Chapter 8

The inside of the house matched the out. The furniture was all very nice and arranged to be aesthetically pleasing. The walls were painted in soothing colors. But it was easy to tell that not many people lived here.

Even if it was a mad house at the moment.

“Sorry for the mess,” Asire said. “Happens when you have so many people in one place. Everyone important is in the dining room at the moment,” she continued. She slipped through the living room deftly, ignoring all the children who called out to her. Which was all of them. The children didn’t seem to mind though. Perhaps they realized she was busy.

We shuffled in past her, getting stared at by everyone. Some of them looked suspicious, some of them looked curious, some bored, and some clearly didn’t want us to think they cared at all. We were new Legions to town, and they had only Asire’s word that we’d be there to help.

Asire got to a swinging door and pushed it open for us. We all shuffled in, her being the last one.

Inside there were five people. One, a man, was walking on crutches. There was a bandage around his leg and he looked ready to murder someone. There was a strawberry-blonde woman by his side, holding him up and saying soothing things. They were the only ones talking at the moment.

“Okay,” Asire said. “This is Reggie, she’s the unofficial leader of the city.” She gestured to a woman sitting at the table. The woman stood up and extended her hand, which I shook and introduced myself. The woman was average height, with a killer body, crazy curls and chocolate brown eyes.

After I introduced myself and those around me, which she barely paid attention to, the woman said, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Regalia Torres, but please call me Reggie. We’ve found room for all of you—” then her eyes landed on Dovie and a smile tugged the corners of her lips. “Well, hello… Aren’t you beautiful.”

Dovie smiled back at her. “Indeed I am. Just like yourself.”

Asire tilted her head back and said, “Fuck. There’s two of them.”

“I think you should just stay in my room with me,” Reggie said, putting her hands on her hips and smiling broadly.

Dovie returned the smile and I could see bad things happening the in the future. Asire’s sentiment wasn’t wrong.

“Okay,” Asire said. “I’ll show you guys where you’ll be staying and then we’ll talk about what’s going on with the city. Reggie, couch your libido for an hour or two.”

“No promises.”

Asire walked out again, leaving us to follow her. Dovie called out after us, “Since I’ll be staying with Reggie, I’ll just hang out in here. ‘Kay?”

I really hoped I didn’t have a room next to theirs. And felt bad for whoever did.

The first room Asire brought us to wasn’t a bedroom. It looked like a man cave. There was a large TV set up opposite a couch and two recliners big enough to sleep in. There was a table, possibly for playing pool, pushed up against the wall and two cots had been set up in the center of the room.

“There isn’t a lot of space, but this is the only room without a window. We’d figure your vampire, Shade right?” When he nodded she continued, “Could stay in here with, Sunbeam?” she asked, and again, continued when she nodded. “But there’s only space for the two of you.”

“That’s fine,” Sunbeam said, with a shy smile. “We’ll get our bags and set up in here, if that’s okay?”

Asire nodded and went off into the hall again.

Up the stairs we went. We were taken down a long hallway and led to the last door on the left. Asire popped it open and revealed two beds. One a queen and the other a twin. “I figured Billy and Regory could stay in here. And originally, I was gonna have you,” she gestured to me, “in with them.” Then she looked directly at the twin bed. “Obviously that’s not gonna work.”

“No,” I said.

“So, I guess Wynn will be staying in here,” she finished.

The three of them went into the room and Asire closed the door to let them get settled.

“Since Dovie will apparently be rooming with Reggie, that’ll make this easier,” Asire said. “The house is so full that everyone is doubling up at the moment. The only place for you is my bedroom.”

I blinked.

“We were gonna put you and someone else in there with me, but I guess now it’ll just be me and you,” she finished. She took me back down the hallway and into another. The room she opened up was the largest I had seen so far. There was a sleeping area, a sitting area and a bathroom. The sitting area was full of art supplies and a rollaway bed was pushed right up against all those supplies.

“Furthermore,” Asire said, with a slight smile. “I guess you’ll be getting my bed. Otherwise, you’ll wake up on a pile of kindling when that rollaway bed collapses underneath you.”

I smirked. “I don’t want to take your bed.”

“You don’t have much of an option,” she said.

I opened my mouth to argue, but she beat me to the punch.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve slept on worse than a cot.” She shrugged. “All right, get settled and meet us down in the dining room. See ya.” Then she closed the door and walked away. Leaving me on my own in her bedroom.

With a sigh, I gave in. While I would have argued, she didn’t give me the chance. An affective way to win an argument.

I had the foresight to grab my bag from the car. I set it on the floor in the corner and took another look around. The entire room smelled like her. Only her. So I guess she wasn’t mated and didn’t have a steady relationship going. The art supplies in the sitting room were scattered about crazily, and there were paintings and sketchbooks all over the floor. In contrast to that clutter, there wasn’t a single item of clothing on the floor, a piece of trash in sight and all the surfaces were without dishes.

I opened her closet and saw the same neatness. There weren’t any clothes hanging up, or random items thrown in there. The top shelf was completely bare as well. The only thing in the closet was a bag, tossed into the corner, almost out of sight and a hamper. Another look around the room and I realized there weren’t any pictures up. Or books. The only knickknacks were things that Billy must have given to her. Like that plush zombie doll sitting up on the dresser.

