She blinked at him several times before looking at Steve, who nodded and said, “Thanks, Pam. We’ll talk more as soon as I’m done here.”
She left the room in a controlled hurry.
“That was rude,” Steve said.
“No,” Simon corrected. “Threatening to eat her if she didn’t leave would have been rude, since employees are not edible. But decisions need to be made, and she isn’t part of that.”
“River Road Community,” Henry rumbled, cutting off anything Steve might have said. “Simon had to deal with other things these past two days, so Vlad and I have talked to the terra indigene who have heard about that land.”
Simon looked at the Grizzly. So did Ming and Steve.
“There are some Sanguinati living in one of the houses,” Steve said cautiously. “When I went with a crew to check out the houses and make a list of what would be needed, they came out to investigate and said you’d given them permission.”
“We did,” Simon said. “And Erebus Sanguinati has also given them permission. Tell me about the houses.”
“Not in bad shape,” Steve said. “Need some basic care and all of them could use a few repairs. The industrial building would need significant work to convert into something we could use—once someone figures out how it will be used.”
“The main concern, for us, is that humans who manage to escape from Talulah Falls might try to claim those houses and that land,” Ming said.
“Which is why we need to get more than a handful of juvenile vampires into those houses,” Simon said.
“What kind of humans did you have in mind?” Steve asked.
“A mixed community. Intuits, the humans the HFL movement calls Wolf lovers, and terra indigene.” Simon studied the other four males. “Right now, Talulah Falls is a dangerous place.”
“The Crowgard have told me the terra indigene who have taken the duty of keeping that city under control have said they are separating the useful humans from the meat. And most of what is in the city is meat,” Ming said.
“The animosity between humans and Others is fuel for the HFL movement.” Simon frowned. Something Ming had said created an itchy thought. “How are humans escaping from Talulah Falls?” The terra indigene who controled that town had brought in a Harvester for their main enforcer. How were humans getting past him?
“A group of humans create a distraction,” Steve said. “They cause enough of a ruckus so that when the Others go to deal with them, another group of people on the other side of town can escape on foot, taking only what they can carry.” He fidgeted. “Personally, I think the Others are letting people escape. Now that the initial anger toward humans has passed, I have a feeling that if they could find a way to keep the necessary industries running, they would let everyone else leave. What they aren’t considering is that people in the HFL movement probably consider every escape as some kind of victory over the terra indigene, even if the people don’t survive long enough to reach another human village.”
“Victory implies a fight, and there is nothing to be gained by fighting with us,” Henry said. “The humans can’t win.”
Simon held up a hand, signaling they should all be quiet.
Distractions in one place so that something else could happen in another place. Something being claimed as a victory even if no one survives. Catching the scent of a fire so distant you can’t do anything about it, and yet knowing that a shift in the wind could bring that fire right to your den with little warning.
“The humans in Thaisia can’t win a fight against the terra indigene,” he said quietly. “So why is the HFL movement trying to start a fight here? What do they gain when they have to know they’ll lose?”
Steve’s eyes widened. “Distraction. Creating a ruckus and pulling everyone’s attention away from somewhere else—or something else.”
“Wolves will attack another predator to draw it away from the pups. It’s not a serious fight, although it can turn into one. They just pester and nip, forcing the predator to deal with them while other members of the pack get the pups to safety.”
“The HFL movement here could be the nip and pester to keep us, and other humans, focused on them,” Henry said. “But what are they protecting? Every time you stand against another predator, you run the risk of being hurt or killed. What is worth that risk?”
“Being able to control all the food, all the water, all the resources,” Steve said.
“The humans can’t win a fight against us,” Simon said. “Not here, where cities are separated by miles and miles of wild country. But someplace else where the humans would need extra food and supplies to sustain a fight?”
Steve leaned forward. “You think the HFL movement here is a distraction and resource for the HFL in Cel-Romano? That they’ve been conned so they’ll send as many supplies as possible—so many, in fact, that they’re creating food shortages here? Gods above and below, if they truly believe that anything that happens in Cel-Romano will benefit them, you’ll never convince them that they’re being set up.”
“It doesn’t matter if the humans in Cel-Romano win or lose their fight with the terra indigene; the humans in Thaisia will lose,” Ming said.
Simon nodded. “They will lose. But the HFL movement is like an invasive weed that has taken root and spread through human communities across the continent. We’re not going to be able to convince the humans who are ensnared that they are being set up or that they will lose. We need to protect our own packs as best we can—and we both have a better chance of doing that if we work together.”
“Agreed,” Steve said.
“That’s why we need the River Road Community inhabited by a group of humans and terra indigene who will help us defend the route between Ferryman’s Landing and Lakeside.” And will be tolerated by the earth natives in the wild country who have been disturbed by the humans’ recent actions.
“Okay, what do we do?” Steve asked.
“I have been talking to terra indigene,” Henry said. “Word has traveled that the Lakeside Courtyard is going to be a training ground for Others who need more detailed lessons for interacting with humans. I have talked to Panthergard leaders from the western regions, as well as Lynxgard from the Northeast and High Northeast regions.”
