Twice Bitten (20 page)

She held out her hands and wiggled her fingers. “Come on over. Let’s hug it out.”

And so we did.

“Maybe Ethan’s come to his senses since you’ve been gone,” Mallory said. “Maybe he’s pining outside your door.”

We both contemplated that for a second before snorting simultaneously.

“And leprechauns might poop rainbows on your pillow,” she said.

“What do I do, Mal? Do I argue with him? Tell him he’s wrong and we can work this out? Ignore him? Scream? How am I supposed to work with him?”

“I think that’s exactly his point, Mer. As for arguing, think about it this way: do you want to be with a man who has to be convinced to be with you?”

“Not when you put it like that.”

She nodded, then patted my cheek. “You’re ready. Go home.”

I knew when to take an order.

“How bad was it?” Luc asked. I guessed he and Ethan had talked about what had happened at the Brecks.

“It wasn’t fabulous.”

Lindsey swiveled around in her chair. “Is there anything else you want to talk about?” Her voice rang with quiet concern.

“Not especially.”

“Ethan seemed weird,” she said. “He didn’t tell us anything about you and him, but he seemed really weird.” I almost snarked back, but when I saw the worry in her expression, and heard the concern in her tone, I threw her a bone.

“I was dumped, and I’d like to think about something else for a little while.” I pointed at the spread of documents on the conference table. “What’s all this?”

“I—he did what?”

I appreciated the shock and dismay in Lindsey’s voice but shook my head. “Business, please.”

“Your show, Sentinel,” Luc said, then hopped off the table and turned to face it. “This is prep work for your convocation field trip—schematics of St. Bridget’s Cathedral.”

The door behind us opened, and Ethan walked in. He gave me a quick nod of acknowledgment before settling his gaze on the table.

I reminded myself that I’d managed a relatively professional relationship with Ethan for all but one of the nights we’d known each other. If he was going to reject me for fear of mixing the personal and the professional, I could play the all-business vampire, as well.

“Plans?” Ethan asked.

Luc nodded. “Ask and ye shall receive.”

“Technically,” Lindsey said, turning back to her monitor, “check your e-mail and ye shall receive them from the Apex of the North American Central.”

“Details,” Luc said. “They’re here now.”

Ethan walked around the conference table to stand next to Luc. I followed and took point at Luc’s other side.

“Your analysis?” Ethan asked.

Luc put on his game face. “I had two main goals. One—identifying trouble spots. Areas that snipers could sneak into, parson’s holes, that kind of thing. Two—identifying exits.”

“And what did you find?” Ethan asked.

Luc began flipping through the blueprints. “There are two main parts to the church. First up, the original structure, built in the late nineteenth century. Old religious architecture in Chicago means architectural anomalies. This architect was apparently paranoid, so there are plenty of hidey-holes.”

“Shifters,” Ethan and I simultaneously guessed.

“Quite possibly,” Luc said. “We’ve found two trapdoors in the main part of the building.” He pointed them out on the plans—one in the sanctuary proper, just behind the pulpit, and one in the choir stalls behind the pulpit.

“What else?” Ethan asked.

Luc flipped over a couple of sheets of paper. “In the 1970s, they remodeled the building and added the classroom wing. And at that time, they added what looks to be a panic room.” He pointed it out on the blueprints. “It’s in the basement. Looks like it started out as a bomb shelter, but in the remodel they reinforced it with concrete and added some wiring. So those are your question marks.”

Ethan nodded. “Exits?”

Luc flipped back to the schematic of the main floor of the church. “Front doors, obviously. There’s also an exit inside the sanctuary on the right.” He pointed it out, then traced his finger down the long, narrow sanctuary, and then through a doorway on the left to another set of rooms. “These are the offices and classrooms.” He pointed out the exit at the end of that corridor. “Exit point is here, although there are windows in all the rooms in the event things go completely fubar.”

I leaned toward Lindsey, who’d stood up to join us at the table, still wearing the slim, wireless headset that kept her in communication with the guard on ground patrol tonight (either Kelley or Juliet, since they were the only remaining guards) and the fairies outside the gate. “He seems to be having fun,” I told her.

