let the men take the chairs and actually plopped on the corner of White’s desk by her so I was close to the door and far away from Collins… Something that didn’t go unnoticed, but no one commented on.
The short story was council guards were sent to their private residences after hours with the “request” of a private meeting, and a few councilmen were waiting to grill them. They wanted to know everything about me, and for the two vampires to become spies for the council, so the honorable councilmen could take me down and pick me clean for all I had.
Fuckers.
Collins had been smart, playing up the normal vampire ego and giving his opinion that too many were giving me power and fame by paying more attention to me than I was worth. Also assuming my assets were vast, as they all knew supes who talked up their wealth, and it was going to dry up any day.
He stated he found me crass and boring, and thought talking with Blake Ward was a much better investment of their time, as she had spent more time with me in her short tenure at Artemis than he had. He also had no reason to, and changing that would make his goal obvious at a time the vampires’ image was already hurting after what Holly did.
He suggested a smarter move if the council wanted to waste their time on me. Personally, he thought my new car smell would wear off as fast as my inheritance would run out, but he thought if we could focus my ire on other councils, it would make those groups look bad and keep focus on their corruption, where it should be.
So he was a masterful deflector and really, really lucky there wasn’t a falcon shifter in the room, as he was full of shit.
But it had fucked Professor Richardson. The man sighed heavily.
“I told them as little as I could while seeming to tell them much, but only what I was certain on, and willing to stake my reputation on. I did make that clear, and that I wouldn’t speak on speculations or rumors, only to be held to them later and punished when brought in for such an unorthodox and disconcerting off-the-record meeting.”
“That was smart,” Collins praised. “They flinched and realized how we were old enough to know it was severely over the line instead of being young pups they could brush off as something causal.”
Richardson nodded as if saying that had been the goal. “I told them I had not a doubt Vale wasn’t a vampire. I outlined how leery she was of them and used Blake Ward, as Collins had, but to throw her under the bus, as her grandfather wasn’t part of this meeting. He would never be party to something so corrupt.”
I swallowed a snort. I had once thought so as well, but now I wouldn’t put anything past any of the council members.
“I blamed my lack of knowledge on how the elite vampires have harassed and bullied Vale. I also confirm that I didn’t think you knew your full heritage, but I had heard whispers from Edelman that you did have at least one fairy grandparent for sure, possibly more. They asked my professional assessment, and so it wasn’t a lie when I said I thought you had fairy blood recently on both sides, but were a witch.”
“Yes, you were more careful than I,” Collins grumbled. “You never outright lied, whereas I might have.”
“I don’t think they had anything checking us,” Richardson admitted after a few moments. “I think they were too confident we wouldn’t dare or—”
“Or would have reason to,” I muttered. “Why would they ever suspect either of you would ever side with me over them? In their eyes, that would be insanity.”
“It is in my eyes most days,” Collins said at a level he probably thought I wouldn’t hear.
I let it go. I knew how big of trouble they both could be in if they got caught hiding this from their councils. Collins didn’t have any faith I would help him after what he’d done, but I would. I wouldn’t let anyone go down for keeping my secrets, even if they’d been required to keep them.
I was a better person than that.
“I said your magic was powerful, and because of the erratic nature of it since you were an unknown, you could skip steps. I’d only seen that from witches that I could think of, and that’s