I pushed off Liam’s lap, sitting straight in the seat next to him. “What are you even doing here anyway? I thought you had a challenge to meet?”
“You can thank your harpy for that,” Thomas informed me. “When she saw hunters closing in on the part of the city where you were heading, she sent someone to warn me. I appointed a proxy to fight for me.”
“Bold move,” I said, a little impressed.
“The same one Dominick made.” Thomas glanced at Liam. “Nathan acquitted himself well from what I hear.”
Liam nodded as we turned onto the street of the mansion. The gate was already open. Someone had ripped it off its hinges and flung one side into the topiary garden and the other into the driveway.
“I guess that answers the question of if they came in peace,” I muttered.
“The council is rarely peaceful.” Thomas shoved out of the car as the rest of the convoy moved into the driveway. He stalked up the steps of the mansion.
“No rest for the wicked,” Liam said, offering me his hand to help me out.
I took it, forcing strength into my legs as he led me up the steps behind Thomas. Connor caught up to us as we reached the door. I didn’t need to ask to know what was expected of me. A united front. That’s what we needed to show the council.
I released a shaky breath as we reached the ballroom. Liam dropped my hand with a reassuring gaze before taking the step that would place him beside Thomas.
“Don’t let them know you’re scared,” Connor whispered in a voice so low I could barely pick up the words.
Got it. Treat the council members like feral dogs that might attack at the slightest trace of fear. Sounded easy enough.
My sire swept into the ballroom. The rest of us followed after him in a show of force that I’m sure looked impressive. Eric and Anton were right behind Connor and me. The vampires Thomas had brought with him as reinforcements were last in line, bringing up the rear.
Nathan was waiting for us at the end of the room. A bloody mound of clothing lay at his feet. It took a moment to understand that the “mound” was actually a vampire that wasn’t moving.
“I take it you won,” Liam said.
“Did you ever think I wouldn’t?” Nathan saluted Thomas and Liam.
The Patriarch of Clan Glaise and the Matriarch of Clan Davinish stood at his back in support. Those vampires loyal to them were arranged behind them.
An invisible divide lay between them and the group I suspected were the traitors Makoto and Thomas had identified. There were more of them than I’d thought. About two fifths of the vampires in the city. All from clans that had assisted Dominick’s side.
I wondered how they’d felt when his proxy arrived to fight in his stead. Fear? Or when they saw Nathan step up in Thomas’s place, were they overjoyed?
“I see my guests have already arrived,” Thomas said, looking to the small cluster of vampires standing separate from the other two groups.
Power wafted off them. Unmistakable even from this far away.
I recognized a few of them as those who’d presided over Thomas’s ascent to Master of the City.
Jabari was a tall man with piercing amber eyes and skin the color of deepest night. Scars marred the line of his jaw, making him look sinister. The woman next to him, Sophia, was the shortest in their group. She’d been turned as a teenager, her breasts underdeveloped and her face heartbreakingly young.
Two women with the same name in one room. This wasn’t going to get confusing or anything, I thought, looking from the council member to Clan Davinish’s Matriarch who was also named Sofia. Just with a different spelling.
The last member that was familiar to me was a man by the name of Tse. He was my height, with sharp cheekbones that made his features attractive. He had a suave sophistication that only Thomas came close to matching.
The other two were new to me. A woman with long, glossy black hair and delicate makeup. She looked to be from India or somewhere in the vicinity. Her expression held a remoteness similar to what I’d seen in Ahrun’s when he was watching the battle. As if we were nothing more than insects in front of her.
The last man had blond hair that was as long as the woman’s. His square jaw and harsh features gave his face a masculine edge. His aquiline nose reminded me of some of the Roman busts I’d seen in a museum once.
Vitus, I presumed. He gave off the kind of arrogant overconfidence I’d expect in Dominick’s master. He stood a little in front of the other four, reinforcing the impression that he was in charge.
The three vampires who’d “invited” Thomas home stood at the council’s back, along with a handful of others dressed in the same fashion. Enforcers, like Liam and his group, I was guessing.
Their expressions gave nothing away as we approached.
