Waging War (13 page)

“Not pulling punches today, are you,
Millicent?” I tried for a joking tone, but I wasn’t joking.

She smirked. “It’s not in my nature.” That
smirk was so out of character for the stately matriarch of the
Elian Family that I couldn’t help smiling in spite of the brutal
truths she’d just laid on me.

“Well, thank you. I’ll get over the bruises,
but consider the lesson learned.”

“Really?” She peered closely at me. I
nodded, and then she gave me a proper smile. “Good. There’s one
other thing I’ll say before I’ve hit my quota for advice for the
year. The only difference between men and women is
everything
, and that’s what keeps things so
interesting.”

The Foil

Ringo found me in the garage watching Jeeves
teach Connor how to change the oil in the Rolls. I had no doubt
Connor could have described the process step-by-step from what he’d
read in a book, or seen in a tutorial, but it was really good to
see him make his hands do what his brain knew was right.

“Jeeves, could ye take me and Saira into
town?” Ringo said.

Jeeves looked up in surprise. “Have you
cleared it with the Ladies Elian?”

“We will,” I said. “And I can Clock us home.
I just haven’t seen the fencing gym where we’re going.” Clocking as
a mode of transportation felt like cheating, but I wasn’t really so
confident about vehicular return trips at the moment. Jeeves must
have sensed my thoughts because he considered for a moment before
answering.

“I’ll take you in the Rolls.” He looked me
straight in the eyes. “There are no automatic door locks in the
Rolls.”

Relief washed over me. Jeeves understood my
fear about being locked into another car by a driver under the
influence of the Monger ring, and he didn’t take it personally. “I
can’t imagine Walters would come out here – not while he’s in
hiding.”

Jeeves nodded. “My feelings as well. And
despite the threat, I strongly believe that none of us can afford
to become prisoners in this house.”

In a way, Jeeves was overcoming his own
fears too. In light of my recent conversations about a man’s need
to care for the people he was responsible for, I guessed it had
been really hard on Jeeves to have that instinct subverted by the
Monger ring.

I turned to Ringo. “I’ll just get some
things and meet you back here after I talk to Mom.”

He nodded. “The bag of gear’s outside. I’ll
wait ‘ere.” Ringo crouched down next to Connor and they immediately
started talking
car
to each other. I ran back into the manor
and up to my room.

The daggers Archer had given me were tucked
away in my dresser drawer. I slipped them into special leg holsters
that fit under my jeans, and I instantly felt safer and more
dangerous. It was similar to the way I felt when Archer had my
back, and the thought of his satisfied expression if he ever heard
me say that out loud made me smile.

Finding my mom took a bit longer than I
expected. She and Mr. Shaw were together in his lab having what
looked like a fairly intense conversation, which they broke off
when I came in the door.

I looked at them oddly. “What’s up?”

My mom seemed unsettled. “In light of what
happened yesterday, the Armans want us – the Council – to unite
against the Rothchild family and oust Markham from his place as
Monger Family Head. They’ve called a special Descendant Council
meeting to vote on it.”

I stared at her. “Oh crap. Mom, don’t
go.”

Mr. Shaw growled. “That’s what I told her
too.”

Possible scenarios were swirling around in
my brain. “What if Markham has the Monger ring now that Seth
Walters has gone underground. He could compel all of you to dance a
jig and there would be nothing you could do to stop him.”

“But if I don’t go, Camille won’t have the
numbers to carry the day. Removal of a Family Head must be
unanimous, plus there has to be another Monger ready to step in
with at least sixty percent Family approval.”

I shuddered. “I don’t even want to know six
Mongers, much less find the sixty percent to vote some new bad guy
in.”

My mom sighed. “Mongers aren’t evil
masterminds, Saira. Nothing is as black and white as that.”

“I don’t actually know any good Rothchilds,
so my empirical evidence says otherwise.”

She shook her head. “In any case, there’s a
process to removing a Family Head, but that begins with a Council
vote.”

