“Some of them, yes,” Mr. Woods nodded. “But that’s not for us to judge. Ladies, I know you are both new here, but how different do you think this is from how the Brotherhood handles its matters? The vampires are entertained by seeing you get upset, and they’ll only seek more entertainment from that. They feed on human blood. We are here to make sure that it won’t ever be our blood. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten all this way in your studies without spilling a little blood yourselves.”
“Mr. Woods,” Onyx broke in, her hand still on Molly’s arm, “do you think you could give us a moment to talk this over? I think we’re all just having a misunderstanding here.”
He nodded, looking at Onyx imploringly. “Of course,” he said. He stepped away.
Most of the conversation took place through a single exchange of nuanced glares. Onyx sympathized with Molly, but wanted to keep her eye on the ball. Molly didn’t want to blow their mission, but was of the opinion that everyone present needed to be annihilated, here and now, immediately and without delay. This was not the first expired “blood toy” the pair had seen tonight. It was just the first that they could get to and offer aid. Moreover, it wasn’t the first time they had witnessed the indifference of the Brotherhood.
Before the conversation continued, the entire atmosphere of the broad hall changed. Black-garbed partygoers parted graciously and bowed or knelt for a strange procession of individuals. At their front were Lord Blackthorne and Lady Anastacia, who had been described at length for Molly and Onyx by several gushing guests. They carried themselves like royalty.
Behind them, though, no one else put on such airs. They were imposing enough, though: a man in a purple dress shirt with dark, smoky orbs instead of eyes, and a stunningly beautiful blonde in an elegant, slinky emerald dress. To Molly and Onyx’s mystic vision, both of them had small black horns just below the scalp, large demonic wings and long devil’s tails.
Those same features where shared by the chained, muzzled, bloodied woman dragged behind them by a pair of vampires. She wore a tattered black nightgown and a glare of overwhelming hatred for everything around her, and in particular for the demons she was forced to follow.
Onyx’s grip on Molly’s arm tightened. Were it not for the aid of the spell of deception they both wove earlier, her expression would have surely betrayed her alarm. Instead, her face was merely grim.
“Lord Stefan?” Mr. Woods asked as the group passed by. “A moment?”
The well-dressed leader of the Brotherhood peeled off from the procession. A robed man who kept his face hidden behind a hood followed.
“My time is short, Mr. Woods,” Stefan warned in hushed tones. “Still, it is good that you got my attention. We need to speak.”
“Oh?”
“How urgent is your business?”
“Not terribly, I suppose. I wanted to make you aware of a couple of new guests if only to avoid a surprise. This is Molly and Onyx, whom we’ve been hoping to chat up for some time. Ms. Black managed to convince them to come to the party.”
Stefan showed a glint of recognition in his eyes, but his demeanor did not soften. “Ah. Ladies, I sincerely apologize. While I have been eager to make your acquaintance and hopefully sway you into joining our organization, I fear tonight may not be the night for such negotiations. Mr. Woods, I trust you are seeing to their safe conduct?”
Woods hesitated. His eyebrows rose at the loaded question. “I am.”
“Good. I need you to let the others know that we may yet need to step back from our plans for alliance with the society.” He looked to Molly and Onyx. “Ladies, again, I apologize, but I must speak with Mr. Woods alone. Would you be so kind?” His voice dripped with sincerity and polite tones. H even bowed slightly.
“Of course,” Onyx smiled. She drew Molly away, but not before reaching up to subtly scratch her ear. One of her smaller metallic earrings, duller than the rest, slipped off and fell to the floor. “Subaulscuto,” she murmured as they turned away.
Molly glanced at her. “Risky much?”
“They’re worried about the vampires, not us,” Onyx whispered. “Cover for me.”
Molly promptly launched into her case for adopting a cat. It was exactly the sort of thing that Onyx had learned to tune out.
“We weren’t able to handle things downstairs as subtly as we’d hoped,” Onyx heard Stefan say. The words came to her ear as if she were still part of the men’s conversation. “The corpses have been all over us.”
“Unfortunate, but that was a gamble,” Woods shrugged. “They’re not all stupid.”
“No, and Lydia still plays us off against one another. Baal will leave soon with the captured succubus. In the meantime, we have to make our move. Carlisle’s knowledge is too valuable to share. There is more going on than we imagined.”
“How so?”
“Garrison appears to have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams,” Stefan hissed. “We still need to study his methods in detail, but Carlisle stumbled into Garrison as he summoned the succubus and an angel. Garrison died and Carlisle accidentally wound up invested with some connection to both subjects.”
“None of them yet know of the angel,” Warren added.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Woods murmured. “Why in the hell would he do that? It’s madness.”
“No, it’s brilliant. They stood to counterbalance one another, and indeed they seem to have done so for Carlisle. It’s amazing; the relationships seem genuinely affectionate. But the angel disappeared on him right before he was abducted, so there may well be another faction in play. I fear Garrison may have shared his findings with another group like the Brotherhood before he died. We can’t ignore this opportunity.”
“What should I do?” Woods asked.
“Spread the word. Get everyone ready to move,” Stefan said. “Perhaps immediately after Anastacia holds her formal court. Perhaps even sooner. Warren will return to Carlisle and sneak him out. I expect he’ll have the easier task. The real challenge comes in extracting all of our people here without incident. We may need to fight our way out.”
Woods cast a concerned gaze at Warren. “You sure you don’t need help?”
“Mr. Woods, come now,” Warren said softly. “I am a necromancer. Manipulating corpses is my specialty. But we have to move soon. The effects of the waters of Lethe will not last forever, even in the quantities that he was given. Retrieving more will be difficult at best.”
“And the demons?”
“I hardly think Lydia or that attack dog of hers give a damn what we mere mortals do in our power struggles,” Stefan scowled. “Baal even less so. The other succubus is all he wants. Lydia means to kill Carlisle herself, but I don’t think Baal cares. The rest of us are beneath him. In the end, Anastacia is the real threat. Tonight will cost us, but the power we could attain here is too great to pass up. I’ll be damned if I’ll swear allegiance to that dress-wearing cadaver now!”
Warren and Stefan moved off, walking swiftly to catch up to the other VIPs of the evening. Woods turned to rejoin Molly and Onyx with his pleasant expression still strong. “Ladies,” he smiled charmingly, “it would appear that I’ve been appointed as something of a herder of cats tonight. I need to spread some news among the Brotherhood. I think it would be in your best interests to stay close. This party would be dreadfully dull without someone like me to liven it up for you, wouldn’t it?”
His self-deprecating wink was anything but. Molly and Onyx both played along, though, smiling at him shyly. “Sure,” Onyx said.
“Sorry about before,” Molly said. “I’ve just got a…thing about unnecessary roughness.”
Woods waved it off. “Hardly a problem. Believe me, I sympathize. My first few months with the Brotherhood were similarly jarring, but you get over it. Shall we?”
As they walked, Molly looked down to see Onyx slip something off her wrist from under her sleeve. It was the small ring of vines and blonde hair used to summon and bind Rachel into the circle within their apartment. Onyx gripped it in both hands, walking closely behind Mr. Woods with her hands low to keep them unseen. She pulled the circlet apart.