Grim Street.
Reaper Row.
Black Cloak Circle.
Buttkicker Boulevard.
“I assume the vampire came back,” Midas said, redirecting our conversation.
“Yes.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “He was waiting for me outside the next night when I got off work. He told me I could cooperate, or I could be made to cooperate. I blew him off.” Her voice hitched then. “I told him it was the policy of our office not to negotiate with…” She clamped a hand over her mouth, but her sobs broke free. “I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize.” I hopped up, grabbed her a water from the kitchen, and moistened a dishcloth for her. “Here.” I rubbed her shoulder while she wiped her face. “I would have done the same thing.”
“I’m not the POP. I have no office. I don’t know what came over me, why I said what I did.”
“Habit,” I answered for her. “Procedure is drummed into our heads for years before we become official. Stress and his previous mention of your appointment triggered a preprogrammed response. That’s not your fault. It’s reflex.”
From what I had seen, potentates didn’t retire. Not really. Not forever. Idleness wasn’t in our natures.
Even Linus was trading Atlanta for Savannah. Not in any official capacity, but as a wingman for his wife.
“I drove straight home. I could tell something was wrong. The lights were off. All of them. Sean always leaves one on for me.” She blew her nose. “I ran inside and searched for my family. They were gone. All of them.” Her sorrow transformed into fury. “A vampire was waiting for me in the master bedroom with my husband’s pelt in his hands.”
After trading her new tissues for her used ones, I prompted her. “What did the vampire want?”
“He explained what was expected of me. That I had to go to Atlanta, pretend nothing was wrong, and enter the gauntlet for consideration as the POA.” She drew taller. “He said if I won the appointment, my family would be safely returned to me.”
Take Neely to force me out. Take her family to force Sue in. Problem solved. All neat and tidy.
“They were lying,” Midas said with certainty. “They wouldn’t give up leverage to control their puppet.”
Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
Under the circumstances, I couldn’t blame her knee-jerk reaction. “You came to us for help.”
Our meeting outside the Faraday was her cry for help. She had tried. For them, she had done her best.
Fueled by his fidgeting, Midas got to his feet. “Did the vampires give you any way to contact them?”
“No.” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “They told me they would be in touch.”
Cold comfort, but that was more reassurance than they had given us with Neely.
“Can I…?” Her throat bobbed. “What about my family?”
Rather than answer, I dialed Bishop. “Hey, I’ve got Sue here. She’s asking for a status update.”
“Hello, Sue.” She might have missed the edge of ice in his voice, but I got chills. “We located your family in an oxygenated bubble in Lake Lanier. We’ve requested assistance from a tactical witch coven to extract them. There’s a fail-safe on the ward keeping out the water. Trip it, and the pocket floods. It’s a truly nasty piece of work that will require time to finesse.”
“Dear Goddess.” Sue sank to her knees where she stood. “What can I do?”
“Put on a brave face. Train. Act like everything is fine.” I crossed to her. “We can’t tip them off we’re on to them without putting your family—” and Neely, “—in greater danger.”
The puffiness in her face resembled Midas’s earlier swelling. “Can they tell what you’re doing?”
“The coven has already decommissioned three trip wires,” Bishop told her. “They’ll be as careful as they can be, but the work is top-notch. There’s a good chance they’ll miss a trigger and set off a chain reaction that alerts the black witches, or their employer, to their presence. That’s why the coven have their aquatic rescue team on standby.”
Oh, yeah. He was hot under the collar. Otherwise, he would have fed her that information with a buffer.
I was torn on how to react to the turmoil Sue’s arrival had stirred within the city and within the OPA. For the most part, I was reduced to a puddle of mush at the unflinching support shown for me. Part of that was earned, was mine, but Linus had paved the way for me. He endorsed me, supported me, and stood by my decisions. His transference of trust got my foot in the door with the public, so to speak.
But I worried that, in a city full of predators, a person might let that loyalty tip them too far in the wrong direction. Yet another reason for having the OPA track Sue’s every move. For her own safety.
I didn’t want my reign to begin in blood. I wanted a peaceful transference of power.
But I learned long ago we didn’t always get what we wanted in life.
“You’ve laid the groundwork.” I cupped her elbows and helped her rise. “You covered your tracks well.” I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I had unraveling her trail without my team, not within the time allotted. “You only have to hold it together a little longer.”
“I was surprised when Linus Lawson appointed you as his apprentice. You’re Low Society, right?”
Behind me, Midas flinched, his hackles rising at the perceived slight.
“I didn’t mean…” Her face mottled with embarrassment. “I’ve never met a Low Society necromancer with as much magic as you. I’m impressed.” She nodded to herself, as if confirming a suspicion. “I thought the wraith must be for protection, but it’s an amplifier for your power.”
“Yes.”
There was no other answer I could share that wouldn’t give away too much. Even if it stung to hear she thought a necromancer of my station could only hold this position with help from a bonded wraith to act as my bodyguard. The
