The Council (Darkness #5) (10 page)

“
We
are,” Tim said in a firm voice. “We stand with you. And with Stefan. These guys were sent here to finish Stefan off right before you walked down this corridor. They wanted you to see him dead. That shit is just wrong.”

“What were you doing down here anyway, bro?” Charles asked, turning to Stefan.

“Got a summons from Dominicous. Said he’d been in a meeting here. When we got here, and asked about it, we learned that the time wasn’t right. The challenge came immediately.”

“I bet Dominicous doesn’t make it to this meeting.” Tim set his jaw.

“Bet not.” Stefan took a steadying breath. To me he said, “Put them in a box and tie them off. If you’re sending a message, let everyone see it.”

After I took care of it, we walked slowly down the rest of the corridor until we got to the door at the end. This was the side entrance Tim was told to use. The others would enter through the front, which was around the hall.

Tricky.

I wondered who knew about this. Who was in on it.

“I’ll wait outside,” Stefan said with a tight jaw. “Call me if you need help.”

Jonas had left a line of blood on the wall where he’d dragged himself along. And while Stefan stood straight and tall, with the strength and power he was known for, I could tell he was hurting. The pain in his eyes, and the will it took him not to fall, was etched clearly in the stress lines on his face.

“We stick together,” I said in a firm voice.

“They won’t let me stay in there, Sasha,” Stefan said in a soft voice. “I’ll be okay out here.”

“We can walk you back to your room,” Tim said. “Screw this Council—we can be late. They need me more than I need them.”

“Just—you guys, shush for a minute.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and thought back to that invisibility spell I’d unraveled. It wasn’t all that much different than a concealment spell—a bit more solid, and a bit more complex, but the principles were the same. Unfortunately, there was a great many places I could actually invert my magic and blow the spell up, but by now I had a pretty good handle on that side of things.
I can do this!

“Okay,” I put out my hands as if to steady Stefan. “Stay still. I’m going to make you disappear.”

“Don’t blow me up, sweetie,” Stefan chuckled, completely unafraid of his crazy girlfriend trying something she’d never done before. Hell, Toa always got nervous in these situations.

“What is she doing?” Charles peered around Jessie to hone in on me. “What are you trying, Sasha?”

“Making him invisible,” I opened up to my magic again, immediately bombarded with the rush. Stefan was there immediately, having unmasked the link and stepped in. I staggered with the rampant pain lancing his body, so fierce I didn’t know how he was standing. Tears filled my eyes.

“Maybe just don’t try this, Sasha.” Charles shifted so he could see.

“She’s got this. She never fails when it really matters.” Jonas closed his eyes and let his head drop against the wall.

I pushed away Stefan’s pain. I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering the feel of the spell I picked apart. Remembering that lazy structure. The way certain parts held hands with other parts. The way it looped under and around each other.

One last breath to still my head. I mixed the elements, letting intuition guide me when things got sticky. I worked the spell together, needing a chant or two when things got dicey, and threw a little wrench in there for anyone trying to rip this spell off of Stefan. “Charles, link with Stefan.”

A boost of energy flowed through the link to me, and then directly into the spell. I tied it off, settled it onto Stefan’s frame, and held my breath. I opened my eyes… to emptiness.

“Oh good. That’s a relief.” I braced my hands on my hips. I turned to Jonas’ grim face and raised my eyebrows.

His eyes were still shut. So I just went ahead. The spell, easier to work this time, fell around him, settling in, and locking on. “Okay. Not as easy as pie. Kind of hard, actually. But I did it!”

Ann grinned at me, giving me an air fist-bump.

“All right, let’s get this show on the road. These guys need a bed.” Tim stepped toward the meeting room.

“Can people see me with magic?” Stefan asked in a low hum. Squinted eyes glanced in his direction.

“Some will,” I answered honestly. “Toa would be able to see you, I’m sure. But the other guys hanging around with a similar spell went unnoticed most of the time, so probably only the higher level people can.”

He probably nodded, but since I wasn’t trying to see him with my magic, and had actually kind of tucked it away for now since I’d probably need my energy later, I didn’t know for sure. With a glance back toward where Jonas may or may not have been, I winked at thin-air and followed Tim and John to the meeting room.

The large room had a surprisingly lot of people seated around the table. I expected the eight Council members and a mage or two. Instead, the large oval table was full. All the Council members, the Clutch, and a great many others, including my new best friend the green-eyed bastard, sat chair-to-chair. In addition there were people loitering around the room, standing against walls or resting on the couch or chairs.

Who I didn’t see, however, was Dominicous and Toa.

“Welcome,
Mata.”

It took me a second to find the guy with wispy white hair and paper-thin voice sitting at the far back of the table. The green-eyed bastard sat at his left, focused intently on me. To his right sat Mage June.

So this was the head honcho, huh? First impressions: he wouldn’t live much longer.

“Cato, hello.” Tim stood at the front of the room like an army man awaiting orders. His shifters stood back, equally straight-backed.

“Thank you for coming,” Cato continued to Tim. “It has been some time since I have seen one of your kind within these walls. This, of course, is for no other reason than mutual suspicion between our two races, am I right?”

“Something like that, yes.” Tim met the older man’s gaze.

