“Be polite, even if they are not, and do not lie,” Helena told Owen as they walked into the restaurant that was this months’ meeting location. She had chosen this time, as she was the one calling the meeting, and deliberately chose somewhere with good food and proper service. “Many of the Elders can read thoughts, and all will be listening to your voice and heart.”
“Comforting,” Owen muttered, but stuck close to her side, back straight. He moved like he was ready for a fight. He probably was. She supposed it was enough that he left his weapons in the car. “Can you do that?”
“Read minds?”
“Yeah.”
“No. That is why I dosed you with a Faerie truth potion earlier.” She smiled as he glared at her. “Come now, you can’t imagine I would simply believe you.”
He kept glaring, and she smiled, lipstick reapplied in her limo and shining red in the candlelight of the restaurant. The owner, well aware who she was, rushed over, his eyes darting over Helena and her unusual companion.
“The Elders are already here, Mistress,” he reported, sharp but clear. Unlike a younger vampire, Helena saw no need to intimidate the few humans she interacted with on a regular basis. After all, they provided valuable services. Why would she go out of her way to terrify them? “In the large dining room.”
“Thank you,” Helena murmured, and pressed a folded hundred into his palm as she passed. Good service deserved a reward, and bribery ensured that it stayed good.
“You know that most of these people want me dead,” Owen said quietly. She glanced over at him as they walked through the quiet restaurant. “I’m a Hunter. It’s not like I blame them, but will they believe me about Josef?”
“Alliances between the Covens and the Hunters are not unheard of,” Helena told him with a shrug. “In fact, quite the opposite. A threat to us all merits investigation and is too important to be tainted by past grudges.”
“I’ve killed three Elders in my time. They won’t take me apart for it?”
The nerves were understandable, but Helena was somewhat surprised that he was looking to her for reassurance. Perhaps he was more trusting of her because she had her chance to kill him and chose not to. Still, it made sense that, as he got ready to walk into a room full of the most powerful vampires in the city, that he was wary.
“Some will be angry,” Helena told him honestly. “But they will listen. All of us here are old enough to know when vengeance must be set aside for survival.”
“Reassuring,” he muttered, and tugged on the jacket sleeves. His fingers twitched like he wished he had a weapon, but he stilled them. “Okay, I’m ready.”
The private dining room was one of Helena’s favorite places in the restaurant. The walls were deep burgundy, and rich wood paneling protected the paint from chairs. Nine of the twelve chairs were filled, and Helena took one of the empty ones for herself with Own at her side.
If he kept the one empty chair between him and his nearest neighbor, well, it was probably for the best.
“Thank you for coming,” Helena said when everyone was settled and a silent, professional server came through to provide drinks to everyone. “Friends, we face a threat, not just our covens, but to the city and the Others who call it home. Owen, please tell them what you told me.”
“Leave no detail out,” called Ekaterina. She was one of the oldest vampires at the table, and also one of Helena’s friends. Her support was invaluable. Her power alone made the others listen. “The situation must be dire indeed, to bring a notorious Hunter into our arms.”
“It’s bad,” Owen said with a remarkably steady voice. His heartbeat was a little fast, but he gave no other sign of his earlier nerves. He pulled a keychain out of his pocket and held it up. “Is there a projector in here?”
Chao-Fe took it from him. The Chinese vampire had a special gift with technology, and quickly had a laptop and projector hooked up and shining on a pull-down screen. Owen stood and tugged on his sleeves again before taking the floor.
The first photo was clearly a candid, taken at a distance, maybe with a phone. The man was tall and powerfully-built, and dripped with weapons. His entire attitude screamed ‘military’ and his pale face seemed twisted into a permanent expression of fury.
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“This is Josef,” Owen said, and looked up at the photo. “He’s thirty-seven, Caucasian, former Green Beret, and an asshole. He believes that Others are a taint on humanity, and wants to see the city- and the world- cleansed.”
He pressed on to the next photo before anyone could ask about the first. It was the same man again, this time leading several others on a firearms course. “He’s the best shot I’ve ever seen with a gun or a crossbow, and he’s strong enough to take on a shifted Wolf barehanded. I assume he’s fully human, but I could be wrong.”
“Has his blood been tested?” Loraven had been an elf before he was Turned, and was the oldest vampire at the table, although he had been a vampire for only eight hundred years of his twelve centuries of life. “Others almost always show in blood testing.”
“I couldn’t get a sample,” Owen said uncomfortably. “I’ve sparred with him. He’s good. Not fast, but really strong. He clocked me when I called him out and I flew.”
