Blood Games

Chapter Sixteen GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF BEST

As time ticked down to Nicole’s arrival, House security ticked up. Vampires trickled into the ballroom, waiting for a glimpse of the contender, or perhaps just wanting to surround Ethan with support.

The room on the House’s second floor was lovely on its own—a large space with wooden floors, gleaming chandeliers, and gilded mirrors on the walls. The ballroom glowed with light and smelled like hazelnut coffee and warm chocolate. A table draped in crisp white linens stood on one side of the room, beverage dispensers and baskets of pastries set atop it.

Ethan and Malik stood apart from the rest of the black-clad vampires who mingled in the room, the magic nervous and leaving a tingling edge in the air. We were riding on nerves, on possibilities our lives—and our House—would change substantially in a matter of days.

No—not the possibility of change. Change was inevitable. But the nature of that change. Whether involving ourselves with the GP again would be good or would bring more pain and drama.

Figures appeared in the ballroom doorway. Helen, a man and two women behind her. Nicole Heart and her retinue.

She was striking, with dark hair and skin and a lean, curvy figure. Her hair reached her shoulders and was curled into soft waves that reminded me of Marilyn Monroe. She wore a long-sleeved ivory top and long, straight pants in silk that flowed around her body like water. Her eyes were tipped with dark lashes, her mouth generous and accented with shimmery peach gloss, her cheeks two rosy apples.

The effect was impressive. She had a movie star’s bearing and a princess’s grace.

The next question—was she a contender?—was more of a mystery. She looked physically fit, with strong shoulders and a trim figure. And there was little doubt about the intelligent gleam in her eyes. (There was also calculation and assessment in her eyes, but that just made her a vampire.)

I suppose having the wherewithal to frighten Ethan into holding things back from me was telling enough. Emotionally or otherwise, she wouldn’t be easy to best.

Behind her stood a man and a woman—the man was shorter, with dark skin, short hair, and a black suit. The woman was about my height, with a sleek bob of angled blond hair against vampirically pale skin. She wore an ensemble of black leather, and a cross-body holster for the katana sheath strapped to her back. She was me, but blond.

Weird.

“Bennett and Sarah,” Nicole said, gesturing to the man and woman behind her. “My Second and Sentinel.”

Another Sentinel—the first I’d met. Ethan had resurrected the position by Commending me into it. I guess he’d started a trend.

Sarah looked at me, lips pursed haughtily. I wasn’t interested in playing Dueling Sentinels—not with so many things on my mind—but she looked entirely up for the challenge.

All right, I was a little interested in it. But this wasn’t the time or place. Unfortunately. I gazed back at her beneath my lashes and long bangs, a hint of a smile across my face, just enough attitude to let her know I was a player.

She gave me the same sly smile back, tapped a thumb against the end of her katana’s pommel, as if daring and impatience battled for control.

The Sentinel Games? A definite possibility.

“Malik,” Ethan said, “my Second. Luc, captain of my guards. Merit, my Sentinel.”

Nicole glanced at each of us, nodding quickly and dismissively. She was a Master, and we, quite simply, weren’t.

“And, of course, you know Lakshmi,” Ethan said.

Nicole bowed her head deferentially. “Madam.”

“Your travel was pleasant?” Lakshmi asked.

“It was. Thank you for asking. And yours?”

“Fine, thank you.”

Vampire drama had apparently ruined me for pleasant small talk, as I had to work not to roll my eyes irritably at the exchange. Or maybe it was just jealousy. We never had pleasant chitchat with the GP.

“Perhaps we should get the business out of the way,” Lakshmi said. “Then I’ll review the premises and you can talk, if you’d like.”

Nicole and Ethan nodded.

“The psych testing will take place at five o’clock in the training room. I will proctor the exam.”

“The testers?” Bennett asked.

“I won’t reveal their Houses, so as not to provide an unfair advantage.” Or an opportunity for the Heart and Cadogan minions to research the hell out of them before the test.

“They were selected by a random lottery and agreed to participate. Both are very strong psychs. Both are quite well equipped. I will monitor psychically and physically. No areas of inquiry are off-limits. That will complete the test. The physical test will be held tomorrow at midnight at a location to be announced by me. Each test will be scored, and the scores will be gathered.”

