With my covers wrapped around me all the way up to my head, I settled in to brood over what I’d learned from Liam during the day. If what Connor told me about Dominick leaving him to Niamh’s mercy hadn’t already made me hate the man, finding out he was here to orchestrate our deaths would have finished the job.
It was too bad we couldn’t just kill him.
When I’d suggested as much to Liam, he’d made it clear that sending Dominick to his eternal sleep would bring down retribution on all our heads from his sire. Unless there was clear evidence of a crime committed on his part, he was untouchable.
Just what we all needed. A vampire who didn’t answer to anyone but his very powerful sire. Another vampire who wanted us all dead.
It was enough to make me want to stay in this bed for the next month or so.
Too bad I’d never been the type to run from my problems.
Liam never said it, but I could read between the lines. I was probably first on the list of targets. As the weakest member of our line, I made the perfect prey. Take me out and it would deal a major blow to Thomas’s power base.
A clever tactician would claim that his inability to protect his yearling made him an incompetent leader. They could use it to try to oust him from power.
Of course, it wouldn’t work, but they probably didn’t realize that.
Vampires weren’t a straight forward lot. They liked to work in shades of gray. Sometimes those shades hid big ass razor blades that shredded the weaker among us.
Being the weakling in question, I would prefer not to lose my head to their political bullshit.
Not just because I was rather attached to my life either. Vampires felt things more deeply than humans. My death would have a long-lasting effect on those closest to me.
While I didn’t think it would weaken Thomas and Liam enough to give someone an opportunity to kill them, it could do other things. Horrible things.
Like destroy Liam’s ironclad control.
My loss could tip him into a very dark place. He’d cut a swathe of death and destruction through this world in his pursuit of vengeance.
I had no doubt he’d get it too.
Maybe that’s what Vitus wanted. An out-of-control Liam who he could claim suffered from the same illness as Liam’s sire.
As a council member, it wouldn’t be hard to issue a death warrant. At that point Thomas would be drawn into the situation. Because there was no way he’d stand by and let his brother be hunted down like a dog.
It was why I’d have to do something I’d never been great at. Keep my head down and try not to rock the boat.
With a frown, I rolled onto my side to touch the place where Liam had rested during the day. The sheets were cold. The only sign of his presence the faint rumple in the covers and a crease in his pillow.
Things had gotten complicated. I hated complicated almost as much as I did tardiness.
My phone buzzed while I was still lost in my thoughts. I snagged it from the bed stand and glanced at the screen to find a reminder from my calendar.
“Hoover Reservoir. Naiad job.”
Damn it. I’d forgotten I had an appointment today.
There was no canceling it either. I needed the business. Word of mouth was the most important thing at the beginning stages of developing a business. That meant meeting expectations. Even with all the baddies currently in town.
I pushed up to sitting as I flipped the covers off my body. With a sense of regret over leaving the comfort of my bed, I swung my feet to the floor and stood to stretch.
I was in the middle of reaching over my head and to the side when a clattering sound came from one of the return vents. I paused, looking up and listening.
A second later there was a puffing sound as if something soft had exploded.
Inara’s screech came as something collided with the sides of the vent. “Damn it! What are these traps doing here?”
Thomas—1. Pixies—0.
