Infamous: (A Bad Boy Romantic Suspense) (24 page)

The chamber of the council had been straight out of an old, firmly B-grade movie. Arched stone, ridiculously large chairs, pale, dire-looking figures. The lighting had been dim with long, disturbing shadows. And it was chilly, especially for me in my revealing dress that I was really wishing had been a neck-to-ankles sweater instead. I felt exposed. And I was.

There were three vampires, staring at me with varying degrees of curious contempt from up on their dais. It was the perfect height to force you to look up and strain your neck just slightly so eventually you’d get a crick in it. This annoyed me. I was an American, dammit. I had rights.

“If any of these walking corpses are an actual count, I’m going to lose my shit,” I muttered, not realizing at first that I’d spoken out loud. But then I saw Dimitri’s face and realized that it might not have been the best time for snark. None of the faces on the council changed, however.

I put my arms around myself and tried to look harmless. Which I realize now is ridiculous; a human being, no matter how much they know or how powerful they might be in Peopleville, is absolutely no match for what were probably several-thousand-year-old undeads.

I looked at each of the council members, trying to gauge what was going to happen. Their faces were all stony masks, though they weren’t all the pale gothic ideal popular culture preferred. The central figure had deep golden skin that shone as if polished. She had sleek dark hair that she wore in a simple modern bob, and though her clothing was all black, it was also modern and well cut. But she also wore a bright blue pin in the shape of a scorpion, which completed her minimal, rather than opulent or old-fashioned, style. Her face was striking but not exactly beautiful. She had thick, dark, straight brows over equally dark eyes. Her nose was long and slightly hooked, her mouth fine and slightly pinched looking. She was watching me like one might watch a bug that was trying to crawl away but was definitely not going to escape a quick, sharp stomp.

Next to her was a man of indeterminate older age who was so fair of skin and hair that he nearly looked monochrome. He also had an ashen look and more lines in his face than an old map. There was a fragility about him, something brittle and unpleasant. He gave the impression of dry, dusty paper that might crumble at any moment. He also wore minimal black and a red pin in the shape of a snake.

On the woman’s other side was an androgynous figure of indeterminate gender. They had short-cropped plummy red hair in a well-maintained faux-hawk, eyes rimmed with an excessive amount of black eyeliner, and skin that was clearly made up to look paler than it was. This was someone who liked the drama of it all and, unlike their compatriots, dressed the part. They had on a tall collared jacket that came to points, a white shirt with laces, and a brocade vest that matched their hair. A pin was at their throat in vivid green, the shape of a butterfly. These pins were clearly all symbols of something that I rather hoped I wouldn’t need to find out about. I was pretty sure I already knew way too much for my own good.

“Your Graces, let me say how lovely it is to see you all and how wonderful you’re looking this evening. It’s been, what, a century since I last had the pleasure?” Dimitri’s voice rang out smooth and sure, but something about the acoustics deadened it and made him sound dull. The council moved their eyes to regard him but otherwise did not change expression. It was weird, the way they moved in unison. I was beginning to wonder if they were some kind of three-headed creature instead of separate individuals.

“Vana, you haven’t aged a day. But you know that.” The dark-haired woman nodded, finally breaking the impression that they were all in sync. She didn’t look impressed by Dimitri’s comment, but then, it hadn’t really sounded like a compliment.

“It’s good to see you up and about, Edward,” he said, addressing the monochrome man. “Last I heard, you were planning on sleeping for the rest of this century.” Edward’s eyes, like chips of mica, looked at Dimitri with something that approached murderous loathing. Dimitri, meanwhile, was smiling as though he hadn’t a care in the world. Robert, who was standing behind him, somehow managed to look both casually disinterested and intense at the same time. I’d only just met him but I somehow thought it was a bad idea to ever piss off Lord Ellory.

“And last but never least, Alexis. Love the hair.” Dimitri made a small bow that was distinctly lacking in deference. Alexis cracked a smile that wasn’t precisely pleasant, as though they were having a private laugh at everyone else’s expense.

