gray case big enough to hold a rocket launcher. “And all he holds dear. We will wipe the lives of his loyal ones from the face of the Earth.” He flipped up large thumb locks. Holy crap. It held some kind of rocket launcher. Shaddock’s new vamp said, “We will scorch the land where he stands and none will escape us.”
Two of Eli’s weapons were out again, one aimed at the kneeling Thema, the other aimed directly at Kojo. “Touch that and die,” my partner said softly.
Everything went still and silent, the way it did with any threat. I could hear Shaddock’s humans breathe, short and shallow, the breath of prey when they caught sight of a predator.
Eli said, “This is the Official Winter Court of the Dark Queen of the Mithrans. You do not draw weapons in her presence. You fight with her, at her command, or you leave her territory. This is not up for discussion.”
Kojo swiveled his head toward Shaddock, that inhuman move vamps could make, more bird than mammal. He started to vamp out, his pupils dilating and his sclera becoming a bloody scarlet. Shaddock ignored him, amused, watching me. He tipped an imaginary hat at me. This was a test of the DQ. He’d set me up. Dang fanghead.
But . . . I had not taken up the mantle of power Leo had given me nor the power of the Dark Queen. Some of the people I loved had been captured or gone missing because I hadn’t done my job. Others may have died.
I hadn’t done my job because I was sick and it was too hard. Woe is me. Except I wasn’t sick right now. It was time I fixed things. And with vamps, might meant right. And that meant over Shaddock too.
“Kojo,” I growled. The vamp twisted his head to me like an owl, too far, too smooth. “This is the hunting territory of the Master of the City of Asheville. But it is the political territory of the Dark Queen. You fight with me and at my command, or you die. In the moment. And Master of the City Shaddock dies with you, for the insult to my position and power. Choose.”
Shaddock tensed.
Yeah, I thought. You want to play vampire games? Try me. “You brought them into my territory and home,” I said to him, all vamp-formal. “It is my right to drink down all of you.”
“You aren’t a vamp,” Shaddock said.
Softly I whispered, “Try me.” He said nothing, his body tense and hard, but his expression uncertain. “I’ve stayed silent and out of action too long,” I said, hoping he understood my words and the meaning beneath them. “People in Europe have died. That is not happening here.”
Kojo said, “You would take from me the realization of a goal that is seven hundred years in the making, woman?”
“Pretty much. First of all, you don’t get to blow up my enemies long-distance. I will not allow collateral damage of the humans in my territory. Second, our enemy has my primo. He’s using Edmund to communicate and I want Ed back. I’m not giving up my people. Third, my Onorio needs blood, but I can suck it off the floor and feed him if necessary.” I figured that last part was insulting enough to prove I was the bigger predator.
Kojo’s lip curled and he stood, a willowy, sinuous movement that would do a big-cat proud. Shaddock allowed the movement, stepping back. “You will understand this. I have been used as Translator by the Flayer of Mithrans.” The title Translator was imbued with pain and hatred and fear. “I will destroy the entire world before I allow him near my soul again.”
“Yeah, well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to annihilation,” I said, “but I intend to rescue Ed from the Flayer, and I’ll kill you before I let you harm my primo. Just so we’re clear.”
“Can he get inside your head easily?” Eli asked Kojo, moving silently around us, taking in everything, and simultaneously getting a better shot angle. “If so,” he continued, his voice so soft it was its own kind of threat, “that makes you a liability.”
“No,” Kojo said, the single word hard. “Not without him taking my blood once again,” he said, his accent growing stronger. “Before, when he stole my blood to claim me, I was his prisoner. He made use of my wife, against her will. Even now, if he tries to drink of me, tries to take over