Blood Hunt (36 page)

“You may have a point,” she admitted.

“The vampires on the council don’t like Malik, right?”

“Not particularly.”

“So who do they like?”

“Naomi. Jakob. Stephen is highly respected, but he wouldn’t accept a position of leadership even were anyone so insane as to offer it to him. There is no one who …” Sasha’s eyes grew suddenly wide.

“What?” Molly asked.

“Good God, I’ve been a fool,” Sasha said, already turning back to her computer. “William! They would listen to William.”

“Who’s William?”

“Naomi’s council seat once belonged to William. He retired after … you remember what I told you of Abraham and your friend Two’s actions? He retired after that. I believe he needed some time away from politics.”

“Will he help you?”

“Me? Probably not. We were on good terms but not friends. But he might help Jakob, if for no other reason than because Naomi would. He is nearly as old as Malik, and he is an Ashayt, and he is … Lord, Molly, thank you. I should have thought of this already.”

“No prob.”

Sasha clicked through a few screens, scanned one briefly, and said, “I have his number.”

“Awesome,” Molly said, dryly amused. “Now if only you had a phone …”

* * *

“I agreed to meet with you because I know that you and Jakob are very close with Naomi, Sasha, and because I respect your sire very much,” William said. “I am not sure, though, that I can do these things you are asking of me.”

They were sitting in William’s apartment, a penthouse in lower Manhattan that offered extraordinary views of the Brooklyn skyline. Two entire walls of the room they occupied were made of glass, and Molly was standing in front of one, staring rapt out at the city below.

“I would not ask you for this help if there was anyone else,” Sasha said. “Malik is … he is weak. Forgive me – he is my elder, but it is true. Aros is going to kill Jakob and bring his army down upon us. We must strike now.”

William sighed and laid his head back against his couch, staring up at the ceiling. He was an older man, as vampires went, having reached his early forties before undergoing the change. He had short, immaculately cut brown hair and the polished look of a corporate VIP, a vice president, perhaps. He was wearing what Sasha could only assume was his idea of a casual outfit: a button-down shirt, tie, and sport coat. Every time she had seen William in the past, he had been outfitted in a full, exquisitely tailored three-piece suit.

“I thought I had escaped all this,” William said at last, to no one in particular.

“Sasha, you should check this out!” Molly was pressing herself against the window, arms spread wide. “It’s like you’re flying!”

Sasha, who in nearly two hundred years had never fully conquered a fear of heights, said only, “There is more important business at hand.”

“Your loss,” Molly said, glancing over her shoulder before returning her attention to the view.

“William …” Sasha began, but he held up his hand.

“I knew when I left the council that Malik was weak,” William said. “Are you sure I am any better? Stephen had unpleasant things to say about me when I announced my retirement.”

“Stephen was frustrated because he cares about the council. He knew that leaving Malik in charge would cause problems. He was … disappointed.”

William shrugged. “Stephen did not have to spend three hundred years dealing with Abraham. Attempting to counter that maniac’s machinations was exhausting. If there had only been Malik to hold him back, the vampires of this country would be living as his slaves.”

“We know. That was why we assumed you would succeed Abraham … but few of us would deny that you’ve earned some peace.”

“There must be others who are capable. Naomi is ready.”

“Naomi is
gone,
” Sasha said. “She left us to take care of the
Eresh-Chen
, and no one has any idea where she is. Calls are going unanswered. The European council could keep her for years, if they choose to.”

“I am sure if she could have predicted the current crisis …”

“But she couldn’t.”

“And now she’s gone. Yes, very well, I understand.”

“All you have to do is call them. You know they will come, if it’s you. Tell them it is an emergency, that we must meet tomorrow and decide our course of action. There is no more time.”

“You are sure that this army of Aros’s is a real thing?”

“As sure as I can be without having seen it with my own eyes. Lewis and Richard swear to it, and the data we acquired from Molly’s … acquaintance … backs them up. He’s building an army. He may aim his people at the Children of the Sun first, but eventually he will come for us.”

