A Place to Belong: Chapter 9

Chapter IX

Eyes on Elysium

Returning to the church via a ride share, I found Diego sitting on the steps looking up at the waning moon. He seemed calmer somewhat, more level, and I smiled with satisfaction at his restored temperament. 

“Enjoyed your dinner?” I asked him, slightly smugly. 

“Completely,” he said, then shrugged. “Well, not completely. I didn’t off the guy, but I did enjoy myself. May have bricked his PS5 though when I got too close to it.” 

I smiled slightly at his comment, remembering his clan’s penchant for destroying sensitive technologies just by being close enough to them. There was a reason I’d not had my phone on and visible during the event tonight. The fake business idea was borne from understanding that anything tech derived would end up causing us problems, and our intel that Isadora worked in a field that still used more antiquated systems to function. Attract what we were looking for while repelling those who could cause us problems. A plan I had been quite proud of, despite David’s naysaying.

“Oh, hey there,” Diego said, seeing Isadora appear from behind me, her footsteps silent on the blacktop in spite of the heavy boots. He got to his feet quickly, smoothing his suit, which was wrinkled beyond all repair, and held out a hand to her. “I’m Diego. Diego Navarro. You must be Isadora.”

“Isadora Caravelli,” Isadora answered, her voice touched with an Italian accent and utter disinterest. Her eyes didn’t spend long observing Diego, but rather roved across the church studying the architecture.

“You, uh, Catholic?” Diego asked, still trying to gain her attention. 

“I’m a vampire,” Isadora responded dryly. “I can’t imagine that any god who still has a temple tended to in this world would be overly interested in me.”

Diego’s eyes went a bit wide as his mouth hung open slightly, looking as though Isadora had turned around and slapped him across the face with all her strength rather than nonchalantly answering his question. 

“Besides,” she shrugged, and I was unsure if she knew that she was going for the killing blow or not as she walked towards the chapel doors. “I don’t have much interest in churches that don’t have a graveyard attached.”

I finished powering down my phone and put it back in my pocket before stepping up and clapping Diego on the shoulder, stifling a laugh. 

“She’s a Hecata,” I told him, wondering if that would answer any of his questions. “Apparently she’s not just an expert on ancient death rituals and artifacts… She's an aficionado.”

“Gotcha…” Diego said, still seeming stunned. I pushed him forward slightly, steering him after her so she wouldn’t wander into the council alone. If there was one thing I could say about the woman it was that she was indeed honest to a fault, just as her dossier said. I could appreciate that, but I was sure that Marcus wouldn’t. It didn’t take us long to catch up with her, as she was slowly making her way through the halls, her eyes lingering on different items and displays. She paused in front of a stained glass window for a long moment, seeming to study the leaded glass and meticulous craftsmanship. 

I came up beside her and looked at the particular window that had caught her interest. It was a fairly generic scene as far as churches went. Growing up I’d learned the stations of the cross, and though I couldn’t remember the number, I remembered the part of the story being portrayed here. Jesus was portrayed carrying his own cross, forced to be weighed down by the implement used to give him a slow and tortuous death. My mind began to linger on the metaphors and relation to my own unlife, but I decided to put a stop to that quickly. 

“Does this strike a chord with you?” I asked Isadora, turning to look at her. She shook her head slightly and nodded at an area of open space in front of her and slightly to her left. 

“Not me, her,” she said, her eyes lingering in the empty space she indicated and for a moment I thought I saw a hint of sadness reflecting in them. Before I could fully question the look in her eyes or what she was staring at in the empty darkness, she turned and continued walking down the hall, leaving Diego and me standing awkwardly behind her, feeling a great sense of discomfort. 

“Not so fun when you’re the one on the receiving end, is it?” Diego asked me, before following her. I could hear the attempt at being smug in his voice, but from the expression he was trying to hide it was clear he was more rattled than I was. I turned and looked at the empty air, my senses detecting nothing, but that didn’t stop me from giving it a brief, but polite, nod. 