“I don’t think I’ll feel good about anything
the Council does until there are mixed-bloods in the room.” Both of
them stared at me suddenly. “What?” I asked.

Mom looked at Mr. Shaw with wide eyes. “Do
you think it would work?”

“What would work?” I had obviously said
something momentous, and I hated not knowing what it was.

Mr. Shaw answered my mom. “It would have to
be timed with a vote to remove the moratorium. Otherwise we’d never
get the Families to approve the new Heads.”

“What are you guys talking about?” I raised
my voice to get their attention, and it finally seemed to work. My
mom turned to me with the beginnings of a smile.

“You have to become the Clocker Head.”

“Wait, what? No. No, I’m not Head material.
You’re the Head. I don’t do politics.” If I could have backpedaled
out of the room, I would have.

She explained. “We’d have to replace all
three non-Monger Heads with mixed-bloods, and then fill the Council
room with them as well. Then we could vote anything through and the
Mongers couldn’t compel us otherwise.”

A feeling of dread flooded through me,
because I knew it was actually a decent plan. “I hate your plan,
and I can see a million things you’d have to do first, like find
the missing mixed-bloods and get them out. And here’s something to
chew on while you consider your Council coup: why isn’t Death
represented at Council? If you’re doing away with the moratorium
against mixed-bloods why not do the same for Vampires?”

My mom looked at me for a long moment, and I
wondered if she was actually hanging on to the old prejudice,
despite knowing Archer. She finally spoke. “I believe Ringo’s
analogy of the frog in boiling water works in this instance too.
Let’s get mixed-bloods on the Council first. Once they are
recognized and fear of their unique skills diminishes, integration
should be relatively painless, particularly as you’re all loved
Family members already. I’m afraid the Vampires have known less
love and much more fear, at least in the last five hundred years.
That will take more effort and patience to undo.”

“But you’ll try? Eventually, I mean. After
the immediate threat of the Mongers is neutralized, and when no one
is ‘mixed-blood,’ we’re all just Family?”

My mom touched my face gently. “Yes, we’ll
try.”

I hadn’t even considered the idea of Archer
being able to step out openly among Descendants, and I thought back
to how easily Bas, the Vampire student of world religions, had hung
out with the Shifter priest at the fifteenth century French church.
He seemed unfazed to be a Vampire, though he did miss the Shifter
skills that were no longer dominant in him.

I turned my attention back to my mom. “So,
what about this Council meeting? I’ll go for you if I have to, but
I’m still on their hit list.”

“You’re not going either,” Mr. Shaw
growled.

I smiled at him, but with a light warning in
my tone. “Careful. You start telling Elian women what we can and
can’t do, we get a little stubborn.”

“Oh, it’s a conversation we’ve had. It’s
just his inner caveman holding his club and looking around for
people to bop on the head.” My mom’s tone of voice held a wink, and
I realized she dealt with exactly the same male need to protect as
I did. I barely contained the smirk.

“Mom, I know you’ll do what you feel you
need to do, and if you do go to the meeting and the ring comes out,
you can stick your fingers in your ears, or get one of the
MacKenzie boys to tackle the Monger wearing it so you can Clock
yourself out of there. Whatever support you need from me, I’ll be
very happy to give you.”

My mom breathed out a happy sigh. “That was
exactly what I needed to hear, Saira. Thank you. I believe I’ll
call Camille and see what sort of diplomacy I can accomplish on the
phone.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I stood to leave.

She looked at me questioningly. “You seem to
be going somewhere.”

I knew this was going to hit every one of
their protective instincts, so I deliberately kept my tone as calm
and casual as possible. “After the conversation we had about
Mongers last night, Ringo got himself into Raven’s fencing class
this afternoon. She’s never seen Ringo before, so he’s going to try
to work some of his Ringo charm on her. I’m not wild about him
going on his own, so obviously, I’d have to stay out of Raven’s
sight. We Googled the building, and we have a plan for that.
Remember, I can Clock home at the first sign of a threat.” I hoped
the expression on my face was one of earnest trustworthiness, or,
at a minimum, responsible adultness.

