House Rules (17 page)

“Ah,” I said. “The seclusion.”

Jonah nodded and smiled a little, as if I’d correctly answered. “It’s the nature of
our positions that sometimes we’re forced to be too involved in the world. This is
our little respite. If you need solace or shelter, or you can’t find me, come here.
You can find help. Oh, and there’s one more thing: I’ve got something for you in my
car.”

I was curious what that might be, but the walk back took all my concentration. Carefully,
we retraversed the stones back to his car, where he dug into his backseat, finally
pulling out a glossy paper bag, which he handed to me.

“What’s this?”

“Swag,” he said.

Eyebrow raised suspiciously, I peeked inside the bag. Inside were Midnight High School
T-shirts in two colors, a hoodie, and a windbreaker featuring the MHS mascot, a spider.

I closed the bag and looked at him. I did have one problem in regard to swag.

“What?” he asked.

I figured I might as well be honest with him; he was my partner, after all. “I’m living
with Ethan.”

Jonah opened his mouth and closed it again. “Ah. I see.”

“Yeah. So I have to be careful. Really careful.”

“The Lake Michigan–sized fit and all. Yeah. That’s part of the RG cost. The benefit,
of course, is that the world is a better, safer place.”

“Of course.”

“While we’re here, any developments regarding Oliver and Eve?”

“There are, as it turns out,” I said, and quickly filled him in.

“What’s your next step?” he asked.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure. I think we’re at a dead end unless Jeff comes up with
something else.”

He nodded and climbed into his car. “He’ll come up with something. Keep me posted.”

I gave him a little wave as he drove away, then climbed into my car and let it warm
up for a moment before pulling out of the parking lot and back into my life.

* * *

By the time I arrived at the House, we were minutes away from the GP ceremony. Bag
in hand, I climbed out of the car, but then stopped to think.

Taking a bag of RG swag into the House might not be the best idea; the House was chaotic
enough without adding more drama. I unlocked the trunk of my car and stuffed the bag
into it, somewhere between the padded gloves I’d used twice for a kickboxing class,
the blanket I kept for winter emergencies, and the emergency road kit that hadn’t
been opened in all the years I’d had the car.

A car squealed to a stop in front of me, parking parallel.

I put a hand on my sword, but it was Lacey who got out of the car. Still tall, still
blond, still effortlessly attractive. She slammed her door shut, and then began walking
toward my Volvo.

And she looked very, very happy.

“Well, well, well,” she said as she approached. “I guess we all have our secrets,
don’t we?”

My heart fell into my stomach.
Oh, God
, was the only coherent thought I could manage. What had she seen?

“Our secrets?” I asked, slamming the trunk shut before she came around the car.

She walked around and leaned against the car, a hip against the metal, then crossed
her arms and leaned forward just a smidge.

“I know where you were,” she said. “I know where you were, who you were with, and
what you were doing.”

I felt sick with panic. She’d seen me and Jonah, and she knew about the RG. But there
was no turning back. I could only hope against hope that she didn’t yet know why I’d
been there.

Keep bluffing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know damn well. I saw you in the parking lot. I saw you with
him
.”

My anger sprouted quickly. “Did you
follow
me?”

“I’m keeping an eye out for my Master and his House.”

“Your Master does just fine on his own, and his House is in good hands.”

“That’s not how it looked to me. And I can’t decide which betrayal I find more disturbing—that
you’re betraying him for Jonah, or that you’re doing it tonight, one of the most important
of his very long life.”

I swallowed down a burst of guilt and fear that she was correct. But I bluffed just
as I’d been taught to do.

“I’m betraying no one,” I said. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” she said with a cunning smile. “Great. Then let’s go talk to him about it
right now and clear the air, right before the GP ceremony. You truly have excellent
timing.”

“Maybe you could mind your own business.”

“Maybe you could stop screwing around with things you don’t understand.” Her voice
was suddenly fierce, suddenly ferocious, and I stared back at her. I knew she had
feelings for Ethan, but even if she was jealous, this seemed like a lot of emotion
to be mere jealousy.

“I understand everything, and very well, thank you. He took a stake for me. I mourned
for him.”

