“Merit, Ethan,” my father said, waving us inside with a hand. I heard the door slide shut behind us and assumed Pennebaker had attended to it.
Merit, I heard in my head, as I saw what Ethan had no doubt realized and meant to warn me about—that Nicholas and Papa Breck were standing in my father’s office.
Nick was in jeans, a T-shirt, and a brown corduroy sports jacket. Papa Breck, a solidly large, barrel-chested man, was in a tuxedo. They stood together, bodies close and aligned, suspicious eyes on us as we entered.
I looked at Nick, tried to ferret out his mood, which didn’t take long given the anger in his eyes, the tightness in his jaw. And when he looked from me to Ethan, took in the dress and the tuxedo, disappointment joined his other expressions. The others were confusing, but the disappointment stung.
Papa Breck nodded at me. That nod was apparently the only greeting he could spare for the (vampire) daughter of his best friend, for his son’s former girlfriend. I hadn’t seen Michael Breckenridge, Sr., in years, but I’d have expected more than a nod. Maybe words, some indication of the closeness of our families, the relationship that had existed between me and Nick. I’d practically been a member of that family, for all the summer vacations I’d spent at his house, running through the halls, through the grass, along the dirt-lined path to the labyrinth.
On the other hand, I suppose I should have considered myself fortunate, as he didn’t even spare Ethan a nod.
“The Breckenridges have received information,” my father said, “about a threat of violence against their son.”
The surprise was evident in Ethan’s expression. “A threat of violence?”
“Don’t play coy,” Nick muttered. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what we’re talking about.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched, and he slipped his hands into his pockets. “I am afraid, Nicholas, that we have no idea what you’re talking about. We do not threaten violence. We certainly have not issued a threat of violence against you.”
“Not me,” Nicholas said. “Jamie.”
The room went silent, at least until I spoke up. “Someone threatened Jamie? What was the threat?” I asked. “And why would you think it came from us?”
Nick’s gaze slowly shifted to mine, stubbornness in the set of his jaw.
“Tell me, Nick,” I implored him. “I can guarantee you we haven’t threatened Jamie. But even if we had, you lose nothing from telling us what you’ve heard. Either we made the threat, so we know what it is already, or we’ve been framed, and we need to figure out what the hell’s going on.”
Nick glanced back at his father, who nodded, then turned back to us. “Before we talked in the garden at my parents’, we got a phone call at the house. Unlisted number. She said vampires were interested in Jamie.”
She, Nick had said. The caller was female. Had it been Celina? Amber? Some other vamp who had it in for the Brecks, or who was itching to stir up trouble for Cadogan House?
“Today,” Nick continued, “I got an e-mail. It had specifics—details about exactly how you planned to harm my brother.”
Ethan frowned, clearly confused. “And why do we purportedly want to hurt Jamie?”
“The message didn’t say,” Nick answered, but the words were a little too quickly spoken to ring true. Maybe he knew about Jamie’s story; maybe there was another reason he thought Jamie might be a target. And that wasn’t the only problem with his evidence.
“How do you know the e-mail was from a Cadogan vamp?” I asked. “How do you know it wasn’t just a hoax?”
“Give me a little credit, Merit. They gave me information to verify.”
Ethan and I exchanged a glance. “What information?” he asked, caution in his tone.
Nick looked away, wet his lips, then looked up at me again. There was coldness in his eyes.
“There were details about you,” he said, then turned that frigid gaze on Ethan. “And you. Together.”
My cheeks flushed crimson. Ethan, apparently much less worried, made a soft, sardonic sound. “Rest assured, Nicholas, we have no plans to harm your brother. And I can most definitely assure you that you were not speaking with a Cadogan vampire. There is no ‘together’ where Merit and I are concerned.”
Not that he hadn’t considered it, I thought, remembering our dance.
“Oh?” Nick asked, as if feigning surprise. “Then you didn’t share a moment in the library Friday night?” He turned his gaze to me. “I was told that you passed along the story of our meeting in the garden. That you informed your Master that I was ‘com ing for you.’ ”
This time, my cheeks paled. While his implication was wrong—our “moment” in the library had been completely platonic—the gossip part was true enough. Someone had been in the library. Had overheard our conversation. Someone was playing us.
