Chapter 31

Asire had moved away from the scene and was leaning against the wall, next to Reggie. She had her arms crossed over her chest and looked mildly intrigued. Her expression otherwise closed down so I couldn’t get a read on her. Reggie looked even more bored with the situation. She was messing with her phone when I glanced over.

That’s how I knew they were both really interested in what just happened.

Asire glanced at me, roving her eyes up and down my body once. Then she did the same with her cousin and Regory. She must have decided the situation had been defused because she glanced at Reggie and said, “I’ll go set the gym up.”

“Good idea. I’ve got some more contractors to call. I’ll help you in a bit, if I can,” she said. Somehow, I couldn’t picture Reggie doing grunt work like rearranging furniture.

Asire turned and walked out of the room without a backwards glance.

Billy took a step after her, but I held up my hand. “No. You need to stay here. She’ll be exhausted when she’s done feeding. She’ll need some of the energy you can provide.”

She grimaced, but knew I was right. “Fine.”

I left. I didn’t think Asire was angry or upset. At the same time, I didn’t think she was pleased that we had kept something like this from her. If this had happened to Sunbeam while out fighting, she’d be compromised. But Sunbeam was good at telling when another attack was close. I trusted her judgment on her own body. She wouldn’t have put the Orphans in danger.

I followed Asire by her scent through the house. The gym, it turned out, was on the other side of the garage. It was a really large space. More than adequate to house all the adults. It had wood floors and bare walls. There was one window that looked out to the side yard, but there wasn’t anything too interesting to look at. There was also a skylight that let you watch the rain/snow fall on the house. There were mats lining the walls and half the floor. Exercise equipment was also lined up along the walls. Treadmills and weight sets mostly. There were a couple of punching bags. I imagined the space was mostly used for sparring.

When I walked in, Asire was picking up the mats and moving them to a corner. Her movements were smooth and even, another indicator that she wasn’t upset or angry. Yet, somehow, I didn’t think her expression would have been so neutral if she had only been concerned for Sunbeam.

I started helping her move the mats, without saying anything. She stayed silent as well. It didn’t have the same feel that it usually did. It wasn’t comfortable. We had all the mats up and in the corner and were working on taking down the punching bags before I decided I wasn’t going to come up with something to say.

“Asire,” I began, but couldn’t think of a way to finish the sentence.

“Faerie and vampire hybrid?” Asire asked.

I paused. “Yeah, that’s what she is.” Normally, I wouldn’t have told her even that much, but she had already figured it out and it would have been an insult to do anything else.

“Will she be okay?” Asire asking, sounding truly concerned.

“Yes. It happens sometimes,” I explained. “Three or four times a year. Her blood doesn’t mix well. Shade or Abyss, the other vampire in my Family, give her some of theirs and it seems to balance it out more.”

Asire nodded. “Good. It’s not a permanent fix, mind you.”

She had grabbed a chair and put it in front of the first punching bag. She stepped onto the chair and started undoing the punching bag from the top of its chain. I held it so it wouldn’t hit the ground and push the chair out from under her. She continued after the bag’s weight hit me fully.

She hopped off the chair and moved it to the second punching bag. I set the first down against the wall and followed her. She stepped back up and waited until I had my arms around the thing before continuing.

“I couldn’t tell you,” I said.

“Oh, don’t worry, I understand,” Asire told me.

“You do?” I asked.

She released the chain and the bag’s weight hit me. I set it against the wall while she moved on to the next one. There were five total. This was the third. She stepped up and I took the opportunity to examine her when she wasn’t paying attention. Her face was neutral. Carefully showing no emotion. Her body relaxed. All those long, graceful limbs moving at a sedate speed. I didn’t know why I was so certain she was unhappy.

I just knew.

Leaning into the third punching bag, I said, “She isn’t a liability.”

“Oh, I know,” Asire said with sincerity. “I watched her fight. She didn’t do much more than swing that club of hers because she didn’t have to. When it hit home, that was enough. Cracked skulls and men on the ground. She was fast. I guess that was the vampire in her, huh?”

“Yeah…” I said, still feeling uneasy.

Asire released the chain and I caught the bag. I dumped it against the floor. Onto the fourth one.

She was up on the chair, her hands reaching forward, when she said, “Seriously, Loki. I understand. You couldn’t tell us. Not only was it not your secret to tell, but you don’t know us. Any of us. With all the stories that the Orphans generate out of this city a day? You couldn’t let us know that she wasn’t as strong as she could be. You couldn’t trust us not to take advantage of that. I understand.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the bag. Now we both understood. She wasn’t angry that we hadn’t divulged our secrets or that we put her and the others in danger. She was hurt.

As a whole, all seven of us decided that we couldn’t let the Orphans know about Sunbeam. We had good reasons. The ones Asire just listed. Then, as a whole, we lumped her in with the potential danger. Billy and Regory decided that she couldn’t be trusted. She was hurt that her cousin agreed that she deserved to be in The City of Orphans.

That hadn’t been our intention. Nope. Billy would never have knowingly upset her cousin, but that didn’t change the facts. It also didn’t matter that Asire was trying to smooth it over like nothing was wrong.

She released the bag and I almost dropped it. I set it against the wall. There wasn’t anything I could say. I barely knew the girl. However, if I had the right words that would make it all better, I’d have said them. In a heartbeat.

Billy walked into the room at a fast clip. Her eyes were ocean blue now. “Hey,” she said.

