Philodox, page 14
part #1 of The Delaney Jones Chronicles Series
She came back in a few minutes later. “The Prince has agreed to see you immediately.”
I looked out the window. The sun was still up. “Immediately? As in right now?”
Jeanette nodded. “She is at the Elysium. Obviously, you will have to go to her, but she would prefer to take care of this as quickly as possible.”
I narrowed my eyes. “As in, she wants to do this before any of her other vampires see her having a meeting with a werewolf?”
Jeanette looked at me in that moment, and I mean she really looked at me. This wasn't the 'I'm going to pretend to be airy and flaky so that everyone underestimates me' version of Jeanette. I felt like I was getting a glimpse of the actual Jeanette – the cunning vampire that was probably a million years old and had all sorts of training on how to be sneaky and could politic around everyone in circles without breaking a sweat. I was no longer dealing with Jeanette: the fabulously dressed debutante who cared about things like fashion and trips to Paris. I was dealing with Jeanette: the predator. The huntress that could strike you down with a thought before you even knew what was happening. She took my breath away.
Then she blinked, and just like that, I was in the kitchen with the Jeanette that I had grown accustomed to. “I would not take it too personally, my dear. We vampires live very long lives, and prefer things to stay as quiet and peaceful as possible. We do not like to risk an early second death. We keep things so very boring and mundane. Then, every couple hundred years or so, someone like you comes along and turns everyone's worlds upside down. Personally, I find it to be incredibly exciting, but as you know, not everyone agrees with me.”
“Hey! It's not my fault!”
“I know, dear, of course. Now off you go, the Prince will not wait forever.”
“What about Damon? Shouldn't I wait for him to wake up?”
Jeanette shook her head. “I will send him to you as soon as he is able, do not worry.” She stepped toward me and held out her arms, eyeballing my jeans and tank top. “Is that what you are planning to wear this evening?”
I laughed and stepped into her arms to give her a hug, squeezing tightly. “Just in case things don't go well tonight, thanks for everything.”
She squeezed me back hard enough that I'm pretty sure I heard one of my bones crack. “No, darling,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
When I pulled into the parking lot of the Elysium, it looked abandoned. There was a blue pickup truck and a motorcycle parked near the front of the lot, but that was it. I took the spot next to the truck and headed up to the door. It was closed, and there wasn't a doorman in sight. Praying it wasn't locked, I tugged on the door and it swung right open. Things looked a lot different during the day than at night, when the music was blasting and the dance floor was full. Now, the lights were on completely, and it was glaringly bright, the harshness of it illuminating every square foot of the enormous room, making it seem palatial.
It felt creepy to be in there by myself, so I moved quickly up the stairs. Jeanette told me the Prince would be waiting for me in her normal spot, so that was where I headed. There were no men guarding this door, either, so I just walked right in. I was going to have to talk to the Prince about her security. I know most vampires were still sleeping, but it might have been a good idea for her to employ some sympathetic humans that could at least sound a warning when a werewolf just comes traipsing in. As I walked across the room, the curtains of the little meeting room were pulled aside, and Andre stepped out.
“You don't have anyone watching the door or anything?” I asked him. “I could have been a rampaging monster, you know. Then what would you have done?”
Andre just blinked at me, his expression bored. “I would have ripped you to pieces before you even knew I was here, fed your entrails to my dog, and bathed in your blood.”
I was proud that my steps faltered only slightly. “You have a dog?”
“No, but I would get one just for this exact purpose. I could name her Delaney.”
“Did you just make a joke, Andre? I'm so proud!” I held up my hand and offered him a high five. He tilted his head at me quizzically, then turned around and gestured for me to follow him, totally leaving me hanging. I dropped my hand and stepped into the small room to find the Prince sitting on the far side of a small, wooden table. She was shuffling a deck of cards, and as I entered, she started dealing four hands. There were two chairs on the closest side of the table, and Andre pulled one out for me, then moved to the other side of the table to sit in the chair next to the Prince.
