The Children of the Sun (33 page)

“Nice.”

“They went to LaGuardia, and she almost lost them there. There was security to avoid and apparently quite a bit of razor wire, but she found the hangar that the vehicles were driving to, scaled it, and made her way to a skylight.

“Other soldiers arrived, and most went immediately to sleep. A few were awake, watching the entrance to the hangar, and she was able to catch some of their conversation. The Children’s forces are flying out from different airports, some traveling all the way to Philadelphia to depart, but they were all slated to arrive in Chicago. At last, with dawn nearing, she realized she must make a decision …”

Here, Naomi paused for a moment and broke into a smile, shaking her head in admiration.

“She stowed away, didn’t she?” Two asked, and Naomi nodded.

“She did. There were offices in the far corner of the building, dark and empty, and she took a chance at breaking a window. The men on guard didn’t hear the glass. At one point, Kanene walked within twenty feet of them, prepared if necessary to kill them, but they never turned around. She made her way through the shadows to the jet, climbed into the cargo hold, and buried herself in a storage unit filled with surplus gear. She spent most of the day sleeping there, knowing that if they found her they would put her to death but beyond caring.

“At some point during the day, they flew, and later they must have moved the box without ever opening it. When she woke, she was in a warehouse attached to their headquarters! It took her hours to make her way out unnoticed, but she did it, and now … Two, we know where to find them!”

For one of the rare moments in her life, Two was stricken dumb. She glanced at Theroen, but he was keeping his expression blank, looking back at her with that same eternal calm she’d been so frustrated by a moment ago. Sasha and Leonore seemed to be waiting for Two to speak.

“Are we going to fight them?” she asked at last. “Is that what this means?”

“We’re still discussing that,” Naomi said.

“I still do not see what there is to discuss,” Sasha said. “Between my Ay’Araf and Lewis’s Burilgi, we can throw numbers at them greater than anything they could have in that building.”

Naomi made a noise of aggravation. “Sasha, we cannot swarm into an Illinois suburb with five hundred vampires and attack a four-story building. It would risk everything we’ve spent the past centuries establishing. Do you want to go back to skulking in graveyards and living on the fringes of society, falling asleep every morning wondering if someone is going to try and drive a stake through your chest?”

Sasha sighed. “Why do you continue to assume that I am an idiot with no tactical sense? When have I ever advocated a full-scale frontal assault? Naomi, if I were as full of raging bloodlust as you seem to think, would I not have asked for more than a handful of fighters during the attack on Aros’s base? I am a fighter, yes, but I am not a raving psychopath.”

“My apologies,” Naomi said. “I do not think you are an idiot or a psychopath. I am merely advocating prudence, and I am … I am afraid of what will happen if we gather in large numbers again.”

“At least this time we’ll have warning if they mobilize,” Leonore said.

“Yes,” Naomi replied. “Two, Kanene has told me she intends to stay in Illinois and monitor the Children. It’s dangerous, but …”

“But we need eyes on them, right,” Two said. “Listen, I have an idea that might help her stay out of trouble. They don’t know she’s watching, but if she stays unaccounted for, they might get cautious. When we put out the news about Peter’s death, I think we should do the same for Kanene. No one needs to see the body, right? They’ll believe the news if it comes from the council, long as she’s not around. The council can know she’s alive, but there’s no reason for anyone else to know.”

“That’s very good,” Sasha said, nodding. “If we make it seem as though she’s passed, the Children won’t suspect she’s watching them … unless one of the remaining council members is a traitor.”

“Doubt it,” Two said. “If any of us were, there would’ve been thugs in black jumpsuits at the door hours ago.”

“Lewis is still a possibility,” Naomi said. “Though a remote one. I cannot imagine what he would stand to gain.”

“We must operate under the assumption that the council is secure,” Theroen said. “We need Lewis’s people if we choose to follow this path. We were lucky to come out of Aros’s base mostly intact, but we are not in so fortunate a starting position this time. We have lost Mother Ashayt and Jakob, and each of them would be worth a great many Burilgi indeed in any sort of battle.”

“Stephen, too, will be missed if there is fighting,” Sasha said.

“He is missed regardless,” Naomi murmured. She was looking at the muted television, on which they could see images of the burning cathedral. “Turn it off, Theroen. I don’t want to watch it again.”

Theroen did as she asked, and looked back at the rest of the group. “Have we found out where Lewis stands? I know he said he could build an army, but is that the path he believes we should take?”

“I haven’t spoken with him yet,” Naomi said. “Still, I think it’s a safe bet. He would not be talking about armies if his intent was to flee. Lewis will want immediate, direct action.”

“They can’t know we’re coming,” Two said. “If they find out we’re going to throw everything we’ve got at them, they’ll bolt. Remember how Tori vanished for two years as soon as they realized we were looking for her?”

“If we are to attack, then you are right,” Naomi said. “It is essential to keep our knowledge of their location a secret until we’ve begun the assault.”

“So, then, that’s the plan … right?” Two asked. “We keep it on a need-to-know basis, and the only other person who needs to know is Lewis. We get him to start putting together his people while Sasha deals with hers, and if anyone wants to know why, we say we’re doing it for security reasons. The big question is how we get them to Illinois without the Children figuring it out.”

“Two, the big question is whether we are even doing this,” Naomi said.

“Seriously? Are we still fighting about this? We know where they are and we know we can put the numbers together to take them on. The only real problem is how do I get in there first to talk to Tori?”

There was a prolonged period of silence after this statement, and Two looked from face to face. It seemed that her fellow vampires were making a pointed effort to avoid her eyes.

“I’m not leaving her,” Two said. “I think I’ve made this clear.”

