Shattered Circle

Goliath stood in the main chamber of the Haven Master’s suite. His elbow was propped on the back of the master’s chair and he let the full force of his most threatening glare crash over Ivanka.

She was well aware of his displeasure. She had barely made it through the door before lowering herself to one knee before him. Her eyes were kept downcast, her chin low with shame.

As the moment wore on, Mero, beside Goliath, shifted his weight impatiently.

Goliath had not wanted Liyliy to escape, but the fact that she had escaped Mero personally meant the advisor couldn’t begrudge Goliath the escape of Persephone Alcmedi while the vampires lay dead for the day.

“My orders were for the Erus Veneficus to remain on site.” Goliath’s tone was sharp.

“I try to keep her here,” Ivanka said. Regardless of her stilted English and thick Russian accent, Goliath understood her well; he’d trained her as security personnel when she joined this haven. “Old man come in. He angry.”

“What old man?”

“Own shop. Volfsbane and Absinthe.”

Mero shot Goliath a questioning look so he explained, “It is a nearby witch supply shop.”

“I protect Erus Veneficus when he use cane as weapon,” Ivanka added.

“You mean you fought a mortal man when he attacked the Erus Veneficus?” Mero asked.

The pointed and accusing nature of his comment wasn’t lost on either Goliath or Ivanka. Goliath knew Ivanka’s abilities as a sentinel were among the best in the haven; she’d taken his instruction flawlessly. He also knew that she knew she was among the best.

She looked up from the floor for the first time since entering and her brows were knit together tight. “Yes,” she snapped at Mero. “He is mortal. As per standing haven orders, I did not harm him, just subdue. Not so easy as beating him black and blue. And zis”—she lifted her casted arm—“make even more difficult.”

“Did he use magic against you?” Mero asked.

“Beauregard was Bindspoken years back,” Goliath said. “He cannot use magic.”

“Why would he attack the witch?”

Goliath shrugged.

“He say his son is cad . . . cad . . . ” Ivanka paused, snorted a self-critical breath as she tried to remember. “Catatonic. He blame vitch for zis.” She added, “While we fight, she sneak out. I try to follow, but she get to cab,” Ivanka added.

Mero shifted his weight again. “Did she happen to mention why she was leaving or where she was going?”

“Say she haf meeting, but not vhair.” Ivanka’s gaze shifted to Goliath. “If she said, I already go there and bring vitch back.”

Goliath nodded. “You may leave.”

Ivanka rose and turned to the door. Before opening it she said, “She say she come back.”

“Of course she did.” Mero didn’t sound convinced.

“Thank you,” Goliath said and gestured her out. When Ivanka had gone, he faced Mero. The bruising Liyliy had caused around the vampire’s eye was finally diminishing. “If my E.V. said she’d be back, that’s what she’ll do,” Goliath assured him.

Mero met his gaze squarely. “I have not seen Menessos around the haven tonight.”

Goliath remained calm. “I sent him on an errand.”

“If he has gone to her and told her what we are deliberating about, she will flee. He could have told her that last night when she made her brief visit here. He could have told her to escape while we were yet under the sway of the death. She might have planned the escape with the old man.”

“You make valid points.” He broke his pose and strolled away with his hands clasped behind his back, thinking.

This was the unavoidable moment where he had to let Mero know where he stood. He’d bought time with his diplomacy yesterday, but that time had run out.

Goliath thought of his confrontation with Menessos earlier and what his Maker had said about the witch. Menessos had made no secret about his opposition to her being taken to the Excelsior when the three of them spoke yesterday evening. The question was, as Haven Master, should he support Menessos? His Maker was starting down a path at odds with the hierarchy of their kind. It was not completely unlike him, but it was rash. Menessos had been acting more and more rashly since he’d met Persephone . . . conceivably since she’d marked him.

“She could have lured him out of this room,” he said. “She could have used her influence to make him reveal any threats. She could have started planning to abscond right then. She could have lost all the integrity I’ve come to know she possesses due to the desperation of the moment.” He turned back. “But I’ve seen her in desperate moments. She paused to save my life in a desperate moment.”

Mero lifted his chin and squared his shoulders. “Do you feel you owe her loyalty for that?”

It seemed Mero was preparing himself for a confrontation, in case Goliath felt it necessary to subdue him.

“We all have to make our own choices, Mero. Yours is evident.” Goliath smiled. “My Maker Made you. That makes us brothers of a sort. Out of respect for you, I will not try to stop you, but out of respect for our Maker, I will not help you, either.”

Mero said nothing, but he did not move to leave.

Goliath said, “I can see that you are now considering whether or not you should use your rank and authority against me. Commandeering my haven and claiming my people to use them to aid you as you try to seize the Lustrata is a wise—even shrewd—move. Although you certainly should not underestimate her. Still”—he strode around the master’s chair and lowered himself into it with all the regal poise he possessed—“I promise you, brother, if you try to take what is mine, I will give you a war.”

•  •  •

She will destroy us. Does he not see that? Mero wondered as he left the Haven Master’s chambers. He glanced up the stairs at the doorway to the Erus Veneficus’s chambers, irritated that they were empty. She’d slipped through his grasp.

Goliath was young, but Menessos had trained him well. The diplomacy he offered was smart. It let him stand his own ground among all sides, yet clearly revealed which side he’d choose tonight if forced to.

Mero knew what he needed to do. He’d started toward the stage when a cacophony of excited sounds arose in the theater house beyond. Proceeding cautiously, he peered around the backstage wall and saw Menessos carrying a child. He was accompanied by a pair of women as different as night and day.

Seven, with her willowy figure and long, straight black hair worn in a ponytail, was on his right. Though a high-ranking vampire in this court, she wore jeans and work boots with her turquoise tank top; her primary job was overseeing the construction and renovation of the bar upstairs called Haven.

On his left was the red-eyed half-demon Risque, her blond ringlets bouncing. At any given time her curvaceous body was barely covered. Since Mero had arrived he’d seen several different colors of ruffled panties on her. And clear platform heels. The ringlets usually covered her breasts, but when she was on the move, like now, her nipples peeked through.

Seven had gone into interrogation mode. “How long has she been unconscious?”

“About an hour and a half,” Menessos answered.

“How long will she continue to be out?”

“I do not know. She may sleep through the night, as it is her custom.”

“She will have to be watched around the clock.”

Mero wondered what had happened to the girl.

“Indeed.” Menessos was coming up the ramp to the stage. “That is why I brought her.”

“You do not intend for her to stay in your chambers, do you?”

“No. The child will stay in Persephone’s rooms.”

“Alone?”

Menessos paused to face her. They both turned to Risque.

She glanced back and forth between them. “No.” Her pouty lips were pursed and her hands were planted on