“He’s in hog heaven,” she whispered back. “Things have been peaceful for so long, he hasn’t needed to do this kind of advance work. All of a sudden, we get a Sentinel, and shifters want vampires to come out and play.”

“Yeah,” I said dryly. “Clearly this whole convocation idea is focused on getting to know me better. It’s the mixer you’ve always dreamed of.”

“But hairier,” she said. “Much hairier.”

Ethan rubbed a hand across his jaw. “What else do we need to know?”

“That’s about it for the architecture,” Luc said. He pulled out a chair and sat down. Ethan and I did the same. Lindsey returned to her computer station.

“But if it’s going to be you two against three hundred-odd shifters, we need to talk about contingencies. Worst-case scenarios.”

Ethan crossed one leg over the other, settling in for a strategic conference. “Your thoughts?”

“Three scenarios come to mind. First, an attack from outside the conference, something akin to what you saw at the bar. Second, the shifters are pissed that you’re there, and they attack you.”

“Good times,” Lindsey whispered. I nodded, my stomach knotting a bit. Hunkering down behind a bar to avoid bullets—or even a little arm-grabbing by a Pack bully—was one thing; facing off against portions of four Packs of shifters was something else entirely.

“Third, the shifters can’t make a decision, they get pissed at one another, and things go magically wonky.”

Ethan slid Luc a glance. “Wonky? That’s your official conclusion?”

“Signed and sealed. I assume you get the larger point.”

Ethan blew out a breath. “I get it. I’m not thrilled about it, but I get it. Well, what can we do to keep things calm?”

“How proactive can we be on that?” I asked.

Heads turned to face me. “What are you thinking, Sentinel?” Ethan asked.

“Vampires have the ability to glamour. I can’t seem to do it”—I shifted my gaze to Ethan—“but I bet you can.”

The room was quiet for a moment.

“You’re thinking we glamour a church full of shifters to keep them calm? Anesthetized?”

“Could it be done?”

Luc hunched over the table, placed an elbow atop it, and put his chin in his hand. “It’s theoretically possible, but we’ve never seen evidence shifters are especially susceptible to glamour. They’re magical beings. I’d be afraid they’d sense it, feel it. And if they suspected we were attempting to manipulate them—”

“All hell would break loose,” Ethan finished. “Interesting proposal, Sentinel, but let’s stick to basic bluffing. We’ll stand there with our swords and smile politely, and reach for the handles if things get nasty.”

“Oh, and speaking of,” Luc said, sitting up again and pushing back his chair. He walked over to his desk, where he picked up a small glossy white box. “End of the fiscal year is coming up, and we had a little bit of extra coin in our budget.”

“Thank you for returning it to the House treasury,” Ethan muttered, but I could see the gleam of boyish pleasure in his eyes as Luc flipped open the lid and pulled out two tiny earpieces.

“The tiniest buds on the market,” Luc said, dropping the earbuds into his hand and walking them back to us. He flipped his hand over and placed them on the table. “Receiver, microphone, wireless transmitter. There’s one for each of you. We’ll hear you through the receivers. If things do, in fact, go wonky, just give the word and we’ll have a dozen guards outside the church.”

“A dozen?” I asked, surprised. “We’re down a guard, and even if you, Lindsey, Juliet, and Kelley were there, that leaves eight missing vamps and no one guarding the House.”

“Since your field trip to Navarre,” Luc began, “we’ve spoken with the Guard Captains at Navarre and Grey. They’ve loaned us vampires in the event of an emergency.”

I sat straight up at the mention of Jonah, my would-be Red Guard partner. I guess he wasn’t above offering a little help to the Cadogan Sentinel, even if he didn’t think much of her abilities.

Ethan cocked his head at me. “Are you all right, Sentinel? You seem flushed.”

“I’m fine,” I covered, smiling weakly. “Just surprised about the interoffice cooperation.”

Ethan shook his head. “We haven’t cleared additional guards with Gabriel. I’m not sure they’d appreciate having nearly a dozen more vampires at their convocation.”

