Blood Games

Chapter Twenty CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL

When their workout was over, they cleaned up and returned to Ethan’s office to reminisce. I gave them time to chat, checking my messages and returning to the Ops Room.

I found Luc and Lindsey at the conference table. “Where is she?”

I didn’t need to specify. “Still at the hotel, waiting for details about the physical test. Kelley’s got eyes on her, lots of room service being delivered.”

“Stress eating,” Lindsey suggested.

“That’s what I’d do,” I agreed, and thought of the carb loading I’d done at Layers. I was nervous enough now that I wasn’t hungry for anything.

Luc put an arm around my shoulders. “This will all turn out fine,” he said. “I know it’s stressful now, but this is Ethan we’re talking about. The man loves a challenge. He Commended you, after all.”

My elbow connecting with his ribs felt nearly as good as his reassurances.

When another hour had passed, and we were but an hour away from the testing, I decided it was time to enact the other part of my Amit Patel plan.

My motivation in bringing him here had been primarily selfless—finding someone whose strength would inspire Ethan, remind him of his friends and allies and the support that he’d have regardless the outcome of the trials.

But it was secondarily completely selfish. Ethan and Amit had been friends for a very long time. When I’d asked him to come, I’d thought Amit might help me break down Ethan’s walls. We’d made much progress last night—progress I was afraid we’d never make—and I’d made my choice. But there were still things to be said, worries in my heart about who Ethan was and what I still might learn.

I walked upstairs to find him. Ethan’s door was open, the office empty, as was Malik’s. I found Helen in her office a few doors down, writing in a large binder.

I tapped lightly on her door, caught the quick look of irritation when she lifted her head. “Yes, Merit?”

“Have you seen Amit, by chance?”

“I believe he wanted a look around the grounds. Said the quiet would do him good.”

“Thank you,” I said, and turned to go.

“Merit—wait.”

I looked back at her, found her face screwed up with obvious discomfort. “You did a very thoughtful thing, bringing him here. Ethan is under considerable stress, as you know, and he seems to have lightened the load considerably.”

“Thank you, Helen,” I said, and left her to her note-taking.

I found Amit outside beside the fountain, finally bubbling after a long, cold winter. His arms rested loosely on his bent knees.

He glanced up at the sound of my footsteps. “Good evening, Merit.”

“Hi, Amit.” I glanced at the fountain, the shifting of lights on water. I’d always loved that—lights on water at night. The sound of it, the hypnotic and changing sight of it.

I sat down cross-legged beside him. For a few minutes, we looked quietly at the water, watched the light reflect and bounce off its surface.

“It’s lovely out here,” he said.

“It is.”

“You’re worried about him,” Amit said, breaking the silence.

“Not worried. Just . . . concerned.” I glanced at him, took in the dark slope of nose, the dark hair, the preternaturally thoughtful eyes. “He’s been thinking a lot about his past. It’s been eating at him and, frankly, Nicole has only dredged it up. We talked last night. But he is still, in so many ways, a mystery to me.”

A corner of his mouth lifted, and he looked back at the water. “He is a complicated man. Very strong. Very loyal. Very confident.”

“Ultraconfident,” I agreed. “Probably too confident sometimes.”

“He was not always so. He fought back his own demons, as we all must do. He closed the doors of his past, and I suspect does not want to open them again.”

“Yeah. I’d agree with that.”

Amit slid me a glance. “You think he does not trust you.”

“I think he doesn’t feel comfortable unburdening himself with me. He still feels I might run.”

“And will you?”

“No,” I said, and instinctively reached for the Cadogan medal at my throat, realized I hadn’t put it on this evening, and fisted my hand, dropped it again.

Amit nodded at my answer.

“I made my choice many, many months ago. He gave his life for me, Amit. Everything else—every bit of drama in his past—pales in comparison. But what if he can’t overcome his demons?”

“He has told you of the monster that lives in the centuries behind him?”

“Of Balthasar?” I quietly asked, as if saying his name loudly might give him power. “Yes.”

“Balthasar was, for all intents and purposes, his god for many, many years. He made Ethan, in many respects, a vampire in his own image. He hasn’t attempted to hide that from you—or the fact that it impacted him. So what difference will details make?”

