Thomas made an angry sound. “I’m very much aware.”
“Maybe you two could clue me into why this is such a bad thing,” I snarked.
“The council has a treaty with the hunter born. They’re allowed to hunt our criminals and other species. In exchange, we don’t commit genocide,” Thomas spat.
Seeing my confusion, Liam gave me a half smile. “Ever heard of the witch trials in Europe? We, along with several other species of spooks, nearly wiped out their maternal lines as vengeance for various crimes against us. Among them—destroying an entire vampire clan.”
My lips parted as I stared at him in shock. I suppose I should have expected retaliation as brutal as that, given vampires were involved, but it was still a little hard to process.
Then again, vampires were the Old Testament type. That whole “eye for an eye” thing. Only in their case, they always exacted double the price for any pain they suffered.
“We’ve maintained a balance with them ever since,” Liam said.
Is that what they were calling it? Because to me it looked more like a hostage situation.
Still, it was hard to feel too much sympathy for hunters after my experiences with them. Maybe if they limited their prey to the true monsters of our society, those who took wanton pleasure in the death of humans, my views would be a little different.
They didn’t. They chose people like me. The low hanging fruit.
Not because of any calling, but because we didn’t have the power to fight back.
Or so they believed.
Thomas’s jaw tightened. “You know what this means.”
Liam’s nod was grave. “I do.”
“Share with the rest of the class,” I said grumpily.
“The council is preparing for a change of power.” Thomas slammed the side of his fist into the door next to him; the frame gave an ominous creek. “With this, we can see they’ve thrown their support behind Vitus Caecilius. We can’t expect any help from that quarter.”
The council and its rules were what Thomas and Liam were counting on to restrain Dominick’s behavior. Without them, it would be more difficult to defend ourselves.
Still, things weren’t at the worst-case scenario quite yet.
From the way he’d backed down in the Blue Pepper, he must be under orders not to be too blatant in his defiance of their laws. Otherwise, he would have challenged Thomas.
Then again, only an insane person would be that stupid.
He could be biding his time and waiting for the right opportunity. If so, I had a feeling his plans involved me in some way. Probably through my death.
Why else send the hunters after me?
“We know why they’re being so bold, too. Don’t we,deartháir?” A bitter laugh came from Thomas as he pinned Liam with a hard look that warned me my stalker issue was about to raise its impish little head. “When were you planning to inform me that you suspected Ahrun was following Aileen?”
Yup. There it was.
While Thomas glared, I did my best to pretend to be invisible. Unsuccessfully, I might add, as Liam arched an eyebrow at me. “You told him.”
My shrug was helpless. “Like I said, you weren’t answering your phone.”
What else was I supposed to do?
“You should have been the one to tell me,” Thomas interrupted. “I’m his son too. I deserved to know.”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t,” Liam shouted back. “We need you focused. With Dominick breathing down our necks, we are riding a very thin line. You going off on a wild goose chase wouldn’t help.”
The tension in the car was palpable as I held very still, waiting to see what happened next.