“Some of the cats want to come to Lakeside?” Simon tried not to whine. A Wolf would take on a Lynx or Bobcat if necessary, but one of the cats known as Panther or Cougar? Not if there was a choice. They were bigger, heavier, and meaner than Wolves.
Ideal as enforcers for the new community?
“They asked about training at Lakeside, not living there,” Henry said. “But at River Road, some houses could be set aside for various gards that wanted to spend more time here before returning to their old territory.”
It took them an hour to come up with a working plan. The River Road Community had forty-five semidetached, two-bedroom doubles with the garages sharing a common wall. Fifteen of the doubles would be set aside for the terra indigene. Twenty-five would be available to humans who wanted to help build this community and who met the approval of both the Intuits and the terra indigene. The other five buildings, the ones closest to River Road, would become the business center. For the time being, the industrial plant would be used for storage.
The Intuits would supply the labor to get the houses in shape as quickly as possible. The Lakeside Courtyard would supply the money to purchase needed materials. Some acreage would be set aside to create allotments so that residents could grow some of their own food, and there would be a fenced common pasture for livestock. But there would still be plenty of open land for those who preferred to hunt for their food instead of grow it.
Officer Roger Czerneda, the official police officer in Ferryman’s Landing, would be offered a house in the River Road Community in exchange for expanding his territory to include the community and the road that ran between it
and Great Island.
It would not be easy for humans and terra indigene to live so close to one another. Even in a place like Great Island, where Intuits and Others had worked together for generations to provide food and shelter and protect the island’s residents, they had not tried to live side by side. No one had considered such a thing—until Meg began living in the Green Complex and showed some of the terra indigene that it could be done.
None of them said it, but Simon understood that part of the Panthergard’s and Lynxgard’s interest in Lakeside was the blood prophet who retained the sweetness of a child’s heart. Meg was the kindling that had started a different kind of fire among humans and terra indigene alike—a fire that burned just as bright as the blaze the HFL movement kept fanning.
Hope or hatred? Which fire would light Thaisia?
CHAPTER 39
Moonsday, Maius 14
Alone in the back room of the Liaison’s Office, Nathan tucked the blue checked shirt into his jeans. A T-shirt would have been easier to wear in warm weather, but Michael Debany had told him that would be too casual for an official meeting. And this was business with a Toland police officer who was a stranger and, while not yet confirmed, might well be an enemy.
That was the reason he was attending this meeting: because the Toland police officer might be an enemy. Since Nathan was the enforcer the Lizzy knew best, the Courtyard’s Business Association thought she’d be able to tell her story honestly if she felt safe.
At least he wouldn’t be confused this time if the Lizzy turned into a whiny puppy. Meg wouldn’t be at the meeting, wouldn’t need his protection from the stranger—or from the Lizzy. Not totally the Lizzy’s fault that Meg had needed to cut. But fault or not, being forced to make the cut for Meg had scared him badly, and that made him wary of the Lizzy.
“Why are you growling?” Meg asked as he entered the sorting room.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
He shrugged, not willing to admit that humans were more difficult to deal with when you couldn’t give them a lethal bite or even a sharp nip.
Then he caught something in Meg’s scent and focused on her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You—” Probably shouldn’t say she didn’t smell right. In the books he’d read recently, human females got snappish when a male commented about her smell—unless he said it was a good smell. “You look upset.”
Nathan came around the table, eyeing the catalogs and envelopes. Nothing there that looked dangerous. But the envelope Meg was holding had her name on it. No one wrote to Meg.
“Let me see that.” He held out a hand. Couldn’t grab it from her. Paper could cut too.
Meg gave him the envelope. “I’ve never received a letter before. Not one that was mailed. It’s a new thing.”
“A scary new thing?” He watched her think, could tell by the look in her eyes that she was remembering training images in an attempt to match one to her own experience.
“A little,” she finally said. “Not because I received it, but because I don’t know what is inside. Some training images showed a person holding an envelope and looking excited or happy. Other images show a person looking scared or sad.”
“How do you feel?” He asked partly out of curiosity and partly so he could report a potential danger to Meg.
“Excited and scared,” she decided.
Nathan studied the envelope. The return address was Gardner Farm, Great Island, NER, and the postal code for Ferryman’s Landing. He sniffed the envelope, picking up the scent of chickens, cows, humans, hay.
“Smells like a farm,” he said, handing it back to her.
She looked at him, then sniffed the envelope. “If you say so.”
“Want me to open it?”
Meg shook her head. “Not ready for what’s inside.”
The Crows on the outside wall cawed a warning.
“The police are here,” Nathan said. “I have to go.” He hesitated. Something wasn’t right with her. “The letter is a new thing, but it’s not why you smell . . .” Back to smells again.
“Did I do the right thing, not making a cut when the flowers were delivered?” Meg asked.
