Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
“Can I take this blindfold off?”
“No.” Jillian’s tone was so sharp it gave me whiplash. “Keep it on. The blindfold is the price you have to pay to enter our realm.”
“Oh, I understand. I really do,” I said. Even though I had Jillian on one side, holding my arm, and another equally stunning female vampire on the other, I shuffled forward hesitantly as if I was about to walk into a wall. “But this is so awkward. It would go faster if I could actually see.”
Jillian, Bart’s vampire accountant, had met me at my apartment at sundown to take me to the vampire realm for my audience with the Ancients. We were already running late due to the intense negotiation over who would come with me.
The vampires wanted me to come alone. Donovan, of course, wasn’t going to let that happen.
Cress was already in time-out for trying to provoke the vampires into fighting her, and Fionn, having met and spoken to Bronwyn, had spent most of the afternoon sitting in his giant armchair, staring glassy eyed at the fire, deep in thought.
She’d worked her therapist magic, and now poor Fionn had a lot to process.
Eryk and Nate would have offered to join me, but they were still sequestered in Audrina’s room.
While Jillian was arguing with Cecil, who was still insisting on coming with us, I checked in on Audrina.
She seemed okay. Better than okay, even.
She’d recorded some songs and posted them on her new social media platforms using a stage name and a heavy-duty filter on her face so she wouldn’t be recognized by anyone.
Two of her songs had already gone viral, her follower count had exploded, and the response had blown her away.
Someone had even reached out asking to hire her to sing at a fancy event coming up, and she was seriously considering the offer.
It was her choice, but I was still worried for her safety. If her mother got her hands on her…
My stomach churned at the thought. Seeing Audrina lying in that hospital bed, drugged, almost catatonic, it was obvious there was no limit as to what Jessica would do to make sure her daughter stayed hidden.
But, sandwiched between Nate and Eryk, who hadn’t left her side, Audrina was probably the safest she’d ever been.
After making sure she was okay, I went back to the negotiations with the vampires.
Eventually, they agreed that Donovan could escort me but wouldn’t budge on anyone else.
Jillian was seriously unimpressed when Cecil turned himself into a huge, fluffy golden fox and draped himself over my shoulders, declaring that he was exempt, because he was a coat.
But she let him come anyway after it became blindingly obvious that he wasn’t going to leave me.
As long as he kept his mouth shut and stayed as a coat, she’d tolerate his presence.
We piled into a limo with the vampires and headed to a mystery destination, the location of the vampire realm portal. The journey was mostly quiet. Cecil lay on my shoulders with glassy eyes, doing his best coat impersonation, and Donovan glared moodily at our big muscle-bound vamp escorts.
We drove through the city for ten minutes or so, then came to a stop. Jillian insisted on the blindfolds, and we got out, inching across the pavement. “Unlike some more careless creatures,” she said, “We take our security very seriously. We can’t have everyone knowing the location of our portals.”
I tiptoed forward. “Of course,” I murmured. “Because nobody would ever guess that the vampire realm portal is in the back of the trance lounge on Polk Street.”
Jillian cursed, a harsh sound in a foreign tongue. “How did you know?”
“It was just a guess, actually.” I chuckled awkwardly.
“The ride was short, and the nightlife on Polk Street can be very vamp-aesthetic. It’s chic and upmarket enough for all you vamp actuaries and litigators, with lots of opportunity for intoxicated humans to feed on.
Besides, I can hear trance music and smell the MDMA from here. ”
“Ooh,” Cecil whispered in my ear. “A little molly might actually help me stay in my fox-fur coat theme. Y’know, pupils dilated, eyes glassy, monged out, that kind of thing. Chosen, do you think we could nip inside and?—”
Jillian snatched the blindfold off my head, and her stunning icy-white face appeared in front of me, scowling deeply.
I blinked and looked around. Yep, we were in the back alley behind Polk Street. A red light shone above a door just ahead. Soft bass came out of it.
“Susan.”
My gaze focused back on her face. Every time I looked at the real Jillian, her beauty almost shocked the pants off me.
Even before I knew she was a vampire, I was already scared of her—she was a brilliant accountant who didn’t take shit from anybody.
I’d never paid much attention to her looks before, but the Jillian I knew had a soft face, not much chin, beady eyes surrounded by deep crow’s feet and thick, mousy brown hair that she scraped back into a bun.
Now I knew it was a glamor. The real Jillian had smooth, pearly-white skin that shone with preternatural luster, full, deep red lips, wide brown eyes with a flash of red in the iris when they caught the light, and cheekbones so sharp that you could probably use them to carve a Thanksgiving turkey.
