Page 41 of The Doctor and the Devil
I cleared my throat and willed the blush from my cheeks, hesitating before grudgingly taking his arm. We made our way down the stairs together, heading toward the collection of voices rising from Charlotte’s formal dining room. The massive doors were slightly ajar, but I knocked in case the rather loud conversation was something Rafael and I weren’t meant to hear. Charlotte poked her head through the gap in the door and grinned knowingly.
“Well! I certainly wondered if we’d see either of you this evening. I hope you got some rest,” she teased, emphasizingrestas if she knew we’d done anything but.
Rafael’s stoic face betrayed nothing, but I saw the flash of heat in his eyes.
“What’s going on in there, Charlotte?” I asked. “It sounds like you’ve got an entire army of excited women in there.”
“I do!” she grinned. “Won’t you join us? Daphne and I are conveningles DDto discuss what we know and plan what to do about the Order.”
“And Laszlo?” Rafael asked quietly.
Charlotte nodded, her lips drawn in a tight line. She pulled the door open and waved us in.
I’d seen Charlotte’s dining room decked out for countless dinner parties, holidays, and balls, and it was always impressive. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the sight this evening. Two dozen women sat around the large table, sipping wine and nibbling on a variety of hors d’oeuvres while they chatted amiably. I recognized many of them—unlike meetings with the Order, none of these women wore masks in each other’s company. Daphne sat at one end of the table, giggling through a conversation with one of Étienne’s half-sisters, Josephine, famed madam of the illustriousMaison des Nymphes. Étienne sat on Josephine’s other side, and next to him were two other women from the brothel. Across from them was the well-known Italian opera singer, Signora Russo. Antoine sat away from the table against the back wall, watching but not a part of any ongoing conversation. His eyes tracked the couple of aristocratic women I didn’t know with guarded interest. Several at the table were bourgeois women, but many of the women looked to be peasants and commoners. Based on the number of wine glasses filled with blood, I estimated about half of them were vampires.
Rafael stilled beside me, making me wonder if he was nervous. It seemed silly to even suggest such a thing, given his status and raw supernatural power, but his face reflected a careful neutrality and his posture took on the appearance of forced casualness.
“No one is going to attack you,” I whispered in his ear. “Be easy, Rafael. Many of these women are my friends.”
“Your friends, Mina—not mine,” he replied. “Given our history and the rumors circulating, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gave them even more of a reason to despise me.”
Charlotte’s small smile widened, and I knew she’d heard our exchange. I clamped my mouth shut to keep from giving any more away.
“Mesdames,” she announced. Every conversation quieted and each head turned to face Charlotte. A few curious gazes lit on Rafael, and I tensed—preparing for what, I don’t know.
“Thank you so much for journeying into the chilly night to discuss our incredibly troubling and precarious situation,” Charlotte said, her voice echoing through the large room. “Daphne, do you want to catch everyone up?”
Daphne stood. “As you are all undoubtedly aware, our aims have been slowly diverging from that of the Order over the past year. You’re all familiar with Derais and his rather sudden and fervent religious devotion that is swaying the minds of the other men in the Order. The emissary and I have been working to try and turn King Louis to our cause for some time now, but our efforts have faltered. In the wake of Madame Pompadour’s tragic death, it seems His Majesty has turned away from Pompadour’s more liberal influences and found solace in the conservative members of the aristocracy, notably those in the church and the older courtiers in the Order, including Derais. As such, the Order has reached the height of their power thus far—their selfish tendrils have snaked their way throughout every power structure in France. They fear no one now and have begun to move against anyone and everyone they perceive as a threat to their power.”
“Vampires,” hissed someone.
“Women.” Josephine chuckled.
“The bourgeois,” another chimed in. “And the poor.”
“Immigrants, foreigners, and minorities,” Signora Russo said with a sniff.
“The backward fools in the Order are the minority,” Antoine muttered from the back of the room. Everyone quieted, turning to look at him. “But they are the powerful minority.”
Charlotte cleared her throat.
“All of the above,” she agreed.
Daphne’s mouth thinned to a tight line, and her jaw flexed. I knew she felt frustrated—defeated—that her influence in the Order had come to naught. She’d once told me that despite her wealth, title, and connections, the only thing that would matter in the end was what she could do to help the people of France.“King Louis is my cousin. If I can’t convince him to consider embracing the vampires, then I fear our cause is already lost.”Now that the Order had the ear of the king, they would stop pretending to consider the rights of everyone and would focus instead on what I always expected their true aims would be—further consolidating their power within their own ranks. The Order wouldn’t have to pretend to care about anyone but themselves. Rafael’s words from weeks ago echoed in my mind.How much do you know about the Order, Mina? How much have your friends Charlotte and Daphne told you? How much dotheyknow?
“As such,” Daphne continued, silencing the whispers and chatter that had begun to circulate. “We have decided tounofficiallysever our ties with the Order.”
“They won’t stand for that!” Signora Russo interjected. “Thosebastardiwill never allow you—us—to form our own group without their misguided oversight.”
“Right you are, Signora,” Charlotte chirped. “Which is why we’re not going to tell them…at least, for now.”
“What do you mean?” one of the other courtiers asked.
“It would be irresponsible for us to launch a coup without an immaculate plan and several well-thought-out backup plans. The Order will be dangerous enemies, and we want to know what they’re planning at every step of the way. If they believe we are beneath their notice and beneath their control, it will give us the opportunity to destroy them utterly when we make our move,” Daphne said, fangs lengthening and eyes flashing.
“Daphne and I will continue to attend their summons. We will all continue with our current assignments with one notable exception—any information relayed to them as part of intelligence work will be somewhat altered. We will only tell them what is required for our ruse to continue, but it will not be enough for them to gain an edge. Any and all assignments regarding blackmail, intimidation, assassination, or such will be put on hold until Daphne and I can regroup and evaluate the targets in question,” Charlotte added.
“But what about the blood plague?” one of the vampire women from the brothel asked. “What are we going to do about that? And vampire rights? If the Order has truly turned against us, when can we expect the stakings to start?”