“Ma’am,” I said, awkwardly. “I hope you have a good night.”

I walked off, following them both at a pace I hoped showed enthusiasm for what was to come rather than an attempt at fleeing from what was potentially a ghost. If that was indeed what we had just encountered, I needed to make a mental note that such things really did exist. Considering I was a vampire now, it didn’t seem as foolish to believe in ghosts as it did when I was alive, but still, it was the kind of thing that takes one by surprise. 

As I stepped into the council room, I found Diego had fallen back into the shadows again as Isadora stood in the doorway, seemingly unsure of what to do next. Not wanting to leave her to face the council alone, I stepped up beside her and looked into the room. What greeted me was a sight that gave me pause from its intensity, and Isadora’s hesitation was even more understandable now. 

Inside, Natalia and Marcus seemed to be at one another’s throats, though not in the typical way that one may have expected with apex predators. There was no posturing or rage, nor violent acts of any kind. The battle was more one of willfulness, like when two cats are staring at one another making low growling noises. The aura of violence was enough to keep most other creatures at bay, which assumedly meant us. We stood back and watched the battle between my secret sire and her underling, though unfortunately it seemed like Marcus was gaining ground on his position from the body language I was reading. 

“You gave me autonomy to choose who would accompany the coterie to this meeting Silas called,” Marcus was saying, a smug look on his face that belied the rebellious anger in his voice, making him sound like a petulant child attempting to sound reasonable. “It seems a bit uncouth to change the rules of engagement on me now.”

His shoulders were squared, feet spread apart, and his arms were crossed across his chest. Normally this would be seen as a defensive posture, but from the way he held himself it made him appear more like an immovable statue of himself, firm and steadfast. He was determined to have his way and had the political backing to enforce it. 

“I asked you to find a fourth member for their coterie that would enable them to have a greater chance of success,” Natalia was saying, her voice smooth as honey and hard as flint, but she was clearly on the backfoot. She didn’t show signs of being flustered, but the backtracking of her words made it clear that she’d been backed into a corner and was trying to save face. She knew she couldn’t win the battle, but she’d be damned if she didn’t try. “I fail to see what is being brought to bear by sending her along with them. Her skillset is much better suited for… other pursuits.”

“Her skillset is a blindspot in your planning,” Marcus retorted, his tone sharp despite the attempt at sounding relaxed. “It is always best to prepare for possibilities that one doesn’t predict will be a problem.”

“If I’m traveling to Tahiti I’m not packing a snow shovel,” Natalia responded, sounding more like an exasperated teacher dealing with a difficult student. “Just because her skills are useful doesn’t mean they’ll be useful now…” 

“I’d say I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m really not,” I cut in, stepping forward. “But someone needs to break this infinite loop before the sun rises and kills you both.” 

Marcus turned to face me, anger twisting across his face. Natalia’s expression was stern, though there was almost a sense of relief that leaked through. I doubted she was enjoying that circular argument anymore than those of us forced to listen to it. I stepped further into the room, ushering Isadona and Diego to follow me. Isadora did so without hesitation, though it took Diego a moment longer than I would have liked to materialize beside me. 

“We found her,” I told Natalia, disregarding Marcus entirely. “Baroness Natalia Sharpe, this is Isadora Caravelli. She’s agreed to help us with the… recovery mission.” 

“No need to be coy, boy,” Marcus said, setting his shoulders back and unfolding his arms, a smug smile stretching across his face as he took a more relaxed posture in my presence. “The Baroness has included me in the briefing for your mission. In fact, she requested that I find the final member of your coterie in an attempt to make sure you had a balanced group. Don’t want a blind spot to be your downfall.” 

“Of course you don’t,” Isadora said, her tone flat. “You’d rather be his downfall yourself.” 

