A Little Rhine Must Fall (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three:

Open Season

Yup. Should have seen that coming. Cecily’s storm-cloud face should have warned me what was up, but I was too busy thinking lofty thoughts about the strength of mankind’s character to notice the obvious. We were back around to the reason I had been forced to join the USB in the first place. If interstellar war was inevitable, then humans were no more than a happy meal to snack on while building up your energy for the fight.

In a weird, sick way it made total sense, but that didn’t stop it from taking me by surprise. My vision went a trifle wobbly and my legs gave out so quickly that I landed hard on my tail bone.

“Piper!” Cecily was at my side in an instant. “Are you okay?”

“I meant to do that,” I said regally. “The pregnancy’s just messing with my equilibrium.”

“I am truly sorry,” Deerhurst said, “but this is the only way.”

“The only way?” I answered hotly. “Murdering humans is the
only
way? How convenient! Would you feel the same way if by killing off all the Nagas we could save the world?”

“There are not enough Nagas left to make a difference,” he said sadly. “But I do understand your point. Be comforted by the fact that of all our species, humans breed the quickest. Even with selective culling, your species should be able to rebuild in the next hundred years or so.”

My mouth was opening and closing like a fish and I think there might have been steam pouring out my ears. I could definitely feel my face radiating heat and hear a rushing sound.

Deerhurst gave me a steady look. “You do not see the benefits of this choice because you are a short lived species. Trust me when I say that sacrifices must be made if any of us are to survive this. At least this way your species has a chance of survival.”

“You pompous little lizard!” I screamed, jerking up to my feet. “How dare you stand there are talk about
sacrifices
! This isn’t a sacrifice! It’s genocide, and you know it! Nobody’s
forcing
you to kill humans! You’ve just been given a guilt-free card to allow all of you greedy creeps to do what you’ve always wanted to do!”

Luna bowed low before the unruffled Naga. “Please, lord, allow me to remove this disrespectful human’s tongue from her mouth.”

“Oh, shut up!” I cried and poked her hard with my foot so she unbalanced and had to catch herself ungracefully on her hands. “Just try and take my tongue, witch. Just try!”

Alien/Karen was distraught. “War is not the answer!” she cried. “Please reconsider! If I send this answer to my planet they will send warships to attack and all of you will be killed! Please! Slavery is an honorable choice!”

“You shut up, too!” I told her. “This is all your fault. Nobody’s surrendering and every human on the planet would sooner die than become your slaves, so put
that
in your little message to high command! If you come here you better be ready for a knock-down, drag-out fight and we fight dirty!” I pointed at Deerhurst. “The same goes for you. If you come after humans we
will
fight back. You think that humans are dumb and weak and helpless, but you are
wrong
. If you truly want to fight off the aliens then you should join forces with the humans, not fight a war on two fronts. Even
I
know that.”

Deerhurst shook his head slowly. “I know you believe you are right, but I am sorry. The decision has been made. We will be passing the news on to the different member species. It will now be permissible to openly hunt humans. I suggest that you go home and see to the protection of your family.”

I’m not quite sure what happened next. It would have been the height of stupidity for me to try to physically attack a
Naga
, but somehow, I found myself grabbed mid-leap and my aborted momentum used to sling my body around and half way down the steps.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Cecily was murmuring frantically in my ear and she held me in such a death grip that, even if I had wanted to say something, there was no air in my lungs to speak with.

“Bu—”

“Shh,” she was half carrying me, half dragging me, away from the pagoda where the Synod members had turned their conversation to more important matters. The last face I saw was Luna’s, smiling with evil delight.

“Aargaggh!” I screamed, as words had failed me for the moment. There was no way to express my anger, fear, and despair.

“Shush,” Cecily said again. “Those who fight and run away …”

I tried to dig my feet in and felt my bones creak as she kept dragging me through the temple complex. She wasn’t stopping for anything. “I can’t just leave!” I yelled in her ear. “I have to change their minds.”

