S.A. Price (11 page)

“I don’t doubt that. Aid said he’d bring the snake with him.”

“Really? He’s not going to cage him is he?”

“I think so, Aiden fears for his life around that thing.”

“Mmm…Baby’s not going to be happy, I’ll go and wait for him.” She grinned bouncing off the bed and hopping out the door.

She left closing the door behind her and leaving Merrick alone with his thoughts, which was not the best place for him to be. Plan B was tricky. It was something he’d been trying to avoid for a long time. It completely negated everything that he’d been doing for years especially the past few days’

work. Unfortunately he had no choice. His actions were crippling Elise and he couldn’t allow that.

~44~

It had been a mistake to go to her. He loved her and needed her more than anything. She was everything to him and seeing her in such pain killed him. Things though, were never simple, if there had been some way for him to get a message to her he would have and he’d tried. Coded messages in newspapers and the odd obituary. He’d sent her flowers once on her birthday and he’d always kept an eye on her kids. Nothing was ever simple though and now she hated him. Things were a mess, perhaps they’d always been a mess. Now plan B promised to fuck up everyone’s day.

He heard Kira’s screaming and a few seconds later Aiden sauntered unhurriedly through the door.

He wore his usual smile and by the scent of him he’d been conversing with Myra.

“Leave Elise’s kids alone.” He all but growled, Myra was too good for Aid’s game.

“What? You don’t want me to pump her for info?” He chuckled.

“No… did you get everything done?”

“Yep.” Aiden grinned. “Easy as pie, though that snake did take a bite out of me.”

“And the information?” Mer asked checking his reflection in the mirror.

“Got it right here.” He handed Merrick a bunch of manila folders each with a name on it.

“Excellent. Then let’s get it over with. With any luck this should all work out well…”

“And if not?”

“Then I’m thinking of moving back to Rome, it’s lovely this time of year.”

Aid snorted as they left the room and started to move towards the meeting room. The first rule of plan B was that he first had to declare himself for what he truly was, the male Archon of an illegal nest. With Kira dumped they then had to disprove all his hard work on making her seem to be his mate. The third thing he had to do was stay alive and this was the hardest part. The two of them entered the small room again later than the others. The same two seats had been left for them although Elise had switched spaces with Myra. Merrick sat in his space first leaving Aiden to sit after him next to Myra discreetly slipping his hand onto her leg. Mer sat quietly his face passively blank as he waited for the questions to start. The folder, his lifeline, sat heavily on his lap.

Olivia was the one to take the bait. "Where is the Archon?" she demanded, looking over at Aiden with serious distaste.

Merrick smiled for a second or two before answering. "If by Archon you are referring to little Kira then I sent her to her room, her presence is no longer required at this table. However if by Archon you mean leader of the Las Vegas nest then you're enquiring after me. I'm here, and this," he gestured to Aiden who winked at Olivia. "This would be my real Defteros, Aiden."

Elise frowned and Olivia stood. "This is preposterous!"

"In what way dear?" He asked her calmly.

"Your ruse has made a mockery of this council, and the sacred position of Archon! You do know that by popular vote, we can execute you for this deception, and I don’t see there being any opposition on the matter either."

Nodding his head he took a deep breath willing his speeding heart to calm down. "And yet Olivia, I'm not worried in the slightest... now who can tell me what that means?"

Ramona rolled her eyes looking at him. "It means that you’re stupid and foolish."

"Or that you know something we don't" Geraldine pitched in, distaste written over every feature.

Marcus smirked. "It means he’s got leverage. Honestly you think he wouldn’t have a plan after outing himself. And Olivia, love, the vote wouldn’t be unanimous. I think this council needs more cock anyway."

Merrick smiled at him honestly surprised, "I knew there was a reason I liked you Marcus. He's right though ladies, I do have leverage. A lot of it... fifteen years ago a few choice members of you conspired to have me killed. Unfortunately, you hired a friend of mine to do it. Of course poor Trent would be having kittens right now if he knew I was sitting right in front of you, it’s bad for his reputation." Which was true, he was going to have the talk sooner or later with Trent and hopefully it would end up with him still breathing. "But that's neither here nor there. I may have been playing

~45~

dead but that’s no reason to not keep up with the gossip. I've taken in your rogues, your unwanted and your runaways and what I haven’t found out through them I've gathered using other methods.

“I know things about you that you won’t even admit to yourself. Now I can and am prepared to ruin every single one of you...except you Marcus, I like you." he smiled at the other man placing the folders onto the table before continuing. "Now shall we all agree to play nice or will things have to get ugly?" He asked sliding each Archon a folder with their name on it. Each folder contained a few choice horrors from their past and present, all things he'd been collecting for years and nothing any one of them wanted to be made public. Elise's however was clean she had a few sheets of blank paper and a worn old photograph of them both when they were younger; it was taken on the last day he had seen her. The day he'd proposed, they both looked so happy and they had been.

He'd kept the photo with him at all times; it had helped him through the really bad days.

They each picked up the folders, candidly looking through the material. A few of them frowned.

Olivia looked at him with menace, her gaze shooting daggers. Her husband gingerly took the file away from her and she scowled, clearly pissed she had been cowed. Marcus looked at his file and laughed, looking over at Merrick. "Shit, you know about that?" he mused and chuckled again sighing in a good-natured way. Ramona was seething behind her file and Geraldine just set the file down, seeming to not care about it and Elise went from a frown to a gasp, her eyes softening momentarily, and then going hard once more. Olivia then cleared her throat. "Merrick, you cannot be an Archon. Now that your little puppet has been ousted, the fact remains that you’re still betrothed to an Archon with land.

