Chapter 13

We sat in silence for a while before I said something. “So, what’s wrong with that Henrik guy?” I kept my tone neutral so that she’d know I wasn’t insulting her friend.

Asire shrugged. “I don’t really know. Every Orphan has their own story. I’m not privileged to them all.”

I nodded, understanding that. Everyone in my Family came from really bad homes when they were kids. I knew all their stories, because I helped get them out of the situation. But, not including me, that’s only twelve other people. Two of whom I grew up with. Seattle was full of Orphans.

“How often does he drink?” I asked.

Asire shrugged. “Maybe once a month. He gets stressed over something and that drives him to it.”

“Does he always call you?”

“Me or Reggie.”

“Is she running the city?” I asked.

Asire’s immediate response told me that I had crossed a line she wasn’t willing to trust me on. “We aren’t allowed to form a Family so I don’t see how Reggie could be running the city.”

Being struck down like that reminded me that she was still an Orphan. She still had her own secrets.

I held my hands up. “Sorry, just curious. I didn’t mean to step on any toes.”

She relaxed. A little.

“I wouldn’t have told the wardens,” I informed her. The wardens were the people who made sure those in the city followed the rules. It was made up of mostly legions with a handful of people from each race, so that they could monitor the other outcasts as well. They were the ones who would kill Asire if they found out Billy was in the city.

I didn’t think killing Asire would be so easy.

“There’s nothing to tell them,” Asire said.

“Okay.”

That’s it, Loki, I told myself. Time to back off from that line of questioning. Perhaps at some point she’d realize I was telling the truth. Until that moment, she had staked a clear “No Trespassing” sign on that subject.

We sat in silence for several minutes before Asire sighed and said, “Sorry. I guess I shouldn’t be so worried, considering you’d probably get in trouble if Billy was found too and the last thing you’d want to do is talk with the wardens.”

“It’s fine,” I told her. “I understand your hesitation.”

“They tell us how we’re supposed to live and then abandon us in the city, to our own devices,” Asire explained. “And then they threaten us and punish us when things don’t go the way they were supposed to.”

“I get it,” I tried again, since I could hear the clear apology in her voice.

“Billy trusts you,” she continued. “I’m just trying to keep it from getting awkward, because if she trusts you, then there has to be a reason. Regory trusts you, and he doesn’t trust anybody.”

No. He didn’t.

I shrugged, because despite her wanting to keep it from getting awkward, it was awkward. “We’re Family,” I said simply.

“The city isn’t like the wardens want it to be. It’s the one thing all the races agree on. We can’t let them know what actually happens within the city limits,” Asire said. “And we’re pretty fucking good at keeping them in the dark.”

“Oh?” I could feel my mouth pick up on one side.

“We have to be,” she said. “If they found out otherwise, the punishment would be severe.”

“How so?”

“It’s different for everyone. Like I said, all the Orphans have their own story. For me? I’d be executed, immediately.”

I winced. “Could they do that?” I asked.

“To the legions? Who’d know?” she said. “We kill all the time and don’t leave bodies behind. To the other races? I’m not entirely sure what the legal documents say, but they’d probably have to go through hell to get permission. Ultimately, though, I think they could.”

A hard knot formed in my chest. I could see how it’d be done. Very few people cared about Seattle except for the scandals that it brought to the news. It was a way for politicians to get votes, if they were brave enough to enter the city and bring its goodness out. Utter lies, obviously, but I’ve seen it done more times than I could count.

Yet, it was the same as a prison.

People die in Seattle all the time. Get murdered. Go missing. There’s no reason that the wardens couldn’t take care of it. Without anyone knowing.

Despite the reception I got by asking before, I went ahead and asked again, “So does Reggie run the city?”

“In legion terms, yes,” Asire answered, sounding a little reluctant. “We keep it safe from Annihilists. However,” she continued. “The city is pretty much divided by race. The humans and soul-reapers scatter when anything bad starts to happen, but every other race bands together. Kinda like gangs, only not quite as lethal.”

“I see.”

“Which is another reason this Family is getting in the way.” She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“The werewolf?” I asked, since I didn’t know the young man’s name. Reggie had told us about him when we arrived.

“Yes,” she nodded. “The werewolves and vampires aren’t allowed to band together either. Or the spell-casters, for that matter. But that doesn’t stop any of us. The werewolves are a pack, just without the ties to let them know when one of their own is in need of help. And the vampires don’t live together, but they’re still two large clans.”

“Two?”

“The Orphan vampires and the ones in the city willingly.”

“Ah.”

“Us legions don’t have to worry about that,” she said on a shrug.

I’d imagine not. Legions didn’t come to this city because we knew the problem cases were here.

“Why wouldn’t the wardens help with the Annihilists?” I asked.

Asire smirked without humor. “That’s not their job.”

We fell silent again while I tried to process all the information she gave me. There were a lot of things I hadn’t considered before. It seemed stupid to dwell on any of it since I’d be leaving the city within the week, probably, but I couldn’t help it. Now that I’d met Asire, the guilt over not letting her into my Family was even worse.

I understood Eve’s trepidation. Asire had rumors circling her for years at that point. None of them had been flattering. Escaping hadn’t helped either. Worse rumors started, about how she killed people for fun and how she had to become a prostitute to get by. There were dozens. Some worse than others. Most of which I ignored, because Billy had been so adamant about what Asire would and would not do.

I cleared my throat. “May I see your Orphaning papers?” I asked, wondering if that was going too far.

Apparently not, because Asire immediately got off the bed and went over to the desk. She opened the top drawer and pulled out a two sheets of folded paper and brought it over to me.