“And then the Houses will vote?”

Lakshmi nodded at Ethan, smiling as if pleased he’d gotten the right answer. “I will return to London with the scores, and I’ll receive the scores from the European candidates. The top three candidates will be placed on the slate, and the Houses will vote. Well,” she added, a footnote, “the Houses without candidates will vote.

“The tests will not be easy,” Lakshmi said, glancing between them. “They are not intended to be. They are intended to test your strength, your focus, your ability to lead vampires through challenges. The immortality of the GP’s vampires lies in the hands of the man or woman chosen to lead them. It is no little responsibility, and they will be no little trials.”

That didn’t make me feel any better about what would be happening here today—or the fact that Ethan and I weren’t on the same ground.

“Any questions?”

Nicole and Ethan shook their heads.

“In that case, perhaps you should relax for a few moments while I review the preparations with your Seconds.”

“Nicole and I will wait in the anteroom,” Ethan said, gesturing to a door at the side of the ballroom.

Lakshmi nodded. “Training room at five o’clock.” Wordlessly, Malik guided Lakshmi back to the door, Bennett behind them.

Ethan and Nicole looked at each other. Whatever emotions they’d been hiding for the sake of their vampires, or for Lakshmi’s sake, bubbled to the surface. Their eyes darkened, and for a moment they both looked like the vampires they truly were—and the darkness that lived inside both of them.

The anteroom was small but pleasantly furnished. There were a couple of oversized white couches, and along one wall a series of mirrors with bare bulbs overhead where—once upon a time—I’d waited as an Initiate to be Commended into Cadogan House.

Nicole walked around the room before settling on a couch. She sat down on one end, crossed her legs, linked her hands on the arm.

Ethan took a seat across from her. Sarah and I stayed on our feet.

“Your House is lovely,” Nicole said. “The photographs don’t do it justice.”

“If that’s your opening salvo, Nicole, it’s not impressive.”

“You think we’re rivals, Ethan, but we aren’t.”

Ethan looked only mildly interested. “Aren’t we?”

“We are vampires who want to improve the lot of our own kind. Make them full and integrated members of the society into which they’ve been flung. I’d say that makes us allies.”

Ethan didn’t seem impressed by the argument. “So you say, but I didn’t send a man to attack you. To shoot at your vampires.”

There was silence for a moment, and when Nicole did speak, she was unapologetic. “As I’ve said, it wasn’t an attempt to kill you—otherwise, it would have been a very sloppy attempt.” She slid her gaze to me. “I thought, perhaps, that those closest to you would persuade you to step back.”

“Those closest to me understand me and my drive. And they understand that Cadogan vampires do not stand back merely because we are afraid.”

That angered her, undoubtedly. Her expression didn’t show it, but magic lit through the room with such force I instinctively reached for my katana. Sarah did the same, and the surprise in her eyes matched mine. I shifted my weight, prepared to move in case Nicole or Sarah did, watched Sarah do the same. We both were poised on tenterhooks, in case the physical testing began early.

By her blackmail, Nicole had raised their mutual past as a weapon to be wielded. But Ethan wasn’t afraid to battle back, with fear, anger, irritation, pent up and festering for several days. This was what he’d been holding on to. Anger at her betrayals: the threats, the blackmail, the challenge. From what I could gather, they’d both been the victims, the prey, of a monster. Maybe that was the root of his real anger and irritation—not just that she’d threatened to expose his past, but that she was the one making the threats.

They’d been cohorts, companions, vampires who’d survived trauma. He’d believed they were on the same side. Not friends, perhaps, but certainly not enemies. And then, in order to support her claim to the GP, she’d tried by violent means to dissuade him from taking up the gauntlet. She’d betrayed him doubly.

But if that was all there was to it, why not tell me? Why not explain his feelings to me? There was nothing about that I could possibly object to.

“A woman comes to understand things across the centuries of her existence,” Nicole said. “She gains perspective. Balthasar, yes, was a monster. But he gave me immortality for a purpose. I intend to make the most of it.”