And more importantly, someone was betraying Ethan. Again.
I didn’t want to, but I made myself turn and check Ethan’s expression. He stood frozen there beside me, jaw clenched, unmitigated fury on his face.
“We did not,” he bit out, “nor have we ever issued a threat against Jamie or any other member of your family. That’s not the way my House operates. If such a message was sent to you, it was not sent from a Cadogan vampire, and certainly not with my approval. If someone in my House has informed you otherwise, they are . . . sorely . . . mistaken.”
Despite the gravity in Ethan’s tone, Nick’s responding shrug was careless. “I’m sorry, Sullivan. But that’s not good enough.”
Ethan’s brows lifted. “Not good enough?”
“We’re only asking you not to jump to conclusions,” I told Nicholas. “That’s all.”
“Not jump to conclusions?” Nick took steps, closing the distance between us. I had to steel myself not to step back.
“How naïve are you, Merit? Or is that some kind of vampire denial talking?”
“Nicholas,” Papa Breck said, but Nick shook his head.
“No,” he spat out. “I told you that if you tried to harm him, I would come after you with everything I had. I will not stand by while vampires destroy my family, Merit.”
“Nick, son,” Papa Breck repeated, but Nicholas stayed where he was, inches away from me, staring down at me with eyes of furious electric blue.
“We did not issue a threat against Jamie, Nick.”
“Do not lie to me, Merit.” Nick leaned closer and whispered in a voice that I assumed was only for me, “They may give you a dress, and they may give you a sword, but I know who you are.”
Oh, but I’d enjoy wiping that smirk from his face. I dropped my head, closed my eyes, and let the anger rise enough—just enough—to silver my eyes. I had to clench my fists to hold back the rest of it—to keep my fangs from descending, to keep the vampire asleep—and the fight of it kept me quiet for a moment. I was silent long enough to hear shuffling, the rest of the room growing increasingly nervous the longer I kept my head down.
I opened my eyes again and slowly lifted my head, gazing at Nick beneath half-hooded lashes. Predictably, his smile faded, his own eyes widening at the silver in mine. He swallowed, likely at the reminder that I wasn’t just a girl he’d known in high school, and I wasn’t to be bullied to satiate the anger that flowed from whatever prejudices darkened his soul.
“Nicholas,” I began, my voice soft and low and lush, “I stand Sentinel for a House of three hundred and twenty vampires. I will not strike first, but he allows me to carry a weapon because I know how to use it. Because I will use it. I know my position, my obligation, and I will do what’s necessary to protect them. Because you and I were friends once, I will warn you once. Step back.”
Nick stood toe to toe with me, his body statue-still, until Papa Breck put a hand on his arm and whispered something in his ear. When Nick turned away, strode to the bar my father kept on a concrete table in one corner of the room, I’d have sworn I felt something in his wake. Something tingly, but I was distracted by the sudden sound of Ethan’s voice in my head.
There is a traitor in my house, he silently said. Again.
My heart ached for him, for the betrayal he must have felt for the second time in only a few months, even if it was currently blanketed by a thick, righteous fury. I know, I said back, then promised, I’ll find him.
Finally Nick stepped away from his father, a decision apparently made. “My father has decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. Assuming that you did not make a threat against Jamie, you have twenty-four hours to find out who did. If you don’t contact us within twenty-four hours with a name and your assurances that the threat has been resolved, I will contact the mayor and inform him that Cadogan House made a threat against humans, against my family. That phone call will be followed by calls to the Trib, the Sun-Times, and every television station in the metro area. I may also have to tell them some other things I know. And then they’ll be raving mad,” he said, putting the emphasis on the word so we couldn’t mistake his meaning.
“Your so-called celebrity,” Nick continued, apparently not yet done with his tirade, “is delicate, at best. There are plenty of people who think the congressional investigations were a joke, who think you constitute a legitimate threat to humans. There are plenty of people out there who think we’d all be better off if the vampire problem went away.” Nick snapped his fingers ominously. “Poof.”