“We do this with blood oaths,” Sir Rodney demanded.
“I object on the grounds that there is no presiding judge or neutral party, thus any testimony that is inadvertently twisted could endanger the life of the witness called,” the baron sniffed. “It is
“Objection sustained,” the gavel called out and flailed itself against the bench with a loud whack.
“You always have an angle, don’t you, Vampire. Well, tonight, one night before Midsummer-the height of our Fae power-your luck has run out!” Sir Rodney stepped forward, recounting the series of events as the pen wrote furiously. “We have evidence,” he said, concluding. “The human girl who now lies injured in the human hospital- Tulane-took cell phone photos… and we have eyewitnesses who went to the three attics, and were attacked. Only, this time, they all lived to tell about it, so you do not have the shroud of death making the evidence impossible to fathom.”
“Step forward,” the crone said, curling her finger toward Sasha, Hunter, and Shogun. “Speak. One at a time.”
“You saw for yourselves what has been reported in the human news,” Sasha said, looking around the court. “Normally we cannot produce evidence, because magick fades or Vampire stealth cannot show up on any device that captures an image. But a fire that burns like the one captured on the news, you all know to be from Unseelie spells reacting with a backlash. Each spell had a dead man’s switch in it so that it would be hard as hell to defuse without blowing yourself up… And that’s what happened to one of my human teammates. She saved our lives, but hers is hanging in the balance. If nothing else comes out of this trial, I hope that someone with the specialty of unwinding bad magick will help us help Clarissa.”
Murmurs of discontent filled the courtroom, but Hunter stepped forward and that brought curious silence.
“As Shadow Wolves,” Hunter said, “we cannot lie. Lies are caught in our aura and trapped by the silver in it… The scent of burning sterling gives us away. So, I am no liar when I tell you what we encountered in the shadow lands… and how my family was barred entry to our natural right, and stripped of our gift to travel free and unfettered, by evil spells cast by the Unseelie named Kiagehul-aka Kennan MacDougall, when in Seelie Court.”
“Dual identities, leading a double life,” Sasha snarled from the sidelines.
The court grandstands were rapt, so quiet that only the sound of inhales and exhalations could be heard as Hunter gave a full accounting of all they’d endured. Shogun stepped up next and told the heart rending tale of brother being turned against brother, editing out some of the more personal issues. He described the firefight that took place at the Buchanan Bayou House and ended his argument with a challenge.
“Anyone that has the capacity for crystal-ball magick, or is a seer of the past, can go in and slowly replay the events that took place that night,” Shogun said, folding his arms over his chest. “My brother came in and pulled me and my men out of an ambush-one that was orchestrated by the Vampires through the agency of the one named Kiagehul! The Buchanans attacked, but Vampires and Kiagehul were behind it!”
Wolves turned toward the Vampire side of the courtroom and growled. Vampires hissed as the Fae erupted again.
“The Buchanan Werewolf clan must be exiled for siding with Vampires!” the North American alpha Werewolf leader shouted from the back.
Pandemonium broke out as stronger wolves leaped over the box rails and took the sparse remaining members of the Buchanan Broussard pack into custody. Once the snarling outlaws were secured, the commotion died down.
“We demand a full and fair trial of our own,” a beta said between his teeth, but quieted when he got punched in the face by the big alpha.
“Bet on it,” the alpha snarled and then returned his focus to the court proceedings at hand. “Let the lady tell the story.”
“But the worst of all offenses,” Sasha said, striding up to the Vampire box, staring past Elder Vlad and taking on Baron Geoff Montague in a bold eye-to-eye challenge, “were the human deaths. You brought this to the streets and outside of the supernatural community, where the beef should have stayed, you rat bastard!”
Order of the Dragon bouncers tried to gently nudge Sasha back to her side of the room, but fury had a stranglehold on her and Hunter was over the edge of the box, challenging the security guard, who backed down.
“You are dangerously close to a breach of court procedure, young lady,” Elder Vlad said in a menacing tone. “State your case from
“Fuck you!” Sasha shouted and pointed at the ancient Vampire.
Gasps cut through the courtroom from the Vampire box.
“Touch her, black bolt her,” Hunter said in a rumble, “and there will be blood. Lots of it. Wolves can sniff out lairs and we’ll open everybody’s up if
“You all killed innocent people back there, human and Fae alike!” Sasha said, her voice trembling with rage. “That matters!”
Baron Geoff was on his feet. “You are out of order, and after the blood you let at my estate and at my establishments,
“That’s a lie,” Sasha said, pointing at the baron with a hard snap. “There were Vampires in the conflict!”
“Anticipating a hostile affront to our peaceful way of life!” the baron spat.
“Tonight, you involved innocent people who didn’t have anything to do with it,” Sasha shouted. “Pedestrians, parents, who knows-people’s sons and daughters who were just out to shop, or eat, or go to work, or go grab a beer, and they’re dead!
“Oh, to be sure this is not over,
“What?” Hunter shouted, lunging, but was caught by Shogun and two of his men.
“And are we not getting away from the true point, which is always the Vampire diversionary tactic?” Sir Rodney called out. “You, Baron Geoff Montague, commissioned a member of the Unseelie Court, one Kiagehul, to report on the progress of black magick spells he cast against my castle-thereby partially financing this treason against the Seelie, which is aiding and abetting a person committing known treason, thus making you an accomplice, and therefore inadvertently declaring war on the House of Clerk and all members of the Seelie Court that fall under my protection… including the Wolf Federations, thus specifically declaring war with the Southeast Asian Werewolf Clan and the North American Shadow Wolf Clan… By harming their members, the human population, you have by extension also declared war against members of the US military!”
“Monitoring the activities of one’s enemies is not the same as an attack!” the baron shouted, looking around. “I admit, we have been watching you and will continue to do so for this very reason… but we had no hand in the dark magick. That is provable-we have ways to draw a confession from the prisoner that are time-tested.”
“I don’t care what you say. On the way to court, you tried to bait us out of the protection of Forte Shannon of Inverness so that we would release the Unseelie prisoner, and you ambushed our evacuation attempts. We knew you’d try something, so we had to be sure that innocent Seelie were out of harm’s way-we just didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to butcher innocent humans and throw them through Aurelia’s Ale Alley’s front window as bait,” Sasha shouted, veins of outrage standing in her neck. “Humans, Seelie, wolves, human authorities, everyone got caught in the crossfire!”
“That is a lie!” the baron shouted, walking over to the book. “Strike me, draw the blood and you will see that this time, she-wolf, you have erred and it will cost you dearly.”
He produced his wrist and the pen struck it, causing thick, black blood to ooze from the slashed vein. When his testimony took, the court erupted again and the crone ran forward waving her hands, shouting over the gavel. Sasha and Hunter glanced at each other and then toward Sir Rodney and Shogun. This was not good. The baron gave Sasha a smug nod and returned to his box.
“Enough, enough-there are so many capital offenses here that we must call the accused! Bring the prisoner