She barked out a laugh. “Ha! You mourned for him? You, who’d known him for a matter
of months before he died? You think you have any idea what grief is like?” She pointed
at me. “You failed to protect him. You were his Sentinel, and you failed, and he died.
It’s only by a freak magical accident that he’s alive again, no thanks to you.”

“Is that what you think happened? You think I was standing around, shooting the shit
with the mayor, and I let Ethan get staked?”

“You were there,” she said. “That’s all I know.”

God, she sounded just like Seth Tate, blaming me for what had gone on in that room,
even though I’d been an innocent bystander.

Was this grief? The pent-up emotions she’d had to face when Ethan had died? Anger
that he hadn’t come crawling to her when he’d been resurrected? Whatever the cause,
it was deeply felt, and strong enough to drive her to spy on me.

“He took a stake for me,” I said. “Celina threw a stake at me, and he stepped in front
of it. He saved me from that. How dare you minimize what he did.”

She pointed at me, her eyes hot with anger. “You are a damned liar.”

“I am not a liar.”

She must have caught the truth in my face, because her expression fell, and for a
moment she looked like a sad human being, a girl who’d been dumped. She looked vulnerable
and a little pathetic, and my heart ached for her. Not a lot, but still.

She’d had feelings for Ethan, and had assumed facts about their relationship and what
she meant to him—and more important, what I meant to him. And if I was right, I’d
proven her seriously wrong. Lacey didn’t seem like the type who liked being wrong.

She sniffed delicately, and then, like she’d flipped a switch—and as if she hadn’t
lost her composure in front of me—she was back to cool, calm, and collected again.

Well, I could play calm and collected, too. If she really thought she had something,
she’d take it to Ethan right now, the GP be damned. But she didn’t know what she’d
seen, not exactly. She knew only that I’d met Jonah in a parking lot. She didn’t know
that I’d met him because of the RG and because I’d just been initiated as a member.

“You’ll tell him,” she said.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“You’ll tell him, or I will.” She took a step closer. “How dare you preach to me about
the sacrifices he’s willing to make for you when you won’t give him the truth.”

Unfortunately, she had a point there, one that made my stomach curl.

“Tell him,” she reiterated, her lips curving into a slow and eerie smile. “Tell him,
or give me the satisfaction of proving what I’ve known all along. Just how common
you really, truly are,” she whispered, her words falling like poison. “You have twenty-four
hours.”

And then she turned and walked away, her heels clicking as she strode down the sidewalk
again and toward the House.

I stood there, my stomach in knots, trying to think what to do.

Regardless, I was pretty sure I was screwed.

* * *

Heart thudding, I walked back into the House, cold sweat blooming on my skin. The
House was aflutter, and so was I. I needed time to compose myself, so I ran up the
stairs to my second-floor room, the one I wasn’t sharing with Ethan, unlocked the
door, and locked myself in again.

I ripped off my jacket, dumped it on the floor, and headed for the bathroom, where
I splashed cold water on my face until my bangs dripped with it, hands gripping the
edges of the sink.

Lacey knew.

Maybe not everything, but enough, and there was no way she wasn’t going to use this
against me. She loved Ethan, hated me, and thought I wasn’t good enough for him. (Despite,
ironically, my graduate degrees, fighting skills, rich parents, and obviously rich
sense of humor.)

I looked at myself in the mirror, bangs wet and matted, skin paler than usual, House
medal absent. We were all remaking ourselves, from members of an international vampire
collective to something different. I was part of that process, having gotten my fangs
as a member of Cadogan, and now making the switch with the rest of them. But what,
exactly, was I becoming?

I grabbed a towel and pressed it to my face, reluctant to go downstairs and join the
other
drama that was preparing to take over the House.

Nights like this made me wish I had an “undo” button, that I could simply rewind my
actions or mistakes—or notice nosy vampires trailing me across town—and start fresh.

But that was impossible. What was done was done, and I was going to have to deal with
it and the consequences like an adult. Instead of the twenty-seven-year-old cloistered
graduate student I wished I were again.

