anything about it. I’ve heard Nicole Heart is a stickler for rules and committees, so I guess this is one of them.”
Heart, Master of Atlanta’s Heart House, had been one of the Assembly’s founders and was its leader. The AAM had replaced the Greenwich Presidium, Europe’s controlling vampire body, when vampires in Chicago—led by Cadogan House, of which my father was Master—had pushed back against its dictatorial ways. She’d barely beaten out my father in the vote to lead the organization; there’d been animosity between them in those early days, but time had faded those wounds. Or so I thought.
I regretted I hadn’t given more attention to the details of their authority when I was at Cadogan House. But I’d had the privilege of being a child in a time of relative supernatural peace. The Assembly had been quiet in those years. But then fairies had attacked Chicago, and vampires had been at the forefront of the fight against them. That thrust us back—at arrow point—into the spotlight. Of course the Assembly’s ears would have perked up. And I should have expected it. I should have planned for it.
I looked up, found Connor’s gaze on mine. Strong, but seeking. “What are you thinking?” he asked.
“That I should have known this was going to happen. I knew there was a possibility after Minnesota. But it’s been weeks. I thought they’d decided not to act on it.”
There was a loud crunch across the room. We all looked up to find Alexei snapping into a celery stick. “Your parents are gone,” he said and bit again.
“What?” I asked, trying to ignore that it sounded like he was crunching bones.
“They’re in India, right?” Petra asked. “Visiting Amit Patel. I doubt it’s a coincidence the Assembly showed up to accuse you of crimes against vampire when they’re several continents away.”
“I mean, your parents could just fly home,” Lulu said. “They’re not on a space station.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but we’re talking about vampires. The AAM would see a strategic advantage, even if a temporary one, to their being out of Chicago. And they’d take it.” The truth of it settled into my bones.
Alexei went into the kitchen, grabbed his gifted bottle of vodka and a shot glass. He brought them both to me, filled the cup, offered it. “Drink,” he said. “You need this.”
“I don’t know about need,” I said, but I downed it, winced. He hadn’t splurged on the good stuff. But I said thanks and handed him back the glass.
“I’ll take one of those,” Lulu said and downed a shot. “Not often I find vampires in suits at the door.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Not your fault.” She coughed. “God, this is awful.” She thrust the glass back at Alexei. “Next time, bring better.”
“No,” Alexei said with a grin, and took the bottle and glass to the couch.
We were a strange assemblage, but a bonded one. We’d fought fairies and feral monsters, suffered arrows and sword wounds and magically shifting landscapes and fireside battles. And we’d come through it as friends—the kind you could rely on for crappy vodka and excellent planning.
“Why did they come all this way?” Theo asked. “Surely the AAM doesn’t have to approve every new vampire made.”
“No. But ‘regular’ vampires aren’t supposed to make them. And that’s the kind of thing that threatens the ones in charge. They’ll want to punish me.”
“How?” Connor asked, voice grim.
“I’m honestly not sure. Give me demerits?”
“Are you taking this seriously?” Lulu asked, concern pulling down her brows.
“I am. And I’ll deal with them.” I looked down at my collarbone. “It doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.”
“It’s a pretty simple spell,” Lulu said.
We all looked at her, given she’d generally avoided any and all discussion of magic or its details, with surprise. “I knew a little about some basic spells, before . . .”
Before she turned away from magic completely, she meant. Before she learned her mother had, at least for a little while, been seduced by dark magic and become an enemy to Chicago.
“Do you know if they’re right?” I asked. “About it disappearing?”
“If the spell was done correctly, yeah. Think of it as a little contract. You fulfill the terms, and the deal is done.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Connor asked. “What happens?”
“Depends on the sorcerer they had on speed dial. But it probably wouldn’t feel very good.”
“So she can’t ghost the vampires, ha ha,” Petra said.
“No. But I’d have to deal with them eventually. They aren’t just going to walk away from