“Problem?” The Prince murmured in her quiet voice.
Andre shook his head. “Delaney was just commenting on our apparent lack of security, so I told her I would feed her entrails to my dog.”
She stared at him for a moment, but apparently chose not to comment, because she turned back to me, instead. “You wish to ask me something.” It wasn't a question, but she didn't say anything else, so I figured that was my cue to start talking.
“Yes, I'm here to ask your permission to let the wolves come into the city to take care of the Black Walker.”
“Black Walker?”
“Yeah, that big giant monster thing that chased us in the car that one time.” She nodded, and I continued. “It's been hunting me for a while now, but Rast thinks he's come up with a plan to destroy it for good, so we want to do that. It's holed up in the city, though, so they have to come in here and apparently there's some rule that says they aren't allowed in here without getting your permission?”
“This is true. The monster is here inside the city? Where?”
“I’ve been told that it's at the water treatment plant, where it's little minions took me when they caught me in the spirit world.” Andre gave me a confused look. “Oh right, sometimes I forget that you guys have that inconvenient little blind spot. You usually know everything hours before I do. Remember that time you found us in the ambulance?” I paused for a moment as I realized that had only happened a few days ago. It felt like it had been months since then. “Well, I had been wandering around in the spirit world like I had all my sense and I got attacked. They took me to the water treatment plant, tied me up, all that good stuff.”
Both the Prince and Andre were staring at me now. “They?” Andre asked. “There is more than one of these, what did you call it? Black Walkers?”
“Oh no,” I shook my head. “Only one Black Walker. But he has about a billion little minions. I don't think all of them can come into the real world, though. I've only ever seen the massive ones with the hammer fists here in the real world, none of the ugly little praying mantis looking things.” I paused. “I guess they could have been in the other room. I was tied up at the time, so I didn't really get the full tour before the big guy clocked me on the head. We could ask Damon, I suppose. He may have seen more while he was rescuing me.”
“This thing was able to knock you unconscious and then capture you? It tied you up and held you against your will?”
“Well, yeah, but I mean, I wasn't kidding about the little bug guys. There were a ton of them. I think I did a pretty good job of taking them out, and I would have had them, too, if the big guy hadn't shown up.”
“And the “big guy” is this Black Walker?”
“Oh no,” I shook my head. “The Black Walker is that thing that was chasing us while we were in the car, remember? He picked up a couple vehicles and tossed them around? This guy is similar to the Black Walker, but smaller and less powerful. Also, I don't think this one wants to bleed me dry.” I shrugged. “I mean, maybe he does, who am I to say? But he's not the one that's been hunting me. That's the Black Walker.”
Andre sat back in his chair. “So you are going to go fight this Black Walker, other creatures similar in power and size to the Black Walker, and possibly a...” he raised his hands and made air quotes, “...ton of bugs. How many wolves are going to be joining you in this?”
“Um, well,” I started counting off my finger. “I'll be there, obviously, Damon is coming, and I'm sure Farrah will join us. Rast is performing the ritual, so he'll be there. Leif told me in my dreams that he's coming, so there's another one. I'm sure more are coming; Leif did say that they had quite a few volunteers. I didn't get an exact number, though. At least four wolves and a vampire, if that helps.” I shrugged and the two of them did that thing where they stare at me like I'm a crazy person. It was starting to become a familiar expression for them.
The Prince sighed. “You know I cannot ask the vampires to fight this battle.”
“I'm not asking you to help us fight. We've got this. I just need permission for the wolves to enter the city, so we can deal with it without you guys getting all uppity about us being here.” She gave me a Look, and I coughed. “Uh, what I meant to say was, it would be really awesome if you would just allow us to enter your awesome city, your royal highness. We would be eternally grateful for your kind and selfless gesture.” I paused, then gave her a look of my own. “Of course, we would be taking care of a pretty serious issue for you, instead of letting the monster – that picks up cars and throws them like they're toys, as I'm sure you remember – run rampant and destroy this beautiful city that you work so hard to control.”