The room got deathly silent at her words, though if Isadora noticed the effect of her words, she made no indication. Instead, her eyes began to rove across the books in a nearby shelf, her long, gloved fingers delicately brushing over the leather bindings as she read their titles. 

“She has a thing about lying,” I said, shrugging. “She doesn’t like to do it.”

“Case in point,” Marcus said, turning to look at Natalia. “Between your pet’s bluntness, the Lasombra’s awkwardness, and this…” 

“Hecata,” Isadora supplied without looking away from the books. 

“Hecata,” Marcus finished. “They are going to need someone with the ability to…” 

“Lie?” I offered, earning a glowering glare from Marcus. 

“Interact with others socially without causing an international incident or a breach of the Masquerade,” Marcus finished through gritted teeth. 

“In fairness, we haven’t even crossed state lines let alone international boarders,” I said, shrugging. Marcus began to puff up in anger again, but Natalia held up a hand. To both our surprises, she held it up at me. 

“Enough, Grey,” she said, her tone sharp, but I recognized her performance anger easily enough. I closed my mouth, taking no offense but trying to look sufficiently cowed. She turned her attention back to Marcus. “Fine, send her along. But I take no responsibility for your childer’s death should your estimations of her abilities prove to be… exaggerated.” 

Marcus gave her a tight smile, bowing to show his gratitude at granting his request, but his expression showed just how painful it was for him to do. As he rose again, from what I noted to be a rather shallow bow, he turned and went to a side door, opening it with a flourish and stepping aside, revealing a young woman strutting through the door behind him. 

The first thing I noticed was just how attractive she was. Her golden skin shone with life that she most certainly did not possess and her mane of tight, honey brown curls bounced with every step. She wore a pantsuit of a deep, royal blue over a shimmering teal shirt made of silk. If my outfit was designed to show power and prestige, hers was meant to portray confidence and trust. 

“Good evening, y’all,” she said, her accent both prevalent but perfectly curated to be easily understood, like an actress in a movie representing the southern regions without using the colloquialisms or dialects that would make those who didn’t understand them feel alienated. 

“Allow me to introduce you to my childer,” Marcus said, grinning at us as if he’d won a prize. “Caroline Rousseau.” 

“But y’all can call me Callie, sugar. Everybody does,” Caroline said, practically beaming at me as she spoke. Then her voice turned cold as ice, her beaming face became hard as stone, and while her accent didn’t go away, it became more natural and far less sweet. “Until they learn better.”

I smiled at her apparently staged transformation. The act was supposed to put us at ease while the reveal was meant to shake us. A decent enough plan for those who were unused to the way that other kindred played mind games. Diego seemed a bit taken aback by the performance, but Isodora didn’t even bother to turn away from the books. I grinned and gave her a polite bow to match the one Marcus gave Natalia. 

“A pleasure to meet you, Callie,” I said, completely unshaken. I enjoyed the disdainful look she and Marcus gave me, and I enjoyed the fact that they couldn’t call me out for it either without painting themselves with the same brush. “And might I say, you do a much better job at lying than any of us were. It was almost like you were two completely different people in just a single moment.”

I watched with satisfaction as Callie’s lips tightened and her posture tensed. I was clearly mocking her, I was openly calling her two-faced, but because I was praising her as I did, and for the very thing Marcus had been talking her up for, there was nothing she could do without ruining her image in front of the Baroness. She knew it too, and so she smiled, the fake pleasantness returning. 

“My, my, aren’t you precious?” Callie said, her face beaming as her eyes burned angrily behind her mask. “You can just look at any glass and see that it’s half full, now can’t’cha?”

“I prefer to think of the glasses as refillable,” I said, pleasantly. “Even if you’re handed an empty glass, that doesn’t mean you’ve been giving nothing. You’ve been given something with a use. You just need to figure out how to use it.” 

If looks could kill, I would be dead. Again. 