Because of this, you have to either renounce her or your bid for Archon. I’m sure it will be the former as you haven’t had the decency to even contact your proposed mate." she shot a self satisfied look over at Elise who sat evenly, breathing as if she were watching a tennis match.

"What makes you so sure there is even a choice to begin with? Between a title, and my mate there is no choice, there never was. I will always choose Elise. Things haven’t been safe for us though and her safety comes first for me. As for the fact that I am an Archon, you can't take that away from me Olivia, I don’t need your permission nor do I want it... my people look to me to lead them and they always will, whether you say they should or not. Besides sweetheart," He said chidingly knowing it would grate on her. "I haven't asked you for land. In fact, I have no interest in land and nether do my people. I have a small house and some changing properties, and we don’t need any more. They were all originally rogue. I think you'll find that they already live among you all without causing any of you distress."

Elise looked at him but said nothing. Olivia scowled once again and then smiled. "Indeed we haven’t had any problems with rogues in our territory. But you will not sit on this council, of that I can be very certain. And if she will have you, you cannot call yourself Archon. That is Ophidian law."

He nodded once. "And how does everyone else feel about Olivia's ruling? Although Olivia, I must point out to you that if my mate will have me I will sit exactly there," he pointed to Myra's seat.

"Which would suit me just fine, of course, you might not be around to see it." He smiled politely at her.

Marcus laughed. "You know what I say, we need more male input and ladies, no offense to your mates but you are all a bunch of pussy whipped bastards. Of course, this all depends on if Elise will have you after this debacle, and I gotta be honest Merrick, if it was me, this little lady right here would make me suffer." he squeezed his wife’s leg and she leaned in and kissed him, not saying a word.

Geraldine only nodded. "Regardless what we think, it really has nothing to do with any of us what happens. You are right Merrick, you are dominant regardless, and that alone will garner you respect.

You have helped more of our people than any of us and I for one am thankful for that, thankful that younger generations are able to have a chance outside the nest environment." She nodded to him.

"Whatever you decide to do, you have the support of the south, and please know, the contract that my predecessor, Carlin, had on you, was lifted the second I took the Archon position."

He nodded not letting his relief show on his face, "I do and thank you. I have a lot of respect for you Geraldine, I apologize for the folder."

~46~

Ramona tapped her fingernails on her own folder. "This will not be made public." she demanded.

Merrick shrugged knowing exactly what it was she didn't want everyone to know. "That's up to you. We'll all just do what we have to and hope it works out."

She glared at him promising a slow and painful death, "I suppose we will."

Marcus smiled. "Well this solves nothing, but I think we should worry about the task at hand."

Olivia shook her head. "Just a second, regardless of Merrick’s position, Elise has proven that she is not fit to be an Archon, and that’s something we can’t ignore."

"Unfit? In what way?"

Olivia smirked. "She was left alone, unmated, and without an heir. We all overlooked it because of the issues surrounding your 'death'," she said in air quotes, "regardless of the circumstances around said death, we left her alone in her grief and safe in the knowledge that she wouldn’t have a successor, and that once she was too old, she would have to have her territory split up. Now, well you’re back and who is to say that you and her didn’t plan all this."

He frowned, "And yet you just claimed that she was in fact an Archon, did you not? That I could not be mated to her and be an Archon myself? You cannot have it both ways Olivia, you’re splitting hairs now. To even suggest that the two of us planned on you having me assassinated is ridiculous along with you brazenly admitting that your plans are not only predictable but also easily manipulated. Now tell me, who here is an unfit Archon?"

Marcus stood and clapped. "Well done Merrick, though I must say we will deal with this at a later date. It’s not well done that Olivia is even pursuing this in this time of crisis. Now if no one has any further issues, I say we get down to business."

Ramona nodded stiffly, "I agree, on to much more important matters. What information has everyone gathered?"

Elise looked over at Marcus, who nodded and then stood. "We found a name. Cristof Ansley."

Aiden shook his head, his hand, Merrick noticed, had now moved to Myra’s thigh. "I don’t recognize it, he's not on our list."

"No reason why he would be, unless you have been keeping track of the serpentine cults that have been springing up in this country for the past few years."

Aiden bristled next to him about to say something but Merrick cut in, "No it's not something we've been looking at. Please, tell us about him."

Elise stood and began pacing. "Ansley is a French aristocrat, and he’s been linked to the Fusion Murders, those ritualistic deaths in France a while back? The ones they say are linked to the black arts? Well guess what? A bunch of the rare lore books are being bought up by an anonymous source, including the Astikian Serpents text and, I found out mere moments ago, the invocational text of Delphyne. I think this is more then mere coincidence."

"Obviously," He sighed not liking where this was headed. "I don't suppose it would be simple enough to have this guy’s address? So what is he in relation to the cults?"

"Word has it he’s the high priest, or more over, he’s called himself the Ophra, some bastardized version of our name. There’re reports that they worship Delphyne, and are looking to resurrect her.

My personal source says that Delphyne is very real, and not someone we need on this plane. So the lamial serpentine cult is real, because Delphyne was in fact, a Lamia. I think that’s what the girls are being used for, possible vessels."

"Vessels? For a god?" Ramona sneered. "No such thing exists. Just as the Lamia don’t exist.”

"Actually, Delphyne does exist, and is probably growing in power because of the worship. I understand that a Serpentine cult involves a high master and all male disciples, no females unless they are used as vessels. My source, a very knowledgeable witch, assures me this is a very real threat."

"So what do we do?" Merrick asked her, this was completely out of his comfort range.

"We have to find the girls, and quickly. My source is sending me an original copy of two of her texts, and Beryl is probably in the control room right now deciphering some of it. The witch told me that there are certain things that the sect needs for the resurrection, and some of it is location. Myra