I snorted. “What does that mean, Pops? Sit in a vampire prison until the media circus blows over? That won’t solve shit. And you and I know what’s happening outside these gates won’t end.”
He adjusted the dagger strapped to his leg. “I want you to start thinking of a place to hide.”
I folded my arms over my chest, tucking my hands underneath my armpits and gritting my teeth. “Sounds to me like the council has decided my fate.”
He released a loud sigh. “Nothing has been decided. I know you and Hawk weren’t intentionally complicit that day at the hospital. It’s hard to keep your vampire side hidden when your emotions take over. The other elders know that too. But unfortunately, with your face appearing on national television for the last few months and now that you’re Adam’s weapon to instill fear in humans, the council is nervous. They feel they need to show our human government contacts, including the Secretary of the Navy, that we are, like I said, dealing with our own.”
I laughed erratically. “How? Stone me to death in the town square?”Oh, fuck no.The movie screen started swaying back and forth, my anger increasing with each breath I took.
My father came over to me. “Sam, I won’t let them do that or anything else to harm you. Do you understand me?” We locked eyes. “I will die before I let the council do anything of the sort.” The conviction in his tone stopped my heart from banging against my ribs.
Still, as powerful as he was, he couldn’t exactly take on the guardian force, and neither could I, for that matter.
I shoved my hands through my hair, on the verge of losing my shit. “The guardians will hunt me down. How will you stop them?”
Fuck! We had a damn police force in every state in the country, including scouts who helped police vampires. A special group of talented guardians with two elemental abilities were handpicked to serve the council. Fighting one or two at a time would be easy, but a group of them might be a challenge.
The electrical charge I’d emitted that morning to stop Carly was child’s play. When the guardians pooled that energy together as a team, a vampire didn’t stand a chance. Or their fire element would certainly light up my ass like a bonfire.
A corner of his mouth turned upward. “I have something up my sleeve. I can’t talk about it right now. But again, pack your go bag.”
My brow creased. “Have you been planning a coup d'état before now?” My dad had always been predictable. Something went wrong, he flew off the handle. Anyone who broke the law, punish them. Follow orders. Bow down to the rule of the vampire law. Hell, my old man had probably written the laws that governed our kind.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I always have a backup plan, son. But since the war with Edmund Rain, the elders have refused to see that times have changed. They’ve been dead set on keeping to old, antiquated rules that worked a hundred or even fifty years ago. We need to evolve. I’m not saying I saw Adam Emery coming, but after what we’d gone through with Edmund Rain, it was only a matter of time before another Edmund surfaced.”
Those of us who had fought during that war knew we would face something similar in the future, which was one of the reasons we kept Abbey hidden. A lot of good that had done, since my uncle Patrick’s notes and genetic data had been sent to Adam Emery.
I swallowed the dryness in my throat. “Are you saying we should come out of the shadows?”
“Frankly, yes.”
My eyes bugged out. “You’re the last person I expected to hear that from.”
He rolled back his shoulders. “Look, son. More and more humans have been learning of our kind even before Adam’s news conference. But how we present ourselves to the world will be critical. First, though, we can’t have Adam on national television, scaring people about how evil we are. People fear what they don’t know. We need to take away their fear, which means Adam needs to be stopped any way possible, particularly before too many lives are lost through experiments. Once he’s out of the picture, maybe then the hysteria will die down enough for us to discuss a path forward with the human government and not just the small group of humans who know the good we do.”
I squeezed my temples and sat down, feeling like I was living in an alternate universe. In a way, I was. In a matter of hours, the landscape had changed drastically.
“You’re more than sure we’re ready to explain who we are to humans?” I had to ask one more time just to be sure I was hearing him correctly.
He eased into the chair next to me. “I never said we’re ready. But yes, I am certain. I’m also sure of your role in ending Intech, which I will drive into the council. It would be nice to have them in my court. The last thing we need is division among our kind.”
If my dead grandfather’s message to him were true, then he was right about my role. “Did you get another message in one of your dreams?”
“In a way, yes. Remember I told you about the panther. Well, I’ve had a few more dreams of him in the last month. He’s your grandfather’s spirit animal, which he detailed in his dream journal. Anyway, there are many opposing forces we’re up against, and the panther told me to make sure Layla is ready. She’ll also play an important part. What that is, I don’t know. We’re facing mankind, Intech, the Aberdeens, and Roman Brown. And if the tide doesn’t turn with me, then we might be fighting our own.”
My brain was overloaded, my thoughts muddled, but one thing stood out like a beacon calling me home.
“The fuck? Layla?” The buzzing in my ears sounded like a colony of bees despite my plan to whip her into shape.
I’d always envisioned us fighting alongside each other. I shouldn’t feel like someone had just ripped out my guts. Yet the pain was real and made me sweat. I didn’t want her caught up in battles and wars. But everyone had a role to play. It was more important than ever to ensure Layla was prepared.
“While I deal with the council, Webb and Tripp will begin working on a black-ops strategy to figure out how we take out Adam. Every move on our part needs to be thought out with precision since Adam has the public’s attention. We can’t for one second allow the humans to assume the vampire military is behind anything that happens to him. And if we do come out of the shadows, we can’t look like the predators or monsters that humans believe us to be.”
I leaned my forearms on my thighs and picked at a hangnail. “What are your plans for Fred Emery?”
He adjusted the watch on his wrist. “To be determined. The council will be furious I didn’t release him. I was outvoted on that one.”
“There are people carrying signs outside our gates that say, Free Layla. If the council has any ideas of handing her over, they can go fuck themselves. Also, I’m moving her and the babies to Maine as soon as Doc says she can travel.”
