The first two vehicles were shiny black. They slowed, then stopped, and two vamps stepped off the snowmobiles at the same moment, each moving as if dismounting from a warhorse. The riders hadn’t bothered with coats, because some vamps don’t care if it’s cold or if they look human, and these two were that sort: African, tall, with chiseled bodies and features, carrying themselves with an assured arrogance that demonstrated their power. They were putting on a show of strength. They succeeded. The snow falling on their dark skin and black clothing wasn’tmelting, and though I knew vamps were cold-blooded, it was always disconcerting to see the proof. These two were powerful; they would be formidable opponents if I had to prove myself to them. I could smell the vamp scents of ginger, fresh-cut grass, and faintly of jasmine. One was male and one was female and I didn’t know them.
Beast peered out through our eyes and snarled with my mouth. A challenge.
Hearing the sound, the two vamps paused, taking in my pelt, my bipedal stance, my nonhuman body shape, my brightly glowing yellow-gold eyes, and the man with guns standing at my side.
Eli nodded to them, a single jut of his head. “The Dark Queen welcomes you,” he called out. I just watched. The two didn’t relax. But they didn’t run or attack. Good so far.
Behind the vamps, six more snowmobiles emerged from the uphill curve of the drive, moving at slower speeds into the open land of the front entrance, toward the parking area. The vehicles were each painted in dazzling shades, from red to mustard yellow to a vibrant blue with flames painted on the sides, and they carried heavily clad humans, riding double. All six snowmobiles pulled sleds with hard covers, likely full of supplies and luggage.
Eli stepped in front of me and leveled his toy at them. He didn’t know the two vamps in front and so he carried an Uzi capable of taking them all down in a hail of bullets. If it didn’t jam and misfire. Miniguns were apt to jam at the worst possible moment, but Eli carried plenty of weapons if that happened. He was clearly worried about what we couldn’t see on the sleds. “The sealed trailer with windows is a Cat Cutter,” he murmured. “Cutters are sleds that carry people. Could be an ambush from Shaddock or factions from his people.”
Twelve humans. Enough for four vamps. They had two vamps and a cutter. We had Shiloh, so who was the fourth vamp?
Blowing a miasma of exhaust, the vehicles stopped in a ring around the front entrance and the engines wentdead; a waiting silence fell on the property. One of the sleds creaked, the sound sharp after the roar. The two vamps turned and faced the sleds, standing at military parade rest, their positions managing to keep Eli and me in their vision.
On the biggest sled, the one I assumed was the cutter, a bird-wing-type hatch rose into the air. Eli didn’t tense, so much as flow, toward the movement. The two unknown vamps flowed too, and drew weapons, pointed at us.
Ambush,Beast thought.
From the cutter, long legs moved like spider legs, feet sinking into the deep snow. Lincoln Shaddock himself emerged. Before anyone started bleeding, I called out, “The Dark Queen welcomes Lincoln Shaddock, Master of the City of Asheville. We didn’t know you were coming, my friend.”
Eli didn’t relax, indicating that he wasn’t convinced Shaddock’s appearance was a good thing.
“Jane Yellowrock,” Shaddock called back. His voice was rough and soothing at once, just as I remembered it. “Or should I say, my Dark Queen.” He bowed deeply before he took the front steps two at a time, leaving his human bodyguards and the new vamps behind.
I caught his scent and put out a hand to welcome him.
“Let me see you, girl,” he said. He took my hand and turned me around in an unexpected dance twirl, scrutinizing me. “I assumed they were joshing me about you being half-cat, but darned if they weren’t speaking the truth. I wouldn’t have recognized you without them yaller eyes,” he said in his hill-country vernacular. “I like the look.”
The vamps and Eli stood down at the dance move, their weapons smoothly disappearing. Even if I had never seen a vampire before I’d have known what they were. More important, both wore silver studs in their ears. Vamps were allergic to silver. The silver was a calling card that said the two were very,verypowerful and a lot older than I had thought. They might not have a city of their own right now, but they were masters.Strangers.
Dangerous,Beast thought. “You brought food,” I said.“I can tell by the smoked-meat scent on the air. With this crowd, we’ll need it.” Shaddock owned and was the chief chef in his own BBQ joint in downtown Asheville. Best smoked foodever. I gestured to the door and continued politely. “The forecast suggests we’ll have a few days before the snow starts again, but getting to the store will be difficult.”
Shaddock gave me another bow, very slight, something that might have been common in his human time, and stepped to the side. I entered the inn and he followed. “You’ve learned Mithran manners,” he said more softly. “Can’t say it makes me happy, but if they avert another war, it’ll be worth hearing you talk like one of us. And yes. We have a whole cow, half of it ready to serve. The other half is raw for any weres or skinwalker beasts—” He stopped and stared at my teeth as his people began to bring in supplies and his vamp security pair filed in behind and began to scope out the place. “You eat cooked or raw in that form? And how the blue blazes do you talk with fangs?”
“Cooked. And the same way you do whenyourfangs snap down, you old fanghead,” I grumbled.
“There’s the Jane Yellowrock I know,” he said with a human-style grin. “Rude, crude, and delightfully socially unacceptable. Makes me feel right at home.” He turned and called, “Kojo. Thema. Come and greet your queen.”
The two dark-skinned vampires flowed across the open area and stopped in the foyer, in front of Lincoln. I took them in as they moved, and tensed. “We do not bow toyou,” the man said to Shaddock in liquid syllables.
Kojo’s accent was vaguely foreign: not Cajun, Spanish, Latin, or Leo’s old-fashioned French cadence, not the more modern version of the language. This was something flowing and ancient with swift and clear vowel sounds, curling like wavelets capping on a lake, brushed by an approaching summer storm. Maybe an African intonation. His tone slipped into something sarcastic and insulting as he looked me over. “Therefore, why should we bow toher?”
In an instant, Shaddock moved, a strange poppingsound of speed and displaced air. Kojo was flat on the floor, a stake in his belly, paralyzing him.
Ooookay.
I didn’t react. Eli did. The sound of multiple weaponsschnickingechoed in the space. The entire front area went dead silent. Eli was aiming two weapons, one at Kojo, one at Thema.Battle wariness.
Shaddock had taken Kojo down. Thema was still standing, but she slid slowly to the floor. Shaddock had thrown a stake and hit the female vamp in the belly at the same time he took down Kojo. He had been expecting trouble. Anddang, the MOC was fast. Shaddock also had excellent control. His fangs were fully extended, yet his eyes weren’t vamped out.
“Kojo and Thema.” Shaddock’s fangsschnickedback into the roof of his mouth. He indicated the man and woman in turn. “They wereton-tigiin Mali. Lost their hunting grounds and their clan around 1350. They’ve been traveling for the last few centuries, seeing the world.”
With my half-formed ears, I heard keys clicking and knew Alex was searching forton-tigi. “Mali?” I asked as my partner holstered one weapon, pulled the stake from Thema’s belly, and aimed the remaining semiautomatic weapon at her head. Her fingers formed a fist, but she lay still. To Shaddock I said, “If they’re working for you, they don’t seem very reliable.”
“We have sworn to kill the Makers,” Thema said. “Anyone who fights our enemy is our ally. But you are weak and the smell of sickness is on the air.”
“The Dark Queen,” Eli said quietly, “killed Joseph Santana, also known as Joses Bar-Judas and Yosace Bar-Ioudas, the elder of the Sons of Darkness, and fed his body to the white werewolf.”