Luc shrugged. “Can’t be helped. I’m sure as shit not sending you in without the possibility of backup. Besides, if this thing goes bad enough to require us to send in a dozen more friendlies, I’m guessing Gabriel’s not going to be too concerned.”

Ethan nodded.

“We wouldn’t have a lot of time to negotiate the details of a full contract, but I could also give the fairies a call to see if they’d be interested in posting some sentries or snipers around the church.”

Frowning contemplatively, Ethan crossed his arms. “I think the cost of recruiting and negotiating with the fairies at this point would exceed the benefit, especially since there’s no guarantee we’d need them.”

“Whatever you think best, Liege,” Luc said with a snicker.

“I have decided opinions in that area,” Ethan said crisply, approbation in his voice. “And our safe word?”

“Wonderwall.”

Lindsey turned around and cast Luc a sardonic look. “Your safe word is the name of an Oasis song?”

“Blondie, I am the arbiter of all things fashionable in this House. Why not music?”

Lindsey snorted, then turned back to her monitor and began clicking through computer screens. “Spoken by a man wearing cowboy boots. I mean, seriously. Who wears cowboy boots?”

Ethan and I both checked out his shoes. He was, indeed, wearing well-worn, alligator skin boots.

“Epitome of fashion,” Luc said. “I watch the MTVs. I know what the kids are wearing.”

“The kids are a century younger than you, hoss.”

“Children,” Ethan interjected, although the amusement was clear on his face, “let’s stay on point. I have matters to attend to.”

Lindsey, chastened, moved back to her monitor. I had the same urge to turn away, but no computer to turn to. I was used to their flirty banter, and usually I participated in it. But today it left me feeling hollow. It was too casual, and I was still trying to find my emotional footing. It helped a little that Ethan seemed equally discomforted; half of his questions had been one or two words, and he’d hardly spared a word about convocation prep. This was business, sure, but even Ethan had a sense of humor. Well, on occasion.

“Our plan in the event of these contingencies?” Ethan asked.

Luc stood up again, moved to the blueprints, and pulled out a map of Ukrainian Village. “If things do go wonky, get out of the building however you can,” he said. “Then meet here.” He tapped a point on the map about two blocks from the church, and we all leaned up to see.

“We’re meeting at Joe’s Chicken and Biscuits,” Luc said.

“As the name suggests, Joe’s is one of the Windy City’s finest purveyors of chicken and biscuits. That’s your rendezvous point. Anything happens, get back there. We’ll pick you up. I’d just ask that you grab a ten-piece for me and the missus here.”

“If things go bad, do we fight back?”

Ethan looked at me.

“Some of the shifters were already suspicious of us,” I said, leaving unspoken the probability that they’d be even more suspicious after tonight. “I don’t want to make things worse.”

Ethan frowned and rubbed his forehead. “The GP has a position statement on shifters.”

“Do not fire until fired upon,” Luc offered.

Ethan nodded matter-of-factly. “We do not strike with weapons unless we are threatened, or unless they are threatening to harm Gabriel.”

We were all silent for a moment, maybe wondering whether I’d been sufficiently threatened to justify Ethan’s reaction . . . or whether the GP was going to want a few words with our Master.

We all jumped a bit when Ethan’s cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket, checked the screen, then pushed back his chair and rose. “You may respond if necessary, but we are there to offer our support, not to make enemies without provocation. There are likely alliances within the Packs just as there are outside them, and we don’t want to run afoul of any lines there.”

I’d been born to one of Chicago’s wealthiest families. I was trained to play standoffish.

“I have an appointment,” Ethan said, then slipped the phone back into his jacket. “You’re dismissed. We’ll assemble here two hours before midnight tomorrow.”

“Liege,” I respectfully said, and caught Lindsey’s eye roll at my Grateful Condescension—the fancy vampire term for ass-kissing. When Ethan was out of the room, presumably on his way to some important meeting, and the door was shut behind him, she snorted.

“I can’t believe you’re playing polite after he bailed.”

“I warned you earlier—no personal commentary.”

“One or two questions? They’re pretty specific. Biologically specific, that is.”

“Luc, your employee is being petulant.”

“Welcome to my world, Sentinel. Welcome to my world.”