Asire hopped of the chair. “Hey,” she responded, sounding like herself. She even dropped the neutral mask so that she looked like herself. I didn’t trust it, though. She knew how to trick Billy because they’d been through Hell together. “Feel like helping set up?” Asire asked.

“Sure,” Billy said, relaxing in the face of Asire’s even tone. How could she not see that her cousin was faking it?

“Tell me the point behind the folding table again?” Reggie asked, knocking her hand against the card table Asire had put up after we had broken out fifty folding chairs or so.

“If we just put a bunch of chairs out,” Asire said slowly, “Then it’ll make them think they all have equal power. If we put a table out, no matter how ratty or rickety, and then sit people behind it, then it gives you the illusion of power. Understand?”

“I run this place,” she said. “I don’t need the illusion of power because I already have it all.”

Asire rolled her eyes. “I’m not asking for permission, Reggie. Sit behind the damn table.”

Reggie grimaced, but did what was asked of her.

When Asire looked at me, I had the presence of mind to sit by Reggie without arguing. There was a third chair as well. Asire, having a good head on her shoulders, had decided it’d be good to drive the situation home by having Ella sit up front with the rest of us. Making it impossible for people not to look at her.

Lixa was bringing the woman down now. She was shaky and her eyes were still bloodshot, but her jaw was stubborn. She sat on Reggie’s other side and folded her hands on top of the table. She, or someone, had run a brush through her hair and put her in a clean change of clothes. She looked presentable, if a little broken.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Asire asked, for perhaps the third time. Each time was gentle and sympathetic. It had been her idea, but she wasn’t going to force a grief stricken woman to listen to her.

Ella nodded. “Yes,” she said. “It’ll make them look harder.”

“Okay,” Asire said. “If it gets to be too much, just leave.”

We were all mildly worried that Ella would go into shock in front of everyone. The last wave had hit only half an hour ago. They were starting to spread out more. Coming every two or three hours instead of every hour.

Lixa looked at Asire and when the girl nodded, she took up station by the gym door, across the room. Asire had set the room up so that everyone had to look at Reggie’s position of power as they came in. By default, they had to acknowledge my position of power as well. Normally I wouldn’t care, but Asire had set my Family up separated from the rest of the chairs. I didn’t know if that was for our comfort— since I was still worried about how upset she might be —or for actual safety reasons.

Henrik was staying with the children inside. My Family was already here, seated and comfortable. Asire took up her station, leaning against the wall behind Reggie. An unspoken threat to anyone who got too close. I was assured that this was how they always ran their meetings.

As far as bodyguard material… Asire didn’t look all that threatening. She was tall and smooth and graceful. Not hulking and glowering. She didn’t even glare as people started walking in. She just watched, calmly. Those black eyes of hers scanning the crowd with smooth, relaxed calm. Yet, the Orphans had similar reactions. They’d walk in, see Reggie and me and look unimpressed. Then their eyes would lock on Ella. Worry, sympathy, anger, sadness. Each of them had some reaction to her. Finally, their eyes would land on Asire. Most of them dipped their gaze away instantly. Those that didn’t…

I didn’t like the way they looked at her. Some were hungry, some predatory. With each person that checked her out, I got more uncomfortable with her station as moderator. I had little doubt that she could keep everything civil. I also had little doubt that some of the people wanted her gone or on the ground.

The last Orphan walked in. Lixa swung the door closed and leaned against it, directly parallel from Asire. She nodded once and I guess Asire nodded back. I had stopped glancing back at her around the time the room was half full. She could take care of herself. I needed to protect my Family.

Reggie rose gracefully from her chair. “First things first,” Reggie said. “Have any of you been approached by a wolf or a vampire today?”

No one stood up.

Reggie nodded. “I do not know if that is a good thing or bad, to be honest. You are all aware of the problems we’ve been having with them this past week, yes?”

There was a round of head nodding and agreeing.

“It seems, instead of it dying down, like it normally would, the problems are escalating. If we are to take care of the Annihilists,” she paused just long enough for everyone to look at Ella, sitting bravely beside her, “we may have to deal with them first.”

“We should have dealt with them a long time ago,” a man said from the middle of the crowd. “Put them in their place and let them know who really owns this city.”

Reggie raised an eyebrow. “That is not how Seattle works and you know it. We do not need a war being splashed all over the newspaper. Besides, would you like to explain what happened to the wardens?”

The man glared. “If there are no bodies, then they have no proof,” he declared.

“If there is nothing but ash,” Reggie continued. “Isn’t that all the proof they could need? You forget, several of the wardens are legions, my dear. It is not secret how we remove bodies to our own kind.”

“Are you saying that your pet whore couldn’t take care of the wardens?” he asked, sneering at something between Reggie and me. It only took me a second to realize that it was Asire he was talking about.

My shoulders tensed and anger lit up in my stomach. It sat there like a lead ball. Worse, by the lack of surprise throughout the room, this is something that man has done before. The ball of anger got heavier.

Reggie smiled. “Now, now, Michael. You know better than that.” He opened his mouth and she said, “That is not what we are here for. Besides, you might not want to start talking like that. There are many Open legions here more than willing to think you mean the other races harm.”

Michael got quiet. But there was anger in his face. Strong enough that I had no problems believing he wouldn’t stay that way.

“Before I do anything drastic,” Reggie continued. “I wanted to consult with all of you. If we were to take actions against the vampires and werewolves, there is a good chance that they will retaliate at a later date. Yet, if I do nothing… We could very well loose one of our children.”