A Fall of Silver (24 page)

“Did anyone see what happened?
” He covered her hand with his and gave it a squeeze.

“The doorman knows her
.” Taylor gestured at her. “He saw her, there. Outside.”

“Then he saw me ride by
. I never stopped. Kethan, you’ve got to believe me, I never went inside.” Her voice rose, tense with desperation as her eyes flickered over his face.

“You
didn’t have to. Juliana never made it inside either,” Taylor ground out.

“Someone else killed her, not me!”

Framed by the doorway, the two vampires grew eerily quiet. Behind them, the wind howled in the blackness like a dying animal, emphasizing their unnatural stillness. Although the men never turned their heads toward one another, Kethan could feel the rush of their thoughts, whispering between the pair.

“
Give us a show of good faith,” Cage lisped. “Just as we proved ours.”

“
We’re not going to sacrifice Quicksilver to make you feel better. She had nothing to do with this. Look elsewhere for the man responsible.”

The vampires took a step closer to the door,
crowding the opening. Kethan didn’t move. The air around him thickened as they exerted pressure to force him to look at them and stare into their eyes.

Let us in
!
We’ll protect you from her….
Their whispers filled his head, seeking to convince him to make the wise decision, the right decision.
Trust us and you’ll live! Betray us and die.

Kethan
clenched his fists, the blunt nails biting into the palms. Slowly, he forced his mind to clear, using the simple prayers he had learned years earlier to focus on what truly mattered. He needed to find the truth and diffuse the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Martyn
Sutton must be in serious trouble if needed to eliminate Quicksilver to consolidate his position, and it wouldn’t be beyond belief that Martyn had spotted her riding through his territory. He may have seized the unexpected opportunity to further his own purposes by killing the fledgling vampire. Once he destroyed her, it would be simple to convince his already unsettled clan to believe that Quicksilver had killed Juliana.

The move placed
Kethan in a weak position, potentially weak enough to force him to hand her over. And much as he hated to admit it, Quicksilver’s actions had sparked this situation.

Studying her tense face
, with its pale cheeks and wide eyes, he couldn’t believe she had killed a vampire, not without a weapon. There were no marks on her fragile skin, not even a bruise, nothing to indicate involvement in the violent death of a vampire.

“
Look at her. Do you see evidence of a fight? Or do you think Juliana wouldn’t have struggled? Have you considered that she may have tried to feed on the wrong human? Juliana may have been the one who broke the agreement, not Quicksilver.”

Again, the v
ampires remained silent, their faces cold with heavy menace. Finally, Taylor said, “Poncy, mincing words. Our Juliana’s dead.” He pointed to Quicksilver. “And she’s to pay.”

“Ke
than, I swear! I told you the truth.” She turned to him, her desperate eyes scanning his face.

“No need to fear us, sweetheart. It’ll be
quick—nearly painless.” Cage’s light, amused tone did nothing to reduce the menace behind his words.

Kethan
’s skin prickled. God help him if he were wrong. “No. She’s not going with you. She’s innocent,” he said. “Tell Martyn we’ll discover who did this, and then we’ll bring the culprit to him.”

“We already know
,” Taylor said.

“You know nothing. She was unarmed
. I kept her weapons here, and she couldn’t kill Juliana, or any vampire, without a weapon.”

Cage
and Taylor exchanged quick, flickering glances.

“How did she die?” Quicksilver asked,
pressing closer to Kethan.

“She w
ere beheaded.” Cage answered reluctantly.

“You see?
” One of her hands gripped the back of his shirt as if reassuring herself of his presence and support. “Like Kethan said, I didn’t have my whips. How could I behead anyone without them? With my bare hands?”

Kethan stepped in front of her, wary that her logic might not impress the
two vampires as much as she thought. He held up his hand, palm toward Cage. “I swear Quicksilver won’t go out of this house again unaccompanied by me. You have my word.”

“Martyn wants
this finished. Tonight,” Taylor repeated.

“
I understand, but you have your answer—the only answer you’re going to get tonight. So unless you want to argue ‘til dawn, you’ll go back and tell Martyn we weren’t involved. Look elsewhere for your slayer; and we’ll investigate, as well. No one else will die, vampire or human. Do you understand?”

Without agreeing, the vampires
stared at him for one tense moment. Then they were gone, melting into the shadows. As soon as they disappeared, the wind rushed over the stoop as if filling the void they left and a swirl of dead leaves and rain wrapped around Kethan’s legs.

Shaking a huge, brown oak leaf off his shoe,
Kethan closed the door. When he turned around, his gaze skipped from Quicksilver to Joe.

“You should
stay, Father,” he said. “They may decide any human will do to compensate for Juliana.”

“And yet you asked them to trust
you
.” Joe shook his head, hands clasped behind his back. “If you wish for trust, you must show trust.” He walked toward the door.

“Wait!” Quicksilver
stepped in front of him. “Where are you going?”

Joe
gazed at her, his eyes sad. “I’m going home.”

“Didn’t you hear what Kethan said?”

“Yes.” He smiled gently. “If they feel they need blood, let them take mine and spare that of an innocent human.”

“You can’t be serious.
There’s trust and then there’s stupidity.” She glanced from Kethan to the priest. “Let me go, then. If they want a human, they can deal with me. I mean, they can’t hurt me if you give me back my whips. I’ll kill them, all of them. Then this’ll be over. No more humans need to die.”

