Page 48 of Blood and Bone

“All right,” Ari said. “If you do that and let slip that Wilkins is under arrest because Marshal Sapphire and I were the ones who helped make that happen, that would be great.”

Blackwood seemed hesitant but Edward Matus nodded. “We’ll make sure that they know.”

“Thank you so much. Meanwhile, we’ll talk to our boss about them, and we’ll get back in touch with you tomorrow,” Eoghan said. “Would that be okay?”

“That’ll be fine,” Matus said. “And we’ll call a meeting with the clan for this evening to talk about joining you to help the undead in his quest to get his throne back.”

Ari smiled for the first time since they’d walked into the room. He reached out and took the hand Blackwood offered, glad that they’d broken the ice with these men who’d looked like they’d wanted to eat them for lunch only a half hour before.

Chapter Thirteen

They said goodbye to Joe and Alo, thanking them for the help with the council and promising that they’d be back in touch the following day before making their excuses and driving off the reservation. They found a new motel in Tahoe and checked in, heading straight to the room.

It wasn’t yet dinnertime and they were still sated from their lunch with the chief and his deputy, so they decided to check in with the chief. They called Priest on Eoghan’s burner and when she didn’t answer, they decided to wait, figuring since she was at the office, she’d need to find a place where it was safe to talk. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she called back. Eoghan answered and put the call on speaker. Ari sat beside him on the bed as they listened to the boss.

“I’ve been waiting to hear from you. What happened with the Tahoe clan? Are they going to help Townsend?” She sounded harried and Ari absently wondered what else had happened, assuming something had. She usually sounded relaxed, so something had happened. He remembered that she’d said she needed them for another job and he wondered whether that was what he was hearing in her voice.

“That’s what took so long, Chief,” Eoghan replied. “After convincing Two Trees and his deputy, we had to wait around and talk to their tribal council.”

“What happened, Sapphire?”

“At first the council was completely against it,” Eoghan said. “They had the same concerns that Two Trees and his deputy had, primarily that asking their clan to help with vampires was ahugeask.”

“I know they’re bitter rivals but knowing you and trusting you the way I do; my guess is that you probably said something to convince them it was in their best interest to help us.”

Eoghan glanced at Ari who nodded, giving him a hint of a smile as encouragement.

“Well, yeah, boss…we talked to them about the possibility that Bradshaw and his vamp buddies may be making more vamps as we speak and that it’s a problem with the I.S.R. when humans are getting drained left and right. We made them see this will become a problem with the Agency as soon as they learn of it and that even if the I.S.R. decides to withdraw protections from the Flagstaff vampire clan, it doesn’t mean it ends there. Also, we mentioned our suspicions that Bradshaw is using the synthetic blood distribution network for their drugs which would mean he’d have to be making more vampires. And having a bunch of rogue, undisciplined, baby vamps would mean no shifter reservations are safe, theirs included.”

“Good.”

“The council got the same argument and they also eventually agreed to help,” Eoghan said. “The bottom line is that they’re going to talk to their clan tonight and get their help. They’re also going to reach out to friends on other shifter reservations but that might turn out to be a real problem when they also learn this is about vampires. They’re afraid if there is a mole at the Agency, their efforts in recruiting shifter clans to help get rid of Bradshaw might get back to them.”

There was silence for a few seconds before Priest spoke. “Are you telling me that you told the council about our mole problem without discussing it with me beforehand, Sapphire?”

“No, we didn’t share that with the whole council,” Ari rushed to clarify. “We told Two Trees and his deputy, Alo Uwaite. They’re trustworthy and we had to make them see theurgency in their intervening because they almost threw us out of the tribal police office when we first brought it up.”

“Good enough. So, when will you hear whether they’ve agreed to help? You said they’re meeting with the clan tonight about it.”

“Yes, but in addition to that, they suggested something else,” Eoghan said, glancing over to Ari and meeting his gaze. Ari nodded to encourage him to go on. “They suggested we might not need to get a bunch of shifter clans on board and therefore take the risk of exposure and instead, perhaps we should only contact Severin and Invictus.” When the chief took a sudden, deep intake of breath, he went on. “I take it you know who they are, Chief.”

“I do and I can tell you right now, it’s a total waste of time.” Priest sounded pissed that Eoghan had even brought them up.

“I’m not so sure, Chief,” Ari said.

“Why’s that?”

“Because Eoghan asked the council to make sure the dragons knew that we’d helped bring Colt Wilkins to justice and convinced them that they should reopen negotiations for the sale of jade to them.”

She made a humming sound which made Ari wonder what she could be thinking. Had they done well? Stepped out of line? Made an error in judgment?

“That’s…very good, Sapphire,” she said, thoughtfully. “In fact, the last time the I.S.R. heard from the dragons was when they set the forest on fire and what led up to it.”

Ari grinned at him, and Eoghan blushed. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“It might just work. They need that jade and I understand they’ve had to go far afield to get it,” she said.

“It would be good if we can be friendly with them,” Ari offered.