I opened my mouth. Closed it again. Amit was polite, but blunt.

“It won’t make me love him less. But if he doesn’t trust me . . .”

“Consider, Merit, that this has nothing to do with trust.” He glanced at me. “Have you told Ethan of every incident in your past? Every mistake? Every regret? And is your relationship worth less because of it? He is your lover, Merit, and he may very well be your partner for eternity. But he is not your father confessor, nor are you his.”

“That puts me in my place,” I admitted.

Amit patted my knee, that spark of magic jumping between us like the blue fire of static electricity.

“Each relationship is different,” he said. “Every couple must decide what works for them. For some, it is unmitigated honesty. For others, it is discretion. I think Ethan does not wish to speak too much about who he was before, for fear his past—and the desires that ruled him then—will be given power over him again. He fears those desires, that past, will destroy what you have built together.”

“You’re very wise.”

Amit smiled again, and this time there was sadness in it. “Not so wise. Just experienced. We’ve all made mistakes, Merit. I am no exception.” He looked at me, head tilted, as if puzzling me out. “I think you have changed him, just as he has changed you.”

“Yes, to both. For better and worse.”

This time, Amit laughed from the belly, fully and with gusto. “Truer words, Merit.” When he was done laughing, he wiped at his eyes. “Now that we’ve had our fun, I’ve a favor to ask you.”

I nodded. An enormous and endearing smile dawned on his face. “I am absolutely starving. Perhaps we could find something to eat?”

Finally, something I was actually good at.

I led Amit to the kitchen, introduced him to Margot, and, when I was assured they’d get along fine, headed back to the stairs to grab my Cadogan medal from our apartments.

I stopped short ten feet away. The door was cracked open, light streaming into the hallway.

I thought at first it was Ethan, that maybe he’d forgotten his medal, too. But the vibration of unfamiliar magic told me it wasn’t. I flipped the thumb guard on my katana and crept to the crack in the door, peered inside.

A man stood in front of the small desk where I’d had breakfast, rifling through an open drawer. He wore jeans, boots, and a fitted gray T-shirt. He was picking out papers, replacing them again, as he searched for something.

By the time he’d turned, I was through the door, the katana in my hand, its deadly point aimed at his heart.

He smiled back at me, his face handsome and expressive, his body muscular beneath the V-neck and jeans. It was enough to make me remember him, even without the crescent tattoo.

“The driver,” I said, remembering.

“And the Sentinel.” His smile was disarmingly charming, dimples at both corners of his mouth.

He didn’t look the least bit guilty at having been caught in our apartments.

And considering Nicole’s warnings, his purpose was easy to guess.

“Looking for something?”

He didn’t answer.

“Did losing the psych test make her feel a little desperate? Is she afraid she won’t be able to win on her own, so she has to dig for whatever dirt she might be able to find? I have to tell you, that’s not really engendering a lot of confidence in her leadership abilities.”

He shrugged. “She’s my Liege.”

I wasn’t sure if that meant he wouldn’t speak ill of her, or he automatically excused her bad deeds because of her position. “And you’re the one who does her dirty work. I can’t say that I respect a Master who’s afraid to get her hands dirty.”

“She’s not afraid,” he casually said. “It’s simply not her job to perform tasks like these. You should know—you stand Sentinel.”

“Protector of the House. Not secret operative.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but mostly because of my RG membership, not my status as Sentinel. At any rate, I generally didn’t break and enter—okay, also not true, but my behavior wasn’t at issue here.

“Potato, potato. But regardless, here we are.” He spread his hands wide. “What are we going to do about it?”

“You’re awfully relaxed for someone in your position—I didn’t get your name.”

“Iain. And you’re Merit.”

“All night long,” I agreed. And speaking of, the night was ticking away. I glanced at the clock behind him, watched the minute hand inch forward again. Nicole’s driver has broken into our apartments.

Iain must have sensed the delay, and he made his move. He darted toward the opposite wall and pulled a bokken from its mount, then spun the bokken in one hand, ready to dance.

“Then I guess that’s what we’ll do about it,” I said, and made my first strike.

