Page 15 of The Rising Dark
“No,” he said, straightforwardly.“We police our own, as do you.”
“Would have been nice to know a witch had broken free from the Council’s control,” Octavia said, her tone venomous.Octavia had no patience for the Witch Council’s politics.Lavinia shared her frustrations.They had barely made any progress in the last couple of weeks.If they’d known a warlock was on the loose as well…perhaps they would have made more headway in finding the outlaws, and Michelle could have been spared a traumatic encounter with a demon.
“How long have you known about your rogue vampire?”Arran countered.
Touché.Lavinia considered.“Perhaps you agree it is in both of our interests to share information from now on.”
“If the Council wills it,” Arran said, inclining his head.It was the closest to agreement they’d come, so Lavinia moved on.
The faster they were able to find the warlock—and the rogue vampire—the sooner she would be certain Michelle was safe.For now, that meant working with the witches.They weren’t untrustworthy, exactly.The issue was merely that they always had their own agenda, and one could never be sure what it actually was.But for now, collaboration was their best option.“What is the war—dissenter’spattern?What is their motivation?”she asked.
“Bloodwaster,” the man beside Arran muttered to himself, and for a moment Lavinia felt her hackles rise.She didn’t like the witches either, but she would not be insulted.
Then Arran clarified, “He seeks out those with the Mark, and kills them.”
The Mark of the Fates.According to witches, they were a chosen people, marked for magic at birth.Lavinia didn’t particularly know or care whether this was true or not.The only thing that mattered was that the witches believed it—and that the murderer who had targeted Michelle did as well.“And that’s why you think the human in our keeping is a witch.Because he tried to kill her.”
Arran nodded.Lavinia mulled over this information.She was certain Michelle wasn’t a practising witch.She wouldn’t have been ignorant of the Other World, and would have known to invoke the help of her coven, even if she hadn’t been powerful enough to handle the demon by herself.But could she be marked somehow, have some latent ability that just had never been cultivated?Lavinia didn’t know.It had seemed impossible only moments ago, but Arran’s certainty planted the seeds of doubt in her mind.Perhaps he and the other council members were mistaken.Perhaps the killer himself was mistaken and had somehow mixed up Michelle with his real target.Innocent bystanders sometimes got hurt.When the killing started, rogues found that it was difficult to stop.Perhaps it was the same for warlocks and the demons who did their bidding.
“What else can you tell us about him?”Octavia asked.
“We are not currently willing to share our suspicions,” Arran said smoothly.
“So you have an idea of who it might be?”
Silence met Octavia’s question.Either they knew exactly who the warlock was, and they didn’t want to share.Or, quite likely, they didn’t know at all, and didn’t want to admit to their ignorance.Whichever it was, the Council would wish to find the warlock first.They would have their own punishment in mind.
“Do you know where he is?This person you suspect?”Octavia pressed, but Arran shook his head.
“The raven will feast,” the black-clad woman beside Arran added darkly.
Lavinia had no idea what that meant, but it was undoubtedly a threat.Witches had means of locating people who didn’t want to be found.Then again, a skilled warlock would know what those means were and might know ways of counteracting them.
“Do you have any idea why the warlock might be working together with a vampire?Why they might kill together?”Octavia asked.
“No,” Arran said.“We had been certain the warlock was working alone.In no small part because rogue vampires aren’t known for their capacity for reasoning.”He looked back and forth between Lavinia and Octavia.“No offense.”
Lavinia gestured that none was taken.He wasn’t wrong.Rogues were in the grip of bloodfever, having reverted completely to an animalistic version of themselves.Many of them lost all capacity for higher reasoning, acting purely on instinct.Many would kill their own kin, unable to recognise them as anything but obstacles standing in the way of their desires.
“We are willing to share information on the warlock’s previous victims.The Council is amenable to extending a hand to the Sisterhood in order to restore the balance of power,” Arran said.
“The Sisterhood thanks the Council,” Lavinia said, but Octavia immediately followed with her own remark.
“And how will you do that?Will we have to dig it up like treasure?Postal dove?Magical sparks in the night sky?”
Arran gave her a stare that could wither a flower on its vine.“Email,” he said drily.
“Thank you,” Lavinia said again, hoping to move past the awkward silence that now reigned.“We will do the same.”They had collated a file of increasing length on the rogue’s victims.She would have to add the information on the murdered man in the alley later tonight before passing it on to the witches.
“One last thing,” Arran added.“We will access the human, one way or another.If she is one of us, shewillbe brought into the fold.”
Lavinia didn’t reply.She turned around and marched towards Zachary and the car, not waiting to see whether Octavia followed or not, nor bothering to see what magic trick the witches would conjure for their grand exit.Over her dead body.Michelle wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter Nine
It was a quiet drive back to Thornblood.Lavinia wasn’t in a chatty mood, and Octavia and Zachary followed her lead.Night had fallen by the time they got back, and Lavinia was glad for the comforting darkness.Being outside in daylight was bearable, but she never felt as alive as she did at night.They entered through the back door, Lavinia and Octavia going straight to Luce’s ground-floor study.Even as she opened the door, she could smell Michelle’s scent, intermingled with that of her Sister’s.A tightness that she had carried within her all day relaxed.Michelle was safe.Of course she was—Thornblood was one of the safest places anyone could be.Why was she anxious about this?
Luce was in her office, as expected.She sat at her wooden monstrosity of a desk, bent over a stack of documents.Being the leader of the Sisterhood meant she carried huge responsibility.While Vesta took on as many of the social demands from Luce’s shoulders as she could, the main vampire families would continuously attempt to gain Luce’s ear.Officially, the Sisterhood were the enforcers of law for all vampirekind in Britain.Unofficially, the Sisterhood had a significant influence on various aspects of inter-family politics and worked closely with the Justices.If there was anything civilian vampires loved to do, it was constantly vying with each other for scraps of power to hold over other families.
