At Blade's Edge (13 page)

“Two of our operatives were injured on this particular trip. One spent three weeks in the hospital and is still going through physical therapy to use her right hand again. There was a fire, uh, twice that I can figure out. Data destroyed. Op ruined. Money comes in to Roth’s account some before, the rest after.”

Roth Wesslyian was going down. Rowan would make sure of it.

Carey set up a program to mine all the data from the flash drives, comparing with the memo books. He and David would work with Susan’s valet to go point by point.

“I want it air tight. I want to walk in to Hunter Corp. with this data and not leave one tiny centimeter of space for him to crawl out of danger.”

Carey’s offended expression that she’d have to remind him to be thorough made Rowan want to laugh. But she was tired and really pissed off, so she settled on a reassurance that she knew he had the skills to do such a thing and did on a regular basis.

By the time they’d gotten everything humming, dawn was very close and Rowan knew Clive was loath to rest so she’d make sure it happened. Like he would with her. Hell, did with her all the time.

“Carey, I want a progress report in an hour. I’m going to shower and clean up. Meet back here then.”

“Are we headed to the Motherhouse today?” David asked.

“Yes, I think we are. But I want all my ducks in a row before that. So, you have an hour to catnap or shower or whatever. I’ll be back.”

Chapter Twelve

“You don’t have to tuck me in, Rowan.” Clive tried not to gloat that she’d left her work to be with him before he slept.

“So much happened tonight, I thought it would be nice if we could talk about our day like normal people do.”

“I’d be far more amenable to that if you were naked.”

She pulled her clothes off and got into his bed, sliding across sheets she knew would now have her scent.

“Admittedly, I’m nervous that you’re so easy with me right now. After that regrettable scene at my parents’ house I wasn’t sure you’d be speaking to me.”

She stared at him, one brow raised until he got into the pajamas he preferred to sleep in and joined her.

“Of course you knew I’d speak to you. Just like you knew there’d be fuckery if your uncles showed up, which is why you got very shirty indeed when they not only came but then acted a fool. It’s what you all do when you’re in groups. Put more than three Vampires in a room together and there’s always drama.”

He stacked his pillows to allow him to lean back, inviting her to come to him.

She did, the heat of her skin nearly searing him.

“I won’t allow my uncles to speak to you in such a manner in the future. Not without disciplining them.”

“You know it gets me tingly when you do that.”

“Part of the pleasure in doing it, darling.” He was a Scion. Their superior. As his wife, Rowan was extended that stature. As The First’s daughter, she already had it. “You bring power to my House. Connections. I will not deny this pleases me.”

“All part of the services I provide. Because I am awesome.”

“You’re quite amused with yourself. Is there something I don’t know?”

“I think Brigid is pumping me full of feel-good chemicals. Like Goddess wine or whatever.”

“Well, that’s interesting.” He’d seen her like this a few times. If She thought Rowan needed a little help to not have some sort of heart attack or hie off on a killing spree because she was utterly done with Roth Wesslyian, he had no problems with that being remedied.

Rowan laughed. “You can make so many sentences mean forty things all at the same time. I’m totally not amused by most of what has happened. I want to flip tables and twist heads off like the stem of an apple. I knew Roth had given the sorcerers the location of the safehouse in Venice, but this level of betrayal wasn’t something I’d imagined.”

She was quiet a while. This was what he knew she struggled with so much. Rowan didn’t give trust or loyalty frivolously and both had been destroyed. Her work, her safe place was crumbling at her feet.

“What’s his bottom line? Roth has a nice enough life. He lives like a rich asshole. He’s got a good job. Responsibility. He took an oath when he joined HC. He promised to keep us all safe. He gave his word, Clive. And he broke it.”

“You know the price for such a thing in my world.”

“Would killing him make any difference?”

The question was clearly hypothetical, Clive knew. She would do it when the time came because that’s what needed to happen. That she would trust him enough to have this conversation meant a great deal to him.

“That’s a human question. You’re not human. The difference is, he’d be dead and no further threat to you and yours. He’d be a lesson to anyone else considering such a betrayal. Nothing you do can undo what his actions created so stop focusing on unwinnable scenarios where you get to wallow in guilt. As you so bloody often like to remind me, you have a path.”

Rowan giggled. “She loves it when you say She’s right.”

“In this situation your Goddess is very much right. If you wait until sundown I can attend this scene you’re going to make.”

“Uh, no. I can’t bring my husband to my rumble! Everyone will think I’m weak. I don’t need you to hold my earrings on this one, thanks.”

