“Sutherland, we’re actually here for your help.”
“That’s nice. Okay.”
I hated doing this. In a way, I was using him, and he wouldn’t think of saying no, which made me feel even worse. He might not love me, but he was always doing his best to please me, and sometimes it I felt like I was taking advantage of that open generosity.
Admittedly, I only visited him once every month or so when there wasn’t something more demanding luring me to his door.
“Do you remember Calliope?”
“You mean Cal-ee-ope,” he scolded, incorrectly correcting me and going with the phonetic reading of her name.
God, I hope he had never said that to her face.
“You remember the Oracle?” I asked, trying to avoid an utterly unimportant argument over pronunciation.
“Yes, she gives me blood.”
I was relieved to know he was still visiting her regularly. Cal usually only helped newborn vampires, since it was easier for them to initially get blood from her than to hunt in the open. Baby vamps didn’t know how to use the thrall immediately, so if they bit any humans, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, even for the most willing of victims. Cal provided an option for those vampires to eat without being a danger to themselves or others.
I think, beyond the fact he was crazy and a little helpless, she continued to feed Sutherland years later because he reminded her of me. But I had no way of knowing that for sure since I hadn’t been able to visit Cal now that I was no longer a vampire.
Rules are rules.
And metaphysical rules are pretty damn rigid.
“We’re going to visit her.”
“But I have blood already.”
“That’s all right. I need you to ask her something for me.”
“Can’t you ask?”
“No, I need you for this. It’s very important.”
He mulled this over for a bit and then said, “Okay.”
A pang of guilt stabbed my stomach. I wasn’t making him do anything risky or dangerous, but I felt shitty for asking at all.
He turned around to close the door, and I stopped him. His feet were still bare. “You can’t go like that.”
Sutherland looked down at himself then took in each of us in turn. Admittedly we were not a fancy-looking group, and Ingrid and I had both obviously been badly hurt recently, she had visible scars peeking out from under her shirtsleeves.
I made a mental note to give her some of my scar-fading cream. She might need it.
“Right.” He ducked inside, and after a few drawn-out moments he returned, wearing the exact same thing except he had put on a pair of battered tennis shoes to cover his feet. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-One
The last person I expected to see waiting for us outside of Calliope’s Starbucks was Holden, yet there he was in all his well-pressed, tailored glory.
“Hello, Holden,” Sutherland greeted pleasantly.
“Sutherland,” the Tribunal leader replied with a nod.
I approached him warily and gave him a half hug and a peck on the cheek before asking, “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what the hell are you doing here?”
Holden inclined his chin towards Sutherland. “He called me.”