“Is there some kind of rule that everyone has to dress like Jehovah’s Witnesses?” I stage-whispered as we approached the elevator.
Rick ignored me.
“Your Highness.” A vampire gave an awkward bow coming from the elevator.
Rick nodded absently.
I winked.
That earned me a glare.
I took it as a compliment.
We rode the elevator alone.
“I still don’t get why I’m here,” I moaned.
Rick didn’t glance at me, his expression blank and focused straight ahead. “Because you’re the vampire mentioned in a prophecy that signals the end of the world,” he said. “Before, the Sector were not likely to accept this, or you. Even with my endorsement. But now, after the latest developments, they cannot ignore you. And since they are finally making a move against the rebellion, they need to convene with us. Find out what we know about this, what we’ve already done.”
I grinned. “Oh, you mean what I’ve already done,” I said as the doors opened. “Considering I’m the one who’s gotten the world halfway saved already.”
He stood in the elevator, keeping his arm between the doors so they didn’t close. His eyes focused on me. “You can just as quickly ruin that with one sarcastic remark, Isla. Remember that,” he hissed.
And then he strode out.
I followed him, excited that I was only one sarcastic remark away from the end of the world. What a rush.
We were shown into a large and boring office immediately on arrival. No waiting in terrible chairs for the king.
“Can we get you anything?” the receptionist asked. She was pretty, but ruined in that horrible gray polyester dress that should’ve been a crime to every race on the planet. Her blue eyes flickered over me and my outfit in very cleverly hidden disdain. I almost wouldn’t have noticed it, but I was a bitch and we recognized our kind miles away.
“I’ll have a martini, dirty, extra olives,” I requested.
She blinked at me. “We don’t serve alcohol here,” she said tightly.
Now it was my turn to blink at her in confusion. “Well no wonder everyone looks so fucking miserable and serious—they’re sober.”
Rick pinched my arm.
I stared at him. “What a childish move, Your Highness, pinching me.” I moved my eyes to Polyester Barbie. “Did you see that?”
Her eyes flickered to the king. She seemed ruffled.
“You’re dismissed.” Rick waved her away.
She practically ran out the door.
I shook my head. “Now I get why they stay out of conflict,” I muttered. “They’re all cowards.”
Rick looked like he might yell at me, or at least sternly whisper, but two vampires walked into the office at that moment.
Different than the ones who’d granted my pardon, which I was both happy and upset about. It would’ve been rather fun to tease Sweater Set again, but I’d have to be subjected to the horrors of the actual sweater set.
The vampire walking into the room was not wearing a sweater set. Or polyester. Her black sheath dress was actually almost chic. As were her patent leather heels and white tweed Chanel cropped jacket.
She was blonde, with a ‘can I speak to the manager’ haircut, short and slightly quaffed on her head, though somehow it didn’t make her look like a middle-aged housewife trying to be ‘hip.’ It was striking with her sharp bone structure and large brown eyes.
“Never trust a blonde with brown eyes,” I muttered to Rick.
He flared his eyes at me in warning.
The blonde pretended not to hear, and her disdain was much more cleverly hidden than the receptionist’s, but it was infinitely more dangerous.
Good, a worthy adversary. I was worried this was going to be boring.
She inclined her head. “Your Highness,” she greeted with the bare minimum of respect that should’ve been afforded to the king. It was almost at my level of disrespect, but she didn’t have my sass to pull it off.
He nodded, jaw stiff, obviously pissed that yet another woman wasn’t bowing at his feet.
I smirked.
Her brown eyes moved to me. “Isla Rominskitoff,” she said, her voice rolling over my name like I’d uttered the words ‘off the rack.’ “You have been causing quite the stir lately.”
I beamed. “Thank you.”
Her lips thinned. “It wasn’t a compliment,” she said, voice hard.
My grin did not falter. “Oh, you didn’t mean it as one, but I’m taking it as one. I’m just that type of vamp, look at the glass of blood half full.” I winked.
She pursed her lips even more, and I was afraid for her that she’d swallowed them.
I thought she might say more, maybe throw a real insult, not a veiled one, but instead she held out her hand to the two chairs in front of the desk.
“Please, sit,” she invited, rounding the desk.
The shoddily dressed man who’d entered and silently bowed to the king sat across from her. He was turned rather pudgy, with pale skin that kind of just bulged around his face, no defining features and a strange white blond hair color. It didn’t help that the tailoring of his suit highlighted the fact that he was shaped like a potato.
“What’s with him?” I nodded to the Pillsbury Doughvampire. “He stunned mute by my beauty or something?” I asked as he didn’t speak.
The Sector vampire glanced over at the man and then back to me, her features carefully schooled in condensing impatience. “That’s Aaron. He’s here to take the minutes and to bear witness.”
He pulled out a thin laptop from the desk drawer.
“Witness to what?” I asked, confused. “I know I’m having a great hair day, and I wouldn’t mind it going down in history, but I wouldn’t think the Sector would go so far as to celebrate beauty marvels such as myself.”