Cecily stopped and pinned me up against a wall. “Wake up, Piper! They’ve been waiting for this chance! They’re not going to change their minds!”

“I thought Deerhurst
liked
me!”

Cecily’s eyes glittered in the torch light. “He does. But you are
one person
. If the Endring attack he needs the Ziplines. The WAND wants to use human sacrifices for their magic. Their desires trump one human life.”

“But it’s not just about me!” I protested. “How can they let this happen?”

Cecily grabbed my elbow and kept moving. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. “We have to get you home.”

“For what?” I wailed. “To sit there and watch my children and husband be murdered by witches?”

“Or worse,” she muttered.

“What?”

“You heard the Chairman, Piper,” she snapped. “It’s open season with no bag limit.” She continued our pell-mell course down the dragon steps. “It’s going to be a bloodbath,” she whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“Witches are not the only ones who will want to kill humans.”

It hit me that I was being forcibly dragged down dark steps by one of those creatures who “killed” humans. I gulped and my heart pounded loudly in my ears. Cecily dropped me like a hot potato. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared and bounced down three more steps before landing on my rump.

“Ow!” I yelled indignantly. “What was
that
for?”

She stood above me, silhouetted by the lamp posts, slim, elegant, and totally vamped out, with completely black eyes and sharp fangs.

“You’re scared of me,” she whispered.

I was; she was pretty scary, but I was pretty mad about being lugged around and then dropped. “You dropped me down the stairs!” I accused her.

“You think I’m going to hurt you.” Her voice was full of pain.

“You just
did
hurt me!”

“You’re afraid that I’m going to …”

I picked myself up and angrily tugged my shirt straight. “Suck my blood?” I asked caustically. “Yes. The thought did cross my mind. But then I remembered that you’re my
best friend
and would never hurt me.” I glared at her. “At least, that’s what I thought until you
dropped me down the stairs
!”

She blinked and was suddenly my friend and next-door neighbor again. “I would never hurt you,” she promised.

I stepped up close to her and placed my hands on her shoulders. “I know that, Cecily.”

She sank down on the step, hugged her knees and rocked back and forth miserably. “You don’t understand, Piper.”

I sat next to her. “Enlighten me.”

“He said ‘the time for hiding is over.’ Humans are going to find out about …” she waved her hand in the air, “
everything
. And they’re . . .
you’re
going to be fighting for your lives. Meanwhile, the vampires and the WAND are going to be competing for human blood. Werewolves are going to be trying to turn as many humans as they can. The Fae will be … well, let’s just say that the UnSeelie will be out for revenge, and the Seelie want kids, and they’re not picky about whose.” She gave me a significant look.

I grimaced.

“Yes. And all of this is before the aliens even arrive.”

“Yeah,” I patted her arm. “I got that. That’s kind of why I tried to tackle the Chairman.”

A laugh snorted out of her before she could stop it. “May I just say that you are
crazy
? But, Piper,” she looked deep into my eyes. “I’m a
vampire
.”

I gasped and jumped back in horror. “You’re a vampire?” I covered my heart in mock surprise. “I never knew!”

She slapped my arm. “Seriously.”

I settled back down and grinned. “I’m being serious. I know you’re a vampire. I know you drink blood. So?”

“So?”

“Yeah. That hasn’t stopped us from being friends. Why should it now? No one can
force
you to ‘eat’ me.”

She was quiet so I had to ask, “Can they?” I asked nervously.

“No,” she said. “They can’t. But they are going to be ‘eating’ humans, as you say.”

I hugged my knees too. “Yeah. I know.”

“I have to pick a side,” she said bleakly.

Now I was freaked out. “A side?”

She turned on me with a snarl. “You still don’t get it, slurpee.
I
won’t come after you, but other vampires will. Vampires.
My
people. If I stay around you, I will have to kill my own people to protect you.”

I jumped to my feet. “Who said you have to protect me?” Although, it would be nice.

