Before I can argue any more, he turns on his heel and heads off down the street. His pace is slow, but determined. And while any of us could easily catch him up, we just watch him go until he heads down an alley and disappears from our sight.
“Well,” Roscoe says. “I’m pretty sure I’ve added something new to my nightmares. Turning into a living statue, trapped inside my body.”
20
Roscoe
Another day, another incredibly dull meeting with the Archarcan council. It’s been a couple of weeks since the last one, a week since we met up with Ember downtown and he told us the vamps are turning people into living statues across the city.
It’s creepy as fuck. I thought zombies were bad, but this is a different kind of horrible. Instead of fearing our limbs are going to be torn off by rabid monsters, there’s now the low-level fear of getting frozen inside your own body. Alive but not living.
Urgh. They’re a bunch of sick fucks, seriously.
Despite this, the Archarcans refuse to listen or take action. Today, they’re talking about licensing for Familiars and I’m staring at my overly baggy sleeves, fighting the urge to play with one of my trick coins. It’s so freaking hard not to fidget when all I do is play around with stuff I find in my pockets, especially when I’m this damn bored.
I feel like flopping down onto the desk and beating my fists in frustration. But I have a feeling Cosmo Maverick isn’t a flopper or a fidgeter, so I’m keeping my damn hands tucked under my ass and biting the insides of my cheeks in frustration.
“I’d like to move the discussion to something more concerning,” Malcolm Volkov, Zeph’s vamp stepdaddy, says. “Ihave unfortunate news to share regarding the vampire elders. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to continue in their roles going forward.”
“Have they died of old age or something?” I quip.
He shoots me a look that could laser right through me if I didn’t have such thick skin.
“It’s been increasingly difficult to get in contact with them following on from our last meeting.” He speaks slowly, really milking his moment as all the room’s focus is on him. “And it seems the council of elders is no longer interested in continuing a relationship with the Archarcan council.”
Huh. That seems like suspicious timing. Vampires plot city takeover, right when the vamp elders opt for early retirement? Seems super sus.
“Have you actually spoken to them?” I ask. I try to keep my tone neutral, but I’m not sure I manage it. Ol’ Malcy boy is a creep, and he pisses me off. That, combined with my rising frustration, is making me grumpy.
“Unfortunately, all attempts at contacting them have been unsuccessful,” he replies smoothly, like the slimy bastard he is. “I will, of course, continue my work as liaison until a new elder council is put together.”
Of course he is. I fight the urge to roll my eyes so hard they fall out. The dude sure thinks he’s someone special.
But the Archarcan’s don’t seem to care. Cecilia Clements just nods her head and continues the meeting like everything is hunky dory.
I hear a sniffle from the room’s edge and glance over. The techno mage’s head is down and her eyes have a suspicious redness. As I watch, she wipes her face with the back of her hand and types some more on the laptop before resorting to one-handed typing.
No one seems to notice someone crying in the corner during a meeting. Which is... weird, but not all that unexpected. They’re all a bunch of cold fishes, that’s for sure. I don’t know how that skipped a generation with Silver, considering she’s the warmest person I’ve ever met.
“Are we all going to ignore the elephant in the room?” I interrupt when I can’t hold my tongue any longer.
“And that would be what, Lord Maverick?” My buddy, the crusty ass mage who sits opposite me, asks with a frown.
“I don’t know if y’all have heard, but there are people turning up all over the city who are frozen in their bodies. The vamps from the Solstice are—”