Worry. A little fear. That’s what he smelled on her. Did she really think he’d say anything that would encourage her or give her an excuse to cut? Simon would rip him apart. And if Simon didn’t, the Sanguinati surely would. Vlad had made that very clear.
Neither of those things was important in the end. He worked as an enforcer. He protected the residents of the Courtyard. He’d gotten a little complacent as the watch Wolf because he hadn’t fully understood that Meg had one enemy that was always nearby: herself.
“What could you have learned from a cut that we didn’t learn just from your skin prickling?” he asked. “We know the flowers are for Theral, and we suspect they came from the mate she ran away from because he hurt her.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Meg said.
“We don’t need ‘for sure,’ Meg. We’re on guard now. We’ll keep watch. Theral is protected here. And she is kin to police. MacDonald’s teeth aren’t much use in a fight, but he has a gun, so he’ll protect her too.” When she didn’t say anything, he pressed because he couldn’t leave until he was sure Meg wouldn’t become her own enemy. “Is your skin still prickling?”
Meg shook her head. “Not since the flowers were taken away.”
He tapped the envelope. “No prickling about that?”
She looked surprised by the question. “No. I don’t feel anything that indicates there is a prophecy connected to the letter.”
Elliot said.
Nathan turned to Meg. “I have to go.” He opened the Private door, vaulted over the counter, and went to the front door. Then he stopped and returned to the counter, remembering what Crystal Crowgard had told him that morning. “Meg? Do you remember Charlie Crowgard?”
She smiled. “Of course I remember him.”
“Remember when that Phineas Jones came to the Courtyard, and you and Merri Lee saved Skippy by hitting that human with a teakettle and broom?”
Now she paled. “Yes, I remember. Sort of remember.”
“Crystal told me that Charlie Crowgard wrote a song about the fight. It’s called ‘Teakettle Woman and Broomstick Girl,’ and it’s so popular with the terra indigene who have heard it, he’s going to record it so the rest of us can hear it too.”
As he hurried out of the office, he heard Meg yipping for him to come back.
* * *
As a police officer, it took Monty less than a minute to realize he didn’t like, or respect, Captain Felix Scaffoldon of the Toland Crime Investigation Unit. As a father, it took him half that time to realize he didn’t want his little girl in the same room as the man.
Something about Scaffoldon was . . . off. Not a sexual predator vibe, but Monty had the impression that Lizzy didn’t count in some way, was considered acceptable collateral damage.
A chill went through him. What did Scaffoldon know about Elayne’s death that he wasn’t sharing? Had she been considered collateral damage too?
No one had asked for his consent before arranging this interview. Monty had thought it had been high-handed of Burke to make such arrangements. Now he had to admit he wouldn’t have thought to make these particular arrangements.
Scaffoldon had been prepared to have Monty and Burke present, one as the police presence representing the city of Lakeside and the other as the child’s father. But the man hadn’t been prepared for the terra indigene who had seemingly invited themselves to the interview. Elliot Wolfgard, consul for the Lakeside Courtyard and the Wolf who dealt with the city’s government, staye
d near the door of the conference room. Nathan Wolfgard stood behind Lizzy’s chair, making it clear to everyone that the Wolf was here to guard the child. Then there was Vladimir Sanguinati, representing the Courtyard’s Business Association, wearing black slacks and a black T-shirt. And last was Stavros Sanguinati, one of the vampires who ran the Toland Courtyard, wearing a black-on-black suit that made everyone else in the room—including Elliot Wolfgard—look like they were wearing secondhand cheap.
“Shall we get started?” Captain Burke asked pleasantly.
The door opened and Pete Denby walked in. “Sorry I’m late. Had to get the children settled at A Little Bite.” He took the seat next to Monty, opened his briefcase, and removed a notepad and pen. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Feel the need for an attorney, Lieutenant?” Scaffoldon asked.
Pete looked surprised. “I’m not here as Lieutenant Montgomery’s representative. I’m here as Miss Elizabeth’s attorney and advocate.”
“I, too, am trained in human law,” Stavros said. “So I can advise Lieutenant Montgomery if that is required.”
Scaffoldon barked out a laugh. “A vampire attorney? Isn’t that redundant?”
Stavros smiled, but his dark eyes remained cold. “Perhaps.”
“Should be having this interview at the station.” Scaffoldon had been voicing that complaint all the way to the Courtyard. At least Monty wouldn’t have to listen to the man’s complaints on the way back from the Courtyard. Burke had asked Louis Gresh to follow in another car and drive Scaffoldon to the train station after the meeting.
“Have you apprehended the person or persons responsible for the death of Elayne Borden?” Stavros continued to smile. “No? Then Elizabeth is safer here. Ask your questions, if you have any.”
Whatever questions Scaffoldon really had, he didn’t want to ask in the presence of the terra indigene. He covered the same ground that Burke had covered in the initial interview with Lizzy, but Monty noticed Scaffoldon didn’t ask about anything that happened before Elayne and Lizzy’s arrival at the train station.