“Earrings?”

“It’s a saying. Like when women fight they take off their earrings so the other chick can’t grab them and rip them out.”

Horror rolled through him. “This is a thing women do?”

“You mean in between pillow fights and smearing lotion all over each other?”

He liked the sound of that only to realize she was being sarcastic.

“In other words, I got this. I’ll deal with this data, connect with Susan and Rex and figure out a plan. They’re going to be very angry. Susan lost a Hunter in the field last year. If it turns out Roth had anything to do with it, I can’t guarantee I’ll be the first one to Roth to kill him.”

He hated not being at her back when she’d be walking into Roth’s territory. Clive knew she’d prevail, for Rowan there was nothing else but that. He trusted David and having spent time with Susan and Rex as Rowan recovered after her latest near death experience, he trusted them too. Everyone else’s motives were murky.

“I have to get back to work in a few minutes and I don’t want to talk about this right now. I think you should tell me what you were like in the sixties since Thomas felt it necessary to mention it so pointedly.” Rowan petted her hand down his chest and belly.

He laughed, warmed by the tease, by the intimacy of her touch. “I do admit to going through a rather rough stage for a few years.”

Her eyes widened and she snuggled in closer. “Really? Oh my Goddess! You have a dark past? Like when Giles from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
was Ripper? I wanted to bone him so hard. Now I can. Only better, of course,” she amended quickly.

“You know how much I hate that television show.”

She rolled her eyes. “Before you start with the sniffing and the polite ranting—complete with apologies for ranting as you rant—about Whedon’s portrayal of Vampires, we were going to talk about your dark past. You know, as a bad boy who practiced dark magic and was totally bi.”

Caught between hilarity and horror, he managed a sigh. “No dark magic.”

“Oh! You did boytouching stuff? With who? Tell me that too. Was it part of your dark past?”

He rolled so she was on her back and he leaning above her. “You are a miracle.”

Tenderness flooded her features. “Are you trying to avoid telling me about the time you and some hot regency Vamp duke crossed swords?”

He gave up trying to stop his chuckle. “You’re very determined on this point. But back to you being a miracle.”

“I’m sure there are many who’d disagree with you.”

“As if anyone else’s opinion mattered.” He nipped her chin. He let her shy away from his compliments for now. “I can guarantee my uncles won’t show you disrespect in the future.”

A memory of her ferocity made him shiver, pause at her pulse point, just beneath her ear to breathe her in.

She slid her fingers into his hair. More petting. He hummed his pleasure.

“We’ll see.”

There was no mistaking the satisfaction in her tone.

“I did not maraud through London in the 1960s in a leather jacket and a punk rock haircut.”

“Oh.” Her frown had him kissing her hard and fast.

“They refer to the 1760s.”

“No leather jacket, but you had a frock coat or somesuch. That’s the same.”

“The entire world was changing. The balance was shifting away from our freedom and security in the secrecy of our existence. So many more humans meant more food, but we died in greater numbers because more humans meant more Vampires, especially young or Made ones, were killed upon discovery.”

He’d been performing his duty for centuries by that point. He’d been rising within the ranks of the Nation. He’d done it all without question. Without a hint of disobedience or even a second thought.

“I’d been so sure of what I was to be. And then, I wasn’t sure anymore.” He rested his head on her chest, curling his body into hers, taking comfort in the beat of her heart and the way she touched him.

“I can’t imagine how hard that hit you.” No cutting irony or bitterness in her tone.

He chuckled and closed his eyes. “Of all the people I know, you understand it better than anyone else. Better than me, I imagine. You’ve had all the same training and push since birth and you’ve done it in thirty-one human years. I’d had centuries to accept my responsibilities.”

She swallowed and then took a slow breath. “I suppose that’s true. But you like obedience.”

He groaned. “I like it from
other people
, yes. I had to wrestle with that, the knowledge that I’d still be the one having to toe the line, the one having to be obedient, unless or until I was chosen for Penultimate or Scion. I didn’t want to go on feeling as if my life and the direction of it was all in someone else’s hands. Very emo, as you’d say.”

“Well, sure. I might tease you in other situations when you’re being a big baby. But as you just pointed out, I know what you mean. But you’ve been at this a lot longer. I’d have broken way before a few centuries.”

“I just dropped out a while. Traveled. Discovered which substances I could get off on via human blood and which I couldn’t. Killed a lot of humans. I wallowed in what they had, what they did, how they lived and then I stole their lives. Thomas had to pay a bribe to get me out of a town lockup right before dawn. I Made someone.”