She jumped up, “If I
don’t
protect you, you won’t last the week!”

I crossed my arms tightly, “I’m not exactly your average helpless human! I’ve killed a vampire.”

She rolled her eyes. “You
staked
one vampire and didn’t follow up by cutting off his head.”

“I wasn’t in perfect health at the time,” I defended myself. In fact, I’d been dying.

“Exactly!” she growled. “You had to be almost
killed
before you would defend yourself.”

“I’ve come a long way since then!” I protested.

“Right,” she said dryly. “Like with Pravus, when you waited until he kidnapped your children and motherin-law, and then tried to kill me and your sister, before you would execute him.”

I made a face. “Weeellll …”

“You’re not a killer, Piper,” she said seriously.

“You say that like it’s a
bad
thing,” I grumped.

“In this case, it is.”

That was pretty much a conversation stopper. What could I say? I
wasn’t
a killer. I preferred dithering over things and contemplating the ethical implications before I acted, and when a homicidal, supernatural being is coming at you, there’s no time to waffle on lethal force.

Cecily was right. I needed her, but that meant that she had to pick humans over vampires. And here I was, dithering again, instead of acting. Problem was, I had no idea what to do.

Chapter Twenty-Four:

News

We made it home safely. No one tried to attack, or drink my blood, or cast a spell on me. In fact, my quiet little neighborhood looked exactly the same as always. The time was only just after lunch, which really messed with my internal clock, and the yard crews were busy mowing and weed-whacking and edging for couples who were both working in order to pay for the luxury of not doing their own lawn.

Carolyn’s car was in the driveway and for once I didn’t experience the sinking feeling in my gut. A motherin-law was nothing to worry about when the end of civilization was at hand. She really wasn’t awful or evil. She was just … Carolyn.

I kept up the positive thoughts until I walked in the front door and confronted the mess of glitter and glue that was covering my kitchen table and floor.

Carolyn came trotting out of the girls’ bedroom. “Oh good, you’re home. I just got them down for naps. Do you mind cleaning up? I really need to run, I have a nail appointment.”

I stood staring at the mess. Had they been
trying
to cover the table top in three inches of glue and then decorate it in glitter? Surely that could
not
have been the craft. I glanced at the window. Nope.
There
was the craft. Eight pages of dripping, glittery glue slowly hardening in streams down the window panes.

Carolyn beamed. “They wanted to hang up their pictures to show you. Didn’t they do a great job!”

I gritted my teeth and tried to recapture the positive thoughts I’d had on the way in. “Great,” I managed to grind out.

“Well, ta-ta!” Carolyn sang out, gathering up her supplies. “I brought a few toys for them to play with and they just
had
to sleep with them at naptime, so I told them that, if it was okay with you, they could keep them ‘till the next time I came over.”

I nodded dumbly, too worn out to protest. The door closed behind her and I leaned against it with eyes closed. That was it. That was the last time I would have to rush off to save the world. I was done. I was staying home with my girls and enjoying what little time we had left.

I peeked in on my little angels and saw the “few” toys that had been left. Mark and I had been talking about getting Megan an American Girl doll for her birthday. They were expensive and we weren’t quite sure if Megan was old enough and responsible enough to care for one. Now we didn’t have to worry about it anymore. It looked like Carolyn had purchased the entire American Girl catalogue for both Megan
and
Cassidy.

I was
not
going to freak about this. In the grand scheme of life, did it matter if my birthday gift idea was trampled and outdone?
Yes!
a little voice in my head screamed.

:What a mess!:
another little voice said in my head.

I turned to see Bastet sitting on the kitchen counter. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Why didn’t you do something?”

She looked at me without blinking.
:You asked us to protect your children from death. Not from your motherin-law:

I sighed. It wasn’t fair to take my frustration out on Bastet. “Sorry. Long day.” I looked at the clock. “Long morning,” I corrected.

Bastet yawned.
:We know. We thought that woman would never leave. We had to hide out under your bed for
hours
: