Luc, the head of Cadogan House's guard corps, growled at us. As it turned out, the emergency, although arguably of our own making, had passed during the daylight hours. This lecture was the unfortunate fallout.
There we were, sitting around a high-tech conference table in the equally high-tech, movie-ready Ops Room - Peter, Juliet, Lindsey, Kelley, and me, the guards (and Sentinel) responsible for ensuring the health and welfare of Cadogan's Novitiate vampires.
All of us were mid-upbraiding by a blondish, tousle-haired cowboy-turned-vampire who was berating us for the "lackadaisical attitude" our newfound popularity had spawned.
So, yeah. We weren't exactly feeling the love.
"We're doing the best we can," pointed out Juliet, a feylike redhead who had more years as a vampire under her belt than I had years of life. "Reporters followed Lindsey around last week," she said, pointing at another guard. Lindsey was blond, sassy, and, thankfully, in my corner.
"Yes," Luc said, lifting a copy of the Chicago World Weekly from the conference table,
"we have evidence of that." He turned it so we could all get a glimpse of Lindsey, who'd been honored with a full-page photograph on the cover. She was decked out in her traditional blond ponytail, as well as a pair of designer jeans, stiletto heels, and oversized sunglasses, her body in motion as she smiled at someone off camera. I happened to know that the individual she'd been smiling at was, like me, one of Cadogan's newest vampires. Lindsey, much to Luc's dismay, had started seeing Connor just after the ceremony initiating us both into the House.
"This isn't exactly the approved Cadogan uniform," Luc pointed out.
"But those jeans are sweet," I whispered.
"I know, right?" She grinned back at me. "Seriously on sale."
"Seeing your tiny ass on the cover of the Weekly isn't the way to my heart, Blondie," Luc said.
"Then my plan worked."
Luc growled, his patience obviously thinning. "Is this truly the best you can do for your House?"
Lindsey's chronic irritation with Luc was equaled only by what I imagined was her deep-seated passion for him, although you wouldn't know it from the menace in her glare.
She popped up her index finger and began counting.
"First of all, I didn't ask to be photographed. Second of all, I didn't ask to be photographed. Third, I didn't ask to be photographed." She raised brows at Luc. "Are we getting the point here? I mean, really. That not-showing-up-in-photographs deal is a total myth."
Luc muttered something about insubordination and ran a hand through his hair. "Folks, we're at a crossroads here. We've been outed, we've been investigated by Congress, and now we've got the paparazzi breathing down our necks. We've also learned that in a few weeks' time, the head of the North American Central, Gabriel Keene himself, will be visiting our fine city."
"Keene's coming here?" Peter asked. "To Chicago?" Peter leaned forward, elbows on the conference table. Peter was tall, brown-haired, and thin, and looked to be thirty. He also had the just-so clothing and serene attitude of a man who'd seen a lot of money in his lifetime (human or otherwise).
"To Chicago," Luc confirmed. "Humans may not know shapeshifters exist, but we do, unfortunately for everyone."
There were a couple of snickers among the guards. Vampires and shifters weren't exactly friendly, and those tensions were increasing - I'd heard Gabriel was coming to town to scope out the city as a future conference site for his shifters. News related to that visit, and the possibility that shifters would assemble en masse in Chicago, had made the dailies - daily news updates for the Cadogan guards - more than once.
"Look, let's not be na?ve and pretend this celebrity deal is going to last forever, all right?
Humans, and no offense to you, Sentinel, since you're the recently fanged, are a fickle bunch. We've seen what happens when they get pissy about us."
Luc meant the Clearings, the vampire version of witch hunts. There'd been two in Europe, the First in Germany in 1611, and the Second in France in 1789. Thousands of vampires, a big chunk of our European population, were lost between the two - staked, burned, gutted and left to die. Shifters had known about the Second Clearing but hadn't stepped in; thus the animosity between the tribes.
"And here's the punch line," Luc said. "We've learned that the Weekly is planning a multipart, in-depth expose on underground vamp activities."
"Underground?" Kelley asked. "What do we do that's so underground?"
"That's exactly what I'm about to find out," Luc said,