“By threatening me? By challenging me?”

“By taking what is mine, and what you have no right to claim.” Her eyes narrowed to slits, and she leaned forward, the bubble of magic moving with her like needle pricks on skin.

“I have bided my time, Ethan. Worked to build my own kingdom. I have dealt with monsters—vampire and human alike—and humans who treated me as if I were a dog because I had the unfortunate luck to be born with skin a shade darker than theirs. I stood Second, waited for my turn. I followed the rules.”

Ethan’s brows lifted. “And I haven’t?”

“You quit the GP. Your House has killed two members of the GP. Darius was fine until his fateful trip to Chicago, where you let a mass murderer run him to ground. And then you have the temerity to challenge him? To demand that he give up his position for you?”

She’d missed several details—the fact that those GP members were killed in self-defense, that they’d put the House in receivership, that Darius had come to Chicago to close us down and strip us bare of assets, and that we’d left the GP because of their bad acts. She left out the facts that we saved Darius from Michael Donovan, that we’d just uncovered a plot to control him and steal money from the GP.

But when you lined up the bare facts against us—as the vampires who didn’t know, or didn’t want to know, the context were likely to do—it was hard to argue her point.

“As you’re well aware, your story is incomplete,” Ethan pointed out. “It also reeks of your own cowardice. Where were you when Darius was being manipulated? What attention were you paying?”

“I was minding the business of me and my House.”

“Precisely,” Ethan said. “And that’s the kind of myopic attitude that has put us in the very situation we’re in now.” He tilted his head at her, donned his analytical expression, considered her. “All that aside, I’m curious, Nicole. What, precisely, would you have me do?”

Her eyes glowed with purpose. “Resign your candidacy. If we run against each other, we’ll split the American vote. That weakens our chances of an American regent. Yes, there are three Houses in Chicago. But there are more Houses outside it—Houses that do not appreciate the chaos of this city, of your politics.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “And if I don’t resign?”

They kept their eyes on each other, one predator scoping out the other.

“I am a practical woman,” Nicole finally said. “And I know very well how to adapt to shifting currents. I’m not interested in letting your, shall we say, past dalliances reflect negatively on me. But I am a player, Ethan. I am a contender. I will play this game as Darius wishes us to play it. And I will win.”

Ethan had been right; she wouldn’t go through with the blackmail, at least not now. But she felt free to torture him with the vaguely referenced “dalliances.” And since she’d so carefully hinted at it, I wondered if she meant to torture me, as well.

Regardless, Ethan’s response was clear and unequivocal, as was the grin that crossed his face. “There’s not a chance in hell that I will step down from my challenge.”

“Because your ego demands it?”

“Because my honor demands it. The GP, in large part, consists of monsters and bullies, and it is time for a change. You play the game, Nicole, and you always have. You play it skillfully. But it is time to dismantle the game, to rewrite the rules.”

“Careful, Ethan. You sound like a rebel.”

“We’ve already rejected the GP,” he pointed out. “We are rebels.”

Nicole rolled her eyes, rose from the couch. “You’re naive. The system is in place for a reason, Ethan, and has been for centuries. You don’t just pretend it doesn’t exist.”

He didn’t comment, perhaps because it was as obvious to him as it was to me that talking wasn’t going to change her mind. Whatever their relationship in the past—and regardless their history—Nicole Heart intended to challenge Ethan and win the throne from him if she could.

“Then I wish you the best of luck,” Ethan said, rising as well. “And should you claim the victory, I hope you rule the GP with wisdom and honor.”

But Nicole smiled, and it wasn’t the smile of a good-natured contender.

It was the smile of a shark.

“This isn’t over,” she said, then cast a glance to me. “Until the testing is complete, until the next king or queen is sworn in, we are challengers, and enemies. I will not allow you to stand in my way.”

Ethan nodded graciously, and without a further word, Nicole and Sarah strode defiantly from the room.

A heavy silence descended. Ethan looked back at me, still behind the couch, and I kept my expression carefully neutral. I had no idea what to say or do, no idea what might trigger some instinctive response in him, prickle him into anger.

