Cockroaches are nothing but an insect. Stepping on one is no problem at all.”
I refused to feel cowed, opting to tilt my head up. “They say that if there is ever a nuclear war, the only things to survive are insects.”
His eyes narrowed. “A nuclear war. And is that how you think this will end?”
The threat was clear. “Isn’t that the end of everything?”
With a hand on my shoulder, Jason ushered me into the room that smelled thickly of metal and something else, something like flowers, incongruous with the smell of old blood.
The room was long, windows on both sides with a massive stone fireplace at the end, a large fire burning, although the heat did not seem to reach this close to the doors. The windows were covered in a heavy indigo damask curtains, none of them drawn, candles lit between each window.
The table filled a great deal of the room, chairs set at regular intervals, all of them occupied.
A man leaned forward, dressed like an actor with a large red tricorn hat and what appeared to be a parrot on one shoulder. The eyepatch on his left eye seemed laughably pretentious, but the darkness emanating from his body did not seem remotely hilarious. “You kept us waiting long enough.”
Vincent closed the door behind us and I felt the spot between my shoulder blades prickle almost insatiably. “My apologies. There were several things that needed to be said, that is all.”
The pirate leaned his chin on his one hand as he regarded us carefully. “So that’s him?”
Jason’s shoulders straightened as he pulled away from me. I wondered if it was intentional, this separation between us, as if to show that, above all, he stood alone. “I am of House Kumamoto. The Domina saw to my entrance personally.”
“Oh?” This time, a woman leaned into view, long dark hair pinned up in some elaborate fashion with long metallic sticks and ribbons strung between them. “And where is your Domina then? Did she run away because she was afraid?”
Vincent cleared his throat. “Annabelle? I would not speak further of Reiko’s involvement. We all know some...thing like him is completely up to chance. No one can dictate when something like our young friend here is brought over.”
The female vamp slapped a hand on the table and I watched a goblet fall further down the table, spilling a rich, dark liquid that I hoped was not blood. Still, what else could it have been? “Where is she? Why has she hidden herself from us then? It’s because she’s ashamed, Vincent, isn’t it? Are you trying to protect her?”
Jason took a step forward, drawing the entire attention of the table. “She is...indisposed at the moment.”
Annabelle hissed and her face turned paler, the skin stretched painfully thin over the delicate skull.
“You keep your mouth shut.”
He flinched and the skin split over one eyebrow, spilling a thin, almost dainty line of blood down his immobile face.
Involuntarily, my hand rushed up to the hilt straddling one shoulder. I had not even thought about it, but still my fingers clenched around the hilt and it drew the entire Committee’s attention on me.
Not the wisest move, unfortunately.
Annabelle’s eyes narrowed and she pushed herself out of her chair, fangs lengthening almost past her pointed chin. “Are you challenging me, human?”
My mouth went dry and I thought my heart would burst. “I seek only to protect my Master.”
Vincent drew in a deep breath. “Take your hand away from the sword. Slowly. Very slowly.”
I should have. But when I am pushed into a corner, I do not relinquish my position easily. “I cannot. Not until she sits down. Not until I can be assured of Jason’s safety.”
The pirate leaned back into view, a strange look on his face. I would have thought it was interest, but why he would have interest in me, I could not fathom. “How...novel! I thought she was of the Fellow...something or another. Aren’t they sworn to wipe us from the face of the earth or something like that?”
The pulse pounded almost unbearably loud in my mind. “We are.”
The parrot squawked and it made me jump a foot in the air. They saw it and I saw smiles on every face visible. They were not friendly smiles.
“Jumpy, are you?”
When in doubt, honesty is the best policy. “I’m not stupid. I know the chances of my survival here.”
“Fenrir, what are you getting at?” asked Vincent.
It must have been the pirate he referred to, for the man smoothed a hand down