“What sort of firepower can we expect?” Fahzad asked.. He was the youngest of them all, but one of the best fighters despite his bare fifty years. “Guns? Military tech?”
“All of the above,” Owen told him. He was starting to relax as the questions came, and he realized how seriously the Coven Elders were taking him. Helena was slightly smug. This was a side of the vampire community that most Hunters never saw. “Probably no magic except enchanted weapons. I tipped off every Hunter I knew with a drop of Other blood before I tried to confront Josef. Helena can tell you how well that went for me.”
Everyone at the table could smell the faint trace of blood from his wrapped and bandaged cuts, and he held himself in a careful way that suggested he was feeling those injuries.
“How many will stay loyal to him?” Chao-Fe asked, taking notes. He looked between the other Elders, no doubt calculating their own numbers, and what sort of force they could rally on short notice.
“See, that’s the bad news,” Owen said grimly, and clicked the laptop again. This time a silent video played behind him. Dozens of trucks and busses filled the lot of a warehouse complex. Men and women streamed off them, heavily armed and grim-faced. “He’s calling in every favor anyone ever owed, and inviting as many Hunt-leaders in as he thinks will come. Some refused- a lot of us are fine with Others- but plenty aren’t.”
“Numbers?”
“Nearly five hundred the last time I heard. I still have a friend or two on the inside, but they can’t do much without outing themselves. He’s building an army.”
Not a large number, but more than enough to wipe through the city, especially if they didn’t care to be quiet about their presence. Others were only barely acknowledged by the government, and plenty of people would be happy if they stopped existing.
“Why did you chose to come to the Covens?” Loraven asked thoughtfully, his glowing blue eyes fixed on Helena’s human. “We all know your name, and your reputation. Many of us were friends with Henri, and Scheherazade, and Regine, before him.”
“We’re enemies,” Owen told him. His heartbeat was still fast, and a little unsteady, but that was good. Someone who could control their heartbeat in a lie tended to have a slower heartbeat than normal. “But the Covens are the only Others in the city who have the kind of force to match Josef and his pals.”
“The skinchangers could.”
“The skinchangers are barely organized enough to keep themselves under the human radar,” Owen sighed, and nodded to the laptop. “I got as many documents as I could. Photos of anyone who looked important. Equipment. I think he has prisoners, but I don’t know where, and I know, he has a pit full of fledglings.”
“How do you know?”
“Because when I told Josef that he was crazy, and tried to walk, he dumped me in and assumed they would deal with me.” Owen held up his hand and the white bandaging that peaked out from under his sleeves. “I killed two. There were at least three more, but I didn’t stick around to count them. They were in frenzy.”
That brought sad silence from the whole table. Finally Loraven leaned forward. “Will you allow me to see their faces?” he asked politely. It was a nice gesture. He could easily have taken the memories without Owen ever knowing he was there. “That we might know who has passed, and who is missing still?”
Owen looked at Helena, no doubt remembering her earlier reassurances. She nodded slightly. Loraven knew better than most how bad a fledgling-frenzy truly was. It was how he had been turned.
“Yeah, go ahead,” he decided, eyeing the elf warily. “What do you need from me?”
“Think of your memories of the time,” Loraven said, and closed his eyes. “And do remember to breathe. I could almost dance to your heartbeat.”
Owen chuckled faintly, but he did breathe, and his heart slowed. After a long moment, Loraven opened his eyes.
“I am satisfied,” he said to Helena’s surprise. "Parkside Coven will be facing this threat with West-River Coven, and I strongly recommend that our council remain united. The danger here cannot be overstated.”
Whatever he had seen must have been terrible indeed. He was shaken, and shared a nod with Owen, who took a slow, relieved breath. Helena allowed herself a smile. She had been ready to deal with the matter with only her coven, but with Loraven backing her, they had a real chance.
The other Elders considered for long enough that Helena had a small selection of appetizers sent in. The debate was almost entirely silent, carried by those with thought-reading. Loraven, always honest to a fault, kept those without from being left out of the conversation.
Poor Owen had to sit and watch, his part finished except for the occasional question.
It was nearly midnight before a decision was made.
“The matter is settled,” Loraven said at last, and stood. “My peers, we are in agreement.”
“what’s the verdict?” Owen dared to ask, heart now pounding. Two covens stood with him, but they all knew two wouldn’t be enough. “Will you help?”
Helena was the one to answer, and she hid her exhaustion with long practice. Some of the Elders were wary of her Hunter, and of a trap, but with Loraven’s testimony backing her, she fought to keep everyone involved.
“We will.”