Whirlwind Revolution (8 page)

“You know the fighters I have among my felines. If you appear to where any of them are, then I promise they will protect you as if they were me,” Torr swore. “However, we need to start moving people. I do not know who all the new elders will be. You understand the time constraints.”

“I do and to that extent I have a request,” he hedged. He waited until Torr nodded before continuing. “My sister leads a coven of casters outside New York. I ask they be promised sanctuary at Director Fabian’s stronghold if that’s where I am to reside.”

“Done,” Director Fabian agreed. “Do I need to send my people to mist over there and help them?”

“No,” Emrys chuckled. “She has my gift of appearing. It will be quite useful to you in the coming days since I assume you cannot just all withdraw your monies from the human banks. If the owls send her word that I say her coven should go to your new castle, they are more than capable. We are not encumbered by electrical fields as the vampires’ mists can be.”

“Director Woodrow, did you send word to the other heirs about the impending danger?” Torr asked after a moment of everyone trying to catch up with all the news.

“I did,” he confirmed.

Torr nodded as he rubbed his forehead, eyes closed for barely a moment, and then focused on the powerful caster. “I would ask you visit them first, Emrys. Approve them as the next elders of their people, I have felines in their areas and that will give us the time we need to figure out who will be the next elders and locations.”

“I will see it done, Torrance.”

Torr rubbed the back of his neck before going further and yanking off his tie. “I hate to seem ungrateful or question you—”

“But you want to know why I’m being so agreeable for once?” he chuckled. Torr winced and then nodded. “Because your main concern was for my safety, the safety of all. You did not wish to wield my power against your enemies as your father or our great Paranormal Parliament has. You are a good man and leader. And while you know I will never lead nor recognize a leader as mine, I will work at your side to help all in the days ahead.”

“Thank you, Emrys. You honor me.”

Emrys bowed formally, which I got the feeling he didn’t do often after what I’d heard. “No, young Torrance. You
have
honor and I pray to the gods you never lose it. The felines will need it to survive. I will visit your pride in Ireland and meet with the elven heir.”

And then he disappeared.

“Well at least one thing is going our way,” Samantha muttered as she stared at where the caster had been.

“You just totally jinxed us,” I groaned, shaking my head. “I learned long ago you never acknowledge when you get a break because that’s the last one you get.”

“Amen to that,” Directors Fabian and Woodrow agreed.

“Bullshit. We’re looking at every human worldwide trying to kill us. Having a place to go is just the first step in a massively uphill battle,” Samantha growled. “Acknowledge the win and let’s move on.”

That could work too.

They spent the next hour talking options as to how to get the felines’ software to the directors without being found out since the humans knew their IP addresses and it wasn’t simply about emails. It hurt my head to be honest. Then it was ways to start moving people, what to bring, and mind-numbing logistics.

On the bright side—for the felines—the stronghold wasn’t all that furnished so they could bring all the priceless heirlooms of their people and court. They set up a way to start armored transport and where they’d be located in the castle.

“What
is
plan
Box
?” Director Fabian asked right before the call ended.

“I made everyone get an X-box,” Torr chuckled, shaking his head as he accepted a bottle of water from one of the guards.

“Care to explain
that
one?” Director Fabian drawled. I wondered too but I had my suspicions now that the wheels were turning on possible avenues to avoid detection.

“Phones can easily be tapped, emails traced no matter the account once the IP address of the internet source is acquired,” Samantha explained, taking over the conversation. “But gaming is complex. It bounces around servers. So a person might log in with their internet but online games don’t stay there. The X-box
games bounce through Microsoft servers.”

“And if they tried to record all the games and conversations it would take up so much memory none of the games would ever load,” Director Woodrow surmised.

“Exactly,” Torr agreed as he stood straighter, looking as if maybe even he believed he could lead. “And even better, you can prepay the account to get on their servers so there’s no credit card trace to who is what log-in. So we have a system in place to jump games each time we meet if we ever needed it, and we can video conference that way without the intrusion that can happen via Skype or Google.

“Samantha has a handwritten list of whose avatar is what person that all the leaders have and orders never to put that list on any server. According to the gaming world, I’m a nineteen-year-old girl with a princess screen name. There are hundreds of princess avatars like that. Even if the humans tried to narrow it down somehow to find me, they’d be chasing their asses for a long, long while.”

“That’s ingenious. Can we get our people in on that?” Director Woodrow asked.

Torr glanced to Samantha who winced. “That might crash a game. It would be more prudent to start setting meetings at regular times with all the local leaders and let us all group up and talk. If games start crashing, then we won’t have the plan for long.”

So then we had another building block for survival. Torr was going to instruct his leaders to send word that the next day they’d have a meeting with all the local leaders at their residence to jump on a call.

Most likely it would be complete
chaos
.

And then there was the issue of trying to make sure there weren’t two potential elders at any stronghold. But both directors assured us that they wouldn’t actually be in the running for the elder seats.

“That’s not true. I know Fabian would be in the top ten vampire contenders and while Woodrow is liked and respected by all, there are much older and powerful birds that would be first in line,” Torr told Samantha after he hung up the call. “I think Fabian knows that but would rather have the royal feline with him and the potent blood source with my court at his stronghold than be an elder.”

“Putting his coven first like that makes him an even better ally in my eyes,” one of the advisors offered.

Torr nodded, shooting me a glance to let me know it was okay to share that with Woodrow. “Agreed.”

