White Winter (The Black Year Series Book 2) (29 page)

“This isn’t over,” McClure said, still standing.

Jonas smiled, teeth bared. “I’m glad, councilor. I would very much like to speak to all of you about last week’s shooting, and the rising number of werewolves in the city.”

CHAPTER 28

Councilor Tarik let Jonas and Kieran clean themselves up in his suite, then accompanied them to the lobby. He stopped at the door, extending his hand. Jonas took it.

“Thank you for your help, today, councilor.”

Tarik gave him a small smile. “I serve the law and the Council, Mr. Black. You made an enemy today.”

Jonas sighed. “I didn’t mean to. He threw me out a window; it made me angry.”

The councilor nodded. “I don’t fault you for your reaction; it was within the law and well carried out. McClure’s enmity for your family, your kind, and even humanity goes back further, and his bloodline is… unstable. I only meant that you’ve focused his anger on you.”

Jonas felt his face heat. It wasn’t his fault. He’d done everything by their rules.

“In any case, you won’t have to deal with him again, for now. He told the Arbiter he was withdrawing from this assembly in protest. More like he’s running home with his tail between his legs,” Tarik said, opening his mouth in the silent laugh Jonas had seen Kieran do when he was transformed.

“I don’t understand how someone like him ended up on the Council,” Kieran said.

Tarik raised an eyebrow, laughing with his eyes. “There are some who ask why a monster like Black Alice is allowed to run the Agency after she abandoned it.”

Jonas frowned. “She-”

Tarik raised his hand. “Rest easy, clan leader. I have nothing against your mother, but she
is
responsible for McClure. Whether the fault lies in killing some of his ancestors or letting the rest of them live, I couldn’t say.” He patted Kieran on the shoulder, gave Jonas a nod, and headed back toward the elevators.

Jonas and Kieran pushed their way through the revolving doors. Gamil-Sin was sitting on a stone bench across the street. He stood when they saw him.

♘

The streets were mostly empty. A snowstorm was supposed to come in that night, and from what Jonas skimmed from the few humans on the streets, a lot of people had headed home for the weekend early. The three of them walked several blocks in silence before Jonas asked, “How come people don’t notice you?”

Gamil-Sin scowled.

“No, I mean it,” Jonas said. “You’re dressed in furs, you have a staff slung across your shoulders, and no one looks twice.”

“I was cursed,” the Sorcerer said. “Someone’s words got caught up in the magic that made me what I am, so people don’t notice me, and if they do, they forget me.”

“Why doesn’t it work on us?” Kieran asked.

“It doesn’t work on you because you’re a winter wolf, and it doesn’t work on him because he’s a sorcerer, even though I specifically designed vampires not to be able to use magic.”

Jonas replayed the dream in his mind, fitting all the pieces together. “May the world forget your name,” he said.

“Where did you hear that?” Gamil-Sin said, grabbing him by the shoulder.

“Back off, old man,” Kieran growled, eyes flaring blue.

The Sorcerer let go but didn’t back down. “Everyone who heard him say that is dead, boy. Where’d you hear it?”

After 4000 years, he still doesn’t know Alam-Baal is alive,
Jonas realized. “In a dream,” he said.

Gamil-Sin searched his eyes, then grunted. “As if the creator hasn’t punished me enough,” he muttered. “Now he’s airing my dirty laundry.” He started walking again.

Jonas and Kieran looked at each other, then followed.

“If you don’t want to talk, why did you wait for us?” Jonas asked.

The Sorcerer looked back, letting them catch up, then said, “Saw your little flying lesson today. Trouble?”

Jonas shoved his hands into his pockets. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

Gamil-Sin grunted. “Tik and Shashi got here today. Others are on their way. It’s only going to get colder, boy.”

“What does your pack have to do with the weather?” Jonas asked.

“Why do you think they call us winter wolves? The more of us gather, the colder it gets, and we’re drawn to large werewolf populations. Did you know there are more than 12,000 werewolves in the city?”

Kieran sucked in his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Jonas asked.

“It’s better not to speak of it, clan leader.”

Gamil-Sin chuckled. “What he means, boy, is that there are enough wolves in the city to invoke the cull.”

Jonas looked around, then frowned. It was like he’d heard a deep boom from a long way off. “What’s-”

“Clan leader!” Kieran said.

“What?” Jonas asked, startled.

“Don’t be a child, Kieran,” Gamil-Sin said. “It only counts if a clan leader says it in front of the Council.”

Kieran ignored him. “The law is vague on that point. We learn never to say that word so we don’t speak it by mistake.”

“Okay,” Jonas said, “but what is it?”

“It’s a safeguard. If a werewolf population gets too high - so high they’re at risk of starving - any clan leader can invoke the cull in front of the Council and the winter wolves will tidy things up,” Gamil-Sin said.

“They’ll kill everybody,” Kieran said.

Jonas stopped. Kieran stopped with him.

The Sorcerer turned around. “We only kill enough werewolves to bring things back into balance. Isn’t that what your Agency is all about?”

Jonas felt his stomach turn. He looked at the Sorcerer and said, “That’s what you wanted to talk about? Genocide?”

Gamil-Sin shrugged. “It’s what I do, boy. It would solve a lot of your problems.”

Jonas just stared at him. He’d gotten so wrapped up in the Sorcerer’s stories, in the rough honesty, that he’d forgotten how big of an asshole the guy had been before he was trapped by the oath. “What’s in it for you?” Jonas asked.

“I serve the law and the Council,” the Sorcerer said.

Jonas shook his head. “You hate the law, and you hate us. We’re a disease to you. I saw it in my dream, so don’t lie to me. What do you want?”

