“I would take it personally, too.”
Ethan barked out a laugh. “It’s hardly that I take it personally, Sentinel. It’s that it’s a slap against me and Malik, Luc, Helen—the entire staff. Every Initiate Commended, every Novitiate who has served. Every sacrifice made. You essentially told him we don’t have things in hand.”
“We don’t if what we saw last night is commonplace. This wasn’t half a dozen vampires and a couple of humans, Ethan. There were dozens of vamps, dozens of humans. The party was huge, and it was loud, and it wasn’t just about a little private sip.”
“So it wasn’t a rave.”
“Not the kind of raves we knew about before.
The vamps were on edge, the magic thick. Vamps were picking fights all over the place.”
“Did you and Noah have to defend yourselves?”
I hated lying to Ethan.
“Defend ourselves, yes. We weren’t involved in any fighting of consequence, although things got nasty when we made our exit. I’d found a human who needed help—drugged or glamoured; I’m not sure which. She needed out, and there were a few vamps who weren’t happy to see her go. Noah spilled blood as a distraction, and the vamps went crazy. The place erupted with fighting, but we got her out and sent her home.
She was grateful enough—embarrassed enough—that I don’t think she’ll cause us problems down the road.”
I sighed and looked away. “I hate saying that, Ethan. It mortifies me that I have to think about a woman who’s been in a bad position as a liability. She was made a commodity by those vampires. That shouldn’t happen twice. Not by us.”
I looked back at him, and appreciated the sympathy in his eyes.
“You are a very human vampire,” he affectionately said.
“So you say.”
“I once considered it a liability. And for some vampires, I still do. But for you—let us hope they don’t bleed it out of you.”
We were quiet for a moment, just looking at each other. I finally broke the silence. I reached into my pocket, pulled out the envelope, and handed it to him. “This is why we think the humans may have been drugged.”
Ethan inspected the envelope, then dropped the pills into his hand. “What’s V?”
“Don’t know. I’m assuming it stands for
‘vampire.’ And the punch line? The human who gave this to me, Sarah, had learned about the rave at Temple Bar.”
His gaze went cold. “Someone is using the Cadogan House bar to solicit humans?”
“That would appear to be the case.”
A muscle in his cheek twitched, but after a moment, he seemed to relax again.
“At least you managed not to tell Darius about that.”
There was a smirk in his eyes that made me smile.
“We’ll thank God for small miracles,” I agreed. “Sarah said she heard about the rave from a short guy . . . and a woman named Marie.”
Ethan froze, before slipping the pills back into the envelope. “There are probably thousands of women in Chicago named Marie.”
“That is true,” I agreed.
He handed the envelope back to me. “There’s no way to know that it was Celina. She hasn’t gone by that name in two centuries.”
“That is also true,” I said, tapping my fingers against the envelope.
“You’re usually much more argumentative at this point.”
“I usually have more evidence to go on.”
He smiled. “We may make a Sentinel out of you yet.”
Of course, while I did usually have more evidence that Celina was involved in something obnoxious, that didn’t change the facts. . . . “It is still quite a coincidence that the rave pusher was using one of Celina’s former aliases.”
“An alias that led us to a saboteur the last time she used it,” Ethan reminded me. He had a point—Celina sent incriminating e-mail messages to Peter as “Marie Collette.” But he’d forgotten a key fact.
“Celina doesn’t know we traced that particular e-mail address; she was using half a dozen others.
And she doesn’t know that’s how we found out about Peter. She just knows he stopped showing up to do his bidding. And, more important, she probably didn’t think she’d get caught. What are the odds that particular girl would tell me that someone calling herself ‘Marie’ was soliciting humans outside a bar?”
“What are the odds Celina would use an alias we could identify outside a bar we own?”
Okay, put like that, it didn’t sound so convincing.
“Just because I don’t currently have all the evidence doesn’t mean there isn’t evidence to be found.”
“And so it begins,” he muttered, then lifted his gaze, no longer amused. “Merit, the head of the GP is steps away from us right now. I am ordering you not to bring up her name again—” When I opened my mouth to object, he held up a hand.
“Until you have more evidence than a name she may or may not have used. I now consider the subject to be dropped. Understood?”
“Understood,” I said, then wet my lips. “Do you trust me?”
His gaze went a little more seductive than I cared for. “Do I
“It doesn’t sound like Darius wants me getting my hands dirty. But this is my job, and frankly, I’m kind of good at it.”
“Much to everyone’s surprise.”
I gave him a petulant face. “We know something weird is going on out there. If the rave scene is the way we get in and shut it down—the way we make sure vamps aren’t out there slaughtering humans en masse—then we go the rave route. I need to get out there again, and we need to keep pulling this string.”
“You cannot make an enemy of the GP. And not just because you’re a member of this House,” he preemptively added at my narrowed gaze. “I understand your impatience and I honor your commitment. But if they believe you stand against them, they will bring you down, Merit.
Their sovereignty is important. Celina lives because she hasn’t challenged that sovereignty; if you challenge it, you pose a direct threat to Darius and the others. And that will be the beginning of the end of you.”
“I know. But that’s not reason enough to allow them to tear the city apart.”
His expression—half sorrowful resignation, half pride—mirrored my own emotions. “I didn’t train you, invest in you, so that you could give yourself over to the GP as some kind of Windy City sacrifice.”
His voice was soft, earnest, but there was emotion in his eyes. Real emotion.
“I don’t intend to be a sacrifice. And I don’t intend to let you be one, either.”
He looked away. “They have an eye on the House. They’ll know what we’re doing.”
He paused, obviously startled, then leaned back in his chair. He might be nervous about the idea, but I’d piqued his interest. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I have powerful friends. Mallory.
Catcher. Gabriel. My grandfather. Noah.” Not to mention Jonah and the rest of the Red Guard. “I can work with them to accomplish what the GP won’t allow you to do.”
Frowning, Ethan sat up again and absently shuffled papers on his desk. After a moment, he shook his head. “If you’re working outside my authority, you also work outside my protection.
And if you do get caught, the GP won’t like the idea of an uncontrolled Sentinel running around Chicago.”
“But they’ll allow an uncontrolled former Master to run around Chicago?”
“She only killed humans,” he dryly reminded me. “You’re talking about challenging the GP.”
“I’m talking about doing what’s necessary, and what’s right. We’ve got humans picketing outside and a mayor