Her eyebrow ticked. “I am one mere member of the council,” she bit out, her control wavering. Just how I liked it. “I’m here on behalf of the whole council itself, to meet with the king.” She glanced to him. “We have never taken sides in wars, not that there’s been such an attack on vampire monarchy and the exposure of the supernatural world since time began. It was only when this faction started to threaten exposure that we began considering weighing in.”
It was my time to raise my brow. “Considering? So you’re just going to let the world burn while you go through bureaucratic bullshit?” I asked. “I’m looking for any excuse not to get involved in this, but even I wouldn’t go that far.”
More lip pursing. “We are an established, civilized organization that has policed vampire society for millennia. We do not make rash decisions on prophecies that everyone had believed to be myth.”
“Well, you were myth-taken,” I quipped, smiling to myself and the way she’d walked right into that. “Ah, Buffy. A perfect reference for every situation.”
Rick clenched his fists next to me but stayed silent.
“I don’t get the reference,” she said tersely after a long silence that I was sure Rick was going to break with some smooth diplomatic chatter or an apology about my battle-sustained brain damage.
I gaped at her. “You don’t get Buffy?” I asked, happy for Rick’s silence so I could continue to have fun.
She narrowed her eyes. “I prefer to spend my time furthering my intellect with literature that will benefit my existence, not waste time on drivel made by lower beings with the aim to desensitize the public, dumb them down, and make them waste time rotting in front of a television.”
I grinned at the utter contempt in her tone. “Well, I much prefer to spend my time, you know, having fun in undeath. And dumbing down with drivel, especially drivel in which Sarah Michelle Gellar slays vampires while wearing heels, well that’s the best way to waste time. Considering, you know, we’ve got nothing but time. Being immortal and all.” I shrugged and winked at Rick.
She tilted her head. “You’re incredibly ignorant if you think immortal actually m
eans deathless,” she said patronizingly.
I grinned at her, clapping my hands together. “Well, apparently ignorance equals that exact thing,” I replied cheerfully. “Because apart from intelligent in all things important—that being pop culture and the amount of times Jude cheated with the nanny—I’m deathless.” I winked at her. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell people that, considering it’s an age-old prophecy and all that, but”—I shrugged—“you want to further your intellect, I thought I’d rectify your ignorance with my own.”
Another long silence which did not look as if Rick was going to break with some sort of apology.
So the woman spoke, clenching her hands together atop the desk as the vampire beside her finished tapping on the keyboard.
“We have been filled in on the prophecy,” she said finally. “And now we can see that it’s getting harder and harder to deny.”
I rolled my eyes. “No shit,” I muttered. “What was the giveaway? For me, it was meeting the original vampire of our race and having him spout such bullshit that it had to come from someone older than dirt and older than vampires themselves.” I gave her a look. “He spoke about it all with such conviction that he kind of forced me to believe.” I paused. “Oh, and he did some kind of original vampire mind magic on me. That was a dead giveaway too.”
She gaped at me, leaning forward and blinking rapidly. “You’ve met Ambrogio?” she hissed.
I nodded.
“The reason I brought her here, despite the council’s reservations.” Rick chose now to speak, right when I’d been about to boast about my meeting with the OG dad. “She is valuable. Not only has she met the first vampire, but he hasn’t killed her.” He quirked his brow. “Which means he has plans for her, which means, when we find him, she’ll be the perfect vampire to send in.”
I moved my head to stare at Rick’s profile. “What do you mean, send in?” I demanded, getting a feeling that Rick had left out some key details as to why I was there.
“Ah, it seems I’m beginning to understand,” she said, focusing on Rick, the two of them acting as if I didn’t exist.
And that was not okay by me.
I snapped to regain their attention. “If you keep talking about me like I’m not here, I’m going to have to do something to get attention, and trust me, you won’t like it. Maybe I’ll do what the founder of our race did and go on the internet, show my fangs to the world.” I waved my phone at the woman. “Instagram live is a great little tool, and I’ve always wanted to be internet famous.”
Both of them looked to me now. Rick, again, failed to chastise me. I think the woman was expecting, waiting for him to do so, eyes darting between us, face tightening more and more with the length of Rick’s silence.
“We’re talking about serious matters here,” she said finally, when it became apparent that the king wasn’t going to say or do anything. “The fate of our race, and you’re treating it with sarcasm and immaturity. Who do you think you are?”
I smiled, showing fang. “I’m the absolute shit. And I don’t think it. I know it.”
She pursed her lips, clenching her fists above the table, eyes darting to the mute king. His face was yet another mask, and to those who might not know him, such a marble façade might’ve communicated fury at the rogue and beautiful vampire beside him mouthing off.
I knew Rick better than most, his fury the best. And he was not furious right then. Not even a little mad. But he wanted the vampires in front of him to think it so.
Interesting.
“This is who you’ve chosen for the task?” the woman demanded, her tone dropping slightly from the formal tenor she’d been using until then.
I decided not to let Rick answer. “Yes, this is who the king has chosen,” I said. Never mind that he hadn’t filled me in on what exactly I was chosen for.
I’d yell at him for that later.