I fixed my ponytail and applied some lip gloss, then brushed out my bangs until they
shone. When I looked respectable again, and I’d locked my fear away, I walked downstairs
to the first floor.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

IMMORTALLY IRREVOCABLE

E
than, Luc, and Malik were already downstairs, dressed to the nines in classic black
suits. Ethan nodded when he caught sight of me.

I stepped into the foyer just as Darius and the rest of the GP walked into the House,
once again in their birdlike V formation. Like members of a dance team, they each
had a position to fill, although their routine was much more conniving.

As I slipped into the crowd of Cadogan vampires who’d also assembled to greet them,
Lacey stepped up to say hello. That’s when the pleasantries began. Ethan had been
right; however much I may have hated her, Darius definitely liked Lacey Sheridan.

“Lacey,” Darius said, his voice saccharine sweet. He held out his hands and took hers,
and they exchanged back-and-forth-and-back European-style cheek kisses.

“Sire,” she said deferentially.

“You’re looking well,” he said, taking in her perfect black suit.

“As are you.” Her gaze traveled down the line of vampires who’d accompanied him, and
she made eye contact with each.

I told you they had a bond
, Ethan silently said.

So you did
, I said.
And clearly they do.

Lacey pressed her hands together, then lifted them to her forehead, an obvious show
of Grateful Condescension. Or brownnosing.

“Sires, I am honored by your presence.”

“I doubt that sentiment is universal,” Darius said, looking back at Ethan, and an
awkward silence fell.

“Darius,” Ethan said, and the word fell heavy like a gauntlet, or a challenge. Darius
was still Ethan’s sire, his king, his commander, at least for a few more minutes,
and calling him by his first name wasn’t exactly respectful.

Darius’s eyes narrowed. He’d taken the slap, and he didn’t like it. But then a smile
blossomed, and that was even scarier.

“Ethan. Apparently we’ve chosen to act like peasants before the deed is done,” he
said, the insult clear. “But no matter. Soon these issues will be resolved. Shall
we get to it?”

“By all means,” Ethan said, extending a hand toward the back of the House.

I guessed he hadn’t forgotten all of his manners.

* * *

It was late and cold, but we were most definitely awake, Cadogan House’s vampires
silent as we gathered together around the brick fire pit on the back lawn.

We’d been joined by about half of the Cadogan vampires who didn’t live in the House
but wanted to show their support, our size swollen in solidarity against our future
enemy. I recognized friends and colleagues in the crowd, but I found I couldn’t approach
them. I felt like a betrayer, a violator of Ethan’s trust and the House’s. Separate
from everyone else who wasn’t currently being blackmailed.

Across from us stood the vampires of the Greenwich Presidium. Numerically, we outnumbered
them, but we radiated nervous energy, as if they held the power to destroy us with
a flick of their hands.

They were all dressed professionally. Every one of them wore a suit of some sort,
and to a one, their hands were clasped together in front of them, an angry jury ready
to pronounce its verdict upon us.

Except that we’d already entered a plea in the metaphorical court. And tonight we
were making it official.

“Who stands for this House today?” Darius asked.

“I do,” Ethan said, stepping forward.

The members of the GP exchanged looks of obvious surprise.

“You are not the Master of this House,” said a petite woman, gazing at him above the
top of her glasses.

“I am the Master of this House by concession of its former Master and my formal reinvestment.”
Ethan held out his hand, and Malik handed him the papers they’d signed and sealed
last night.

Ethan held up the sheaf, showing it to the GP, but unwilling to hand over the documents.
Not that I blamed him. They might have gone directly into the fire.

“We were not invited to the ceremony,” Darius mused.

“It wasn’t a ceremony for you,” Ethan said. “It was for this House.”

Darius looked singularly unimpressed. “So you stand Master now?”

“I do.”

Darius smiled falsely. “I don’t see any particular need to draw this out. Ethan Sullivan,
as you are apparently Master of Cadogan House, you and yours have voted to remove
yourselves from the Greenwich Presidium. Do you agree?”

“I agree.”