Kethan
grabbed her arms and jerked her around. She looked so young, so desperate, and beneath it all, terrified. Trembling, she blinked rapidly as her brash, aggressive façade splintered under his scrutiny. Realization crossed her face. Regardless of her feelings, she was just as enmeshed in the politics of their negotiations as he was.

“
You have to understand,” Kethan said. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to prevent. You kill Taylor and Cage. Martyn responds by killing two humans, and the cycle continues. This must end.”

“Well, it’s too lat
e now, isn’t it?” She asked. “They think I killed this Juliana and they aren’t going to be happy until they’ve tasted human blood.”

“Did you have anything
to do with her death?” Joe’s soft question startled them both.

She looked from one man to the other.
A tremor of disappointment shook her mouth, and she chewed her lower lip as she struggled to regain control. “I didn’t lie, I swear! I had nothing to do with it.” Her voice held a sour, ill-used, no-one-believes-me tone. “Not that it matters. You might as well face it; your negotiations have gone south for the winter. I tried to warn you, but you refuse to listen. You can’t negotiate with vampires.”

Joe
stepped around her. “All the more reason to show we trust Martyn Sutton. I believe they want peace between us, too. He deserves a second chance, if he’ll accept it.”

“Are you crazy?” She stared at him. “He’s a vampire! What kind of second chance could he have?”

“Never mind,” Kethan said, muscles tightening. Faith in his plan warred with his awareness of the danger that lurked outside his door. The priest was right—they needed to show trust—but now might not be the best time to do so. “At least wait a few hours, Joe.”

“Waiting won’t
change anything. We either show our faith, or we allow Quicksilver to handle the clan. I don’t see a great deal of room between the two.”

“
Let me go with you,” she offered. “Give me my weapons. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

Joe
opened the door and studied the storm with a frown. “Perhaps that’s not such a bad idea. I could use your help—”

“
Yes!” She stepped forward, her face flushed with eagerness. “Anything—”

“—to
hand me my umbrella. It’s a dreadful night.” His eyes twinkled as the skin around his eyes crinkled with amusement.

It was hard not to
feel a flush of warmth and grin at his gentle humor. As Quicksilver snorted to hide a girlish giggle and reached over to snag the umbrella, Kethan glanced past her, through the open door.

“
Be careful, Joe.”

“Always.”
He took the umbrella and leaned forward to give Quicksilver a light kiss on her cheek before he moved outside.

She was still smiling as t
hey stood together in the hallway and watched the slender priest fight the elements. He bowed forward with the umbrella held in front of him, the gale pushing him around and twisting the insubstantial metal spokes of the umbrella as he wobbled toward his car.

Kethan waited until Joe
clambered inside his rusty, once-white vehicle before waving and gently closing the door.

Joe had made it that far and if he exercised caution,
he might make it home without any difficulties.

For now, there was nothing else Kethan
could do except pray for peace until dawn.

Kethan
turned and studied Quicksilver, suddenly aware of her. The soft scents of soap and clean hair filled the warm air around her. It was late and he wanted nothing more than to climb into bed, although his desire had nothing to do with sleep.

S
he watched him with an anxious look on her face. “I don’t like this.” When he stepped around her, she trailed him into the sitting room. “Something’s wrong.” Curling up at one end of the loveseat, she patted the conspicuous space next to her.

He looked at it and sat down in the hard, wooden chair across from her.
Discretion is the better part of valor.
“I agree.”

“Don’t you think
this whole setup is wrong? I didn’t kill that vampire, Juliana, which means it had to be someone else—probably one of Martyn’s own people. Although I find it hard to believe he’s so into this negotiation that he’s willing to kill one of his clan just to frame me. You don’t think he did it to prove his sincerity, do you?” She straightened and gazed over his shoulder, her face tight with concentration. “Maybe he killed her because she disobeyed and he thought that would prove his good faith to you. But Cage and Taylor didn’t know and when they saw me on my motorcycle, they came here thinking I’d killed her.”

“
I don’t know,” he murmured. “It’s all guesswork.”

“Think about it!
Maybe he’s trying to manipulate us and doesn’t care if he has to kill one of his own clan to do it.”

“He’s worried enough about how few there are in his clan.
I don’t think he’d do that.”

“Possibly. Or
maybe he’s just desperate to save his own skin and is willing to get rid of those in his way. Then he can just blame me. I’m telling you, this is all about power. It always is.” Her left hand pressed against her neck where scars puckered the translucent skin.

There were no answers, only guesses, and her gesture reminded him of another tragedy that he knew too little about. He sensed a hesitancy in her, an openness he had not noticed when they first met, and he was desperate enough to use it to gain an understanding and bridge the gap between them.
The mystery of Juliana’s death could wait for now.

“What happened
to you?” he asked, changing the subject.

“What do you mean?”
She lowered her left hand and intertwined her fingers in her lap. The knuckles whitened as her grip tightened.

“Your neck.
What happened?”

“
Nothing. The usual stupidity.” She shrugged, glancing toward the hallway.

“A vampire
?”

“
A
vampire.” She laughed a low, brittle laugh redolent with bitterness. “Yes. A long time ago. I handled it.”

He sat back, humming
low in his throat as he decided how to phrase the next question. Somehow, her trust had become important to him, and he didn’t want to lose it through clumsiness. “How did you end up at Theresa’s home?”

“The usual way.”

“Your parents died? In a vampire attack?”

He could
sense her struggle.

Trust me. Just a little.
Anything.