He used the bokken to block my advance, then aimed it like a slugger staring down a fastball. I dropped and rolled, popping up again near the doorway that led to the bedroom.

“Not bad,” he said with a grin.

I resituated my fingers on the handle of my katana, kept my expression flat, although it was hard in light of his infectious smile. “I get a lot of practice.”

“I’ll bet.” This time he took the offensive, sweeping the bokken down to try to take me off my feet. I jumped and came down again with a slice from my left that had him skittering across the room.

He looked at me, then at the bokken in his hand, and flung it away so it clattered across the hardwood floor.

“Giving up?” I asked, grinning back at him.

“Not at all. Just in a bit of a hurry.”

My sword extended, I moved closer as he walked across the room, examining the objects on the side table. He glanced at the door, and I moved my body between him and it, preventing his exit.

But he was a creative thinker. He picked up an onyx horse from the side table, pitched it at the window.

Glass exploded into the darkness outside. Without looking back, he jumped to the window ledge and disappeared into the night.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered, and added destruction of property to the list of Cadogan’s grievances against Heart House.

I sheathed my katana, ran to the window, and grabbed the edges as I pulled myself up. I caught a shard of glass, winced as it tore open my palm. But I ignored the pain, stepped through the window, and took flight.

The fall was exhilarating, the sensation more like taking a really large step than like falling three stories to the ground below. I hit the ground in a crouch, one hand extended for balance, and saw Iain running toward the fence.

His goal was easy enough to guess: He’d disappear into the night, and Nicole would fake shock that anyone in her House would attempt such a childish stunt, blah blah blah.

Best solution? Save the evidence. Namely, him.

I lit out after him, hurdling the expensive lawn furniture he’d turned over in my path and unsheathing my katana again. He turned and ran toward the pergola, edging toward the gap of light in the fence that probably looked, to him, like freedom.

But the pergola shadowed the yard—and the construction materials that still littered the grass. Iain caught something with a foot, lost his balance, and flew forward.

He hit the ground on his belly, tried to skitter forward and crawl back to his feet.

He was absolutely not getting away from us this time. I leaped, launching myself forward, and landed with a foot on his back that audibly knocked the air from his lungs. I flipped him over and pointed the katana at his carotid, pressing just enough to prove my point, not enough to draw blood.

Back lawn, I told Ethan. And you might want to hurry.

Iain sat in a chair in the cafeteria, which Luc had cleared of vampires, swiping at the fresh grass stains on his jeans, as if his only crime had been the ruination of what looked to be very expensive denim.

Nicole, Ethan, and Lakshmi stood in a semicircle around him. I stood a few feet away, napkins pressed to the healing cut on my palm, drinking the bottle of blood Ethan had pressed into my hand. As much as he’d enjoyed our interlude at dusk, apparently he didn’t want a midnight repeat.

“This is highly unusual,” Lakshmi said, glancing at Nicole, whose expression was blank except for a tightness around her eyes. She was a Master, and skilled at hiding her emotions.

“I’m as surprised as you are,” she said. “And very disappointed in my Novitiate.”

I seriously doubted that, but I’d already told them what I’d seen and what Iain had said. The rest of it was up to them.

“The circumstances are suspect,” Lakshmi said. “But without direct evidence that Iain was directed by Nicole to engage in his questionable behavior—”

“Felonious behavior,” I clarified. “Assault, battery, breaking and entering, destruction of property, etcetera.” And we hadn’t even told her about the attack on the Cadogan Dash or the threats of blackmail.

“Felonious behavior,” Lakshmi allowed, “we are at an impasse.” She looked at Ethan, long hair falling over one shoulder as she moved. “This is your House, and a violation of your privacy.” She checked a delicate gold watch. “And it is nearly time to begin the physical testing. You have the right to demand an inquiry—and that she be disqualified.”

Nicole stiffened.

She’d sent Iain to our apartments precisely to support her claim to the throne, and now she was faced with losing it altogether. She hadn’t thought he’d be caught—and if I hadn’t forgotten my medal, he wouldn’t have been.

