Blood Sacrifice (6 page)

“Retreat, regroup, rethink.” Tucker stepped closer and put a hand on my arm. “Keira, it’s only smart to take advantage of this truce period. We’ve got five weeks. Let’s take the opportunity to figure out how we can succeed.”

Adam agreed. “There is no point in making a final decision now. You know I’d willingly hand over the ranch to Gideon if it would make him happy. This land means little to me as such.”

I smiled at him as he echoed my earlier thought. “Nor
me,” I agreed. “But with Gideon, it’s never straightforward. Never just what’s on the surface… especially if my mother and her aunt are involved, but I’m willing to ride this out until it’s done. You?”

Adam nodded. “Whatever you wish, my queen.”

I smacked him lightly. “Quit that crap. We’re going to get enough of the formal ritual bullshit with this Challenge.”

He threw me a smile. “As you wish.” Turning to Niko, he continued. “We can send the tribe back to the UK, get Andrea on the phone and make arrangements. Sooner the better.”

“On it.” Niko turned on a heel and exited the room.

“To the UK?” I asked. “What if we need them closer? It’s a good ten, eleven-hour flight from London back to Austin, then another hour here.”

“A good point,” Adam said. “But I feel that they will be safer at my estate. This fight is not theirs.”

I nodded. “True… yet, still…”

“I know. Having our entire backup force gone from here is worrisome to me, as well. That said, should it come to a war, as my father fears, vampires versus Faery? Fangs against magick is not something I wish to see. It would be slaughter.”

I shuddered as I envisioned the bloodletting. He was right. I turned to my brother. “Tucker, would you call Bea and Dixxi for me? I think they need to know what’s going on. Tell Bea I’ll call her in the morning.” I glanced over at the clock on Adam’s desk. “Shit, it’s well past the wee hours,” I said. “Closing on three. Better yet, don’t wake them up, Tucker. Send a text or email and I’ll make sure to call them later.”

“Will do,” he said as he left.

I let myself sag back down into a chair, my mind whirling with random what-ifs and how-comes. “You think we’re doing the right thing, Adam? I hate the idea of going through with the Challenge, but frankly, I’m scared shitless about the true reasoning behind it.”

Adam drew closer, putting his arms around me. I shut my eyes, just letting myself absorb the comfort he offered.

“We’re in a tough situation, Keira,” he whispered. “As I said, the land itself means little to me. You know I bought it so I could be near you. I’ve accomplished what I needed to.” A quick peck on the lips then he continued. “I realize it is different for you. You grew up here. These are your people, your realm, so to speak. Leaving permanently, ceding the Challenge now would be foolish. Until we know the consequences…” He let his voice trail off and pulled his head back, catching my gaze. “You have good instincts, my love. We stay nearby, figure out the Challenge and do our best to win.”

“And if we don’t?” I voiced my deepest fear. “Losing to Gideon… will it mean our lives?”

“Possibly,” Adam said. “The Challenge in and of itself seems far too vague on its surface. I need to know specifics. I’ve not had to decipher the Old Tongue in too many centuries and don’t wish to make a guess. My initial supposition would be that Gideon wishes to have the land and the door to Faery. However, merely wanting to call this place theirs is too stupid, too transparent a reason for all of this. My half-brother is ambitious, greedy. He wants something dark, something he doesn’t wish to expose now… not even to his bride, I’ll wager.”

“You think?” I was being facetious, but Adam took the words at face value.

“I do. I have no knowledge of why Angharad wed her daughter and heir to Gideon, since I am still our father’s heir. Gideon has no claim to the Unseelie Court. Nor do I know why Aoife would so easily give up her claim to the throne. If the Seelie queen were looking to unite Faery, to gain influence over my father’s Court, this seems a rather awkward way to do it.”

“And awkward is the last thing the Seelie Sidhe are. Devious, yes, but awkward, never.” I kissed Adam’s cheek. He stood and leaned against the front of his desk, the very pose I remember so clearly from months ago, when I’d first entered this office. Now, instead of wondering what this amazing person wanted of me, I wondered how I’d ever made it this far without him—and how very lucky I was that we were together. Sure, I’d bet all the barbecue sauce in the entire state that if I weren’t married to Adam, weren’t blood-bonded to him, that Gideon wouldn’t have come up with this insane idea. At the same time, I wouldn’t give Adam up for the world.