Mr. Shaw’s jaw was clenched tightly, but he
didn’t say anything. He just looked at my mom for her reaction. “I
can’t say I love the idea, Saira, because as capable and grown up
as I know you are, you’re still my daughter, and my instinct to
keep you safe is deeply ingrained.” We shared an understanding
smile at those words. “But I trust you to know what you need to do
and to do it carefully. I assume Archer knows of this plan?”

I nodded, hiding my relief. “He’s kind of
the one who suggested it, but they don’t have night classes, or
he’d go. He trusts me to be Ringo’s invisible safety net, and we
can always call you guys if we need back-up.”

Mom sighed. “Have Jeeves take you so he
knows exactly where you are.”

“I’ve already asked him. He said he’d bring
the Rolls.”

She grimaced. “I hate that he feels he needs
to consider which car is safest.”

“We’re all going to be dealing with the
aftermath of that attack for a long time, I’d imagine.” Mr. Shaw
sounded gruff and unhappy.

I nodded. “I’m going to be a lousy taxi
passenger for a while, I think. Anywhere but the front seat of a
moving vehicle is going to be tough for me.”

He pulled me in for a quick one-armed hug,
then kissed the top of my head. “Be careful, take your mobile, and
let us know when you return.”

I shot them both a grin as I headed toward
the door. “I will.”

Ringo met me back at the garage, the bag of
fencing gear in one hand and his eyebrows raised in question. “I
told them where we’re going.”

He nodded. “Good. I was going to ‘ate if I’d
‘ad to disobey yer ma.”

I laughed. “No wonder she loves you so much.
You’re like a dream son.”

Ringo’s face lost all trace of humor. “It’s
been a long time since I was a son.”

The seriousness in his tone made my heart
hurt for him. He bent to mess with the string on his bag and didn’t
meet my eyes, so I touched his arm. “Come on, let’s get Jeeves and
go.”

I sat up in the front seat next to Jeeves,
and he dropped us off one block behind the building that housed
Raven’s fencing gym.

“If you’d rather not use your own mode of
return transportation, you both have my mobile number. Please call
me when you want to leave and I’ll meet you back here with the
Rolls,” said Jeeves.

“Thanks. We’ll probably be an hour or two,
but come and get us early if the Armans get to Elian before we
call.”

Jeeves nodded seriously. “Yes, Ma’am.”

I smiled at him. “I’m not nearly fancy
enough to be a ma’am.”

“I disagree. You are quite suited to the
honorific.” Jeeves gave me a slight smile in return as we got out
of the Range Rover. Ringo and I immediately slipped down the side
alley and watched Jeeves drive away without incident, then we
headed toward the back of the gym. Just as we’d seen on Google
Earth, the fire escape extended all the way to the ground floor,
and the back of the building was without windows. I checked the
clock on my phone.

“You have ten minutes to get changed for the
session. I’ll see you in an hour.” Ringo must have been able to see
the worry in my eyes because he tossed his chin at me to get my
attention.

“I’m not the one in danger here, no matter
how good ‘er fencin’ skills are, so quit lookin’ like I’m goin’ off
to war.” He laughed at the face I made. “No, strike that. I’m goin’
off to make friends with War, or maybe just kick ‘er arse.”

“Have fun storming the castle.” I leapt up
to the fire escape ladder and began my ascent, laughing at the look
of bewilderment on Ringo’s face. Clearly there needed to be a
screening of
The Princess Bride
in his future.

It took me a bit to get settled at the edge
of the big skylight that looked down on the main practice floor,
and a few minutes later, Ringo entered the room holding his helmet
and foil. He went over to talk to a young woman I thought was one
of the students, and I realized suddenly that I hadn’t ever shown
him a picture of Raven.