Her heart sped a few beats but she remained silent.

For a Vampire of his stature to have Made a human without express permission from the head of his House—in this case his father—was a career-killing error.

That she’d shown mercy to that fledgling some other Vampire had made and then abandoned had meant a great deal to him for that reason.

“I’ll just say I’ve been in The First’s dungeon with the lock on the other side of the door. In the end, he forgave me and I went back to my studies.” It had taken another fifty years or so to get The First’s trust back.

“I can’t believe I never knew this story.” Emotion made her voice thick, but he knew the mention of that dungeon was a difficult trigger for her sometimes. “You were a rebel. Got arrested. Pretty much knocked a totally unsuitable chick up and then got major punishment for it.” She blew out a breath. “And then you came back from that, were put in the Penultimate pool, made Scion, kicked ass and married me. And in all that, your uncles still couldn’t come out on top. I totally get them better now.”

Rowan had let him tell the story. Had taken some of the weight of it and then she’d said exactly the right thing so he could truly let it go.

A miracle indeed.

Chapter Thirteen

By the time she got back to her office, the sky was rolling out sunrise. “Today is a good day, David,” she called out as she poured herself another cup of coffee.

Rowan hummed with energy and focus. She’d known Roth was up to something, but not precisely what. Her prey was solidly in her sight. She’d take him down so hard. Planned to make it hurt like he’d never dreamed.

“He sold you out far more than we thought.” David handed her several pieces of paper. Her address in Las Vegas. Her security codes. Times she’d been at the Keep with Theo.

If she’d complied with the rules more than she had, the acolytes who served Brigid would have been endangered. Rowan never put any identifying information about that part of her life into her reports or files. They knew what she was, of course, but she was very protective of those who served the Goddess. Apparently rightfully so.

“I hope they know this means I’m never doing paperwork again.”

“You’re way scarier when you get calm-mad,” Carey said from the screen in front of Rowan and David.

“I told him he wouldn’t see me coming for him until it was too late. Did you get in contact with Susan and Rex?”

“They should be here any minute. Elisabeth is up already and making breakfast for everyone,” David said.

“Let’s get started bullet pointing all this. Before I end this piece of garbage, I’m going to bury him in proof. Then I’ll end anyone left who supports him.”

“Well, there’s our girl, Susan.”

The sound of Rex’s dry delivery was what Rowan had needed to keep centered. She’d gone from flash fires to molten rage. Brigid fed it, approving, appalled and vengeful.

“Come in.” David took their things and indicated the large table.

“My valet is on Roth this morning. Susan’s is on Hilary. They’ll let us know if anything changes.” Rex paused to kiss Rowan’s cheeks before he sat. Susan copied that, adding a hug.

Elisabeth and David set up breakfast and coffee to go with the tea. Once Elisabeth had retreated to the main house, Rowan jumped in.

“Last night I went back to Roth’s house, as you know. I took a magically inclined friend with me. She’s the one who found the hidey hole all this evidence was in.” Rowan also explained the way they’d covered their tracks which hopefully bought them some time.

“We can assume he was the source of the attack on you two evenings ago.” Rex spread orange-ginger marmalade over his still warm croissant.

Rowan pointed at it. “Those are amazing. She gets fresh breads and things from this bakery a few doors down.”

“They’re marvelous. It’s a shame I can’t tempt Clive’s staff away or I’d be doing it right now.” Susan sipped her tea as she tapped a shiny red fingernail on the sheet of paper before her. “Before we get into this business about Roth, there’s something I want to say. Rex and I can’t make a big splash to celebrate your marriage until the bond is officially announced by The First. We understand. However, you’re very dear to us. We came to rather like Clive and from the bottom of our hearts, we’re so thrilled. We want to celebrate you. One of our neighbors is a chef. He’s got a show on the BBC. Shaggy blond hair, big soulful eyes. Adorable. He has opened up the chef’s table in his kitchen for us. Just a little something special to tide us all over until we can do this all up properly with a party.”

Rowan eyed her warily. “I’m touched.” And she was. They were pretty dear to her as well. “You saved my life, Susan. In so many ways.” She cleared her throat. “So anyway. Dinner sounds fun and thank you. For everything.”

Susan’s lips wobbled just a tiny bit, but she held it together. Thank Goddess because Rowan was shockingly close to blubbering and that might have pushed her into sympathy tears.