“She’s not going to stop,” I finally said.

“I know.”

I nodded. “It’s worse when someone you know betrays you. Someone you trusted.”

He looked surprised.

“Mallory,” I explained. “I’ve been there.”

“Ah,” he said.

More silence.

“Well, you should probably get ready for testing.”

Ethan sighed heavily, looked back at me again. “I know that you love me, appreciate that you love me regardless this misery. Am awed by it. Unfortunately, love doesn’t change who I am, or who she is. That’s what I have to come to terms with right now. I’ll see you downstairs.”

He walked out of the room without another word.

Without a single touch, he’d pushed me away again.

Lakshmi confirmed that the training room was the best place for the testing, and we offered her the anteroom to catch up on her own business. Nicole and her entourage set up camp in the front parlor, a security camera carefully trained on their activities. Ethan, Malik, Luc, Lindsey, and I camped in Ethan’s office, waiting for the clock to strike five.

It was ten minutes ’til when Lindsey rose from a chair in the sitting area of Ethan’s office, moved to him on the couch. Magic followed in her wake, waves of nervousness and fear.

“Do you know how to compartmentalize?” she asked him, searching his eyes, clearly nervous for her Master. She was a very strong psych, had the ability to ferret out others’ emotions. And from the look in her eyes, I guessed Ethan’s were concerning her.

“Compartmentalize?” I asked.

Lindsey kept her eyes on him. “It’s a way of ‘double thinking.’”

I frowned, and Ethan glanced at me. “You already do it, Sentinel. When you unlock your senses, you maintain the ability to think rationally.”

“Double think,” Lindsey agreed.

“Oh,” I brightly said, feeling better about my vampiric capabilities. I hadn’t come by them smoothly—trauma in the first instance and biological separation in the second—so it was comforting to know I was doing it right, at least by vampire standards.

“I can do it,” Ethan agreed. “At least somewhat.”

Lindsey nodded. “They’ll test your strength, your resolve, your emotional stability. Try to compartmentalize it—let it happen, but keep part of yourself reserved just for yourself, just for you.” She put a hand over his heart. “Keep part of yourself there, and she won’t be able to touch you.”

She meant to comfort him, and he seemed grateful, but the offer of help, the nature of it, made me increasingly nervous.

The clock’s minute hand moved forward again, the click ominously loud in the silence of the room, and Malik rose. “Liege, we should go downstairs so you can change.”

Ethan blew out a breath, nodded.

At five o’clock, Luc and I walked into the training room.

Four wooden chairs had been placed in the middle of the room—two rows of two chairs, the rows facing each other, each chair about four feet away from the others.

Lakshmi stood beside them, her hands linked behind her, an air of absolute certainty and authority in her posture. Malik and Bennett stood at her sides.

Ethan and Nicole walked in, both wearing gis. They acknowledged Lakshmi, walked to the chairs, and sat down like rigid dolls. Both of them looked nervous.

Two more vampires walked in, a blond woman and a man with graying hair. They took the chairs opposite Nicole and Ethan.

It looked so harmless, so simple—four vampires sitting in a small cluster as if they meant to talk, to share. I’d have much preferred if that was the agenda for the evening.

Lakshmi looked at the group of us. “You’re satisfied?”

“We are,” Malik said.

Bennett nodded. “We are.”

They walked to the far end of the room, sat down in two more chairs, their postures as rigid and uncomfortable as those of the rest of them. Nerves fluttered in my chest like nervous birds, and I stared at Ethan, afraid to activate our telepathic connection but willing him to look at me, to make eye contact, to reassure me or tell me to be still, as was his way.

But his eyes were trained on the woman across from him, just as Nicole’s were trained on the man in front of her. The game had begun, and their focus was sharp.

“One hour,” Lakshmi said, and Malik checked his watch. “Clear the room.”

We filed out. At the door, I looked back, cast one last glance at Ethan. This time, I found him looking back at me, and I saw something I’d seen only rarely in Ethan Sullivan’s eyes.

Fear.

It had my belly going cold.

The doors closed with an ominous sound, leaving us bathed in silence.