William closed his eyes. Sasha continued, trying to keep the note of pleading desperation from her voice.

“You spent three hundred years fighting to protect the vampires of this country, William. Abraham is dead now, and you deserve your peace, but there is danger still and … and I cannot face it alone. I am not strong enough.”

This was as hard an admission as she had ever made. Sasha was Ay’Araf; she was a warrior. She was not supposed to be so powerless, so dependent upon others for help. The tone in her voice seemed to convey something of her misery at this situation to William. He looked at her, smiled, and nodded.

“Very well, Sasha. I cannot promise you that the council will decide in your favor, but I can promise that you will have your meeting. I will help you.”

“Yeah!” exclaimed Molly, turning again to look at them. “Kickass!”

Sasha took William’s hands in hers and said, “Thank you. Jakob would thank you too, I’m sure, as would Molly’s parents.”

William gave her a thin smile. “Wait to thank me,” he said, “until we are sure that they are still alive.”

Sasha, who didn’t want to think about any other possibility, nodded her head. She collected Molly, shook William’s hand, and took her leave. Soon they were in her car, driving north along First Avenue, heading for her apartment.

“So what now?” Molly asked.

“Now? Molly, I …” Sasha shook her head, focused on the road ahead of her for a moment, thinking.

“What?”

“If the council decides to act, there is going to be fighting. I think your part in this is done,” Sasha said.

“Fuck
you!”
Molly cried. “I’ve been helping! Haven’t I been helping?”

“Yes, of course. Very much! But things are going to get complicated.”

“I’ve done complicated.”

“And dangerous.”

“Done that, too.”

“Not like this.”

Molly crossed her arms, her lower lip jutting out, and stared ahead. “This isn’t fair. I want to help.”

Sasha glanced at her and smiled. “I know, but—”

“I’m not a kid! I’m not a normal kid, anyway. I know how to hold a gun, and I know how to … how to … I can do
something,
anyway!” Molly’s voice wavered and Sasha realized the girl was fighting off tears. She reached across the seat and took Molly’s hand.

“You’ve already done much.”

“Not enough.”

Sasha smiled a little and said, “Your parents … do you love them?”

“Yes!”

“Do they love you?”

“I … I think so? I mean, they say they do.”

“I am absolutely sure you know the answer to this question,” Sasha said.

Molly nodded. “Yes, they do. I … when I’m with them, I can feel it.”

“Think of how you would feel if they died.”

“Been thinking about that for days,” Molly croaked.

“Now think of how they would feel if you died.”

“But …”

“Do it. Take the time and actually think about it. If your parents live through this and come back to find you dead, what will it do to them?”

Molly thought and, at last, took in a deep, hitching breath. She blew it outwards, head down, in a weary sigh.

“It would ruin their lives,” Sasha said.

Molly nodded.

“I cannot protect you from what may happen at Aros’s base. I am not sure I will come through this alive, and I will not let that uncertainty extend to you. I … this may not mean much to you, but it would be fair to say that, at present, you are absolutely my favorite human in the world.”

Molly turned a shade of pink at this but said nothing.

“I don’t want to see you hurt, or killed, and I would never put your parents through such a thing. You’ve all been through too much as it is.”

“I want to help them,” Molly said.

“You’ve given them so much help already, but it will all be worthless if they come home to a murdered daughter.”

Molly opened her mouth to protest this but couldn’t seem to find the words. Finally, she shut her mouth and stared out the window. Sasha gave her the time she needed, not speaking.

“OK,” Molly said at last. “OK, fine … but I’m coming to the meeting. No one’s going to try to kill me there. Once you know what’s going on, I’ll stay out of it, but I want to be there.”

Sasha thought that was fair. “You won’t try to stow away or anything else equally foolish?”

“No, I won’t. I’m … you’re right. I can’t fight vampires.”

“Do you have somewhere to go in the event that … I mean, should your parents be …”

“If they’re dead, I’ll go see Sid,” Molly said. “They’re not dead. I don’t want to talk about that.”

Sasha couldn’t blame her.