He invaded our privacy, Ethan said. He’s threatened you twice now. But if she is disqualified now, for this—

You’ll never be rid of her, I finished. Even if you win, she’ll still be out there, waiting for an opportunity, because she’ll believe you robbed her of her chance.

He looked relieved that I’d realized it, that I could recognize an unwinnable play. If he let the testing move forward, the results—whatever they were—would be her own doing, not because he’d taken something away from her. And, if she was smart, she’d remember what he’d done and learn something from it: Winning at any cost wasn’t really a win.

“No,” he said. “I will not press for her disqualification. We move forward.”

Nicole blinked but recovered, nodded officiously. “That’s the most appropriate course of action.”

“Don’t push it,” Ethan murmured.

Lakshmi leveled Nicole with a look. “I presume we will not see any further mischief on the part of your House?”

“We will not.”

“In that case, the physical testing will proceed as indicated. Nicole, how do you propose to secure your Novitiate?”

Nicole glanced at Iain, her irritation obvious. “There’s a car outside, waiting to take him to the airport. He will go back to the House and remain until my return.”

Iain bowed his head obediently. Just as, I bet, he’d obediently bowed his head when Nicole told him to ransack our rooms.

Iain rose, and vampires shifted, preparing to get back to the task of preparing for the night’s testing.

But I had a bit of business first. It was time for me to have those five minutes I’d requested with Nicole, so I met Luc’s gaze, reminding him of our agreement.

He nodded slightly. “Ethan, why don’t we ensure Iain makes his way off the property?”

Lakshmi, who must have caught the look that passed between me and Luc and looked very satisfied by it, nodded.

“I’ll help ensure he’s settled and won’t cause any additional trouble,” she said. “Nicole, perhaps you’ll speak briefly with Merit, discuss any necessary repairs or reparations that your House will need to arrange?”

Yes, Lakshmi was definitely an ally.

Nicole watched them go before turning back to me, her expression unfailingly polite. “You appear to have bested my Novitiate.”

“Your Novitiate broke into my home, violated our privacy, and destroyed possessions.”

She circled me, her glamour rising, flowing. I nearly smiled. She wasn’t the first female Master to test me with glamour, and wouldn’t be the last.

“You don’t need to bother with the glamour. It doesn’t work on me.”

She didn’t comment, kept her expression mild except for the flash of irritation in her eyes. “I am a Master of my House.”

“And he is the Master of mine. You’ve threatened him, and used your vampires to threaten him, but you don’t have the honor to own up to it. You don’t even have the gall to do the dirty work yourself. If this is how you propose to rule, I’m not impressed.”

Her eyes lit with fire that made me smile wider than I probably should have, considering her obvious animus.

She leaned forward. “I am a Master.”

I held up a hand. “Let me go ahead and stop you right there. I’ve known several Masters in my short tenure as a vampire, and very few of them have impressed me. I’m not going to genuflect just because someone gave you a title.”

She glowered. “You may believe you have him wrapped around your precious little finger, but you are wrong. I doubt he’s told you of his lovers. You think you’ve tamed him? You’re a naive child. And I suspect he sees you the same way. He uses women, drinks their pleasure, and, when he’s done, discards them. His past is littered with his seductions, their tears. You’re only one of many. And if his history is any indication, you definitely won’t be the last.” Her eyes glimmered with excitement, with victory.

This was precisely what Ethan had been afraid of—that Nicole would confess this to me, tell me what he’d been and whom he’d been with, and I’d run screaming into the night. Perhaps she thought that if I ran, he’d be too distracted to carry on with the testing and he’d withdraw, giving her the victory. Or perhaps she was merely angry I’d ruined her plans tonight, and thought she’d get her revenge by ruining something of mine.

Her reasons didn’t really matter.

I thought of Ethan and our talk the night before, our interlude this evening, his wild eyes and chest-heaving recovery. I thought of his promises, of the eternity he’d already promised me, and the ring he’d hinted would someday make it official.

She was right: I didn’t want to know any more about his former lovers.

But Amit was also right: Ultimately, they didn’t matter. None of it mattered but me and Ethan. Ethan had told me what he’d needed to, and that was enough for me.

Still . . . “That’s really cruel of you to say.”

Nicole shrugged. “I suppose all’s fair in love and war.”

I moved toward her, putting mere inches between us, and let a predatory smile curve my lips. “Then any acts of mine are equally justified. And let me tell you this right now, Nicole: If you come for him, you come for me.”

Her nostrils flared as anger poured through her. “You wouldn’t dare harm me.”

I smiled, catlike. “I would dare many things, Nicole. I have faced down many kinds of monsters—human, vampire, demon, and much, much worse than you. If you make another move against him—if you do anything other than finish out this testing completely aboveboard—you’d better run, and you’d better run fast. Because there’s no place in this world you can hide that I won’t find you.”

There was a flare of anger in her eyes, but I matched it with magic of my own. I wasn’t afraid of her. There was nothing she could do to me, because I’d face death again before letting her harm him.

But she wasn’t done yet.

“Consider the possibility, Merit, that you and your House and its Master are better off in your own small kingdom.”

“Is that a threat?”

Something flashed in her eyes—deep and haunting and very, very old.

“You think winning is all he’ll need to do, child? That holding the throne shields him? You saw what they did to Darius. He won’t be invincible, or immune. He’ll be targeted. Let that comfort you in your bed tonight.”

We stared at each other until Ethan stepped back into the doorway, his cautious magic filling the room. “Ladies. Is there a problem?”

“No,” Nicole said, stepping back and brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “We were quite finished.”

“Iain would like to speak with you before he leaves.”

She nodded, walked to the door with the bearing of a queen. I’d be damned if I’d ever bow down to her.

“Sentinel?”

I looked back at Ethan, found his forehead pinched in concern, shook my head. “Just clearing the air. She is a piece of work.”

He watched me for a moment, as if gauging what she might have told me, and my reaction to it.

I patted his chest. “We’re fine,” I assured him. “And I reiterate: Go kick her ass back to Georgia.”

So I could start to worry about what would happen if he actually won . . .

Ethan went upstairs to dress, to don more comfortable clothes for the challenge. I was heading to the Ops Room for our final check-in when my phone rang.

“It’s Catcher,” he said. “Just FYI, we talked to the manager at the Magic Shoppe, asked for records about the Fletcher tarot deck sale. They’re locked away, and he can’t get to them until tomorrow. They use a big document-storage facility, so you have to wait until they’re delivered.”

“Thanks for the update. I assume you’ve filled in the CPD?”

“I filled in Chuck, and he filled in the CPD.”

“Any sign of Mitzy Burrows?”

“Still nothing,” Catcher said. “They’re looking, and they’ve got eyes on the store. There are too many connections to ignore there. But they still don’t have anything that ties to employees other than Mitzy.”

“How’s Arthur doing?”

“Coping, I think. They’re going to release Brett’s body tomorrow, so the family can start to get some closure.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“Listen, I’ve heard through the grapevine that phys testing is today.”

“It is. At midnight.” I checked the hallway clock, found we were nearly there.

“How is he?”

“Managing. Amit’s here, and they had a good warm-up session. He’s as ready as he’s going to get.”

“You don’t sound confident.”

“I’m confident in him. I’m less than confident in the GP, or his competitor. She’s as conniving as they come. Malik’s the only witness we can have. Apparently the GP has very particular rules about the involvement of others during testing.”

Catcher’s chuckle sounded sneaky. “That tenet may apply to the House, but it doesn’t apply to me. If you can find out the location, we could roll the van to a spot nearby like we did with Darius, just in case.”

Relief swamped me, and I was damned glad Kowalcyzk had come to her senses and given them a van. “I love you guys.”

“Don’t get gushy. Just keep your head on straight. You and Ethan have friends and allies, Merit. And it’s times like this when we rally.”

That made me feel incrementally better. If I couldn’t be there, at least having the Ombuddies nearby would help. I decided not to tell Luc, or anyone else, about the idea. In case Lakshmi caught wind of the plan, plausible deniability seemed the best course of action.

“Hey, before you go, has Mallory found out anything else about the obelisk?”

“No, shit, but that reminds me.” I heard the sound of paper shuffling. “Chuck called, said you’d asked your father about some financial information.”

