"That's why my text to you bounced?"
"Yeah. We aren't supposed to talk to you," Jonah said. "Interact with you. Be seen with you. We do, and we get charged with treason."
I sat down in my chair again and found all eyes on me, phone pressed to my ear.
"I'm guessing that's bad," I said.
"The GP has feudal roots," Jonah said. "The punishments for treason are equally feudal."
I'd researched medieval torture in grad school. Some of the methods were exaggerated, but some of them were very real and very painful. Metal spikes figured in surprisingly often.
"The GP wouldn't do this without a plan," I said. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure. Scott just got the call a few hours ago."
That explained why we'd suddenly gone from a training session to rejected text messages.
"You're going to talk to your friend who likes donuts?" I asked.
That secret friend was Lakshmi Rao, a member of the GP, and a friend of the RG. She also had a crush on Jonah, which made her an unusually strong ally. I'd met her in a donut shop in downtown Chicago.
"I am, if I can reach her. She's been quiet recently. I think Michael Donovan scared her."
Along with Darius West, the GP's head, Lakshmi had been one of Michael Donovan's near successes. We'd managed to find her alive, but it had been a close call, and the experience must have been jarring, especially for a GP vampire who probably believed herself generally immune to threats.
"Sit tight," Jonah said. "Even if Scott has to let this stand, the RG doesn't. I'll use burn phones to contact you, or I'll reach you through the RG. Just don't tell Darius. And keep a lookout. If the GP is going formal with this enemy-of-the-state business, there's no telling what they'll do."
"Okay," I said. "Be careful out there. And, hey, just in case, keep a lookout for a human named Robin Pope."
"Who's she?"
"We aren't sure. But possibly involved with the riot. She had a grievance against Bryant Industries."
"Noted. Thanks for the tip."
With that, he ended the call. For a moment, I stared at the phone in my hands, unsure how to break the news to Ethan and the others. I didn't look forward to advising them the GP was attempting to screw us again, and by a tactic we'd seen before - shrinking the ranks of our friends and allies.
Damn, I thought. But I sucked it up.
I put the phone on the table and looked up at Ethan.
"Merit?" he asked.
"We've been blacklisted by the GP."
The room went completely silent, at least until Ethan and Luc let loose a slurry of creative and invective-filled curses. Some were in English; some were in Swedish, Ethan's native tongue. And some made me wince.
"Since when?" Ethan asked.
"Tonight," I said. "That was a friend from Grey House." Although I trusted the vampires in the room, there was no need to give out Jonah's name, not when medieval torture was a possibility. "He doesn't know the impetus, just that the decision's been made."
"Since Darius was pleased we saved his life, I suspect the impetus is Harold Monmonth," Ethan said.
Harold Monmonth was a swarthy and smarmy example of a vampire, a man who treated humans as if they were disposable. He'd also previously attempted to steal a fairy artifact from our House to motivate them to attack us. I was the obstacle between his "attempted" and "accomplished," although we'd eventually turned the artifact over to the fairies anyway. He was untrustworthy and manipulative, and it wasn't hard to imagine he wanted to punish us for standing in his way.
"Scott believes factions are forming within the GP. Darius and his allies on one side . . . Harold Monmonth and his allies on the other."
"Your call earlier?" I asked, and Ethan nodded.
"Although neither mentioned a blacklist," he said with a frown. "This must have come down just after."
"That's not entirely surprising, given what we know about Monmonth," Luc said. "Although he probably cares less about whether Darius is or isn't capable of managing the GP than what he could get out of it."
"I would imagine you're right. Unfortunately, while I have no love for Darius, Harold is a worse option, particularly for humans, which means also for vampires. Harold Monmonth also isn't the type to believe vampires should have free will. If he ends up in charge of the GP, I doubt he'll see our independence favorably."
"So, exactly what does this mean for us?" I asked. I was pretty sure blacklisting a House hadn't been mentioned in the Canon. I wasn't sure if that was because the action was rare, or too awful, to merit a mention.
"It is intended to create a clear dividing line," Ethan said, tracing a line on the table with his fingertip. "GP Houses on one side. The blacklisted on the other. We are not merely apart from the GP; we are its enemy. It will be the American Revolution in reverse."
Just as Jonah had suggested. "So he's right - they'll punish anyone who talks to us?"
"Or does business with us, visits us, et cetera," Ethan said.
"To what end?" Juliet asked.
"Proving their mettle," Ethan said. "Demonstrating the GP is a force to be reckoned with. And for Harold Monmonth, flexing his power as a GP member, and proving he is the unqualified heir to that particular throne."
Luc clucked his tongue. "Every time you think you're out, they pull you back in, eh?"
Ethan looked at him blankly.
"It's from The Godfather. I'm paraphrasing."
"Is that a movie?"
"Seriously? The Godfather? Marlon Brando? Al Pacino?"
When Ethan shook his head again, Lindsey whistled. Luc was a bona fide movie buff, and The Godfather was often at the top of any movie buff's list. Given the look of utter shock and insult on Luc's face, I guessed his list was typical. We all needed our hobbies; Luc had definitely found his.
"That's a damn shame," Luc said, then looked at me. "Sentinel, I command you to host a movie night during which we educate this man on cinema classics - "
"I think Luc's point is," I interrupted, glancing at Ethan, "you thought you were out of GP politics, and you just got sucked back in."
"So it seems," Ethan said.
"What do you want to do, boss?"
Ethan checked his watch. "Tonight, very little. The sun is nearly on the rise. Go upstairs, sleep, and we'll try again tomorrow."
With the boss's permission, we quickly dispersed.
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