“And you have brought some of your members with you. How splendid.” Faded blue eyes scanned the faces to the left and right of Tim, pausing on each before moving on. When they got to me, he squinted marginally. “And a human, is that right? I do not see the typical green flare around you. You are not a shifter. But… high in power.”

Mage June leaned toward him and quietly said, “She is the black power level that has surfaced.”

“Ah yes, of course. Quite a rarity. I would so like to speak with you. I had known a male of black power level once. This was many years ago. He died—what was it?” Cato looked toward the ceiling, blinking in thought.

“Ah yes!” He ticked the sky with his forefinger. “Witch burnings, I believe. He got caught up in that. Nasty affair. Half my foot is still blackened. I escaped, though, of course. Had a great many violent followers in that time. I did go back for him. Jacob was his name. Or was it Michael? I cannot recollect. But he had perished. Went out in style—took a few with him. The irony of the whole affair was that he was a follower of the church. How funny humans are. So fickle. So prone to fear. But beware the mob. Yes, yes. A mob of humans can do terrible things. Terrible, destructive things.”

Most heads nodded around the table in agreement.

Humans are violent? And you’re… what? Docile and even tempered?

Did they live in an alternate universe?

“Forgive me, but isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”

Oh, crap! Did I just say that out loud?

“What was that, human?” Rudy asked with a warning in his voice. His penetrating gaze hadn’t left my face since I’d come in. I could feel a rush of anger infuse the link. Stefan did not like that stare.

I didn’t, either. But I was in; I might as well go all in. Plus, when they found out what I did in the hall, I’d be in a world of trouble anyway.

I lifted my chin slightly, determined not to be terrified of a room full of gazes, many hostile, and said, “Yes, exactly.
What was that human.
You think only humans do terrible things? You nearly killed my almost-mate out in the hall because he is new on campus. Because he is with me. You pass humans around as a blood source. You basically try to enslave them. You beat on each other constantly. You conjure horrible demons and try to sic them on innocents—you guys aren’t roses and chocolates, either. So humans get freaked out and go mental. Well, aren’t your kind trying to take them over? Why wouldn’t they react? Someone tries to come after me and mine, and I am going to take that person down. And guess what, that is a philosophy taken directly from your people. Also: hey, did you know that technically, you
are
human? Scientifically speaking, yes, you are. You’re just a different branch. So suck on that—”

I flinched and felt my face turn red. I hadn’t meant to put so much sauce into my answer. Or say that last bit. Anger and fear were scattering my brain.

Silence rang through the room as my words disintegrated. My fingers tingled as my temper slowly drained out of my body. I risked a glance to those around me. Charles was minutely shaking his head. Everyone else stood frozen.

So… yes, then. Overboard on that one. Jonas was going to kick my ass
.

“It’s just,” I started, trying to throw a little dirt in the grave I’d just dug. “Humans think back to those times in fear, too. Power corrupts all, not just humans. A great many independent-thinking women died in those witch burnings. Wars are terrible, and most of us hate them, but I think you people, out of everyone, can understand how out-of-whack things can get. I mean, your whole system is built on violence. Yet,
we’re
the bad guys? I mean, I’m a woman, and we are always viewed as lesser, even when we’re supposed to be equal—you don’t see me bitching about it…”

I stopped myself again and let my words trail away. That wasn’t much better. I needed to just stop talking.

A delighted glint infused Rudy’s green eyes. As if he’d just found a cookie among bananas. He glanced to a fierce-looking guy to his right. “Remove this human.”

Tingles worked up my back. I’d given him a reason to take me away, and I didn’t think that would be so I could get bathed in champagne and roses.

As five men pushed away from the wall, Tim said, “She is a pack friend. She stays with us.”

I could feel movement. Stefan was coming closer.

“I agree with Rudy,” some sandy-haired man said seated beside Mage Marius. “The human does not belong in this meeting, regardless who she has chosen as friends.”

“If she goes, we go,” Tim stated in a barely-suppressed growl. A warm hand found my lower back. Stefan was ready if something went down.

“Then this meeting will be in vain, since we cannot hope to work with a group of animals that cannot maintain the minimal level of respect,” an older man said from a chair at the front of the table. He wore the white robe signifying a Council member.

I stabbed Cato with my gaze, imploring some order. I figured that since he sat at the head of the table, was the oldest person in the room, and had started the meeting, he was the leader. The problem was, as the turmoil mounted, his eyes stayed unfocused and distant. Sometimes his gaze moved to a speaker, but most of the time he was vaguely looking at the wall. He seemed as calm as tranquil waters while all around him a storm gathered.

“Is this a council meeting, or a public hearing?” I demanded of him, surprising myself with the force in my voice.

The light blue eyes slowly drifted to my face.

Rudy stood. “That is no way to address a superior. Remove her!”

Those five men were in action again, moving around and through people, trying to get to the front where I stood.

“Wait a minute!” Kallias stood as he spoke. “I would like to hear how she fits with the
Mata
. Keep her in this room!”

“She speaks the truth, Cato,” a white-robed female with salt-and-pepper hair threw in. “These are valid points she has. And moreover, if we section ourselves off from humans as we do, half the magic in the world will all dry up as we make ourselves extinct. We can breed with them while keeping magic intact. This has been proven. Why have we not sought to cross this divide? Tessa in Arizona is trying just that with her human. She’s hopeful.”