“So it’s true,” she said. “We have a new Niteclif. And a woman, at that. Very good.”
Hellion looked at me with his soulless eyes and said, “You and Bahlin seem unnaturally close for such a short acquaintance. Is there anything you wish to disclose?” And with the word disclose I felt compelled to tell him everything that had happened. Before I could speak, I noticed that Gretta and Hellion had taken each others’ hands, presumably in an affectionate gesture unless you were attuned to the increase in metaphysical pressure in my head. I blindly reached for Bahlin’s hand and, just as I was about to spill all my secret suspicions right down to my guess at his shoe size, the pressure was relieved.
“Hellion, Gretta, that’s rude,” said Bahlin in an almost casual manner. His hand had tightened on mine to a point just this side of pain, and the pain seemed to have helped me think more clearly.
“She should be able to stop me, mentally, if she’s truly the Niteclif.”
That pissed me off. I had taken so much on faith in the last few days, been dragged into a world of make-believe without much explanation, been shot and then poisoned and here he was questioning me?
“I would think that my initial efforts would have counted toward convincing everyone. Apparently I’m wrong.” I dropped Bahlin’s hand and stepped forward, but he stopped my progress by dropping a heavy hand on my shoulder. “It only seems fair that if you’re going to increase the game by siphoning power off each other that I should be able to use what defenses are available to me. Or do you two not play fair?”
Black Beauty arched her eyebrow at me but set her hands on top of the table. Hellion gave a lopsided grin, shrugging.
Tarrek laid a hand on my other shoulder and said, “Gretta, Hellion, this is Madeleine Niteclif, though she strongly prefers to go by Maddy.” No one else was bringing up my quick healing, so I left it alone. I wouldn’t have to answer questions that were never asked. Profound, that.
Gretta inclined her head toward me, ceding this round, I supposed. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to look at the woman sitting to Hellion’s left. She smiled, and I noticed her canines were sharper than normal. Her skin was as pale as milk, and her hair was as dark as Tarrek’s. But her eyes were her most startling feature. Her eyes were the color of the Caribbean sea. I gasped, guessing immediately what flavor of the supernatural she was. Vampire. She was sitting at the table in a leather dress that left little to the imagination, looking more like fetish-wear and uncomfortable at that. She stood to offer me a hand, and I realized the dress was slit up to her waist on each side. I was instantly embarrassed, and Gretta and Hellion chuckled.
“You’ll have to get used to Imeena,” Hellion said, his voice deep and melodious. “She has her own sense of fashion, and it often involves as few pieces of clothing as possible.”
“It will likely take her as much time to get used to me as I’m remiss to express my fashion sense beyond jeans and a T-shirt.” I smiled.
Imeena smiled back. “You are kind to make no more of my aversion to boring clothing than it is, Niteclif.”
“So you believe in me?”
She let her head fall back, and her laughter sounded like sex and dark nights and mystery. “Oh, I do at that, precious girl,” she said. “I feel your heritage in my heart, for I knew your great-grandfather well. Therefore I will defer to your word as law. I will accept your rulings to be fair and just.” She inclined her head slightly at the last word, and I felt a shockwave ripple through me. Those were the same words that Tarrek had said at the restaurant four days ago when he affirmed me.
“And that is enough then, isn’t it? Because our two fair brethren have already made up their minds.”
I looked at Bahlin, and he sighed. “I’ve yet to affirm her.” He turned and looked at me. “If I say the words, Maddy, it’s done. There’s no going back because it will be a High Council majority. What would you have me do?”
“Aren’t we missing someone?” I asked, counting through them again. Bahlin, Tarrek, Hellion, Imeena—yep, four.
“Sarenia is not here, but we have enough for a majority.”