“Here,” she said. “It’s not very long.”

I unfolded it and read carefully.

From this day forward ASIRE ELIZABETH THOMAS will no longer be allowed to join a Family and will be transferred to Seattle where she will live for the remainder of her life or until this document has been rendered null and void. Until that day, she may not leave the City, she may not join a Family. Until that time the subject of this Orphaning is not allowed in the presence with one WILMA DENISE THOMAS or one REGORY GORDON PENCE. If subject is seen in presence of either, her life will be forfeit.

If subject is seen outside the city limits without documentation stating it is allowed, her life will be forfeit.

If subject joins a Family without this document being rendered null and void, her life will be forfeit.

If subject attacks a Warden her life will be forfeit.

If subject contacts an Annihilist her life will be forfeit.

If subject is seen taking the life of another race, for any reason, her life will be forfeit.

If subject is caught selling blood, her life will be forfeit.

Subject of this document is being Orphaned because subject has shown questionable behavior, such as murdering those of other races. Letting her blood be taken from her. Suspicion of selling her body. Violence toward those who have raised her. Violence toward innocent lives. Lack of care about other races. A tendency to solve problems with violence. No concern for the Family running cities—NEW ORLEANS, SEE WARD FAMILY.

Those who have requested this document and have signed, thus Orphaning the subject—

GERARD THOMAS

SERENADE THOMAS

NAVATI POOLE

PHOEBE POOLE

AMANDA POOLE

Those who have Orphaned the subject may, at the necessary time, request nullification forms.

That was it. The entire document.

“That’s a lot of reasons to kill you,” I said.

“I know.”

“You’re risking a lot,” I told her. “To get this child back.” There wasn’t any admonition in my voice, because I couldn’t blame her. But the chances of her getting killed were more than a little likely.

“I have to,” Asire said. “If I don’t risk it, they’ll still have Millie. And the wardens won’t do shit to get her back. It’s not their job. Sure, they’ll kill me without hesitation for breaking the rules set forth by that piece of paper, but they won’t look for that child.”

I rubbed my eyes. Despite it nearing half past four, I wasn’t tired. Hell, I don’t think I’ll be tired for a long, long time.

“It’ll hardly be the first time I’ve broken one of those rules,” Asire informed me. “Everyone breaks those rules.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I told her.

“It could be worse,” Asire told me.

“How?”

“If they wanted to,” she said slowly, “They could have put a clause in there stating that if I were to mate with a man and have children, those children would be forfeit. And the wardens would come and take those children away.”

Silence.

“Luckily,” she said, to fill the void. “They didn’t. And I’m not really interested in sex so it’d be very difficult for me to have children.”

I breezed past the first part of that sentence, because I was a gentleman, and didn’t comment on the second. It was common knowledge that purebred legions have issues carrying a child to term. There’s only two documented cases where the mother managed to get to the full eight months of pregnancy and both times the child was stillborn.

“Have they done that?” I asked. “To someone in the city?”

She was quiet for a few seconds before nodding. “Yeah. They have. And that legion did end up mated and pregnant and they came and tried to take her baby away while she was still in the hospital.”

“What happened?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“She fought them. Her mate, who was a human, fought them. The wardens signed her execution form that night and she was dead the next morning. Her human mate left the city after that. I don’t know what happened to him.” She was very quiet after that, for a full minute. “I had only been in the city about six weeks when that happened. Great welcome wagon, right?”

I had nothing to say. It was one of the most atrocious things I had ever heard, yet I wasn’t quite surprised either. The people in this city weren’t real to the outside world. People outside the city weren’t losing their children because a piece of paper said they could be taken away.

“They probably didn’t put it on mine, because I shouldn’t be able to get pregnant,” Asire said. “And, quite frankly, I’m okay with that. I think they’d try to take the child away even if I did manage to have one.”

I read the piece of paper again.

Then a third time.

It was so cold. Like she wasn’t a person.

“Do you know if they gave the child to the father, after the mother was dead?” I asked, because some stupid part of me wanted to know.

Asire shrugged. “He left immediately and I didn’t know him. Reggie didn’t get the chance to ask. But I imagine they did, once he was out of the city. To keep it from reaching the media.”

I rolled my eyes.

Read her papers a fourth time.

Then I blinked and read the names, only the names, again. “You have to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“What?” she asked, leaning over to look at the documents.

“Do you know who asked for the Orphaning papers?” I asked. She knew who signed them. It was there in bold ink. Five different signatures stacked on top of each other, each on a dotted line. Each one disgusting in their own right.

“No, I don’t,” Asire said with a shrug. “It could have been any of them.”

Gerard Thomas. Asire’s father. Navati and Phoebe Poole were her mother’s parents. Amanda Poole was her mother’s sister.

“Is Serenade your father’s mate?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

One of the few rumors that Billy was willing to confirm was that Asire’s father had abandoned her when she was three years old, leaving because he found a mate. His motives didn’t make much sense to me until Billy told me that Serenade hadn’t liked Asire and wanted children of her own. So Asire’s father took off with her.

Once that was done, Asire was left with her mother, Anna. The subject of Anna was a closed book, no matter who you asked. Billy wouldn’t say a word. Regory wouldn’t even acknowledge that you spoke. The Poole Family didn’t like talking about her and the Thomas Family didn’t bother spreading rumors about her. The only thing anyone knew about Anna was that she was dead.

After she died, the Poole Family willingly gave Asire to the Thomas Family to raise. And that’s where everything went to Hell for her.

To think how different her life would be if someone had just cared.