“Me, the insane one,” I continued, pointing to my chest. The one that, thanks to the diamond, they didn’t know contained something beating. “And I’d be mighty careful about your facial expressions and your highbrow insults around someone such as me, with the king’s backing, no less.” I glanced to the man in question.
“He’s not responsible for my actions. Neither am I, for that matter, but he does have this habit of making sure I’ve gotten out of most of the consequences on account of me being the one chosen by the ancients to save this world. It’s rather dangerous, and can I just say incredibly dense to insult someone crazy who doesn’t have to deal with pesky consequences.” I winked. “Just a suggestion for how we go ahead. I love your jacket. Chanel, is it? White tweed is awfully hard to get blood out of. Trust me, I know.”
I glanced down at my all-black outfit. “White used to be my shade of choice, you know, to stay away from those nasty stereotypes, but black hides the blood so much easier. In fact, it makes it so I could walk out of this building absolutely drenched in blood—someone else’s, of course—and no one would even notice.”
If vampires could’ve paled, I’d have sworn both of the self-important ones in front of me would’ve done so, even though the man still tapped at his keyboard. I found it kind of awesome that my words were being recorded. Maybe I could hire him to follow me around and type out everything I said and did. That would make for a kickass book.
The woman, so confident in her position before, shuffled slightly in her seat and glanced underneath her desk. I guessed there was some sort of panic button there. I really hoped she used it. She looked to Rick for some kind of refuge. He folded his arms, and I swore the corner of his mouth quirked up.
She fastened her gaze on me. “You do realize by threatening us, you’re threatening the Sector itself, the very organization that holds vampire society together,” she bit out.
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my legs. “Are we talking about the vampire society that is not only on the edge of collapse but also exposure to the human world?” I asked. “Great job on holding that together.”
She glared at me with such force I was worried her head might explode. I really hoped for it. That would be awesome.
Sadly, it did not.
And sadly, Rick leaned forward and stopped this excellent conversation. “We do not need to waste more time on whether you think Isla is the appropriate candidate,” he said. “She is the only candidate. You do not have to approve, but it has to be done.”
Again, I was out of the loop and didn’t like it, as much as I liked the absolute dismay the women in front of me was wearing with Rick’s words.
“What has to be done?” I demanded. I hoped he hadn’t brought me to have me killed or imprisoned or something, but I reasoned the woman in front of me would’ve been a lot happier if that were the case.
Rick glanced to me. “The Sector are in possession of a weapon,” he said. “Have been since their inception. The only weapon said to be capable of killing Ambrogio.”
I leaned back, whistling between my fangs. “And you’re only looking for it now? Bit behind on the eight ball, aren’t we?”
He gritted his teeth. “I was only recently aware of its existence,” he clipped, fury directed across the table instead of at me. It was a strange feeling.
“We didn’t consider Ambrogio to be alive, let alone aligned with race traitors, until recently,” the woman replied, sounding slightly sheepish.
“Well, the whole world knows now,” I said, “so that was kind of a giant fuck-up on your part.”
More lip pursing.
“And that’s what you want me for?” I said to Rick. “Kill Ambrogio?”
He nodded once. “I understand it might be considered a suicide mission, and your current condition—”
“I’ll do it,” I cut in. “Someone give me the knife and I’m ready to rock this shit.”
Finally the party was getting started. By the biggest party pooper of them all: the king.
Maybe he wasn’t so boring after all.
I rubbed my temples as I se
ttled into the leather seat of the car Jeeves had pulled around.
Rick slid in beside me.
We didn’t have this mystical knife—which totally blew—because the council had to make the formal decision and then get it from its hiding place. It was a thing.
An annoying thing because I would’ve gone straight from the Sector to Sophie’s to get her to work harder on her scrying spell so we could kill the vamp.
But I wasn’t getting what I wanted today.
Not a knife to kill the creator of our race.
Not even laid.
“Please do not yell at me, or insult my lack of decorum, or chastise me for ruining our chances in the biggest battle this side of the one for Middle Earth,” I moaned to Rick as the car pulled into traffic. “I swear that bitch gave me a headache, even though it’s biologically impossible for vampires to get them.”
He tapped at his phone. “I’m not going to yell,” he said smoothly. “Or chastise.” He glanced to me. “You did perfectly.”
I stopped rubbing my head to gape at him. “Did I just hallucinate with my ears?” I asked. “There is no other explanation. Well, either that or you have a much nicer and more fun evil twin who switched places with you.” I paused. “And from what I’ve found out with your and Thorne’s history, I wouldn’t even be surprised.”
He raised a brow and put down his phone. “Isla, do you think I’m stupid?”
I furrowed my brows. “Is this a trick?”
He sighed. “I am well aware of your unpredictable, narcissistic, childish, and downright suicidal behavior.”
I smiled. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” I crooned.
He ignored it. “Do you really think if I wanted to have a pivotal and serious meeting with the Sector I would’ve brought you?”
I furrowed my brows again. “I feel like this is another trick question.” I paused. “You brought me because you wanted to piss them off and you knew I’d do it so you wouldn’t have to break your kingly attitude—oh, and to get this knife you didn’t tell me about until right now,” I surmised with narrowed eyes. “That’s utterly deplorable. Nicely done.”