“I want to die,” the Sorcerer said. It stripped the dignity and myth from him and left something small and desperate in its place. “I want this to end.”

“How does the… how does it let you die?”

The Sorcerer licked his lips. “Werewolves, vampires… I designed you to be part of my bigger rituals. You turn blood and flesh into anima - that’s the green stuff you see - which can then be used to power spells. The last time this many werewolves gathered together was at the turn of the 17th century. It will be hundreds of years before I get another chance.”

“You’re talking about life energy,” Jonas said.

“Yes! So much I could break the oath with it!” He turned to Kieran and said, “Don’t you see? We could be normal again. You could live a normal life.”

Jonas looked at Kieran. His friend avoided his eyes. “Kieran?”

“It’s not worth it,” Kieran said. “Of course it’s not worth it. I just… I didn’t realize what it would take to make me whole.”

The Sorcerer seemed to regain some of his composure. He straightened. The hardness returned to his eyes. “We’ll see if you feel that way a thousand years from now.” He leapt and scaled the side of the nearest building.

Jonas and Kieran walked back to the Agency. They didn’t speak.

♘

“You need to eat more,” the doctor said, frowning at Jonas’ chart. “When you don’t eat, your body stops producing Serum.”

“It makes me feel sick.”

“Choke it down,” the doctor said. “Your levels are dropping. If you don’t eat, you’re likely to feel dead, and the Director will blame me.”

Jonas’ nose twitched. He remembered smelling himself cook, like roast pork and melting plastic. “Right. Dead is a bad thing.”

The doctor nodded, flipping the page. “I’ll give you a ward so you won’t use your powers without meaning to. Keep you from straining your barrier so much as well. Only take it off if breaking into someone’s mind is going to save your life.”

Jonas sighed.

♘

Jonas adjusted the ward at his hip and wrinkled his nose. He hadn’t realized until now how much his mind was constantly reaching out to other people, brushing against the surface of their barriers, reacting to other vampires. He felt like a cat with its whiskers shaved off, bumping into things; he almost jumped when a werewolf walked past him from behind and he didn’t feel her coming.

He knocked on the steel door.

After about a minute, it slid open and Eve squinted at him. “Oh, hey, Sweetie. You’re up early.”

She yawned and stretched and stretched. It made her t-shirt hike up just enough to see nothing at all, but he still looked.

She stuck her tongue out at him, then said, “What are you doing up and dressed?”

“Kieran and I just got back from meeting the Council.”

“You went dressed like that?”

Jonas looked down at his hoodie and jeans. “I had to change. We got thrown out of a window. Actually, I got thrown, and Kieran jumped.” He looked up and grinned.

She leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms, smiling with half her mouth.

“Wanna come watch me eat?” Jonas said.

She rolled her eyes. “Eww. Tell you what; I’ll let you buy me a drink. Just let me get changed.”

♘

She slipped her hand into his as they walked toward the cafeteria, then looked at him and smirked. “Are you
warded
?”

“Umm… Yeah, about that…”

“You’re a stalker.”

“I know, but-”

“I mean your barrier’s pretty much all you have going for you.”

“Don’t forget my mad combat skills.”

“The mad combat skills that let you get thrown out a window?”

Jonas winced. “Yeah, those mad combat skills.” He brightened. “We killed his bodyguard.”

Eve raised an eyebrow.

“Kieran killed his bodyguard. I watched and tried to look intimidating.”

She snorted and squeezed his hand.

♘

He carried his tray back to their table and sat down.

“You’re really going to eat that in front of me?” Eve said.

“I have to. Doctor’s orders.”

“Or your thing stops working.”

“Yeah, my ‘thing’ stops working. And then poof! Ashes. That’s why I’m warded.”

She squeaked and covered her mouth. “Oh God! It’s like a cone of shame!”

Jonas snorted, then put his head down and mumbled a few words before starting to eat.

“How’s the priest doing?” Eve asked.

“Good. He’s visiting people in the area. Mostly hunters and veterans. I guess he was a chaplain at some point.”

“Did he say anything new about the other thing?”

“Not really. Honestly, I think I’m kind of over it. None of the things have happened, and everything I’ve read says I’ll make it worse if I try to run from it. It could be 100 years away, for all I know.”

“The thing could?” Eve said, sipping on her blood pack.

“Yeah, the thing,” Jonas said smiling at her. The number of things he couldn’t talk about in public was reaching ridiculous levels. If he hadn’t been able to talk to Eve about it, he’d probably go insane.
I kind of love you,
he sent her, raising a forkful of macaroni and cheese.

After a few seconds, she put the blood pack down and said, “Did you say something, sweetie? You’ve got that thing on, remember?”

The ward,
he realized. He glanced at the crowded cafeteria and lost his nerve. “Just wondered how your stuff was going,” he said. He’d tell her later, when there weren’t so many people around.

Eve sighed. “Tiring. I’ve been to three refugee camps in the past two weeks, if that’s what we’re calling them. It’s meaningful work - we’re getting intel on what the Order’s up to, little by little - but it’s depressing.”

“So what are they up to?” Jonas asked.

“We don’t know. There were a lot of troops in Chicago, and we think they were headed to New York. They were planning something big here, but it looks like you guys stopped them before they could really get started. Other groups took off with weapons and food without telling anyone where they were going. Everyone seems pretty convinced that, whatever it is, it could happen any moment.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I asked them not to send me out anymore; if anything goes wrong, I want to be here.”

He bumped her foot under the table. She bumped his back.

“I’m going to get another pack,” she said. “You want one?”

“Sure,” he said, putting his fork down. “I don’t think I can eat any more of this anyway.”

♘

“Hey,” Eve said.

“Uh huh?”