Also because a proper party sounded like it would mean being hugged and congratulated over and over and she was pretty opposed to that.

“On to nailing this little bastard to the wall.” Susan indicated the paper she’d been tapping. “Two of the Hunters in these papers were killed. One of them was mine.”

“I was afraid of that. I’m sorry.” It was devastating to lose someone you cared about but was even worse when you were the person responsible for them. Susan would be blaming herself for the rest of her life.

“No. I’m the one who is sorry. This was blatant at the Tribunal and then while you were on the hunt for Enyo. He interfered. Egregiously so. Put you in danger and they tabled this mess to avoid the politics of it. I protested, but I should have insisted we deal with it. It could have been you.” Susan pointed to the paper again.

It nearly had been. “But it wasn’t. It won’t be anyone else either. Not after we’re done. He needs to be gotten rid of. There’s a serious rot in Hunter Corp. If we don’t cut it out, it’ll eat out the heart and leave it a husk.”

Susan nodded. “We’re in agreement on that point. However, you seem to think you need to leave Hunter Corp. I disagree. We get rid of the rot and build it up again. This tension can’t be handled by the likes of Roth. We can’t just walk away and leave a vacuum or the Vampires and Conclave will smell blood in the water.”

“And you’re good at your job.” Rex looked over the top of his glasses at her. “You were meant to do this. Your absence would cripple Hunter Corp. Yes, we have skilled, dedicated staff, but why stay if the Hunter they all look up to has left?”

“Look up to? Are you mocking me?” Rowan frowned at him.

“Just because Roth had enough influence to put off any sort of investigation while you were in the field, doesn’t mean the field Hunters and the vast majority of those within Hunter Corp. don’t rally behind you. Do you know how many applications per year we get to be your valet?” Rex asked.

“I had no idea I got any at all. I have a valet already.”

“There’s a waitlist of ten.”

“You’re saying this like it should mean something. Why have any waitlist at all? To repeat, I have a valet already. He’s all right and I don’t want to train anyone else.”

“You’ll make me blush with compliments like that,” David murmured, making Rowan guffaw. “She doesn’t have any idea,” he told Rex and Susan.

“Unless this is about my surprise party, could someone actually tell me what the hell you’re talking about? I’m getting cranky.”

Susan arched a brow. “We have waitlists because sometimes, the wider a territory the Hunter patrols, the more help she needs. You have two already, I imagine you’ll pick up more as you go.”

“Two?”

“Carey is a valet too. Trained by Hunter Corp. His salary paid by us. And David, of course. Honestly, Rowan did you pay attention at all when you went to your history classes?”

Rowan put some more bacon and eggs on her plate. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

The look she got in return from her mentor said several things, chief among them an I told you so.

David refilled her coffee as he explained, “People want to work for you. The other Hunters have waitlists too. But theirs are one or two. You mean something to them. You say what they want to say but they’re afraid.”

“The horror on your face that people might hold you in high esteem amuses me and breaks my heart all at once,” Susan said.

Rowan held a hand up. “No. You can’t go that way on me. I need to concentrate on this. I have enough to balance.”

Rex put his hand over his wife’s. Echoing Rowan’s plea.

Susan sighed. “Fine. Let’s talk about just what we’re going to do to Roth and when. After I say one last thing. Hunter Corp. needs you. We can make a difference. Together. Right now when it needs to be done so desperately.”

Rowan knew all this. “I’ll think about it. You’ve got some good points. As for Roth. It’s a partner meeting day. He’ll be there. He thinks he’ll be protected if he surrounds himself with Hunters. Let’s see if we can get the quiet word out to all our supporters. I want to pack the house with Hunters on our side. They don’t need to be full partners. I’ll be telling some truth and I want to tell the most people I can at once. I’m done waiting. It’s time to move.”

Everyone set about doing their part. Susan and Rex would head into the office and Rowan would show up right before the meeting to hopefully catch Roth by surprise.

“
Déesse
,” David said quietly, halting her progress out the door.

Goddess. He called her that from time to time to underline his respect and also her responsibility.

“Yes?”

“What are you going to do?”

She leaned in the doorway. “What do
you
think I should do?”

“I would follow you anywhere, you know that. Hunter Corp. needs you and I think you need them. I know you can make it better. Don’t let him steal the home you’ve made for yourself there. Don’t let him win.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Rowan warned.

“If you expect me to do anything but say, ‘good riddance’ you’ll be disappointed. Did you think I’d be shocked? After all we’ve gone through?”