“A beast that is here because of you.” Andre interrupted.
The Prince nodded, looking thoughtful. “Why is that, Delaney Jones? Why does this creature wish to destroy you?”
“It's not my fault. I didn't do anything!” I ignored Andre's skeptical expression. “The thing just wants to kill me so that it can use my blood to do some sort of magic thing that will make it able to stay in this realm permanently.” I shrugged. “Apparently a drop or two won't work, it has to bleed me dry or something. Which I suppose is a good thing, since at this point I'm pretty sure I've bled just about all over this city.” I was trying to sound nonchalant and hoped I was pulling it off.
“And so you are going to kill it before it kills you?”
I nodded at the Prince. “Yes. Also, it killed my mother and is currently in the process of killing my father, so I kind of want to just murder it on principle. If I'm being completely honest, there might be a hint of revenge in my intentions.” She stared at me for an uncomfortably long time – so long that I felt compelled to fill the silence. “Look,” I sighed. “This thing isn't going to stop until it gets me. And I'm not leaving this city without Damon, who has no intention of leaving, either, no matter how many times Jeanette offers up her private plane and begs us to go to France with her. I'm not asking you to let the wolves in forever – in fact, none of the wolves I know would even want that, no offense – we just need a few hours to get to the beast, destroy it, then perform some ritual that will make it dead for good. We already know it's at the water treatment facility over by the river, so it won't even take us any time to hunt it down first. We'll be in and out before you know it.”
“And if you fail?”
“Well, then you'll have a lot of dead werewolves, which should make the vampires happy, right? Of course, you'll also have the Black Walker rampaging through town like Godzilla, but hey – maybe it will decide to go elsewhere once it can manifest here permanently. There's no reason it would stay here forever, so you might not even have to worry about that, either. It's a win-win for you, as I see it.”
The Prince sat back in her chair and there was another long silence. This time, when I started to open my mouth to say something, Andre barely shook his head at me, so I sat back in my chair, as well, and waited. After a moment, she nodded. “Your wolves may enter. You have until the sun sets tomorrow to complete what needs to be done. Before the vampires wake again, this city must once again be free of werewolves.” She stared at me with that creepy unblinking gaze. “Present company excluded, of course.”
“Of course.” I gave her a big grin. “Thank you for seeing me, and for agreeing. I really thought...” I stopped when I heard the door open downstairs. “Uh, are you expecting someone? If not, you might want to get that dog sooner rather than later, because there's someone here.”
The Prince nodded and Andre said, “Yes, Damon is here.”
I turned around to look behind me, but I couldn't see anyone, so I wasn't sure how they knew it was Damon. I sniffed, and caught a whiff of his scent, so I knew they were right – I just didn't know how they knew. Did vampires have the same sense of smell? I turned back to Andre. “You can smell him from that far away?”
“What?” Andre looked annoyed. “I do not smell people, Delaney.”
Before I could respond to that little comment, Damon appeared in the room. He looked a little upset, but I didn't get a chance to ask him what was wrong before he was staring down the Prince. “Was anyone ever going to tell me, or is this just another one of those things that Jeanette failed to inform me of?”
The Prince pointed at the empty chair. “Take a seat, Damon. I have dealt the cards. Pick up your hand.” She gestured at me to do the same, so I did, watching Damon with wide eyes. He was in a mood. Andre and the Prince picked up the cards in front of them as well, and then they both just gazed at their cards and waited for Damon, who finally gave an annoyed sigh and sat down hard in his chair. As soon as Damon picked up his cards, the Prince looked at me. “Delaney, do you have any kings?”
I checked my cards and shook my head. “Go fish.”
The Prince pulled a card from the pile and added it to her hand. “I did think Jeanette would have mentioned it to you, yes. It was her place to tell you. Delaney, it is your turn.”
I was having trouble following the conversation, and was starting to get concerned by the stony expression on Damon's face. I glanced at Andre for help, but he was gazing very intently at his cards, doing his best to ignore the obvious tension between the Prince and Damon. “Andre, do you have any 3's?”
