The Mourning Woods - 03 (19 page)

“New mistress?” asked Sally.

“Gan,” I answered.

“Yes, the princess. She now commands what was once her father’s.”

Suddenly a horrible thought hit me. Oh, crap. The last thing I needed was that psycho little hellion coming after me like a hungry piranha. “Nergui, is Gan here?”

“Alas no,” he replied. If he noticed the sigh of relief I let out, he didn’t acknowledge it. “My people need a leader now, and her place is there.”

“So then why are you here?”

“When she learned of this gathering, she dispatched me immediately. The princess is aware of the possibility of treachery against her beloved (
ARGH!
). She has entrusted me to watch over you.”

Despite her wariness of Nergui, Sally couldn’t help but comment on that. “Aww, that’s so cute. Gan is trying to protect her Billy-willy.”

“Aren’t there some lumberjacks around for you to proposition?” I spat out of the corner of my mouth.

Oddly enough, despite Gan’s twisted reasons for sending him, a small part of me suddenly felt a bit better. I knew that Nergui’s attack against me hadn’t been personal. He was a product of his culture. He lived to serve. It just so happened that, at the time, the fuckhead he served had wanted me dead. Now the situation had changed. Though I had absolutely zero intention of returning Gan’s affections, her interest in me had provided perhaps the first glimmer of hope I had seen so far this trip. Sally, Ed, and Tom are great; don’t get me wrong. I’d trust them - well Tom and Ed anyway - with my life. Nergui, however, was three-and-a-half centuries old. He could mop the floor with all four of us and still have plenty left in him to go a full twelve rounds.

“What about my friends?” I asked.

“The princess’s orders were specifically for you, Freewill.”

“Surprise, surprise,” I muttered under my breath. “Perhaps,” I said a bit louder, “but my friends are vital to my success in this endeavor (sorta). Their safety is my safety. I will accept your protection, but only if you agree to watch over them as well.”

Nergui appeared to consider this for a moment. Finally, he nodded. “If your cattle and the wh...”

“Don’t even think of
saying
it,” Sally snarled.

I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Whore
had been Gan’s pet name for Sally.

“My apologies,” Nergui said evenly. “If the Freewill’s
advisors
are important to him, then so too shall they be to me. I offer my protection to you all.”

“Did he just call us ‘cattle’?” Tom whispered behind me, followed by, “Oof!” as Ed elbowed him in the gut.

“We gladly accept,” Ed replied.

“Awesome!” I cried. “I’m happy to hear I don’t need eyes in the back of my head in case these monkeys decide to try anything.”

“Be wary, Freewill,” Nergui said in a low voice. “Treachery need not come only from the Alma.”

“What do you mean?”

Nergui gave a quick look around and then simply replied, “It is not my place to speak further of this. I simply offer you the warning.” With that, he turned and beckoned us to follow.

Great, as if I already didn’t have enough to worry about.

* * *

Nergui led us across the crude village. As we walked, I could hear a bit of a commotion going on up ahead. One didn’t need vampire hearing to be able to pinpoint it. Standing in front of one of the huts was a tall, well-built man. He had dark hair and a pencil-thin mustache of the variety that had gone out of style with Prohibition. He was busy bitching out some others who stood around him. My command of languages other than English is somewhat less than stellar; however, I had seen enough
Pink Panther
movies to surmise he was speaking French.

“Let me guess,” I said out of the corner of my mouth to Sally, “Francois?”

Suddenly his head swiveled in our direction. Oh, shit! I keep forgetting that older vampires likewise have superior senses. Since this guy was supposedly even older than the Khan, he could probably hear a fly taking a shit from a hundred yards away. He wasn’t the most physically imposing creature I had ever seen (especially not with nine-foot apes wandering about), but there was something cold in his eyes. He hadn’t even blackened them, yet they held a kind of darkness to them. I’m no psychoanalyst, but if I had to guess, I’d say Frenchy here was batshit insane. How wonderful.

I didn’t need to worry about Sally. She had more experience dealing with asshole elder vamps than I did. Instead, I threw a quick warning glance back to Ed and Tom (particularly Tom).

As we approached, all of the vampires in front of the hut stopped what they were doing and turned toward us. Most of them were focused on me, which was fine. There were a few salacious glances toward Sally, no doubt undressing her with their eyes, also not a big surprise. What worried me, though, were a few nakedly hungry looks toward my roommates. That would need to be nipped in the bud. My friends were strictly off the menu.

Nergui stopped in front of the group and gave a curt bow (noticeably less deep than the one he had given me). He then stepped to the side. “The Freewill and his advisors,” he said.

