A slap wrenches me from the dream world, and I find myself back in the limo, Filth looming over me.
“What?” I snap.
“You’re not supposed to dream,” he hisses.
“I wasn’t. That was a meditative trance.”
“Don’t do that, either.”
I slather hand sanitizer on my stinging cheek and glare at Kain accusingly.
The head of the Enforcers shrugs. “We know you can communicate with people in your sleep.”
“So what? Even the police allow an arrested person a phone call.”
“We don’t.” Filth settles back into his seat with a sneer. “Close your eyes again, and I’ll cut your lids off.”
“Don’t talk back,” Felix urges in my ear. He sounds on the verge of fainting. “He looks like he means that.”
It’s true. Filth looks eager to mutilate me.
What a puckwad.
“Firth,” Kain says, “she’s not to be harmed.” He turns his glare on me. “Do stay awake until we arrive at our destination.”
“Fine.” I stare at Filth for a few miles straight, doing my best not to blink. The bastard doesn’t seem to care, though. He just sits there with a smirk on his weaselly face.
Deciding that the stare-off hurts me more than him, I look out the window instead. A full moon illuminates picturesque forests and distant mountain peaks as we drive into a fenced area past a sign that forbids trespassing. As we approach one large mountain, the dirt road turns into a nicely paved one, and a few minutes later, we reach a blockade manned by vampires who salute us—or rather, who salute Kain.
My hopes of escape evaporate.
Enforcer vampires are everywhere.
The limo crosses a moat and heads toward skyscraper-sized doors on the side of the mountain, thrown wide to reveal a medieval castle that puts even my dream palace to shame. The craziest part is that the entire castle is inside the mountain—a Cognizant with stone control must’ve helped with this project, because it’s truly impressive.
The limo pulls into the mountain, where very unmedieval lighting illuminates gorgeous bastions and crenellated towers. I mentally file away the images in case I want to plagiarize them for my own dream architecture.
The limo comes to a stop.
“We’re inside the bailey,” Filth says libidinously.
I force out the most maniacal false laugh I can muster. “You’re so clever.”
He grabs my upper arm and drags me out of the car.
“Let go of her,” Kain orders with a frown.
Filth releases me, and I massage my smarting arm as I apply more sanitizer to it. Pretty sure I’m going to have finger-shaped bruises there.
Inside the castle, we pass through cold stone corridors filled with hooded figures of monks. One of them hands a folded bundle to Kain without saying a word.
“Is that the Brotherhood?” I ask no one in particular.
“Speak only when spoken to,” Filth barks.
“Yes, they are,” Kain replies almost at the same time. “Don’t you have them on Gomorrah?”
“I think so,” I say, “but I’ve never met them myself.”
The Brotherhood is a group of Cognizant without any powers, or at least any powers I’m aware of. They follow some strange religion, the details of which I don’t know.
Eventually, we reach a large set of doors opening into a miniature indoor coliseum lit by candles floating in the air—a nice touch.
Filth points at the circular platform in the middle. “Stand there. Don’t go to sleep.”
“That will be all,” Kain says to his minions.
As all the Enforcers leave, Filth included, Kain unfolds the bundle of fabric given to him by the monk. It turns out to be a black robe with a hood.
He puts it on. “Now we wait for the Council meeting. It’s going to happen first thing in the morning.”
“That’s a long time away,” I say. “Any chance you can tell me what this is about?”
“No. But what I can do is make the time pass faster while you wait.”
“Sure, but how—”
As his eyes turn into mirrors, I realize my mistake.
He’s about to glamour me.
I’m resistant to vampire glamour, at least from the run-of-the-mill vamps, but Kain is clearly powerful, and drinking vampire blood does make one more susceptible to their—
“You won’t remember the next five hours,” Kain says in a voice made of melted caramel.
The next thing I’m aware of is how stiff I feel standing in the same spot.
Only now I’m surrounded by the Council.
Chapter Ten
Dressed in multicolored hooded robes similar to the one Kain put on, the New York Councilors look as though they took their fashion advice from some creepy secret society.
“Good morning,” I say politely, and even contemplate curtsying. “I’m ready to learn why I’ve been detained.”
“Finally,” Felix says in my ear. “I thought you’d never snap out of it.”
Kain stands up. “Please state your name for the record.”
“Bailey Spade.” I scan the room for allies, but it’s hard to recognize anyone in these hooded getups.
“Thank you,” Kain says. “I’ll be the designated neutral party in these proceedings.”