It was like the girl didn’t actually live here.

After that quick perusal, I felt stupid and rude for snooping and left. The house was starting to wind down. The children were put into their beds and the adults were scattering. Going to their rooms as well. It was getting late, so I wasn’t surprised by this.

When I got downstairs, the dining room was the only place still abuzz with activity. The mated couple were still there, seated now and looking just as downtrodden as they had before. They must be the ones with the missing child. There was a certain look in their eyes. Like their lives were minutes away from being over.

Reggie was at the head of the table and flirting unabashedly with Dovie. The two of them were standing close together, bodies leaning into each other’s. Here less than an hour and Dovie manages this? Seattle wouldn’t know what hit them by the time we left. Yet, I couldn’t feel anything but affection toward her. It was nice to have someone who would be herself under all circumstances.

“All right!” Reggie said, once I walked in. “Time to get this show on the road.”

Asire stood next to a man with brown hair and eyes. They were looking over something that I realized was a map. Once Reggie started talking, the man put the map on the table and slid it to the middle so that we could all see it.

“Thanks, Henrik,” Reggie said. “This is our visual of activities since the Annihilists have shown up in the city. The red dots are for vampires, white for human, spell-casters and mild combatants. Yellow for werewolves and black is the Annihilists. Orange is where our houses are located.”

“Wow,” Billy said. “That’s a lot of attacks.”

The Orphans didn’t say anything. Asire kept her face perfectly blank, but Reggie and Henrik exchanged a glance that said more than the silence did. I looked over the dots on the map again, and once more thought about Billy, years ago, coming to us with hope in her eyes. She’d begged us to take Asire in.

“It is a lot of attacks, right?” Billy asked, looking at her cousin.

Asire shrugged. “It’s a lot of black for a week,” she eventually said. “Everything else is fairly normal.”

Billy and Regory both stared at her.

“Why wouldn’t you tell us this?” Regory eventually said, touching the map and turning it so that he could get a better look.

“You knew Seattle was dangerous,” Asire said, before brushing the conversation aside. “Besides, that’s not why we’re here. Millie was taken last night at this location.” She put her finger on one of the orange pins and stepped back, letting the others take up the conversation again.

Her downplaying of the situation seemed to work, distracting her cousin and Regory, for the time being anyway. I wondered, if I asked, if she would tell me how many times she’d been attacked when casually walking to her car.

“Yes,” the woman with strawberry blond hair said. “From my home. We couldn’t track her.”

“Why not?” Billy’s brow furrowed.

Asire shrugged. “Their signature disappeared. I was trying to track them, but they vanished.”

They went over the story of how the parents didn’t think the safe house was necessary and refused to go. How the Annihilists broke into their house and stole their daughter. The chase and subsequent loss of said child. Which was why Billy and the rest of us were here. Since they hadn’t been able to find the enemy or child, they were hoping Billy’s superior tracking would do the trick.

And if they were outside the city, hopefully we could get her back for them. If the Orphans attempted to leave, they’d be shot on sight.

“Do not go tracking her without some of us with you,” Reggie said after the story was over.

“Why not?” Billy asked in confusion.

The man named Henrik exchanged glance with Asire and Reggie. Then Reggie shrugged and leaned forward. “Seattle is not like your cities. The Annihilists have killed a werewolf since their arrival in the city. They did not like that and there’s a chance some of them will blame us for it, though their leader has always been very kind toward us.”

“What would they do?” I asked.

“Seattle would suddenly resemble gang territory,” Reggie said.

“Only deadlier,” Asire finished.

Silence. A silence in which Billy and Regory stared and their girl again. One with anger and the other with sad understanding. They both knew she was keeping something from them. That much was true. It just didn’t stop either of them from being hurt by this fact.

“All right, then,” I eventually said. “We won’t go out without some of you with us.”

“I know,” Reggie said with confidence. It was the first time it became obvious that we were sitting in a room full of Orphans. Those deemed too dangerous to allow into Families. The look on her face, the cold surety in her eyes. That’s what did it. Only Asire seemed relaxed and sure of our goodwill.

I couldn’t blame them, but that wouldn’t stop me from doing what I needed to keep my Family safe. I brought these people together, and it was my job to make sure they survived. I’d already failed once, in the worst way that I could. I refused to let someone else die on my watch.

“I do not believe we’ll get anything done tonight,” Reggie said, rising to her feet. “Our guests are exhausted, I’m sure. Plus, there haven’t been any attacks. They may be lying low now that they have a child with them. We’ll reconvene tomorrow and hopefully find her. If we’re lucky it’ll all be taken care of before night falls again.”

She walked out of the room, pausing at the doorway to throw a wicked smile at Dovie, who rose and followed her out of the room. The other Orphans dispensed, all but Asire, who was having a staring contest with her cousin. Nothing hostile. Just Billy’s irritation and Asire’s calm.

“Fine,” Billy said. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” Asire said.

“I was worried anyway,” Billy said.

Finally, Asire shrugged. “Nothing I can do about it now.”

So true, that one statement. We dispersed and I followed the quiet girl up to her bedroom, in silence.