordelia had been the most insistent and Elena hadn’t decided how to read that yet. With most of Cordelia’s territory butting up against Sayah, she could be the most anxious about Sayah’s power grab. But she was also Sayah’s natural ally.
“Cordelia,” Bernice said flatly, her dry tone a stark contrast to Cordelia’s effervescence. “I expected you’d be sitting in Savannah.”
Cordelia’s practiced pageant smile didn’t falter. “Oh, Bernie, dear, you wound me.” She pressed her palm to her own chest. “I’m here because we all know where I stand. And it’s not with Sayah.”
Bernice raised a skeptical brow. “Really? You’re practically neighbors.”
“Unfortunately proximity doesn’t breed loyalty,” Cordelia looked around the room—Narine’s room—before her gaze landed on Elena. “Does it?” She let the rhetorical question sit for a pointed moment before she moved on. “Now, I’m not one to go telling tales, but her breach of hospitality was just unforgivable.” Cordelia mentioned Sayah’s ambush with the same casual tone she might use to comment on wearing white after Labor Day. “And all the rumors I’m hearing…” She shook her head. “No, I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“What do you mean by that?” Elena crossed her arms over her chest, worry burning a trench up her throat.
Cordelia sighed dramatically, like her only regret in life was not having a fainting couch nearby to fling herself across. “Oh, honey, it’s not just the chaos she’s spreading. It’s the way she’s doing it. The lies, the manipulation, the fear-mongering.” She tsked. “It’s like she’s trying to convince people that the world’s ending, and only she can save them. And you know what’s scary? Some of them believe her.”
“She’s using misinformation?” Bernice furrowed her brow like it was news to her, or maybe she was feigning surprise.
“Like it’s her new religion,” Cordelia replied. “More than once I’ve had to put some Nervous Nelly right.” She chuckled. “And I said, slow down, Chicken Little. The sky is not falling and Elena isn’t attacking vampires with a troop of super healing witches.”
Elena tensed. If all the vampires gathering were going to move forward as a single force, she was going to have to unleashsome secrets. Every instinct blared in alarm. Betrayal, recent and deep, was still so fresh in her heart. It would be so easy for anyone standing in front of her to be a traitor. And if not them, the dozen of their most loyal she’d sent to wait outside. Then there were the thousands of rank-and-file spread across all the cartels. So many strands of hay for a needle to hide.
“I did not attack Sayah,” Elena replied calmly. “Not first.”
She looked at Librada standing at the door. Her blood-red eyes told Elena not to say a word. They shone with the same worry crawling like a scorpion in Elena’s stomach.
It was likely that Sayah was behind the attack on Marisol in Sabina’s tower. The more Elena thought about it, the more sure she was that it had been a scare tactic. They would’ve known that so few couldn’t take Marisol from her. And yet, they’d come. Who else was callous enough to send their own vampires to the slaughter just for the impact? Just like Baylor’s men had, Sayah wanted to take everyone Elena loved to cause her maximum pain. To torment her.
A person like Sayah had no respect for rules of engagement. Elena scanned the room, regarding the thirteen powerful women who’d rallied to her side. There were no alliances without risk. No trust without truth.
“Before we go any further, I need to know for certain where your loyalties lie,” Elena said as nonchalantly as possible. Like what she was about to say was no big deal.
“I’m not going to like where this is going,” Bernice replied first, setting off a cascade of muttered disapproval. “You have my word, Elena. Is that not enough?”
“How I wish it were.” Elena borrowed Cordelia’s earlier gesture and looked around the room. “A daughter betrayed me, Bernice.” She held her dark gaze. “Tell me, if she was capable of this… Who should I hold above suspicion?”
The vampires shifted, as if all once understanding that she wanted them to answer questions under compulsion.
“I’m going to feel like a little girl again.” Cordelia laughed. “Elena, doll, are you going to pass around leaflets with your pledge of allegiance, or shall we just recite after you?” Her grin was unwavering when she added, “Though, when I was a school girl, there wasn’t anyone in my mind when I pledged.”
Bernice took a step away from the group. “I’m sorry, Elena. I am genuine in my desire to take Sayah down, but I cannot allow you that kind of control. Surely you would say the same in my position.”
Elena nodded, fragile hope slipping through her fingers with every inch the other vampires drifted away from her. She was already thinking about how she could survive facing Sayah alone when Cordelia chimed in again.
“I’ll say, the most dominant women like a little subservience every now and again.” She winked at Elena. “I do, anyway. But I’m not getting on my knees in this, darlin’.” She gestured to her clothes. “You understand.”
Elena furrowed her brow.
“Come on, girls,” Cordelia said to the vampires with a collective age of three thousand. “You scared of a little penetration?” She laughed and took an unused chair. “How about this? Elena asks us all the same three questions and we stay in here as witnesses to make sure she doesn’t slip in any deeper.” In the same sugary way she said everything, she added, “And if she puts a toe outside the line, a single deviation, we kill her.”
The temperature dropped in the room to Arctic levels, but the other vampires had stopped moving toward the door. The door where Librada was standing, anger incandescent. Elena knew Lib didn’t understand what she was asking of the powerfulwomen in the room. Didn’t understand that Elena might only consider submitting under the same terms. And even then.