The death stare was exactly the same, though, and right now, she was using it to full effect on me.
“I don’t think you quite understand the gravity of this occasion,” she said.
“The decision to let you into our realm was not made lightly. Blood was spilt, fangs were extracted. A lot of vampires rebelled against the Ancients.”
Oh. Jillian was agitated.
She took a deep breath through her nose. “This war between you and Connor is tearing us apart. We all understand that one must rule in order to keep peace throughout all the Worlds. The prophecy says it will be either you or him.”
“Or me and him. Or me and Donovan. Or just him, with all of us dead. The prophecy says a lot of crazy things, Jillian, none of which I put much faith in.”
“All we know is both of you are after our spark stones, and nobody is sure who to trust,” Jillian barreled on, ignoring me. “Nobody is really sure what will happen if he devours our spark stone. He says he will keep it safe and keep the power from you. You say you will keep it safe from him.”
I let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t know why I have to keep repeating this point, but I guess I’ll do it until I am blue in the face. If I close it, you keep the stone with all the magic sealed inside of it. If he devours it, the magic is gone.”
Jillian’s hard gaze didn’t waver. “All evidence points to the fact that both of you have the ability to take some of its power. You can’t deny it.”
“The stones gift me a fragment of power. I don’t take it. Once it’s gifted to me, the same power still lives on in the stone, which is the source of your magic. But Connor takes the source for himself, and eventually, the magic dies.”
“We don’t know any of that for sure,” she said quietly.
“I know.” I stared into her terrifying eyes. “And I wish that we could wait a little longer so you could see that the mermaids and the berserkers and the brethren will keep their magic, now that I’ve closed their stones.”
“You closed the brethren stone?” She hissed and looked away. “Those little demon bastards. I was hoping Connor would get their stone so they’d lose their magic and die out for good.”
“Don’t be cruel, Jillian,” I said primly. “They have the right to exist.” I didn’t put much sting in my words. She’d just confirmed for me that she was on my side.
“Don’t get me wrong, Susan. The tide has mostly turned sharply in favor of you. Apart from the contingent of moron rebels who think that you don’t deserve to rule because you’re a woman.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Oh, that is still a thing, is it?”
“Yes,” Donovan said grimly. “And the situation has gotten worse. Not only has Connor taken control of my army in the Upper World, but he has also called his Middle World followers to gather together. There is a force made up of one thousand other men of various species—shifters, centaurs, witches?—”
“The mermen that escaped the sea witch, too.” Cecil whispered without moving his mouth, ventriloquist-style.
“And vampires,” Jillian said. “Lots of them. As soon as our Ancients indicated that we were going to be extending an invitation to you to join us here, several hundred rogues angrily defected and went to join Connor’s army.”
Donovan went on. “According to our intelligence, they’re gathered somewhere in the Woods, the shifter realm, awaiting instruction from Connor. So not only does he have command of my army, ready to rampage through the Upper World, he’s cobbled together one in the Middle World, too.”
I gnawed on my lip. “I would have thought he’d harness all the evil denizens of the Lower World first. He seemed to be eager to go there and devour a few of their stones. The banwyn and the sediure, for starters.”
“Most of them are far too hard to organize,” Cecil chipped in, louder this time, obviously getting bored lying on my shoulders as a golden fox-fur coat.
“It’s an endless pit of chaos down there; every creature for themselves.
Those idiots couldn’t organize a bun fight in a bakery.
They couldn't manage a booze-up in a brewery. They couldn’t organize a blowjob in a brothel. They couldn’t?—”
I held up my hand. “It’s okay. I got it, Cecil.”
Jillian got in my face again. “And that’s exactly my point. Everyone else knows this, but you don’t. You’re inexperienced, unprepared, and you’re an unknown. There will be a Ruler of All the Worlds, whether any of us like it or not.”
“Well—”
“It’s happening,” she said firmly. “You can’t fight a prophecy, Susan. On one hand, we have you, and on the other, we have the raging force of a fae man from the Upper Realm who understands magic and knows true power. Vampires respect power, Susan.”
I arched an eyebrow, suddenly feeling pissed. “You don’t respect power. You fear being weak. There’s a big difference, Jillian. Connor craves nothing more than to put his boot on the throat of every creature in all the Worlds. I have power, but I have no intention of subjugating anyone.”
But you did, a little voice inside my head whispered. You did it to Bronwyn.
My irritation instantly vanished.
“I know that.” Jillian bared her teeth. “I’m on your side, Susan. I’m just letting you know what you’re about to walk into.”
I took a deep breath and sighed it all out. “I understand.” I turned to look at Donovan’s face. It always reassured me. “Let’s just get this over with.”