together couldn’t take him out with two swords. A few nicks and cuts aren’t going to do it. Hell, a few slices and stabs aren’t going to do it. The man can fly, and he made Merit disappear just by touching her. I’m not objecting to your doing the deed, but we have to even up the odds.”
Ethan and I looked at each other. I had a duty to object, but he seemed to understand my objection even if I didn’t voice it to him or the rest of them. That said, it was easy to see that he needed the battle. And if that’s what he needed, far be it from me to stand in his way.
But I’d certainly stand by his side.
I looked at Ethan. “If the odds are bad, we even the odds.”
He gave me a smile that curled my toes. “And how do you propose we do that, Sentinel?”
“He’d be easier to fight as a toy poodle. Or a dire badger,” I jokingly added, then looked at Paige. “Got any spells for that?”
“Yes, we do,” she said.
I frowned. “Seriously? You can make him a toy poodle?”
“No, I meant more generally. If we can’t fight him the way he is because he’s too strong, let’s make him less strong. Let’s take away his magic. Let’s make him human. Or more human, anyway.”
Ethan’s expression lifted. “Can that be done?”
Before Paige could answer, the clock in Ethan’s office suddenly chimed, striking twelve.
It was midnight—the witching hour and the time for Darius’s meeting.
“Time is short for all of us,” Ethan said, rising from his chair. “Paige, Seth, Catcher, talk to Mallory and see if there’s anything to this idea. We’ll meet back here in two hours. And God willing, we’ll have a plan.”
We might have a plan. But would we have a House?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
TWELVE COLONIES
I was last into the ballroom, which was already full of vampires and nervous, agitated magic. Darius stood at the platform at the front of the room, Ethan and Malik beside him. The vampires whispered and shuffled as they waited for whatever was about to begin.
I moved quietly through the crowd to the front, stopping only when I was close enough to make eye contact with Ethan, to let him know that I was there. Ready to assist if necessary…or be there to soothe him once it was over.
“We live in strange times,” Darius said, his accent seeming extra-clipped as he prepared to lecture this room of Chicago vampires.
“The public is aware of us and other of our supernatural brethren. By registration, they have demanded we warn them of our very existence. The Order is in the midst of a crisis of its own, and the city’s leadership is in chaos. There are many in the world who revile us, who would have us destroyed en masse if authority permitted.”
The magic in the room stirred nervously.
“In such times, the stability of the Houses is even more crucial. Financially, managerially, procedurally. The Houses exist to protect vampires from the whims of humans. Without them, chaos. Wandering without homes, without support, without leadership.”
I wasn’t sure about all that, as Noah and the other Rogue vampires in Chicago seemed plenty well fed and happy.
“The GP exists to support and guide the Houses. The GP has existed, in one form or another, for a very long time, and although some do not believe it, we do have experience and knowledge to offer.”
The crowd snickered appreciatively. Whatever Darius’s faults, and I’m sure they were legion, he knew how to work a crowd. On the other hand, a captive audience of vampires who feared for their survival wasn’t exactly going to boo its purported “king” off the stage.
“Franklin Cabot is not a perfect man,” Darius announced. “And his work as receiver of this House may not have been perfect. Nevertheless, his job was to review, analyze, stabilize, and report. Despite his premature evacuation from this House, he has done so.”
The vampires around me stiffened. They knew something was coming, and they weren’t convinced the news would be good. By the look on Ethan’s face—and the line of worry between his eyes—he wasn’t, either.
“Cabot perused the financial and other records gathered in this House through the nearly one hundred years of its existence. Financially, the House is in superb shape. Its investments are adequately diversified, its assets are substantially larger than its debts, and there are sufficient funds for emergency purposes in a number of international accounts. The House has sufficient contingency planning,