The one I presumed to be Francois stepped forward. This close, his presence had a decisively slimy feel to it. However, whereas Colin’s greasiness radiated a massive inclination toward ass-kissing, this guy was far more ominous. I sensed (don’t ask me how...I’m still new to this vampire thing) that he would literally do anything, no matter how depraved, to further his own agenda. Of course, that could all be bullshit and maybe I was just psyching myself out due to James’s warning. Whatever the case, though, I had learned in the past year that a little paranoia wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

He looked me over, shot Sally a sideways glance, and then gave a sniff, barely laying his eyes on my friends, as if they were beneath his contempt.

“You are the Freewill?” he asked with just the slightest accent.

Since I had been raised to always put my best foot forward (As Dad always said, let the other person be the asshole first), I held out my hand and said, “Yep. I’m Bill.”

He gave me back a sour smile as if I had just used that hand to wipe my ass. Ah yes, douche bag status confirmed.

“There are a few things you should be aware of,” he said, ignoring my hand. “Regardless of what you have been told, I do not care if you are the Freewill or the second coming of Moloch himself (???). I rule here. Respect that and we will get along fine. Cross me and I will stake you with your own spine.”

Before I could even think about it, my mouth opened on its own. Apparently, my subconscious has an automatic defense mechanism against shit heads. “Eh.”

“Excuse me,” he replied.

“You forgot the
‘
eh.’ You said you rule here. Well, this is Canada. You should at least speak like a Canadian,
eh
.”

His eyes narrowed at me, but I continued drawing upon my lexicon of Canadian language, learned from multiple viewings of
South Park
. “We traveled all this way, eh. I mean it’s aboot time we arrived, eh. You’d think you hosers would be a little more hospitable, eh.”

Francois’s eyes darkened and I could see his fangs extending. Fortunately, two things stopped him from outright killing me right there. First, Nergui’s hand flew to the hilt of one of his daggers. Secondly, flunkeys or not, a few of the vampires behind Francois chuckled at what I said.

Francois quickly turned his head and hissed at his lackeys. Silence resumed amongst them. Regardless, the moment was over (which was good. Considering Francois’s age, I wasn’t entirely sure even Nergui would be able to stop him). When Francois turned back to me, his eyes had resumed their normal color. To my surprise, a smile actually crossed his lips. That didn’t exactly inspire my confidence.

“Your reputation for having a quick, if somewhat crude, tongue is well earned,” he said.

“What can I say? I like to make an impression.”

“I can see that.”

“This playful banter aside, I’m not here to make waves. I just want to do my part so we can hash out a truce with the Sasquatches. Once that’s done, I’ll go home and you can keep Canada.”

“Yes, of course. We’re all on the same side here,” he replied in a tone that implied he and I weren’t even remotely on the same team. God, what a creep. Even if James hadn’t warned me about him, this guy would still be giving me serious douche-chills.

“Cool,” I said. “Is Alex here yet? I’m thinking we should all sit down and discuss things. I want to make sure I know what to say and such.”

“Alex?” he replied, raising one eyebrow.

“Yeah, the Drac...err First Coven’s special envoy.”

“Interesting. I know of no Alex.”

Hmm, that was odd. Still, this guy looked like the sort of stuck up prick that would barely notice anyone beneath him in rank.

“OK then, what about the negotiators that were being sent in? Maybe Alex will check in with us later.”

Suddenly Francois’s face took on a look of concern...mostly. I’m not too good at reading subtle expressions, but I’d have sworn his eyes were twinkling with laughter. “Haven’t you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“The team that the First were sending never arrived. They simply vanished...without a trace.”

“Vanished?”

“Yes, it’s quite tragic,” he replied without a trace of remorse. “I suspect these beasts had something to do with it. Alas, I have no proof of their treachery.”

“Then we’re postponing the summit, right?” Sally asked from beside me. I was amazed. It was the longest I could remember her keeping her mouth shut.

“Child,” Francois replied, putting extra emphasis on the word as if to imply
stupid child
. “This gathering is far too important to put off. Every day that goes by is another step closer to war. And it’s not just us. The other delegations have all arrived. It would be an insult to cry foul and tell them to all go home. Believe me when I say there are beings present that are not to be trifled with.”

Emboldened, either by the fact that I was still alive or by Sally, Ed spoke up. “OK, so what is Bill supposed to do? He’s not exactly a UN diplomat.” When I turned to give him a glare, he replied, “Let’s not fool ourselves here. You’re not.”

That’s the thing with Ed. He continually ticks me off by being right. I sighed and turned back to Francois. “He has a point.”

Francois seemed not to hear me. “You allow your food to speak for you? How quaint. I see James is letting discipline slip down in the states.”

Now it was my turn to flash my fangs, albeit I imagine I was just a wee bit less impressive than Francois was. I may be strong by human standards, but to an elder vampire I was probably about as frightening as a kitten. Still, I couldn’t let him get away with treating my friends like an appetizer. “They’re my friends, not my food. They’re here to assist me and thus are under my protection.”