keep my blood and body and soul all together by force of will. He took a breath so deep it was as if he drew it from his toes, as if he hadn’t taken one in hours. “I would protect you from it if I could.” A smile formed in his eyes and drew up his lips. “However, it has been my experience that you tend to rush toward any firefight, not away. I do not think you will try to avoid the fury of the storm that is any Mithran.”
“I have been known to step in where angels fear to tread.” Hayyel, specifically. Tentatively, I swung my feet to the floor and sat up. “Not bad. Gee gets points for this.” I pointed to the feather under my shirt. To Alex, I said, “Update.”
“All kinds of news,” Alex said. “I was able to get the four-star Regal Imperial Hotel in Asheville for the visiting fangheads, though after the last vamp stay, the general manager put up a fuss.” The last time fangheads had rented out the hotel, they pretty much trashed the place and I had killed a demon out front, an event that went viral, even if most people didn’t believe what they saw. “Money talked,” Alex added. “It was pricey. And even more pricey to give all their people time off. We paid vacation time for thirty-five full-time employees to keep them safe from the Flayer.”
“Good thinking. How pricey?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know, but not to worry. Rather than draining Clan Yellowrock’s funds, I used the Dark Queen’s accounts.”
“The DQ has accounts?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Alex laughed, the sound more like pain than amusement. “The DQ is loaded.”
“Good for her,” I said. “What else you got?”
“Shaddock looped in Sheriff Grizzard and the Asheville chief of police,” Alex said. “None are happy about the situation, not that they could do anything about it except call in PsyLED, ICE, and the state police. But the snowstorm’s going to inhibit and slow any official response. The bad guys will be here before the bureaucracies can decide what to do.”
“Before you begin to feel guilty, love,” Bruiser said, “there would have been problems no matter where Bar-Judas chose to approach you. He is here illegally. He will kill any human he chooses. You made the best decision you could.”
“They could evacuate the city,” I suggested.
“Impractical in this storm.”
“Put out an alert?”
“Likely to stir panic.”
“Surround the hotel?”
“Possible. But their choice, not ours. They have been informed of potential problems.”
Alex broke into Bruiser’s and my dialogue. “I confirmed which of our supposed allies in France sold Ed out. Clan Roquefort agreed to parley. Clan Fonteneau, one of Grégoire’s longtime allies, set Ed up at one of their houses about twenty miles from the agreed-upon parley site. Roquefort found out where they were staying and attacked that location. Looks like Roquefort, Shimon Bar-Judas, his people, and two other clans—Clan Andre and Clan Leclerc—were in on it. Clan Fonteneau fought back, defending the farmhouse, and they may well be extinct, dead to the last scion. Grégoire and his court are finding our people and making sure they have flights back to the U.S. or are safe in situ. He’s also taking names, tracking enemy combatants, and finding their lairs. I’m getting into their finances and forwarding him all the intel.”
Alex tilted his head down and around and met my eyes. “As of an hour past, Grégoire has announced an open call to arms for his new allies and an open blood feud against your enemies. His primos sent a note to the DQ and the empress of Europe with his intent to kill her enemies to the last drop of blood.”
Clan Roquefort and I had a history. They had sent vamps to swear to Leo and marry his heir. And betray the MOC. I had prevented that, and the traitors sent from the clan were dead. Leo had done nothing to the clan in retribution for the original betrayal or the subsequent ones. No, that was all on me. Clan Roquefort was a problem I needed to handle. “Let Blondie know everything we know. Keep him in the loop. Tell him the EuroVamp traitors are to be . . .” I stopped, thinking over my words before I spoke them. Making sure I was really willing to say them aloud. Thinking over the repercussions if I did say them. The repercussions if I said something else or remained silent. Seeing the possible futures and