“First off,” he said, “we have to arrive at eleven thirty, so it’s just shy of clichéd. Secondly, I need to set down some ground rules for tonight.”
“All right. Shoot.”
“You do not leave my side. We will be seated together, but you do not leave your chair for any reason. You will read any vampire’s thoughts that are easily accessible, but you will not speak until we are safely back in the plane. If anything happens to me, I have a…friend who will get you out.”
It was taking a lot of effort to keep a straight face, and I must have misunderstood that last part. “Those are a lot of rules, Forge. You know how I feel about that.”
That self-satisfied, smug look never left his face. “Your eyebrow is twitching, Selena.”
I locked down my errant eyebrow. “Plus, that’s too many rules for just one night. I thought this might be fun, but you’re making it sound more like a job than an adventure.”
I wasn’t prepared for the way his face tightened up. I seemed to have a habit of pissing him of, especially when I wasn’t even trying.
“This is not a lark, Selena. What I’m asking you to do…” His voice trailed off before he looked away. He raked his hand through his hair before he continued, “Tonight will be dangerous, even more so after you crossed paths with Dobson. The truth is, I shouldn’t have involved you in my affairs, but I was…desperate.”
I didn’t like where this conversation was going. Forge sounded almost ominous. And the fact he’d allowed the word desperate to slip out meant that maybe this was.
“What are you not telling me? I mean, I know what I’m supposed to do. But I never asked why.”
“When there is a serious clan matter to decide, the twenty most powerful families gather in Edinburgh, Scotland. We call it Assembly—think of it as judge, jury and executioner, all around one table. They decide only the most serious cases.”
“Why are we going to this particular meeting?” My feeling of vague disquiet began to grow, especially when Forge avoided my eyes completely.
“The Assembly only tries cases that deserve the death penalty.”
“You are one of the judges?” Please, please tell me he’s one of the good guys…good vampires. Please don’t let me have made a giant mistake.
“I’m afraid not, Selena. I’m the one on trial.”
“You didn’t think to mention that right off the bat?” I was waffling between fear and anger, all while trying to keep my face expressionless, because, you know—Scotland trip. If only my dream vacation didn’t involve a meeting with the deadly vampires who wanted to kill Forge.
“Actually,” I said, finally settling on anger, “Scotland is quickly losing its cachet for me. Why didn’t you tell me this from the very beginning?”
“Would you have agreed to it? Even to save your company?”
I thought about it. “Yes. I would have. Because even though it makes this adventure a little less…attractive, I owe you, and we Langstons—”
“Pay our debts. Yes, I’ve heard that somewhere before,” Forge responded quietly, but the jab lacked the usual smugness. He drummed his fingers on the arm of his seat, involved in some internal debate before he shook his head. “You wouldn’t have come, Selena. You would have heard the truth and walked away. I wouldn’t have blamed you, not one bit. This meeting of the clan has been a long time coming. When I saw what you could do, I looked at you like my last chance.”
“How am I supposed to help you, anyways? It’s not like… Did you do what they think you did?” I asked quickly. God, I didn’t even want to know. “I don’t see how knowing everyone’s thoughts will help you.”
“I killed another vampire—it was a long time ago, and it wasn’t a mistake; it was revenge. I had grounds for killing him. Unfortunately, he was the Elder’s offspring.”
“Okay, maybe we should have done a little more work in the terminology department. What’s the difference between you and an Elder?” I nodded to Forge’s watch. “How much time do we have?” I felt like I was heading to finals and didn’t even know what classes I’d enrolled in.
“Five hours, and it’s not complicated, Selena. All you need to do—”
“Explain things to me, or I won’t step off this plane. I don’t operate on this whole shoot from the hip approach. I prefer to have a solid plan before going in.”
“How well do these solid plans of your usually work out?”
“Not well, but I’m not walking in there blind, either. Terminology lesson, Forge.” Jeez, mind-reading vampires I’d signed up for, but this? The odds were beginning to look really, really bad.
“An Elder is a vampire who is older and more powerful than any other. At any one time, there is only one in existence, and, for our kind, his word is law.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good person to cross. I assume you had a really good reason for killing his offspring?”
“He killed Mara, my Maker. I killed him in return.”
A shadow went over Forge’s face when he mentioned Mara’s name, and then I knew we were opening up a serious can of worms. While I got all caught up in who Mara had been to Forge—complete with a stab of jealousy—I managed, “Huh. That seems like a pretty good reason.”
Vengeance usually ranked pretty high on the payback list. Humans took it seriously, and I’d just bet vampires took it to heart.
Or so I assumed.
13
Reluctantly, I cherry-picked through the circumstances that brought us to Scotland. There was no way I’d tell Selena everything. Hiding one’s worst inclinations from those who meant—were beginning to mean—something to them was practically the only human thing I’d carried over to this life.
Never mind Mara and I had been lovers.
Never mind the fact the Elder had