“From this night forward, you and your vampires shall be unaffiliated, and your House,
the House of Peter Cadogan, shall be Decertified. You shall not be entitled to the
rights or privileges afforded to members of the Greenwich Presidium. Do you agree?”

“I agree.”

“You reject the authority of the Greenwich Presidium over you and your vampires, and
you submit to the authority of humans and hereby do join the world in which they live?”

It was becoming apparent the GP hadn’t updated their script in a while. But that didn’t
stop Ethan.

“I agree,” he said.

“Before you take an irrevocable step, we offer you one last chance,” Darius said.
“Agree to follow the appropriate dictates and we will allow you to remain within the
GP on a . . .
trial
 . . . basis.”

Ethan smiled thinly and crossed his arms. “I can easily guess what those dictates
are. In the course of preparing for our departure, you realized the economic significance
this House provided to the GP. And you’ve decided that our leaving the GP doesn’t
have quite the favorable ring that it once had. Here’s the thing—we don’t need you
or your organization. We can and will survive on our own.”

“What you don’t appreciate,” Darius said, “are the benefits you received from your
membership. That you weren’t fully aware of them doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. Do
you honestly think Peter Cadogan would be happy to learn what’s happened to his House?
That the members of his House have elected to leave the GP—the institution that protected
them for so long?”

Silence descended, but magic rose.

Ethan dropped his chin, gazing back at Darius beneath a hooded brow. “Peter Cadogan
believed in his vampires. They were his first priority, and they were and remain mine.
I’m not sure you’ve ever understood that, Darius.”

“I understand plenty, Mr. Sullivan. The medals, if you please.”

Kelley stepped forward and handed him the box of Cadogan gold.

Darius took the box and dropped it unceremoniously into the fire. “By the power vested
in me as the head of the Greenwich Presidium, I hereby break the bond between us.
Your House is Decertified. Your vampires are unaffiliated, UnHoused, and lacking the
rights and privileges that would otherwise be afforded to them. The papers,” he added,
then held out his hand. One of the other GP members, a tall and lithe woman who looked
to be of Indian descent, handed him a folder. Darius held it over the flames, just
low enough for bright orange tongues of fire to graze the paper.

Darius lifted his steely gaze to Ethan. “There is no going back.”

“We move forward,” Ethan said. “Always forward. To affirm our affiliation with you
would not be a step forward.”

“That’s not the most positive statement on which to end your lengthy relationship
with the GP.”

“I come to bury Caesar,” Ethan gritted out. “Not to praise him.”

“Then let it be heard—this was their choice.” Darius opened his fingers, and the portfolio
fell into the fire and burst into flames. Along with hundreds of years of history.

For a moment, the vampires were silent. I’d expected to feel changed somehow. Lighter,
or even more afraid when the deed was done. But I didn’t feel any different, which
was precisely the point Ethan had been trying to make. Being a member of the GP didn’t
make us vampires; it just made us members. We were who we were with or without our
GP association.

Darius, not surprisingly, was the first to break the silence.

“It is done,” he said. The change in attitude was clear in his tone. We’d left his
secret society, and we were nothing now. We were outcasts, and he intended to treat
us as such. No Grateful Condescension for the vampires of Cadogan House, no allowances
for the age and respect of our House. Those things were irrelevant now, just as we
were irrelevant to him.

“It isn’t done,” Ethan said. “There’s something we wish to say.”

“You have nothing to say to us, Rogue,” said the woman.

Ethan’s eyes flashed silver.
And so it begins
, he silently said.

So it does
, I silently agreed.

“I have more than enough to say,” Ethan said. “Words that have built over centuries.
Words that you wouldn’t hear then. Perhaps you won’t hear them now, but I would be
remiss not to try.” He slid his hands into his pockets, the movement of a man calm
and relaxed. But anyone who knew Ethan—and I’d bet Darius did—would have known his
calm was only feigned.

“Peter Cadogan was a good man,” Ethan said. “A good man and a good vampire. The GP,
in the intervening years since its creation, has forgotten how to respect both attributes.
It prizes that which is ‘vampire’ over that which is good or moral. You have lost
your compass, and you perpetuate your own ignorance. Your own members cause strife
for the Houses you are sworn to protect, and you ignore their actions and blame the
Houses when they must defend themselves. You are an anachronism that has no place
in this modern world.

