Alston wasn’t surprised the vampire knew so much about their kind. He was old, and old beings learned things over time. It’s how they stayed alive. How they adapted. “In caseyouhave forgotten, I have fae here in the Order who are loyal to me. If I ever need more power than I already have, they are at my beck and call.”
Sincaro did not look convinced, which bothered Alston. Did he know something about the goings on within their organization that he did not? Was there division not only in the leadership but in the soldiers as well?
Sincaro held up his hand when Cain began to speak again. “I agree with Alston. This is not the right time to be challenging one another.” He looked at the elf king. “We have recognized your leadershipand vision for the Order for a long time. Maybe it’s time we sat down with the heads of each of the supernatural leaders who support the Order, and you can lay out the direction you believe our organization needs to go once this battle is over. We need to know that we all are on the same page.”
Ludcarab glanced at the three of them, his eyes staying on Alston the longest, and then finally nodded. “Of course. I would not expect anyone to follow me blindly. Though I do believe that I have proven myself in the past to be worthy of the position I hold.”
“You have,” Sincaro said. “Show us that you still deserve to be in that position.”
“Now that we have that out of the way,” Alston said, “we need to discuss the next step regarding the healer.”
“We still don’t have all of the supernaturals represented,” Sincaro pointed out.
Alston had been trying to figure out how they were going to recruit the supernaturals they’d yet to bring into their cause. He hadn’t come up with a solution he thought might actually work.
“I have taken care of part of that,” Ludcarab said, his voice full of self-indulgence.
“You’ve got a djinn?” Cain asked, eyes wide as he leaned forward with intense interest.
Alston’s brow shot up. This was quite a surprise and a game changer. The djinn had been the race he’d believed would be the most difficult to recruit.
“I do,” said Ludcarab.
“Where is he?” Alston asked, still not believing that it was possible. Of all the supernaturals, with the possible exception of the sprites, the djinn were the ones who stayed out of everything, but then he’d seen them during the battle, so apparently the djinn were more reclusive.
“Not a he,” the elf king answered. “Ashe, and she will be here soon.”
“Is she coming of her own free will?” Sincaro crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave Ludcarab a skeptical look.
Ludcarab nodded. “She is. I believe she will be very eager to help us.”
“Why?” Alston frowned.
“Because she’s in the human realm for a reason. And it doesn’t appear to be anything that has to do with the djinn that is working with the wolves.
“How do you know?” asked Cain.
“Because she would have been there fighting with him,” Ludcarab said. “Regardless, she’s on her way here. I’ve got some of your people watching her,” he said to Cain. “In the meantime, we need to see just how powerful the healer is.”
“Her mate is with her,” Alston said. “He’s not going to leave her.”
“Then use the child to make him comply,” Ludcarab said, his voice dropping low. “I realize we have to keep her mutt of a mate alive, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make sure he falls into line.”
“I don’t think we should send any wolves to retrieve her,” Alston said. “If he is more dominant, then he will be able to control them.”
“Send some fae then.” Ludcarab gave Alston a look that made the high fae want to burn the elf king to ash. “Since your kind are so powerful, they should have no problem. Right?”
“Of course,” Alston ground out through gritted teeth.
“Excellent.” Ludcarab rubbed his hands together. “Let me know when you’ve got her in the interrogation room. Sincaro, Cain.” He looked at the two vampires. “It’s time to get ourselves a sprite representative. There’s gotta be some in hiding leftover from when we were active centuries ago. We had several sprite members that should still be around, unless they’ve died since then.
“They might not have heard that the Order is operating once again,” Cain pointed out.
“Then it’s time to get the word out,” Ludcarab said.
Alston nodded. On this, he could agree. “It’s time to send out the call to our followers who’ve yet to rejoin us.”
“Exactly.” Ludcarab’s eyes lost focus, as if he were thinking. He snapped his fingers. “Use the pixies.”