“Dimitri, you old charmer. Hardly surprising you are at the center of this mess,” Alexis said, leaning forward and resting their chin on their hand.

“Now, now. It’s not a mess. It’s completely contained,” Dimitri said, looking affronted. “I took care of the offenders.”

“And yet here we have a human in front of us, aware of who and what we are, that you have been…playing with,” Vana said, her voice deep and thick with contempt. She had a very slight accent I couldn’t place.

“You know me, I can’t pass up an opportunity for fun. Or having pretty things around. ” Dimitri said. I looked at him sharply, not enjoying being talked around or discussed like a toy. I knew that whatever Dimitri and I were doing was casual and that he had the emotional depth of a puddle, but still. It stung to have it said out loud in front of a bunch of strangers who were going to decide whether I stayed breathing long-term.

“Be that as it may, you should have wiped her memory at least. Not paraded her around in front of all the families at our gathering. Not at a delicate time like this.” Lord Ellory stepped forward, not looking at Dimitri, who glowered at him.

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Dimitri said.

“It always is, with you. You have no sense of responsibility or dignity. You just do as you like, everyone else be damned.” Robert’s voice was clipped and he was addressing the council more than Dimitri. There was clearly more history than I was aware of.

“You know the rules, yet you continuously bend or outright break them. Why the council has given you so much leeway I have no idea.”

“Careful, Lord Ellory.” Vana raised a brow, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “We respect you and your family, but we have good reasons for…tolerating Dimitri here. You are not privy to all that we are. It is unwise of you to question our decisions.”

“I apologize,” Robert said, though he didn’t sound particularly sorry. Or worried. Given how powerful this council appeared to be, it made me wonder who this guy was that he could talk to them that way and not get vaporized. They seemed like the types that didn’t usually put up with anyone critiquing their decisions.

“However, you make a valid point. Dimitri. It’s one thing to…enjoy yourself with the meat puppets,” Alexis said, barely glancing at me. I felt like a human popsicle all of a sudden. “But it’s quite something else to bring them to one of the most important nights in our next century. What would your father say?”

“Fuck her and eat her, then throw her body in the ocean, most likely. My father is not subtle.” Dimitri winked at me while I stared. He was enjoying this, the ass. My face felt hot but I was starting to shiver in the cold air of the chamber. It felt like the walls were closing in. It wasn’t difficult to imagine this place as a tomb.

“Can I say something? Are the meat puppets allowed to speak?” I said, my voice a bit wobbly and shrill. The council turned to look at me, Vana continuing her amazing streak of not altering her expression. Edward looked disgusted, and Alexis looked unpleasantly amused. As though a trained monkey was about to do something fun.

“You may,” Vana said. Though the look on her face suggested she was about as interested in anything I had to say as she might be in talking to a rock.

“Well, I’d really like to get to the point of all this. I’m cold, this room smells like a musty old sock, and if I’m going to get eaten or thrown in an ocean, I’d rather stop fucking around and get to it. All this political stuff might be very interesting to you, but I’m bored and tired and don’t actually have forever to stand here listening to you all avoid saying whatever the hell it is you actually want to say.”

The silence that followed my little speech was deafening. I could tell Dimitri was amused, though I wasn’t. Robert had one brow arched but was otherwise unreadable. The council simply stared for a minute.

Then Alexis laughed. It went on for a while, and while not exactly a “we aren’t going to eat you,” it seemed to cut through the tension somewhat, although Vana continued her stoic lack of expression and Edward looked a bit like he’d sucked on a lemon for too long. But that might have just been his face.

“You forgot to mention she was feisty,” Alexis said to Dimitri, who shrugged. Robert’s eyes seemed to be trying to bore through me and I was still bloody cold.

“So, what is it? I have a really low tolerance for cryptic bullshit right now.”

“A few questions, if you don’t mind,” Alexis said, continuing to look amused. I felt like an attraction at the zoo: Let’s See What the Monkey Does Next! Believe me, it didn’t feel particularly good. Or safe.

