time she’d be addressing the new military arm of the COO.
The FBI was still at Lark’s. Still sifting through the smoking rubble looking for clues. Anderson had come out to oversee everything himself. Lark had spent the night across the hall from Faine and Helena at the hotel where the Clan put up out-of-town visitors.
Lark had left first thing upon waking to head back to the house. Simon had gone as well, which at least made Helena feel better knowing her sister would have some backup if she needed it.
But it was Rain Jaansen who stepped out of the warren-like maze of cubbies, offices and conference rooms that held the Gennessee Hunter Corps.
Her mother caught sight of her and, with a happy cry, pulled Helena into her arms, hugging her tight as she murmured endearments. Then she pushed back with surprising strength, shaking her daughter once, hard. “Oh my goddess! You could have been killed! You and your sister are going to be the death of me yet. How could you do that? How could you throw yourself and your magick in front of a bomb? A bomb, Helena Marie?” By that point Rain was weeping and Helena just pulled her mother back into her arms.
“I’m all right. See? I even drank gallons of your tea. I swear. There were even witnesses.”
Her mother kept on, the words tumbling from her mouth like a hard rain. “And your sister’s house was blown up? How much do you expect me and Dad to take? Why can’t you two do something safe for a living? Nice and safe with no bombs and no guns and no one wanting to kill you? Be a travel agent or a high school gym teacher.”
“That’s not her path, Rain.” Her father joined them in the hallway, pausing to kiss Helena’s temple. “Your daughters are meant for great things. They’re protectors and we just have to believe in their skill and their training.”
He hugged Helena and whispered. “You scared the hell out of me, girl. You and your sister cool it on the nearly getting killed stuff, why don’t you?”
She was so glad she’d come back. There was nothing like a hug from your mother and father.
“Trying.”
“Try harder.” He let her go. “Everyone is waiting.” His gaze flicked to her left and then up and up some more. “Hey, Faine.”
“Mr. Jaansen.” Faine bowed slightly and then gave Rain a smile that told Helena the two of them were thick as thieves while planning to make Helena drink nasty-tasting tea. “Ms. Jaansen.”
Rain smiled back prettily and her dad sent Helena a raised brow.
Helena shrugged. “I don’t know. Simon’s the same way. It’s got nothing to do with me.”
Faine rumbled a laugh. “Not so. It’s got everything to do with you.”
“I can see we need to talk.” Her dad gave Faine the once-over.
“Ugh. What we need is to go to the meeting of the Full Council. Then it’s right back to the airport.”
“Can I go to your place and pack you a bag?”
Helena turned to her mom again. “Yes, please. That would be so appreciated. And can you please pack some of those spell volumes? The ones I’ve been working through are on the dresser in my bedroom. Take Evan with you.”
No one would be traveling without a guard anymore. The world had just changed and if they didn’t change with it, more people would end up dead, and it sure wasn’t going to be her mother, if Helena had any say.
“Don’t worry, I’ve gotten used to it.” Rain rolled her eyes, but squeezed Helena’s hand. “I’ll run over and be back as soon as I can.”
When she entered the room, The Gennessee, because that’s most definitely who Rebecca Gennessee was right then, stood up and began clapping.
Blushing furiously, Helena looked to the side and then behind herself.
“Oh for goodness’ sake. Helena Jaansen, you’re a hero. Stop looking around,” her father said in her ear as they moved to sit.
She waved at them to stop. “Thank you. Very much. But I didn’t do anything special.”
Rebecca gave her a very imperious look. “You stopped an explosion. How is that not anything special? I can’t stop a bomb and I’m a Full Council witch.”
“To be honest? I think many of us can do far more than we could before the Magister. So if I can deflect the energy of an explosion, imagine what a Full Council witch can do?”
Rebecca nodded, sitting down. “You make a good point. Then again, my point still stands. What you did was an act of service and heroism. You saved lives and you, my darling hunter, did it on television.”
“On television?”
Rebecca laughed, clearly delighted to relay the news. “Someone in the crowd was filming with a cell phone. When the pigs at PURITY began to accuse us of setting it up to make ourselves look better, the camera video began to flow in. Some from people who counted us as enemies until the moment you would have died to protect them.”
Helena blew out a breath. This was double edged. Good that they were seen to have saved lives. But now that the humans knew they had this sort of power, who was to say that they wouldn’t want to try to harness that power for military use or worse?
She said as much, only more diplomatically.
Rebecca sat back, her fingers steepled in front of her mouth. “You’ve done a lot of growing up since you took this job. The Helena who came on to the squad with her sister wouldn’t have seen that nuance. You’re right, of course. Which is one of my reservations about getting too close with some of these humans in government like Agent Anderson. A nice man, yes, but he doesn’t serve two masters. He’s a government man and I don’t doubt that he’d throw you in the back of a truck and take you away where you’d never see the light of day if he thought it would serve his government.”
There it was. The baldest of truths out there. And some words when spoken couldn’t be taken back.
It was no longer
“I agree. And it is my recommendation that we create a military arm of the Council of Others. We need to protect ourselves and send out patrols. We can no longer rely on the human authorities to protect us. They want to put us in camps and put GPS chips in our bodies.”
Rebecca nodded. “I will address all of Clan Gennessee, along with the Owen, who will address the Owen’s members. In that address, we will urge our witches to move into one of the armed enclaves popping up all over the West Coast. We will help as we can with expenses, but we can’t protect everyone in their own neighborhoods. We’re fortunate that a great many witches already tend to live in clusters. I’d like for you and your people to give me a concrete idea of who can be protected in the current population situation. And then how we can get those who are too far out or all alone in a part of town protected.”
“The group who runs the enclave Faine lives in down in Huntington Beach has two witches on their board. I’ll liaise with them about setting up other groups, as well as touch base with the hunter arms of different Other groups in our territory. There’s strength in numbers and shared resources will lessen the financial burden as well.”
“I wish we didn’t have to do this. But we do and I am fortunate to have such a fine staff to make it happen. Helena, I know you and Faine have to get back to Seattle for the big meeting. I’ll be joining you via video.”
“I’ll get you the information as soon as I can. I’ll start the calls now.” She nodded, standing.
“Your sister is well?”
“Yes. Shaken up. Simon had just finished construction on the house less than a year ago. Most of the furnishings and things inside were destroyed. But we weren’t. We’d been out on a run. But there was someone on the trail with a gun and silver ammo. They think they know what Simon and Faine are.”
“And they’re willing to kill. We knew this before. With Molly. With the countless Others who’ve been assaulted and killed since this mess started. And we need to be willing to defend ourselves with that same zeal. If it’s us or them, Helena, it will damn well be us.”
Helena agreed.
AFTER the meeting Faine held her up at the airfield. “I need to leave you for a few hours. I’ll see you in Seattle when you land.”