“Where do we go?” I asked. “You started to say something earlier about a place you knew?”

“A small inn, near downtown San Antonio. It’s quite old. The proprietor specializes in our kind.”

“Huh, that’s different,” I said. “Hadn’t heard of any place like that. A vampire inn?”

“Not precisely. More of a place where those of us who are Other can stay, no questions asked. The owners are human, but part fey. There have been several seers in their family.”

“That’ll work, I suppose. You, me, Niko, Tucker?”

Adam stood. “Yes, I think just the four of us. Liz and the twins should return to the Kelly enclave in Canada. Be safer there.”

“They’ll not like it,” I said, knowing my brothers. Rhys and Ianto may be less knowledgeable about Faery, but they’d met Daffyd, spent a little time in his company. “I think it’s going to be tough selling this to them.”

“You think they should stay?”

I nodded. “I’d rather they did. Only…” A thought crossed my mind. “I have an idea, instead of them coming with us to the inn, they can stay at one of those rental condos across the lake, rent a powerboat for transport. I’d rather have someone local, close by—at least closer than a nearly three-hour drive.” We’d be too far away in San Antonio to deal with any problems immediately. Normally, I wouldn’t give three dead rats’ tails about this, but we’d just held a Reception and taken fealty oaths from numerous groups, many of whom lived in and around the lake. We were their liege lord and lady, and had sworn to keep them safe, to be there when they needed us, just as much as they’d all sworn to us. San Antonio wasn’t far in Texas terms, but I wasn’t comfortable not having someone on the spot—or as close to the spot as we could. “Will that satisfy the Challenge rules?”

“It should,” Adam said. “The land in question is the land I claimed for my own, not—”

“Adam…” My voice shook as I processed those words. “You do realize that what we’ve claimed is the entirety of Texas and the southwest? Not just the Wild Moon acres.”

Adam stood upright, for once his face displaying the emotional blow. Usually, when confronted by a problem,
he’d go all neutral vampire, wiping all trace of expression off his face. Now, it was as if he’d been slapped by the very audacious extent of Gideon’s arrogance. “How?”

“Did he word it specifically like that?” I pressed. “The land you
claimed
, we claimed? Not the land you own?”

“He did.” Adam whirled, scrabbling through papers on his desk. “At least, that’s how I decipher it.”

“Tucker took the scroll with him, love. If that’s what you’re looking for.”

He shook his head. “Not that, this.” He held up a mobile phone. Not the one he normally carried. He pressed a number key and the key to dial.

“Who?” I mouthed as I listened to a woman’s voice answer the call on the other end.

“Get her,” he said into the phone. The woman said nothing, but the sound went silent. “Keira, could you grab Niko? I just remembered. I’d arranged for two scientists to fly over today—to set up that genetics lab. We need to try to catch them before they leave. See if Niko’s still on the phone with Andrea?”

“Fuck.” I ran out the door and down the hall, calling out Niko’s name, hoping I’d catch him in time. The last thing we needed was to have these guys show up unaware and trigger some sort of Faery trap.

Niko poked his head out of his office, his mobile to his ear and a puzzled look on his face.

“Andrea?” I asked.

He nodded, but said nothing. I could hear her voice on the other end, saying something about planes and freight. When she paused, I held out my hand for the phone.

“Hold on a moment, Andrea,” he said and handed it to me.

“Andrea, hi, it’s Keira,” I said. “Long time no talk.” Niko watched quietly as I spoke. I loved this part about being in charge. As one of my Protectors, blood-bonded to me and to Adam, a lot of things didn’t need explaining. He knew that my asking for the phone wasn’t just a whim, but something important.

“Hello.” Andrea’s voice, smooth and silky even over the crappy digital phone connection didn’t betray any trace of emotion—not wondering why I was talking to her, nothing. She’d been in charge of security at the ranch when I’d first come here to the Wild Moon, but then she’d left to run security ops at Adam’s estate in England. This was the first time I’d spoken to her since.

“Sorry for barging in on the conversation, Andrea, but Adam and I totally spaced on the two scientists. I believe they were scheduled to fly over today?”