“Aries, spring-sky blue, cookie dough, and the beach,” I said. They all blinked at me.

“My sign, my favorite color, my favorite ice cream, my favorite place to go on vacation. I was trying to save time. What do you want to know?” I could have sworn I saw Vana’s lips twitch that time.

“What does she know about us?” Edward asked, the only person who still seemed to think I wasn’t actually in the room.

“
She
knows next to nothing. Other than that you are vampires, you’re not actually supposed to be drugging and eating girls like the two yahoos in Hamburg tried to do, you choose some weird-ass locations for meetings, and some of you are pretty decent in bed,” I said tartly. I was getting really tired of being talked around. I saw Dimitri look affronted at the “pretty decent” comment, but whatever. I wasn’t going to stroke his ego just now.

“And?” Vana said.

“And, what? That’s it. I don’t actually give a single shit what else there is to know. I wish I didn’t know this much. I could have gone my entire life without knowing you things existed.” There was a slight hiss and I saw that Edward was looking at me with absolute daggers.

“You have a very foul mouth, human,” he said. “You should show some respect.”

“Why, because you’re older than dirt? You dragged me here, talk about me like I’m furniture, and casually discuss either wiping my memory or killing me. My attitude is hardly the deciding factor here.”

Alexis’s laugh rang out again, sharper this time. Apparently there was no love lost between Alexis and Edward, who glared at the androgynous vampire with acute dislike.

“You have no idea how accurate your little comments are, human. Edward is older than quite a lot of dirt. Including the dust you’re currently standing in,” Alexis said, smiling wide. I swallowed. I very much wished I had had more alcohol earlier and wasn’t so painfully sober. I also wished I had a sweater. Clearly the undead didn’t get cold.

“You’ll find that Emma is remarkably good at getting to the heart of the issue,” Dimitri said, smiling, though he looked a little unsure of the current climate. Robert stepped forward.

“I think the lady could use a chair. And a sweater,” he said. Dimitri looked surprised, then took off his jacket. Robert gave him a tight smile and removed his suit jacket and moved toward me before Dimitri could take a step.

“I’m surprised at you, Dimitri. You’re usually more gallant.” Robert wrapped the jacket around me and I felt like a child dressing up. The shoulders and sleeves dwarfed me, but I was warmer and that made me feel a little better. It also smelled like him, a surprisingly bright, citrus-y scent.

From out of the shadows of one of the arches materialized a tall, spindly figure with very broad shoulders, all in gray. It was draped in filmy fabric in layers, with only a cutout for the eyes. Which were yellow. It brought out a simple wood chair, placed it down wordlessly, then walked away and disappeared back into the shadows. It left a lingering scent of clove smoke and mint. The eyes had seemed familiar, almost feline, but…not. I suddenly wondered what else was lurking in the shadows around us.

I sat, keeping the jacket tight around me. I looked at each council member in turn, then Dimitri out of the corner of my eye. He was looking at Robert, who was hovering near me still. It almost felt like he was showing some kind of support.

“I think we can all agree that a speedy solution is best,” Robert said, laying a hand on the back of my chair. “For everyone.”

“I would also like to vote for a solution that does not involve me becoming less than alive,” I said, raising a hand.

“The main issue, as I see it,” said Alexis, “is why Dimitri didn’t immediately wipe her memory. Or the vampires in the alley, for that matter.”

“Well, there’s a small problem there. Our ability to influence humans in that way seems to have no effect on Emma,” Dimitri said.

“Ah,” said Vana.

“Delightful!” Alexis exclaimed with a quick dart of the eyes toward Edward. Although they sounded cheerful, there was a calculating unpleasantness in Alexis’s attitude about me and the situation. Edward was more straightforward. His contempt was obvious.

“I think you both know what I would advocate,” Edward said. Dimitri got tense and my stomach flipped over. Robert’s hand was on my shoulder, oddly reassuring even though I would have thought he was against me based on how things had started.