When all was said and done, Torr looked exhausted. Too bad he still had the meeting with all the feline group leaders to deal with.

It went well at first, the Ireland pride confirming Emrys’s arrival, though the Alpha bitched about the man not using his title.

“Oh for fuck sake, let it
go
,” Samantha growled as she grabbed clumps of her hair and pulled. “If Prince Torrance can see past it and let the man slide,
you
can. He’s older than most civilizations. That would give him a different perspective on our damn titles. Can we move on to the more important issues now? Like our
survival
?”

Yeah, I
really
liked her. The meeting went better after that, everyone accepting the bitch slap to focus. I understood the reeling factor, trying to process the news and shock of it all, but there was a lot to handle. So all the felines played nicely and accomplished a good deal of planning.

Until the shit really hit the fan.

“What do you
mean
the PP has fallen?” some Alpha bellowed. “That’s not possible!”

Torr covered the microphone with his hand. “Shit, how did someone get word before us?”

“Oh crap,” I groaned as I pulled out his burner and saw the ringer was on vibrate. There were calls from Director Woodrow. I quickly moved to the corner of the room and confirmed the news, promising the Prince would call back for full details, and to tell him that someone would be bringing his father’s crystal shortly.

Aka the man was dead and I had to tell his son that. Who I liked.

This will go well for me.

“What have you done, Torrance? Your father was right to mistrust you!” one Alpha accused as I rejoined the group. It seemed I liked Torr more than I should already because something happened that rarely did.

I lost my temper.

“Just because Emrys gets a pass on leaving off his title does not mean you are able to as well,” I seethed. “This was not of his grace’s doing. The PP guards overthrew the elders once they found out our ruling body was
in on the plot
with the humans to save their own asses. I just got off the phone with my director and a few elders were kept alive who were too weak to stand up against the plot.

“They’ve agreed to buy us time with the humans and act like everything is as it was while we get to safety instead of them moving up their timetables—as long as we leave their families out of everything. Your King was not among them. He was one of the ringleaders. The guards found the PP’s communications with the American government.”

“What was the deal they struck?” a female leader asked after a few moments of silence.

“The PP would help group us up for slaughter, and in return, they were allowed to live on an island with all our money and be provided a life of comfort with their families.” I made sure not to glance at Torr, I couldn’t handle the argument and worry about his state of mind.

“So the Prince was in on it?” someone accused.

“No, no, I had no knowledge until earlier today,” he muttered, rubbing his hands over his face.

“How do we know that for sure?” they tried again.

I let out a strangled growl. “Because the Prince wasn’t even part of the deal!” I exclaimed. “The compound here was one of the first targets listed, because if the Prince was taken out first, the rest of the felines would be scrambling for guidance and most of the Royal Guard is here, your
best
fighters. The PP guards found communication of a tactical air strike at the start of their attacks against all of us, okay?

“Your Prince wasn’t a part of if it, and your asshole King was going to sacrifice his own son, just so you were all easier to kill! Now you know the full sordid truth. So shut up and stop trying to pin everything you can when he’s bending over backwards to save all your asses!”

“I was going to go first,” Torr whispered as he sank into the overstuffed chair behind him. “My mother?”

My voice went thick as I wrapped my arms around my stomach. “I’m sorry, it seems she was in on it. Director Woodrow kept calling to tell you of the PP but to increase your security until she is apprehended and the depth of the plot against you is truly discovered.”

“Right, yeah, of course she was,” he murmured, nodding haphazardly. “Because who wouldn’t assume their
mother
was in on the plot to kill them with their
father
?”

I knew it was out of line even as I did it, but I didn’t care, moving my hand over the mic. “Samantha, you can handle this call for a bit while I escort Prince Torrance to get some air?”

Samantha’s eyes teared up as she gazed at her best friend. “Of course.”

Torr burst out laughing, that creepy, dark type that had the hair on the back of my neck raising. “Don’t you mean
King
? The bastard wanted me dead but instead he is and that makes me King which I never wanted. Oh, and it’s the end of days, so great time to take over when even my father didn’t believe in me. They all think I’m in on some plot and—”

“Enough,” I snapped, hating he was putting all of this on himself because I was an ass in the way I announced the new development. I bent down, moving his arm over my shoulders, and hoisted him to his feet. He stumbled alone with me, not fighting as I led him out of the room. If there hadn’t been people in the hall, I would have simply swung him up into my arms, but I didn’t want others to see something so intimate.

I found a deserted office and ducked in there with him. The second the door closed, I pushed him up against the wall and surrounded his smaller frame. “I’m sorry I blurted it all out like that. I couldn’t stand them accusing you like that.”

“Why do you care?” he mumbled, staring at my chest. I was that much taller than him at six-eight. His eye level was with my pecs. “My own family wanted me dead. You just
met
me. No one has faith in me—”

“That’s
not
true. Samantha does. I do. The directors do. Don’t let a few bad apples who are scared, confused, and lashing out bring you down.”

“But—”

I cut him off by mashing my mouth to his. He whimpered and moved his hands up my chest, over my shoulders, and tangled his fingers in my short hair. Now
that
was what I was talking about! I wrapped one of his legs over my hip and ground our groins together.

“Let me distract you, babe. Just take a few minutes and forget it all. Center yourself and then we’ll go back in there and you can be the magnificent leader I saw take charge of the last meeting.”