“Well then, since everything is settled, and your coterie is complete,” Natalia said, cutting through the tension with her quiet, authoritative voice. “I think, perhaps, it would be best to send you on a… team building exercise. Before you go on your more… prudent mission.” 

I turned, looking at my Sire and pushing my mind into hers. 

“What are you doing?” I asked, my thoughts slipping into her mind. 

“Preparing you to go into dangerous conditions with untested equipment,” she responded, her own thoughts being transmitted directly into my mind. “By forcing you to test it.”

“Tomorrow night, a coterie is arriving from a Sister State up in New York. They come bearing a message from Baron Silas about information so delicate they didn’t want to communicate through more modern means,” Natalia said, a tight note of annoyance entering her voice when she mentioned the modern communication methods being ignored. “While I’m unsure of what this information is, I know for a fact that Baron Silas doesn’t do anything frivolously. If he believes what he’s sharing is worth me sending a coterie out to collect the information from another coterie, and then entrust that they will recount the message correctly, he must have his reasons.”

One did not need my level of understanding of Natalia to sense her irritation at the situation, but as a new Free State with a freshly established barony, it isn’t surprising that she would need to bend and scrape a little to the whims of other barons. Part of me wondered if she was being tested much in the same way she was testing us. Would she obey? Can she be trusted to handle something this simple? Can she put aside her own pride enough to make sure the mission is a success?

“Understood, Baroness,” I said, my tone neutral and without malice towards anyone in the room. Even Marcus blinked at my tepid response. “Do you have a meeting place where we will find them tomorrow night?”

Natalia looked at me, even her expression was a bit suspicious as she gazed at me. “I do. You’ll meet them at Optimist Hall. A public area, lots of grazing mortals. You’re looking for an eclectic group, from what I understand. While he didn’t mention them by clan, there seems to be a pair of more brutish figures, a primadona…”

“Toreador,” both Callie and I said in tandem, then looked at one another with quiet reproach. 

“And a freshly made neonate,” Natalia finished, not commenting on our shared observation. Whether it was because we had spoken with a stereotype she didn’t want to address with us, or because she’d had the same suspicion, she didn’t share. 

“A fresh neonate,” Callie said, a smirk creeping onto her face. “You should fit right in.” 

“Perhaps,” I returned her smirk with a smile. “I’d revel at the opportunity to compare notes.”

Her smirk vanished, replaced by a scowl before turning her attention back to Natalia. “Once we have the message, we just bring it back. This sounds like something that can be done with just one of us. Or a cell phone.”

“As I said,” Natalia said, her piercing eyes boring into Callie, cowing her where she stood. “I did not challenge Baron Silas’ decision. You would do well to learn that lesson as well. And quickly.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Callie said, bowing her head slightly. “Understrood.” 

“Good,” Natalia said, turning her attention away from Callie and looked back at Marcus. “Since you’ve put your childer into the coterie, it would be rude of me not to provide accomodations.”

“That is hardly necessary, Baroness,” Marcus said hastily. “They can use my manor house for the evening.” 

“Posh,” Natalia said, plopping down into a wingback chair and waving her hand dismissively. “You need to learn to cut the umbilical cord, Marcus. Callie is stepping out into the world. Leaving her sire’s house to join her first coterie. It is customary for her to seek a haven to share with her coterie. Build bonds. Grow beyond the boundaries of her clan. Come now, Marcus. Don’t you remember our coterie days?”

Marcus’ mouth became a thin line and I saw his eyes flicker to me for just a moment. Apparently, knowing that he and the Baroness had once been in a coterie together was information he’d preferred had been kept quiet. I filed that information away for later and looked back at Natalia. 

“Do you have a place in mind?” I asked her. 

Natalia smiled at me, a wicked, terrible smile where her eyes expressed more than the marginally curved corners of her mouth ever could. Looking at that smile, it was all I could do to keep from returning a knowing one of my own right back. 

“Oh, I have the perfect place in mind,” she said, her voice thick as venomous honey. “Let me fetch you the keys.”