“I did. I was looking for the accounts into which the stolen money was transferred. They’re Swiss accounts, so I thought my dad could get there quicker, considering his connections. Why?”

“I guess your dad got an answer, asked your grandfather to pass it along.”

That hit me harder than it should have. I’d readily admit I didn’t take much time for my family, but my father couldn’t even deign to call or text me back? He had to work through my grandfather?

Nothing to do about it now, I told myself. Get the job done, and have a cathartic cry about family later. “What did you get?”

“I guess he was able to find a name for one of the accounts? The smaller one, he said. The registered beneficiary is Ronald Weatherby.”

We’d theorized the smaller account was for an accomplice, someone who got a piece of the larger seven-million-dollar take. But the name didn’t ring any bells. I guess it would have been too much to ask for the account to have been registered to Edmund, Danica, or Dierks in their own names.

“Listen,” Catcher said, “I’ve got to run. The nymphs are peddling Moroccan leftovers without a license, and I need to intervene there. Let me know about the phys testing.”

I promised I would, put the phone away, and walked back to Ethan’s office. He was back, this time in jeans and a smoky green T-shirt that intensified the color of his eyes. He sat with Amit and Malik in the conversation area, an open bottle of blood in his hands.

His eyes flashed with alarm when I walked in, but I settled him down with a hand. “It’s about Darius. The smaller Swiss account is registered to Ronald Weatherby. Does that ring any bells for anyone?”

Ethan considered, shook his head. “Not for me. Amit? Malik?”

Both of them shook their heads.

“Perhaps one of the GP members’ former names?” Amit asked.

I moved to Ethan’s computer, typed in a search. Unfortunately, Ronald Weatherby wasn’t an uncommon name. There was an actor, a pub owner, a man with a gardening show on a local television station, a member of Parliament, and two soccer players . . .

Wait. I stopped short, scrolled back through the results.

Mallory had said the obelisk had been magicked, in part, by someone who knew his or her way around flowers and herbs, including the sassafras powder.

The Ronald Weatherby with the gardening show lived in Henley-on-Thames. His photo showed a small, hobbitesque man with an impressive belly, crown of white curls, and four adorable Corgis. He owned and operated a small flower shop and traveled around the world to acquaint himself with plant varieties.

He also considered himself a top-notch herbalist.

Ethan walked toward me. “Have you got something, Sentinel?”

“Actually,” I said, smile dawning, “I think I have.” I swiveled the screen so he could see it. “Mallory did a forensic analysis of the obelisk, culled out all the spells and charms and whatnot that went into spelling it. There were herbs and magic in the mix from the US and the UK, but she couldn’t tell us any more. Turns out, there’s a Ronald Weatherby in England who’s an herbalist and fancies himself a ‘botanical traveler.’”

Ethan arched an eyebrow at the screen. “He doesn’t appear the type to manipulate a Master vampire and arrange an international theft.”

“No, he does not. But I’d bet he prepared that obelisk and got a nice little paycheck for his trouble. His name was on the smaller account.”

“The payoff,” Malik said.

“Exactly.”

Ethan’s eyes went hard. “Good work, Sentinel. Find Lakshmi. He’s in the UK, so we’ll set the GP’s dogs on his trail—and his vampiric employer’s.”

I nodded, switched places with Ethan, and left the office. I expected Lakshmi would be upstairs in the ballroom planning out her obstacle course, but when I rounded the stairs, I heard my name.

I glanced behind me, found Lakshmi in jeans, a leather jacket, and black boots, which she wore like a model. There was something in her eyes I didn’t like.

“Hey, Ethan’s looking for you.”

Her expression stayed flat. “We’re preparing to begin the test. I presume by now you’ve heard only the Masters and their Seconds will attend the physical testing alone?”

Shit, I thought, my first reaction being that she knew about our plan to spy on the proceedings and keep an eye on Ethan. I bluffed. “Yes. Ethan told us.”

“Well, that’s not entirely accurate. We’d actually like your assistance, as well.”

Before I could register relief, I felt a sudden sharp pain at my shoulder. For the second time in a matter of days, night came early.