“Yes. I’m texting them now to stop preparations,” she said. “Thank you for the reminder.” Again, no inflection. I got the feeling she’d already been on top of this and was just humoring me. Oh well. As long as it was handled. When this all settled down, when we retained our rights to the land, to the ranch, then we could worry about setting up the lab. In the meantime, Adam’s pet geneticists could stay and work right where they still were. I’d have to hook Dixxi up with them, maybe via Skype, so she could video conference. Despite all the insanity, I still needed to make sure Bea’s pregnancy went smoothly and that Dixxi had everything she needed. Dixxi Ahskarian and her gene studies were part of Bea’s chance to have a healthy baby—considering
the father was an Armenian werewolf whose family was prone to Tay-Sachs and other genetic diseases. Bea’s pregnancy had been my biggest concern before the current mega-crisis.

“Thanks, Andrea,” I said. “Could you and Niko work out details for video conferencing and such for Dixxi? I want to make sure she gets whatever equipment she needs.”

“I will.”

I handed Niko the phone back. “Sorry for the interruption.”

He smiled. “No problem,” he said, and went back into his office to continue his call. Behind him, Tucker sat at Niko’s desk, feet up, the phone receiver for the landline tucked in between his ear and shoulder as he typed furiously on the computer. I couldn’t see the screen, since it faced away from me, but I knew he was probably messaging Dixxi and Bea while conversing with someone else. We really needed to get Bea an up-to-date computer and Internet service. The last thing I wanted was to be out of touch again. After I’d Changed, after I’d sentenced Bea’s attacker to death by Sidhe, Bea had withdrawn, hadn’t spoken to me. Then events had forced me to leave. For a long three months, my best friend, the only person outside my blood family who’d stood by me for thirty years, wouldn’t speak to me. When I’d returned, we reconnected and I wasn’t letting that estrangement happen again. Who knew what kind of mess I was in now? I wanted Bea to know that I’d never abandon her, no matter what.

“Tell her I’ll call her around ten or eleven,” I mouthed to Tucker, who nodded and waved a hand in acknowledgment.

Good, all set.

Adam came out of his office, talking on his mobile. “Hold for a moment.” He motioned to me and I stepped closer. “Have Niko go to John, wake him if necessary. He needs to take care of coordinating shutdown for the ranch and the Inn—getting the utilities and all taken care of, and whatever else. You get her set?”

I assumed he meant Andrea. “Yeah, Andrea’s on the ball. Who are you on the phone with?”

“Minerva.”

“What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.”

—Julius Caesar

“W
hy the—?” I stopped talking as I heard my great-great-grandmother’s voice on the other end of the call. Handy thing having enhanced hearing and being able to hear both sides of the conversation at once.

“I suppose this is an emergency.” Her dry tones conveyed nothing more than a busy leader torn away from something vitally important. Considering how late it was, past midnight her time, she was likely in bed… alone or with company. I really didn’t want to know.

Adam quickly filled her in on the situation. “If we can’t stay in Texas or the U.S., we may need to come to you or go to my estate in England.”

“Don’t be hasty, boy,” Gigi admonished. “Faery challenges can be tricky things to interpret. How much experience have you?”

“None,” Adam admitted. “I know of no official
Challenges in my lifetime, neither made nor given to us.”

“Very well then. Have you spoken with your father?”

“He is equally as ignorant.”

“Gigi,” I said, butting in. “This parchment is spelled against reading by anyone who doesn’t share Kelly blood. Drystan wasn’t of much help there, but he’s going to try to see Angharad. He agrees with us that in no way did Gideon conjure this up by himself. My cousin is shite at languages.”

“Angharad? A possibility,” Gigi agreed. “Though, how exactly did you consult with Drystan?”

“He’s here,” I said. “He came for our Reception.”
And you didn’t
, I silently accused. I knew she hadn’t planned to. That she’d wanted Adam and me to establish ourselves without her presence, without needing her influence, but still, it rankled just a wee bit.

“Ah. Well then, I understand. He came with Gideon.”

“He did,” Adam said.

“Drystan volunteered to help.” I explained Drystan’s plan to seek out Gideon first, to try to persuade his recalcitrant son of his folly in issuing Challenge.

“That makes a certain sort of sense, Keira,” Gigi said. “I’m proud of you, girl, for thinking things through and not flying off the handle.”

I snorted. “Yeah, well, three months in your illustrious company had to result in something.” How had she known? Maybe because I hadn’t immediately rushed to call her first? Whatever.