Chapter 46
We were ushered into the building and through a few corridors until we found ourselves in a huge, ornate room with furniture and décor that gave a whole new definition to the term opulent.
“So we thought we would have your first moments in your home country be impactful,” Croft said.
“Actually sir, we sorta made a little visit to Scotland about six months ago,” I said.
“Oh?” he asked, frowning and glancing at his spy masters. They looked surprised too.
“We needed to determine Craig’s paternal witch lineage,” Vesta said. “His father had not told him about the Earth witches in the Craig bloodlines. I believe that Omega might have handled the customs work.”
“True,” Omega said, popping into existence and scaring the crap out of a waitress who was pouring tea. “I filed it properly, but in a rather overlooked portion of the customs system.” Then he was gone.
“I see,” Croft said. “This was important, then?”
“Yes. Craig knew that his mother was an accomplished Air witch, but male witches don’t show many abilities unless the father contributes some witch genetics.”
“And our young Brit shows abilities?” Croft asked. It was said smoothly and easily. Maybe his name should be Crafty, not Croft.
“As if you didn’t know,” Vesta replied. “One of my friend’s roommates is from London. Shelly Kincaid. I’m sure she’s reported to her circle.”
“Shelly’s from London?” I asked her. I didn’t know the English witch beyond nodding hello.
“From the city’s biggest circle,” Vesta said.
“I would have thought you knew everything about anyone you met,” Barton Fox said. “What with your aptitude for reading people.”
“He knows quite a bit about my Intent,” I said to Vesta. “Fishing for more information and trying to craft a question about marksmanship.”
“Well, you can’t blame us, right?” Croft said. “You are a citizen by virtue of your father’s birth and thus welcome here, but you are a figure of considerable global interest.”
I grimaced. “Maybe I shouldn’t have punched that Irish fighter,” I said to Vesta.
“Oh, that was a blow celebrated around the world and heavily here in the UK,” Denton Bardon the home secretary said. “Fife is not well loved.”
“The Heir’s anonymity was always going to end sooner or later, and thus your own,” Francis Holme added.
“Daddy was…” Vesta started to say but paused to dig for a word.
“Pissed off? Infuriated?” I suggested.
“Annoyed,” she said, giving me a frown. “He always wanted me kept off the radar, so to speak, but if anyone was going to get away with outing me, you would be it.”
“Your father is happy with your choice of beloved?” Amos Brown asked. MI-5 was the UK equivalent of the FBI, I recalled.
“Oh, my parents love Craig.”
“It was rocky at first,” I added.
“Just with Mother. Dad liked you from the first. Or course, you stepping between me and six giant killer birds might have something to do with it,” Vesta countered. “Do you think they would have volunteered to be your guardians otherwise?”
“Guardians?” Croft asked.
“I’m seventeen and Arcane has been my temporary guardian until I turn eighteen this summer. When I got deported, the school had to give that up, and Vesta’s parents stepped in. It happened while we were over the Atlantic.”
“So like an hour ago,” Croft said with a sardonic grin.
“Yeah, but it’s going super smooth,” I said with my own grin.
The waitress was handing out tea, starting with Croft, but he offered his to Vesta, who took the china cup smoothly. I watched her sip the milky brew and she lifted one eyebrow at my attention.
“We don’t drink a lot of tea at school, as we use coffee as the caffeine of choice,” I told the watching men. “But now I realize her great aunt and her uncle Levi would have had a big influence on the business of tea.”
“Whereas your dad made you drink it?” Vesta asked.
“Coffee doesn’t do well on Greenacres, but some varieties of tea do well and, well, Dad was British. Tea is pretty big in Korea too. Milk was difficult, as we have to import condensed milk if we want it. One of the few luxuries he would splurge for.”
“I have spoken to Lord Blackmore, and he has agreed to meet you?” Denton Bardon said.
“Lord Blackmore?” I asked, confused.
“Your uncle,” the home secretary said after a glance at Croft.
“Oh. I didn’t know I had one,” I said. “Dad never spoke of family. Ah, if he doesn’t want to, that’s fine. I wasn’t aware he existed, so…”
“Why would he be reluctant?” Vesta asked.
“I’m guessing he thinks I want money or something,” I said.
The home secretary’s brow lifted.
“I don’t need any. Money. I’m fine,” I said.
“Well, financial considerations are sometimes important,” Secretary Barden allowed.
“Yeah, well, I don’t have my father’s estate cleared yet, but I have my own money, and I get an allowance from the estate. Plus I could always sell a few rubies.”
Three of the men—Fox, Brown, and Holme— almost spit their tea out. Croft had been picking out a scone, so he was the first to speak. “Rubies? Damara rubies?”
“You must know that Craig’s family found most of them,” Vesta said.
“Well, yes, and there have been rumors you have more, but it was unconfirmed.”
Vesta reached into her neckline and pulled her necklace out. “Confirmed,” she said as the big red ruby flashed in its setting.
“Young lady, that stone has to be worth two or three million pounds,” Barden said.
“Several times that, Secretary,” Fox said, leaning close. “A self-powering magical ruby that size is almost priceless.”
“Pretty good Solstice gift, right?” she asked.
“You have a talent for understatement, Vesta,” Croft said. “I will come clean and tell you that we have conferred at length with the local lycanthropic representatives about the term beloved.”
“Did it make sense?” Vesta asked.
“It does. What doesn’t make sense is the American administration’s lack of understanding of where you would go if Craig was tossed out of the country,” Croft said.
“I don’t understand the stance, myself,” Vesta said. “The precedent is pretty clear among vampires and weres and even occasionally human-only couples. In fact, romantic literature is replete with examples.”
“Anyone with any sense would know that you would always stay with your beloved,” Secretary Bardon said.
“Exactly.”
“How does it work for you, Craig?” Croft asked. “Maybe that is an indelicate question. I’ve certainly asked them before.”
“It’s a common question,” I said. “But her hair is black and her eyes are blue, so what’s a fella to do?”
“Oh, you’ve been saving that one up for some time, haven’t you?” Vesta accused.
“I mean, we’re not in Ireland, but we’re close, right?”
“Brilliant,” Croft said with a smile. “I’m afraid he’s entirely correct, miss. Your hair is black and your eyes are very blue, so it would appear his options are limited.”
“Oh no; you have the same sense of humor he does?” she accused Croft, arms crossed, wearing a manufactured frown.
She wasn’t even slightly upset, merely pretending, but I felt the intents of the two spy chiefs ramp up significantly.
Croft, however, read her body language for what it was and leaned back with a smile.
“I’m afraid my wife would agree with you entirely,” he said, feeling comfortable.
Vesta smiled. “So what’s the deal?” she asked.
They all looked either confused or taken a bit aback at her words.
“Sorry. that was not for you all, but for Galway boy here,” she said.
“The prime minister sees an excellent opportunity to improve connections to the Steward for the UK,” I said.
“Home Secretary Barden is actively wondering about how we might help some of the coastal communities and agricultural concerns; Secretary Holme is contemplating ramifications to UK national security. Both spy chiefs are worried about what they don’t know.
You have a question in particular, Mr. Fox, I believe,” I said.
“Great God above,” Secretary Holme said softly.
“Also we’re going to be presented at an impromptu but supremely well-orchestrated press conference,” I added.
“That, gentlemen, is Intent at work,” Vesta said. “It makes him unmatched for security work. What is your question, Mr. Fox?”
He blinked three times, then set his poker face in place and cleared his throat. “There was recently an incident at Arcane. A breach of security by outside agents. Darkkin Agents.”
“Yes,” Vesta said. “Parties in the greater Coven decided to act upon a long-held grudge against my Uncle Chris and Aunt Tanya. They sent a team to kill the twins. They failed—messily. Shelly’s room is just down from mine, so she had the same afterview I did. Messy.”
“My understanding was that it was a bloodbath,” Fox said. “And you were right in the middle of it,” he said, looking at me.
“Yes sir. My Intent woke me as the team breached the school’s security.”
“What did you do?”
“Killed them, sir.”
“Our reports indicated that all eight were decapitated, most while moving.”
“Shelly’s a bit of Chatty Cathy, isn’t she?” Vesta asked.
“Virtually every student in the school reported to their home circle or pack,” Brown said. “Intel was extensive if incomplete.”
Fox turned to me. “We suspected you were more than just an alarm system.”
“I would have thought the six dead axeheads would have been a clue?” Vesta asked.
“They were. However, there was shooting involved,” Amos Brown said. “And the FBI did not share their internal analysis with us.”
“Not very neighborly of them,” Vesta said, handling the talking because I was watching intents… intently.
“An individual with precognitive situational awareness, magically linked aiming and an ability to decapitate moving vampires faster than anything we know of would be an unstoppable assassin,” Fox said.
“Shit. This again,” I said.
Vesta patted my knee. “He’s a little sensitive to that word,” she said. “My mom’s pack second used the same word several times early on. My father responded, Director Fox, by pointing out that the same skillset makes for an unmatched bodyguard.”
“It provides a reason for the change in your student visa, though,” Secretary Bardon said. “President Wagner is highly sensitive to perceived threats to his personal safety.”
I was more than bewildered by that. “Um, does he realize that Vesta or her dad can call a tornado down on the White House, trigger an earthquake, or flood Washington from the Potomac? Drop a chunk of space debris? Burn the whole city to the ground? While doing her nails?”
“Well, no one really knows your partner’s capabilities since she has just emerged from the blackout her parents had her under,” Director Brown said.
“Her father is Steward of Earth, she’s blessed by Gaia herself, and she’s the only known witch-wolf individual alive,” I said. “I’m just a predator management specialist.”
“Wagner has a predilection for surrounding himself with very young, very attractive women,” Croft said. “He might look at Miss Vesta here and not see the danger. You, however, do appear dangerous.”
“Well, he effectively got rid of both of us with just a bit of paperwork,” I said.
“And lost all power to law enforcement and the White House complex,” Secretary Barden said. “Not the first time Omega has weaponized energy, but I doubt Wagner expected that response.”
“I was, and continue to be, concerned at his administration’s quickness to breach contracts and agreements,” Omega said, again just popping in.
The men handled it, which told me Omega must appear in avatar form to lots of people.
“Also, Craig, Buster is trying to tear her way out of the Megalodon. Your absence is apparently causing her concern.”
“Your cat?” Fox asked.
“Yes, Director. No way would we leave her behind,” I said.
“Nope,” Vesta agreed. “She’s a sweetie. Like a wolverine-sized sweetie.”
“Ah, where are we as far as quarantine issues for our new citizen’s valued pet?” Croft asked the home secretary.
“I don’t know, sir.”
“I have supplied up-to-the-moment medical scans to the Animal and Plant Health Agency and they have fast-tracked Buster’s processing,” Omega said. “She has been cleared for entry.”
“A new record,” Croft said. “Shocking. Perhaps we can bring your Buster out when we visit with the surprise press pool? But before we do, I would like to ask what your goals are while living here.”
“I left Greenacres—Golf Alpha—as a refugee from people wanting rubies and now I’m a refugee from my school,” I said.
“My Econ professor contacted me by email during our flight and wants me to finish her class remotely. So the two of us will see if we can finish all of our coursework remotely. Other than that, I don’t know. It happened so fast.”
“And we want to visit everything we can in between,” Vesta said. “I’ve been here many times, but it’s all new to Craig.”
“Lovely. Have you any thoughts on accommodations?” Croft asked.
“Aunt Tanya owns multiple hotels, and she would be miffed if we didn’t use them. Craig saved her children from almost certain murder.”
“So we get a friends and family discount?” I asked.
“We get a lifesaver’s one-hundred-percent discount,” Vesta replied.
“Seems excessive but hey,” I said. “Cora doesn’t even like me.”
“You’d be surprised how you can grow on people after you save their lives,” she smirked. “And Cora doesn’t own the hotels.”
“Well, that seems sorted. Should we meet your fellow citizens through the good graces of our press corps?” Croft asked.
We looked at each other and then nodded. “Sure,” I said.