“Thank you, Molly,” she said. “Thank you for your help, and for accepting this. I … you’ve changed my view on humans quite a bit.”

Molly glanced over at her and said, “Good. We’re not
all
assholes … just most of us.”

Sasha was feeling in substantially better spirits now that William had agreed to help her. She produced her pretty laugh again and said, “Most vampires, too.”

* * *

There were ten, so far, who had arrived at the cathedral. William, Sasha, Lewis and Richard had been the first to arrive, followed by the two remaining Ashayt council members, Samuel and his apprentice Wilson. Leonore was sitting in the back of the church, looking simultaneously annoyed and curious. Her apprentice, a dimwitted vampire named James, looked dumbfounded as usual. Sasha had expected these two to arrive early, and they had not disappointed her. Leonore desperately wished to be involved in anything of significance that was happening in the vampire world.

The last two vampires in the cathedral were both Ay’Araf. The elder, who was standing near William and glancing around with interest, originally came from England and was named Peter Markham. Of the Ay’Araf in the country, he was younger only than Malik and Jakob, nearly three hundred years old. His apprentice Kanene, a strikingly beautiful woman with jet-black skin who had become a vampire on board a slave ship bound for the Caribbean, stood at his side.

“This is highly unorthodox, William,” Markham commented.

“I understand your concern, Peter. I assure you, if there were any other choice …” William let the sentence trail off, shrugging. The vampires of this country knew that he, of all people, would not break protocol without a reason.

“Do you think more will show?” Sasha asked. She had barely left William’s side since arriving at the cathedral, understanding that if she did so, she and Molly would only be ostracized. The other vampires would avoid them both, Molly for her humanity and Sasha for her role in this seeming
coup d’état
. William was protection, and not only of a political sort; as the single most physically powerful vampire in the new world, with Abraham and Theroen dead, he could offer support that no other could give.

“Malik will show, certainly,” William said. “I assume he will bring Theresa with him.”

Theresa was Malik’s apprentice, only recently elected. When Abraham had still lived, neither he nor Malik had taken an apprentice. Malik had served the subordinate role, despite being older than any other vampire on the council, because Abraham had not wanted to involve Theroen in vampire politics. Naomi claimed that this was because Abraham both detested and feared Theroen’s nature. The other vampires, having had no contact with the
Eresh-Chen
, could only take her word for it.

Theresa was a sycophant, able only to parrot Malik’s views on the rare occasions when she spoke to anyone. Her own sire had been killed by the Comanche in the years just following the Civil War, and she had spent the time since latching on to vampires in various positions of power. She worked diligently for whomever she served but seemed incapable of surviving on her own. Malik had chosen her not because he wished for a weak apprentice to control, but because there were no other Ay’Araf interested in the job.

“Will he be angry?” Sasha asked.

“I should think so,” William replied. “Don’t concern yourself. I will handle Malik.”

“I will be concerned with all of this, until a decision is made,” Sasha said. William nodded at this, smiling slightly to himself.

“You were wise to bring the girl,” he said. Molly was sitting on a church pew not far from them, playing a video game on her cell phone. She glanced up at this but said nothing.

“It was her idea,” Sasha conceded. “Why do you think so?”

“Although it sometimes seems like all those on the council – save perhaps Lewis and Richard – have lost touch with their humanity, we are all still at our cores the people that we once were. Molly can touch that. Her youth, her exuberance, her comfort with her more basic emotions … these things may be useful. They could help perhaps to reawaken the council members from what has become decades of complacency and apathy.”

Sasha considered this. “She has certainly had some impact on me. I’ve become quite fond of her. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might have a similar effect on the others.”

William turned toward her, eyebrows raised. “If you’re going to be successful in politics, you must learn how to manipulate people. You must do it consciously, without shame, no matter how distasteful you may sometimes find it.”

“I’ve no interest in playing political games,” Sasha said.

“Yet you serve as apprentice to a man who is quite adept at it. You must learn to connect with people, the way Jakob does, and use that to your advantage.”