Chapter Seventeen #5
“Sending them on. We’ve timestamped each appearance of the currently identified particulars in this case. You should be able to zip right to the appearance of any party using the legend on the screen’s bottom.”
“Our thanks to Alex, Eli, and the queen’s security,” Walter said.
“Anytime. As long as the queen’s banner flies over your building, you can have most anything. I have an update on the arrival time for the vamp who’s part of your protection unit. Basically it’s ‘Not soon.’ ”
As long as the queen’s banner flies…
There had been no formal royal announcement yet, laying claim to the building and the people within it. There was still time to change this back. EJ kept his face expressionless.
The connection ended, and EJ didn’t look at Walter as he pulled up the footage. “They’re sending a vamp,” EJ said. “Do you know who?”
“No.”
EJ returned to the video, flashing through the index and loading the videos on his screen in neat little blocks. Fortunately, Marrazzo’s entry area and lakeside balcony and entrance cams were included with the four views of video feed Goliath had sent them.
“You still do not wish to be claimed by the queen,” Walter said.
“No. Same as you. You don’t want the queen’s help here either, though our reasons are not likely the same.”
Walter chuckled darkly. “No, our reasons will not be the same.”
EJ kept his eyes on the screen, familiarizing the names with the legend and pulling up all references to Nyoka, but not hitting play.
When he finished, he sat back and met Walter’s eyes.
“We’ve done a bad job of including you in our lives.
We don’t visit. We don’t have wine or coffee or tea together.
We don’t do jack. You’ve become more than our bodyguard.
You’ve become personally important to us and our business.
So, we should talk more. You should know stuff.
If you choose to tell things about yourself, that’s fine. For now, I’ll talk.
“After the war I didn’t want to be with a coven again. What we did in Section Seven was intense. Too personal. I talked to my dad. Told him a very little bit, things I could say without breaching classified info. He understood.
“After Asshat, Angie had PTSD about being around vampires who might succeed in rolling her. That meant not being in the queen’s court.
We and the queen reached an accord. As long as we can handle our security well enough, and we’re not put under attack, we can stay in Chattanooga, mostly anonymous and autonomous. ”
“Your freedom, as it had been, ended when Londyn placed a демон в коробке, at your door,” Walter said.
“And the moment a Rus witch was identified in town.” EJ’s tone was bitter.
He hit play at the first appearance of Nyoka.
Three days ago, she entered Karson’s house from the balcony entrance.
There was no audio, but the video was unmistakable evidence of an invasion, not visitation.
Nyoka was wearing armor and dozens of amulets tied to her gear belt and in bandoliers that crisscrossed her chest and back.
She didn’t bother to hide behind her shadow working.
Moments later, Konstantin and Karson appeared and attacked her.
They used swords. She fought back with magic.
Magic didn’t video well, but as she threw amulets, the vampires were hit with fire, with ice, with smoke bombs.
She attacked with an antifriction/antiproximity working that made swords and hands slide off her.
It was something far and away better than anything Section Seven had been working on in the war.
But even with her magic, Konstantin was better. He gathered a ball of something that photographed fuzzy and hot. Raw magic. He threw out his hand. The ball of magic hit the witch. It was similar to what Angie had once been able to do.
Nyoka dropped like a stone. A half-dozen humans and vamps lay at her feet as well, ignored by Karson and Konstantin. Nyoka was dragged away by Konstantin himself.
“The Rus witch Konstantin was with Karson, when Nyoka entered,” Walter said. “She was not possessed when she entered the clan home.”
“Before Londyn was killed. Before our client was killed,” EJ said.
“Nyoka will never obtain her revenge while possessed.”
“Unless there were vials…” EJ’s words slowed to a stop.
“If the liquid in the vial was what I saw used in the war, it’s effective for only minutes.
Then the host gets killed and the demon is re-collected for reuse.
If the Rus perfected the elixir, that changes everything, for everyone.
” It meant the war was here, for real, without the possibility of peace or safety.
“Maybe Nyoka took a vial from Londyn’s and drank it before she showed up at Karson’s.
I can’t guess at what happened next, but she was under their thumb before we arrived at the clan home. And then I staked her.”
“I stabbed her heart,” Walter said. “Everyone else got away. They took Nyoka, possessed, with them.”
“We have to assume that someone has more of the elixir, and they intend to use the succubus that now rides Nyoka’s body,” EJ said, flashing through more and more video, fast speed, watching for the woman, what she did, how she acted.
“They’ll add her possession and her relationship with you into their plans.
Once we remove her, get her to safety, maybe we can reverse engineer the elixir and use it to create a dispossession working. Maybe. We can try.”