“Pushing all the buttons tonight, hey, Keaty?”
“Apologies.”
He wasn’t really saying sorry, but I wouldn’t have expected him to. I knew perfectly well how he felt about vampires and werewolves, and I’d brought both into his house tonight. I’d always been the exception, but I could tell he didn’t extend my free pass to those around me.
“If I’m going to go to the council for help, you need to be prepared for the chance they say no,” I warned.
“I’m always prepared for the council to say no. It’s their favorite word.”
“Actually I’d argue retribution is their favorite, but let’s not pick nits. The point is, if they turn me down, they also probably won’t let me leave.”
“Why? I thought you were running things over there these days.”
I gave a half shrug and tried to smile, but failed. “Remember how there used to be, like, five people who knew what I was? Then ten?”
“Too many,” he grumbled.
“Yeah, well, now there’s a nasty rumor spreading through the vampire underground faster than herpes at a No-Condom Convention. Basically—cat’s out of the bag. Or wolf is out of the cave? I don’t know. Either way, people are talking, and it’s too many people for me to control it. They know.”
Keaty was stone-faced as usual, but the throbbing artery at his temple told me everything I needed to know. He was super pleased.
“Surprise!” I offered weakly, giving my best beauty-queen smile.
“I’m amazed they haven’t killed you already. This changes things substantially. We can’t send you to the council. Send Holden instead.”
“Riiiiight. They want to find me, so our best option is to send my well-known lover, former partner and official vampire consort in instead. Very clever.”
“He’s expendable. You’re not.”
While I was touched to learn Keaty deemed me too important to lose, I didn’t agree with his math. “Holden isn’t expendable.”
“Sure I am,” came a voice from the door.
Since I’d closed it on the way in, Keaty would have seen the vampire enter. Which meant Holden had been standing there when Keaty announced his plan. Keaty watched the vampire closely now that he didn’t have to pretend to be looking elsewhere. “See, he agrees.”
“No, this is fucking stupid. No one is going in as cannon fodder or whatever. If this is our plan, I’m fine with that, but we’ll use Holden and we’ll go get Sutherland. With two vampires we shouldn’t have any trouble locating the people we’re looking for. We can split into two groups. Safety in numbers, and all that.”
“That’s your brilliant compromise?” Keaty was none too impressed with my suggestion. “We use two vampires to find God knows how many necromancers? You’re out of your mind. You are a part of the council, Secret. I’ve never abused your position before, or asked you to use it, but right now your connections are worth more than whatever trouble you might be in. We need help from the vampires, there’s no way around it.”
I glanced over my shoulder to Holden, hoping he might offer me some support in this fight, but he stood there staring into the middle distance like he couldn’t stand to meet my gaze. Maybe he couldn’t. This had gotten so messy, and I knew it was all my fault.
These things usually were.
“I’m not sending Holden,” I said flatly.
“And we can’t send you,” Holden agreed. “But maybe there’s a way we can do this without going to the council directly.” He was still standing in the doorway like he was uncomfortable with the idea of stepping farther into the room, and I didn’t think it was Keaty who had him on edge.
“What do you suggest?” Keaty asked.
“If we can find enough wardens or sentries who are on their own, they won’t have any choice but to obey her orders. We can seek them out on the individual level. Secret is still a Tribunal Leader, at least until the council puts her on trial. And given the current situation in the city, that will obviously take some time. I think as long as we can approach them one on one, we’ll have no difficulty whatsoever getting them to work with us.”
Keaty scratched his cheek and seemed to regard Holden in a wholly new light. He typically gave the vampire only a cursory glare if he looked at him at all. But now there was something approaching pleasure on his face.
“You know, it c
ould work. Do you have a way to find them?”
“I know where they all live.” Holden sounded as bored as if he were reporting on the weather. “The biggest difficulty will be getting from place to place safely. That’s where Secret’s initial suggestion will come in handy. Safety in numbers. If I find the wardens, they’ll listen to me. You’ll need Secret herself to get the sentries to agree. I have no power over them.”