steward unlocked the door and we prepared to descend the stairs.
The weather was miserable—the ground wet from earlier rain, the air cold and damp. Not exactly a warm greeting from my hometown, but that didn’t make me any less glad to step down onto the tarmac. It was good to be home, even though the trip was short and there was no doubt we’d find just as much drama in Illinois as we had in Nebraska.
Hopefully, this time, it would be our kind of drama.
A sleek, silver sedan with a grill like a wide grin was waiting for us a few steps away from the plane. A guy in a Windbreaker and khakis stood beside the car, a set of keys in hand.
“Is that an Aston Martin?” Paige asked.
I slid Ethan a glance, but his gaze was already caressing the car’s lines and curves.
“You’ll recall my car was quite totaled,” he said, without taking his eyes off his new ride.
“And how much did it cost to have this nice gentleman bring a new ride to you at the airport?”
“A drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost, Sentinel.”
“I’ll bet.”
He checked his watch. “Gabriel won’t have made it back to Nebraska, even as fast as they likely drove.” He looked at me. “We can go to the House. You can shower and get changed, and we can get Paige settled.”
“A shower sounds glorious,” I agreed.
“For me, too,” Paige said.
Ethan held out a hand toward the car. “In that case, ladies, let’s be on our way.”
There was no faulting that ride, either. On the way, in the smooth comfort of Ethan’s new Aston Martin, I texted Jonah again to let him know more GP trouble was brewing. I didn’t know what the shofet had decided, but it didn’t portend anything good that they were coming here to announce it. That was just the kind of thing the Red Guard needed to be prepared for.
It also didn’t surprise me that Darius wanted a look at Ethan, to assure himself that Ethan was the vampire who’d earned the Masterdom of the House. There were only twelve vampire Houses in the United States. That meant Ethan had, relatively speaking, a good bit of power. I’d have wanted a look at the reincarnated vamp, too. But I didn’t think it wise to voice that particular opinion to Ethan.
We drove to Hyde Park, where the pale stone of Cadogan House emerged from darkness. It was a large, three-story mansion with features from another time—an arched entrance, a turret, and a widow’s walk around the roof. The grounds were even larger than the House and offered a bit of the gated outdoors for itchy vampires who needed fresh air and space from vampire drama.
The sidewalk in front of the House was peppered with protestors; they’d become a fixture over the past few months, and Mallory’s recent shenanigans certainly hadn’t helped. They were citizens of all ages and genders and ethnicities, but the hatred in their hand-painted signs was similar: GO HOME, VAMPS. NO VAMPS IN ILLINOIS. WINDY CITY, NOT VAMPIRE CITY. What they lacked in creativity, they made up in good old-fashioned discrimination.
They sat in lawn chairs, bundled up against the cold, many eating dinners like they’d pulled up to a drive-in movie instead of a vampire hate fest.
Normally, I’d have squeezed my car into a spot on the street and faced them all down as I strode into the House, but Ethan had a coveted basement parking spot. No snow, no parking permits, no dibs. Just a few steps to the stairs, and a few stairs to the lush first floor…and a few backward glances from a Master vampire clearly smitten with his new purchase.
“She’ll probably still be here when you come back,” I reminded him.
He huffed but still gave the sedan one last look. “She is a beauty.”
“She is a car,” Paige reminded him.
“And he is a man,” I said, pointing her toward the door. “Let’s not dig too deeply into it.”
We took the stairs, and I couldn’t fight the relief of feeling like I was home again. Which was pretty weird, since I was returning to a vampire frat house I hadn’t even lived in for a year.
Tonight, the House smelled like cinnamon, and much to my surprise, the interior had been decorated for the holidays. Malik had been busy while we were gone. Fragrant garland hung from doorways, mantels, and the railing of the wooden staircase that led upstairs. Sugared fruit and sparkling