Page 104 of Vampire's Choice
“A lady never tells.”
The chuckles settled as Yvette joined them. The Circus owner was an unexpected addition to the meeting, but as Dollar moved out of the center position to give her the floor, she explained her presence.
“Lady Lyssa has contacted me. The California overlord, Lady Kaela, informed her that a Trad in her area has requested a meeting. He wants to discuss plans he’s heard hinted about among his kind. Things he feels won’t benefit Trads or vampires as a whole.”
“Setup,” Dollar noted. “Gotta be.”
“It’s possible. But Lady Kaela won a measure of his respect during an encounter a few years ago. Though she would not call him a friend, she believes his concern is genuine. He mentioned a recent failed attempt to secure ‘the seer who sees too much.’”
Marcellus’s mouth tightened. “Bring him here so we may question him.”
Merc shifted closer to the Legion captain’s shoulder, a show of agreement.
Yvette shook her head. “Trads embrace the savage predator that lies at the core of all vampire kind. What we’ve controlled with civilized trappings and our ritual protocols, they rarely restrain. If you force him here or to Council headquarters, he’ll refuse to offer anything more specific.”
“Or take his own life, like the one the other night,” Adan added.
Yvette’s gaze shifted to Marcellus. “He says he’ll only meet with Lady Kaela, but he’s asked for the presence of a Truth Vessel, so his word isn’t questioned. Another reason Kaela is treating his request as credible.”
“What’s a Truth Vessel?” Dollar asked.
Marcellus glanced at Merc, then spoke. “Angels. We know a lie, even obscure ones told to oneself.”
Maddock stepped into the tent. “Like I swear I’m going to lose those ten unsightly pounds, right after I polish off a stuffed crust pizza.”
Yvette rolled her eyes. “I keep forgetting to reconfigure the portal to burn your DNA to ash upon re-entry.”
“You never forget anything,” he said. “You love me.”
“You continue to be moderately useful. And Charlie loves you, for incomprehensible reasons.”
It was the first time Ruth had seen the sorcerer close up. Today he wore jeans and T-shirt, a tall and angular male with black hair, raggedly cut, and cat-intense hazel eyes. With the exception of his trimmed beard and moustache, he looked like a cross between a particularly handsome homeless man and dangerous hitchhiker. But his vibration of power was the same that Ruth detected in different doses from Adan, Yvette, Marcellus and yes, Merc.
Maddock carried a carved staff embedded with crystals. Since it was worn smooth beneath his palm, she expected he’d had it for a while.
“On the incomprehensible reasons part, we’re in rare but total agreement.” Despite the teasing, the sorcerer’s gaze sobered. “Don’t let me interrupt. I’m just here because I was informed my moderate usefulness was needed.”
At Yvette’s curious look, Marcellus filled in the blank. “Clara feels some additional protections or cloaking might enhance the safeguards for those she cares about.”
The look he and Maddock exchanged didn’t take much interpretation. The protections were already pretty damn good. The strain on Clara’s nerves was making her jumpy.
“Definitely a discussion we can have,” Maddock said neutrally. He glanced at Adan. “You can be my wingman on that meet, if you want.”
“Bullshit. You can be mine.”
“Top Gun? Really?”
“You opened the door, man. I just stepped through it.”
Maddock snorted and returned his attention to Lady Yvette. “So the Trads know there are angels here?”
She shrugged. “It’s not a hard thing for preternatural beings to figure out. Even if Trads can’t breach the grounds without our knowledge, they’ll have heard about the Circus. What humans believe are miraculous special effects and feats of makeup, they would know are real. Though it’s interesting they didn’t assume our ‘winged members’ were Fae. It confirms they’ve had magic-trained human spies in our audiences we didn’t detect.”
Dollar’s expression hardened. “Maybe we can figure out better ways for our team to detect that.”
Marcellus glanced at Merc. “In the meantime, you will visit Lady Kaela and hear the Trad’s story.”
If the angel had sprouted bunny ears, he couldn’t have startled the tent occupants more. Including Merc.