“You have agreed upon terms of peace, both individually and between your people. This attack, on Jame and Ben, does not negate the conditions you agreed upon. Unless it is proved that either a Wolfe or a Rossi not only threatened, but also carried through with potentially life-ending violence.” His eyes focused, and he held Rossi’s gaze then Granny’s.
“There can be no war. Not until either Jame is able to testify to the events that led up to his injuries, or Ben is able to do the same.”
Ryder nodded, as if satisfied that he’d settled that problem. “In accordance to your agreements, you will both give the other what support is needed and you are capable of providing to come to a resolution of this situation. That means finding Ben. Both of you.”
I took a breath, held it.
No one told the prime vampire what to do. No one gave the alpha werewolf trotting orders.
Well, no one who wanted to keep their head attached to their spine.
“Warden,” Rossi sneered.
“What?” Myra and Jean asked at the same time.
Granny sniffed the air, as if she could smell the position Mithra had bestowed upon Ryder, and didn’t like the stink of it. “You let this go and happen?” she accused me.
“I told him not to. Said I’d take care of it. He didn’t listen.”
“Men,” Granny said.
“Right?”
“Never gonna listen.”
“Hey, now,” Ryder protested. But when all of us, including Rossi, gave him a look, he just sort of slumped and stared at his boots. “It’s not like there was another choice. You weren’t going to say yes.”
“No, I wasn’t. And don’t you think you should have taken that as a hint?”
“That you have authority issues?”
“That I’d refuse to tie myself to one deity’s skewed vision of justice? That I’d ever let one god tell me who to be, how to live? That I’d ever let a god change me like that?”
“I’m not changed.”
The silence said what we all thought about that.
Ryder scowled, then cussed softly. “I’m still myself, no matter what job or responsibilities I take on.”
“But...warden?” Jean bit her lip, and looked from Ryder to me then back to Ryder. “Do you understand what that means? What it means between you and Delaney?”
“So,” I said loudly, clapping my hands. “We need to find Ben. Now. Is there anything else we need to know before we pack this up and deal with the reporters and crime scene?”
“One thing,” Myra said quietly.
From her tone of voice I knew I wasn’t going to like it.
“The vampire hunters are dead.”
Chapter 18
Myra gave us the details that had come over the wire. Four men had rented a small boat up in Astoria. One of those men was the guy Ryder had known and spoken to at the bar. The four of them had seemed to think crossing the mouth of the Columbia River in rough swells would be a safe and good idea.
It wasn’t. The mayday was called in, but even though the Coast Guard scrambled, by the time they got there, all they found was a capsized vessel and four dead bodies.
“Could be just an accident,” Jean said.
Yeah, none of us thought that was true.