He was no longer the green, slightly wary guy who could barely be in the same room with a powerful Vampire without some serious nerves. He’d experienced an awful lot since she’d taken him on. Too late to regret or worry that she’d put him in danger. She had, of course, but he’d chosen it.

“I guess I don’t. Let’s get ourselves ready to go. Call the car around. I think a driver would be handy today. We’ve got some exterminating to do.” She got a few steps away before turning to look at him over her shoulder. “I don’t know just what I’ll do yet. But you’ll be with me either way.”

He bowed deeply. “I’m honored to be so. I’ll meet you back here shortly.”

* * *

She dashed up to her room to call Genevieve to see if she’d learned any other details and to share a bit about what she was about to go and do before she grabbed her blade and strapped it on.

Rowan didn’t normally wear her blade to the office. It tended to panic people. But that was her goal, so once they arrived at the Motherhouse, she’d remove her light blazer.

Before she went to meet David, Rowan paused, kneeling, closing her eyes and opening the way between her and Brigid.

Rowan didn’t know what choice to make. Just two weeks before she’d been so sure she was going to walk away from Hunter Corp. But right then she wavered. Because Susan and Rex, along with David had all made great points.

She could make a difference if she stayed. If they were able to reorganize Hunter Corp. into something far better than what they had right at that moment. Which was a very big if.

There wasn’t time to fall into that place where she and Brigid were one, apart from the physical body they shared. It had been too long since she hadn’t been hunting something or someone.

On the way back to Las Vegas maybe she would make a quick trip to Kildaire. To the shrine where she could refresh and reinvigorate herself as a Vessel. It was necessary to manage and take care of that part of herself.

But that didn’t mean Rowan couldn’t use whatever brief union she could have with Her. Reinforce their connection and bond.

Rowan let that surety of purpose fill her up from head to toe. This was her path. She was meant to be right where she was right at that moment. Warmth. Power so sharp it nearly hurt, filled her slowly and completely.

There were no words. None were needed. Just connection, sure and strong. A knowing settled in and Rowan let it.

After leaving a quick note on the desk near Clive’s bedchamber, Rowan rolled her head on her shoulders to test her freedom of movement and to crack her neck, and she headed to David.

He bowed to her again as she joined him at the car. She’d expected him to wear a suit like Clive, but instead, he looked—for wont of a better word—trendy. Not douchey trendy, but like a young person in touch with popular culture would look.

Another reminder that she needed to remember her valet wasn’t the timid barely man they’d sent her.

And he wore it all with a sense of confidence she approved of a great deal.

When he handed her a to-go cup of coffee just how she liked it, she sat back against the seat with a satisfied sigh.

“I’m so relaxed I won’t even comment about how it would had been a lot quicker if we’d taken the Tube.”

“Technically, you just did.”

“You’re very lippy, David.”

He laughed. “Apologies.”

“Puhleeze.” She waved a hand and turned to watch London out the window. “If I do this thing the way you and Susan want me to, I’ll be back here a lot more often.”

“You have a nice house and in-laws in the city.”

“You’ve met my mother-in-law so you know that’s a mixed bag.”

“Hmm. I got the feeling you quite like her. Does Clive see it, do you think?”

“Does he see what?”

“The resemblance between you and his mother.”

“Ew! David, I can put up with that funky ass shirt and those shoes, but I can’t have this sort of thing. I have to do naughty things of a carnal nature with Clive and you just put that into my head. Why do you hate me so much?”

He laughed until his ears were pink, making her laugh too.

“Stop it now or I won’t be super scary when we get there. No one would take me seriously if I giggled all the time. Sheesh.” She finished her coffee and he took it and did something with it.

“If you managed it in a creepy, inappropriate way I think it would be quite terrifying,” David said.

“I was just talking to Clive about the efficacy of the unexpected laugh. I might have to look into it as a thing.”

“I believe that would take you into supervillain territory.”

That only made her laugh again.

By the time they arrived she’d had to dab her eyes a few times and freshen her lipstick.

“Take us through to the private entrance at the back,” Rowan told their giant boulder of a driver. People called him Stewie but Rowan couldn’t manage it. At some point she needed to come up with an appropriate nickname for him because she couldn’t keep calling him
hey
and there was no way she could call him Stewie without snickering.

They were stopped at a new gatehouse stationed at the base of the narrow back lane leading to the Motherhouse. “You’ll have to turn around, mate. This here’s a private drive.”