“Our exit is not an aberration, Darius. It is a harbinger. Celina predicted war would
come. If you ignore the rising tides, you do so at your own peril.”

The speech was moving, Ethan’s passion clear. But the only thought on my mind? That
if he felt that way about the GP, maybe he wouldn’t kill me after all.

“Hyperbole doesn’t suit you,” Darius said, little swayed by Ethan’s words. “And moreover,
it’s irrelevant, because there are two facts you’ve handily ignored. First, I believe
you’ll find it a challenge to move forward in light of the fact that any progress
you’ve made since this House was founded is because of the GP’s largesse.”

“Malik,” Ethan said, and Malik handed Ethan a slip of paper. Ethan immediately extended
it to Darius.

“This is a check accounting for the increase in the value of the House’s assets to
which we assumed you would be claiming title. I believe you’ll find the settlement
to be very reasonable.”

Ethan smiled smugly . . . but so did Darius. He handed the check back to the woman,
whose eyes had grown wide with Ethan’s revelation.

“That is only the first fact, Ethan. Much, much more important is the second.”

One of the GP members whistled loudly. A shock of nervous energy blew through the
Cadogan crowd at the sound, all of us looking around for whatever threat the GP had
called or signaled.

Ethan’s safety in mind, I put a hand on the pommel of my sword and moved forward through
the crowd, closer to him. I didn’t know what Darius had in mind, but there seemed
little doubt it would be treacherous.

We didn’t have to wait long. Only a second later, there was a thunder of sound and
movement as a brigade of mercenary fairies burst into the backyard, swords bared.
Each of them wore military black and fearsome grins . . . and their katanas were unsheathed
and pointing at us. Other than Claudia, fairies looked nearly identical, so there
was no way to tell whether these were the fairies at the gate or a new crew who’d
been called in for the meeting. But it hardly seemed to matter—one way or the other,
fairies had breached the peace between us.

Cadogan swords were drawn, and we moved closer together for protection even as they
attempted to surround us, the hypocritical bastards. So much for the progress we’d
made, for the help we’d offered and the friendship I’d thought we were beginning to
forge.

In front of us, smiling calmly and cruelly, stood the members of the Greenwich Presidium.

Gloating
.

Anger drifted forward in waves from the betrayed Cadogan Novitiates and their Master,
and I imagined more than a few eyes had silvered with anger.

But business first.
I’m here
, I silently told Ethan, checking the crowd for Luc and Malik. They stood nearby,
and we formed a protective arc around our Master.

Hold your position, Sentinel
, Ethan said, his voice tight.

“What is this?” Lacey asked. Her voice was calm, but there was a thread of irritation
in it. She might be a GP-affiliated Master, but she was still one of Ethan’s vampires.
And for once, that might actually do us some good.

“This,” Darius said, “is our second point. The Greenwich Presidium hereby reclaims
ownership of Cadogan House.”

Ethan laughed with such gusto that Darius’s eyes narrowed with anger.

“This House and its remaining assets belong to the vampires within it,” Ethan said.
“I think you well know that.”

“I know your disrespect for the GP has gone on long enough. You presume because we
are located an ocean away, you can act with impunity. You are incorrect. The House’s
contract includes a proprietary clause allowing us certain damages in the event you
breach your obligations to the GP. We have concluded you’ve breached those obligations
throughout your history, and, as such, we claim the House by right. And obviously
we have the muscle to back that up.” He gestured vaguely at the fairies.

Ethan made a sound of disdain. “Because your pride has been hurt, you threaten the
very vampires you just invited back into your fold? You kick us out of our home and
incite a
war
between fairies and vampires for the sake of your egos? Peter Cadogan would be ashamed,
Darius, but of your behavior. Of the entire Presidium.”

“You’re only making my point, Ethan. You bring drama, consternation, and media attention
to the vampires of this state and nation, and you blame us for taking measures to
protect our institutions? How very shortsighted. How very . . . human.”

“I take that as a compliment.”