“No. But she’s never broken a contract. She has areputation to uphold and a contract for five years. Protecting the Dark Queen, keeping you alive, means she can offer her services to anyone at any price she wants when her contract is over. And Quesnel lives at HQ. If Quint is capable of loving anyone, it’s him. They play chess and cards, and to all appearances, she dotes on him.”
“Mmm. Send Quint and food up in about fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, I’ll try to shift into half-form. And send someone back to the house for my black combat boots. And make sure that Quesnel knows he can order anything he wants for his cellars. Let’s keep him happy.”
“Covering your bases.” Eli touched his headset and called for food, Quint, and my weapons as he went out the door, closing it behind him. I stripped and removed the few weapons I had planned to carry. I’d want everything I had for this to work.
***
Nearly an hour later, I looked in the slim mirror at my half-form in uniform. This armor took badassery to entirely new heights. The red-gripped nine-mils in the black shoulder holster were reminders of blood. The gold on the armor matched the gold gorget. And the crown of silver stakes would glimmer perfectly above the gold ofle breloque.
Quint handed me a headset and said, “I approve. Your guests have arrived. The duello will take place at midnight.”
I put on the headset and adjusted the weapons. Quint made more adjustments until everything was prefect.
“When will Shaun MacLaughlinn arrive?”
“Oddly, he will not be present.”
I looked across the room, not really seeing it. Shaun not coming made no sense. This whole duello had been orchestrated by him to take over my clan and my city. Of course, the original backstabbing plan had included Ka, Monique, and Granny as part of the attack at HQ and at my house, and maybe an attack during the Sangre Duello, in total violation of parley agreements. Maybe Shaun was backpedaling to Plan B. I tapped the headset to the private channel and said, “Alex. Eli. Shaun MacLaughlinn isn’t coming?”
“Negative,” they both said. Eli added, “Odds are he’ll show up late and make a scene, but since no one has spotted him in NOLA in the last few nights, we aren’t taking chances.”
Meaning that Shaun might have lured us here and kept us busy while he attacked us on other fronts. It was a very vampy thing to do. “Precautions?”
“Your people are as safe as we can make them. Ayatas is working in a semiofficial PsyLED capacity with the Roberes, going over the legal papers, and dealing with the governor and the local law enforcement. Earlier today, I sent a team to gather the Everharts into a safehouse and provide protection in the mountains. Liz assures me they have ahedge of thornsup around their location and that Shaddock has guards around the perimeter. All security features are up and running at the inn and grounds, and a team is covering it. HQ is locked down with arcenciels patrolling. They seem to be having fun tossing a rotting head in the backyard like a ball game. We have a team patrolling the block around the witches’ null prison. All the clan leaders have their lairs heavily guarded. I also sent a squad to the vamp cemetery. The excavation team found some interesting amulets, and they needed protection getting them back to HQ. Our house is under lockdown.”
As he talked, I broke out into a cold sweat. That was a lot of places and people who were depending on me to survive the night and kill the Big Bad. But so far, Shaun MacLaughlinn hadn’t shown up to his own challenge. He was doing something else, and my people had already figured that out, but they were stretched thin. My friends were in danger again. “Okay. Thanks.”
Eli said, “Dovic has arrived. His people are inspecting the arena.”
The arena was the main room at the bottom of the stairs. The furniture had been moved against the walls, and a rubberized fighting mat had already been in place when I took the house tour. I also remembered a huge TV screen on one wall. Ugly thing. Big enough to watch films on.
“How many?”
“Twelve, including Dovic. The highest-ranking member of the clan currently on-site appears to be a three-hundred-year-old Russian Naturaleza female named Zariyah. She’s wearing a silver earring, the clip-on kind. Thema is staring at her and smiling. If vamps could sweat, Zariyah would be sweating bullets. But the parley was for twenty-four on each side, so I’m not ruling anything out.”
“The second string arrived first,” I said.
“Except for Dovic. Which means the first string is busy elsewhere or waiting to make an entrance. We have lookouts on the roof and two drones flying, one directly overhead and another one in a wider circle that covers the downtown side of the Garden District. There are spotters at each hotel where our uninvited guests are staying, and we have shooters for three blocks around the clan home.”
“Mr.Prepared.”
“Always, babe.”
“When do you want me to make an entrance?”
“Why don’t you be fashionably late. I’ll send up tea and a laptop for you to watch the security cameras.”
I brightened. “Ducky. And something else to eat? I finished off the burgers, so maybe cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches?”
“You don’t eatcucumbersandwiches,” Eli said distinctly.
“I do tonight. And though I needed the burgers to shift into half-form, I’m pretty tired of protein.”
Eli’s silence was telling. Because I was never tired of protein.
***
Tea and cucumber sandwiches were the reason I was sitting in my swanky bedroom at Yellowrock Clan Home when Shaun MacLaughlinn and his small army showed up.