He shook his head. “Go fish. Damon, do you have any Jacks?”
“Are we seriously going to sit here and play cards instead of talking about this?”
“Is there some reason we can't do both?” Andre asked.
Damon took a card from his hand and slapped it down on the table, then slid it over to Andre with way more violence than a card game deserved. Andre just smiled and thanked him. There was silence at the table for a few seconds, and then the Prince spoke. “I do not understand why you find this to be so upsetting. Did you think you were her only child? Also, it is your turn.”
“No, that has nothing to do with it!” Damon was using his angry voice. When he gets really mad, his voice gets quieter – not louder, like when I get mad. His voice gets a scary, gravelly tone and he starts to enunciate his words in this exaggerated way, which I secretly think is adorable, but have learned to never mention to him. That just makes him angrier, for some reason. “I am really sick and tired of nobody telling me anything around here. Everyone assumes that Jeanette is going to tell me what is going on, and even though she has a proven track record of not telling me anything at all, everyone is still not telling me anything, and I am sick of you and everyone else using Jeanette as an excuse.” He slapped the table and the discard pile toppled over. I surreptitiously reached over and started to straighten the stack again. “I do not like it when people keep secrets from me. The fact that Jeanette is your sire, and Andre's and whoever that other person is that I am sensing should have been made known to me, instead of you all just waiting for whatever this new power is to suddenly manifest and make me see things I probably should not be seeing. Do you have any 10's.”
My arm was still outstretched near the stack of cards in the center of the table, where it had been when I froze as Damon casually threw out there that Jeanette was the Prince's sire. Andre reached over and tilted up the cards in my hand that had drooped down, looking amused at my reaction. I realized after a moment of nobody responding that Damon had been talking to me. I looked at my hand, grabbed the ten of hearts and the ten of diamonds, and passed them to Damon. Then I stared up at the Prince. “Wait, so you would have put your own sire to death for turning Damon? And, your own...brother? What do you call him? How does that work? Are you guys technically family now?” I put my cards face down on the table and sat back in my chair, crossing my arms. “What the hell, you guys?”
Damon nodded. “Exactly.”
Andre was looking a little smug, but still very carefully avoiding eye contact with the Prince, whose expression had hardened. “As the ruler of this city, it is my responsibility to see to it that all rules are followed, regardless of my personal feelings about the situation. As always, I do what I believe is best for everyone, not just a single person, no matter my relationship to that individual. If you have a complaint about the way I run things, you may present your case with everyone else at the next meeting.” Her tone was cold enough that I was afraid we were all going to freeze to death. “Delaney, it is your turn.”
I picked up my cards again. “Does this mean Damon is a prince, too? Do you have any fives?” If I hadn't been looking at the Prince, I probably wouldn't have noticed the way she immediately tensed up, or how her eyes narrowed at me just slightly. I wouldn't have seen Andre's hand twitch out of the corner of my eye, or the subtle shift he made in his chair. I would have just sat there, completely oblivious to the fact that two vampires clearly wanted to kill me for some reason. “What?” I dropped my cards back down on the table again and lifted my hands up in surrender. “What did I do?”
Damon put his cards down, too, and put an arm in front of me, sliding closer. “What's going on? What happened?”
Andre and the Prince looked at each other and after a brief moment of silent communication, they both visibly relaxed. Andre even chuckled. “I forget, sometimes, how little the two of you know of these things. You can put your hands down, I am not going to hurt you.” I slowly lowered my hands, confused, and – if I'm being completely honest – feeling a little hurt. It must have shown on my face, because Andre gave me an apologetic smile. “Delaney, I realize now that your question was just another one of your genuine attempts to gain some knowledge about the situation, but what you do not understand is that a Prince is not really royalty, in the sense that you are thinking. Just because Damon is family, that does not automatically make him a prince.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I do not feel as though I am explaining this adequately.”