“We know you want to save her, Two,” Naomi said. “But you may have to accept that she will be a necessary casualty.”

“I can’t do that. I just can’t.”

“She has chosen her side. She chose it long ago and has only backed up that choice again and again.”

“She doesn’t remember who she is!” Two cried.

Sasha spoke up, now willing to meet Two’s gaze. “Let me ask you a question, Two. Why should I expend any thought or effort on saving that woman’s life?”

Two found herself grasping for words, trying to find a way to answer Sasha’s question. At last she said, “You don’t understand …”

“I understand that she is an unrepentant killer. She has assaulted our people again and again, cut the throat of the oldest living vampire on the planet, led the attack on our very council, and
murdered my fucking patron
!” Sasha snarled.

“It’s not her fault! They’ve done things to her. They’ve—”

“So what?” Sasha asked. “What difference does that make to me? You’re trying to convince me to help you
save
her? I don’t understand why you think I should do anything other than hunt her down and kill her myself.”

Now Two felt rage kindling within her, along with a sort of mute despair. This was what she had feared, and it was already happening. The council had written Tori off and condemned her to death.

“You’re not going to do anything to her,” she said between clenched teeth.

“I like you, Two,” Sasha said. “But I have sworn no allegiance to you. I will do as I please, and if you have any shred of sense in your head, you will stay far out of my way when the time comes for me to do it.”

“If you touch her, Sasha, I’ll kill you. I’m not kidding.”

“Two, stop it,” Naomi said, frowning. Sasha was looking at Two with a haughty, almost disinterested expression.

“Perhaps you should get that out of the way right here, then, before it becomes an issue,” she said.

“Perhaps I fucking should,” Two growled, and she left the armrest she had been perched on, standing up and facing the Ay’Araf woman. Sasha tilted her head, surprised but not afraid, and things might have escalated had Theroen not also stood and placed his hand on Two’s shoulder.

“If it pleases the council,” he said, “I would like to speak with Two alone for a few minutes. May I request a recess?”

“Don’t even start in on the ‘elder doling out life lessons’ shit,” Two said, and Theroen smiled a little.

“No, Two. I am your lover, or boyfriend, or whatever you would like to call me, and I would talk to you as such. I will save the sire-to-fledgling talks for future moments when tensions are running a bit lower. Right now, I just want to talk to you as an equal. Is that acceptable?”

Two stared at him for a moment and then nodded. “Fine. We’ll go out on the balcony – I could use some air anyway. Nothing is settled, Sasha. Don’t think that it is.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Sasha told her.

“Let’s go,” Two said to Theroen, and she headed for the sliding glass door.

* * *

“Why do they have to make this so fucking difficult?!” Two asked. She was leaning against the railing of Naomi’s balcony, looking down at Fifth Avenue below them. Traffic was still thick, even at this advanced hour of the evening.

“I will try to ignore the irony of that question coming from your mouth, my love,” Theroen said. He sat down on one of the overstuffed patio chairs and regarded her. Two turned to look at him.

“It’s not just that they don’t care. That would be bad enough. They want to
kill
her, Theroen!”

“Can you blame them for that?”

“I sure can!”

Theroen tented his fingers and pressed them to his lips for a moment, then put his hands in his lap and spoke. “I knew Tori as an unthinking, uncaring beast that took immense pleasure in stalking, killing, and dismembering both humans and vampires alike. The others know only that since her return to humanity, she has joined up with our enemies, led multiple attacks against us, and personally murdered two very important vampires, one of who was seen as something close to a god by our people.”

“Do you think it doesn’t matter to me, what she’s done?” Two asked. “Ashayt was a wonderful person, and she brought you back to me. Jakob was a good man, and a good friend, and I had to watch her kill him!”

“Then we are in agreement that the desire for some sort of retribution is not entirely misplaced …”

“This stupid council only has one form of retribution.”

“What would you have them do? Economic sanctions? Send her to vampire jail?”

“I don’t know! I don’t have all the answers, but they can’t just kill her. It’s not right and I won’t let them.”

“What if she does not give them a choice? Even when you last confronted her, even while she was battling the ghosts of her memories, she ordered her soldier to kill you. What if you go to talk sense into her, and she decides that she does not care about what you have to say?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Two said.

“You keep insisting that, and I do honestly hope that you are right, but I am unwilling to bet your life on it.”

“Hon, we’re betting all of our lives on this thing.”

Here Theroen paused, as if contemplating his next words carefully. Two understood before he spoke, and sighed.

“You don’t want to do this, do you?” she asked, and he shook his head.

“I have no interest in storming an enemy building full of homicidal zealots. I have no interest in
any
of this. The council has the people they need, with the Ay’Araf and Burilgi, to fight this war. There is no reason for us—”

“Tori’s a pretty good reason,” Two interrupted.

“There is no reason for us to remain here,” Theroen finished.

“What about Naomi, then?” Two asked him, and Theroen glanced through the window at the woman, who was lying with her head back against the couch, eyes closed, a glass of wine in her hand.

“Naomi will organize, but she will not fight. She won’t be in any immediate danger. When it is done, she will … well, depending on the outcome she will either assume her rightful place at the head of the council or flee to Europe, I suppose.”

Two felt anger and despair rising within her, a tide so strong that she could not at first find words to express herself. At last she said, “So that’s it, then? You’d rather just piss off to Europe and let some other vampires die for you? Are you fucking kidding me, Theroen?!”

He shook his head. “I would rather just ‘piss off to Europe’ and let some other vampires die for
you
, my love. I would sacrifice ten of them for you, or a hundred. If it came to it, I would sacrifice Naomi, and Sasha, and every vampire left in the world that I call a friend, let alone those I do not, if it would keep you safe.”