No one says a word, and I sense everyone will stare at me again, for different reasons. But I don’t care. We pass offices where staffers of both species work hard, answering phones. The exotic food smell passes over me, though most of the human workers have covered their scent well. And my stomach growls. Yes, I’m probably less than two days from killing, and that makes this mission more dangerous.

  “Your father is getting settled in his office,” a vampire man says in the hallway corner. He pops out, and I recognize the Vice President immediately.

  Jeremy’s not having it. “Out of the way.”

  And I’m not, either. “Yes. This is an emergency.”

  The guy widens his eyes at me as if he can’t believe that I’m talking up to him like that. Then he shakes his head as if he expected this out of me. “Ah. Cassandra,” he says as recognition comes onto his face. “I’ve heard that you’ve entered the public sphere early, though I’m not surprised.”

  This guy does not care for Goodman and his bending of the rules, and maybe that’s in our favor. “I’m ambitious,” I say. “And if you want a chance to be Haywood’s running mate again, move.” I stare daggers into him.

  Yes, Ember Vonk is still in there. Of course, she wasn’t this bold.

  He steps aside, and Jeremy and I continue to a corner office, where the door is cracked.

  And Haywood is inside, speaking with his wife, Tonya.

  “The Chancellor is not fond of me backing out of the agreement,” Haywood is saying.

  “He knows we need to please the Spade Party,” his wife says. “The agreement can lose a few rules before we join.”

  Jeremy shoves open the door.

  And we stand on the cusp of a room I’ve only seen in TV shows and movies.

  The Oval Office spreads in front of us, and President Haywood sits at his desk, a mess of executive orders and other papers in front of him. Nathan and Zane come in behind us, and I’m glad that we have their backup.

  Haywood’s neat, 30s-style mustache wrinkles as he screws up his youthful face in anger. “Jeremy, now is not the time to give your girlfriend a tour.” His tone drops to a dangerous growl, which reminds me that Haywood does in fact have a monster in there.

  Tonya curls her silver-painted fingernails nearly into fists as she looks at the two of us. They haven’t heard the news from Goodman or Warrington yet, but they’re pissed about us interrupting their important conversation. We’ve overstepped our bounds.

  “This is not a tour. Do you want to get re-elected?” Jeremy asks. “I’m serious, Father. And Mother. Do you want to keep your reputation? If not, the Bellweather family is going to fall from this fresh development, too.”

  Then Haywood’s eyes widen from his position at the desk. We must talk about Warrington. It’s her plan to accuse Jeremy of being a Diamond. It wouldn’t make sense for me to throw Goodman under the bus. So far as everyone knows, I’m still his good little heir, and a good little Spade. This will all have to be Warrington’s plan.

  “You have five minutes to enlighten me,” Haywood says. His tone warns that this had better be important, or we’re going to suffer some consequences.

  Jeremy does the talking. “Word has it that Warrington is trying to sabotage the Haywood name. She wants to make it look like—”

  The phone on the desk rings.

  And Haywood holds up a hand as sheer panic floods my chest.

  I look at Jeremy as he answers, clearly annoyed. “Hello? I must warn you that I am dealing with important—oh, Senator Goodman.” He pauses. “An emergency conference call?” Then his eyes widen as Jeremy and I look at each other.

  Nathan taps Jeremy’s shoulder and thumbs us to the door.

  "Out," Tonya snaps. "We will see if this matter is important later."

  I want to scream.

  Are we too late?

  The wide-eyed look in Nathan’s eyes states that yes, we are.

  We can’t stop Haywood, or the entire Service will destroy us.

  Haywood presses a button on his desk, and then Goodman’s voice comes through, loud and clear.

  "This is such a serious matter that the Hearts and Spades must work together," the Senator says, sounding every bit the best speaker in the world. He inserts the right amount of emotion into his words to sway any audience. "I have Senator Warrington here with me. Her campaign manager also has some interesting information for us all."

  "Greetings, Mr. President," she says as I back into Jeremy.

  He grabs my shoulders and pulls me back. Tonya turns away from us as Nathan closes the door.

  And the agent’s look warns us we have less than a minute to escape before all hell breaks loose.

  Nathan and Zane usher us out through a side entrance. I barely remember going back to the SUV.

  No one says a word. We’re leaving quietly. And as we get in, Nathan and Zane slam their phones and tablets on the black concrete so hard that they shatter.

  They’re on the run. We’re on the run. The truth is out, and we can’t deny it anymore or contain it.

  Haywood is finding out that his son is a Diamond.

  Jeremy’s an outcast now. And so am I.

  We pull out of the grounds, and the gate opens as Nathan forces himself to look calm. "We can’t take this vehicle far," he says. "We must abandon it and take another."

  He pulls onto the street, and I hold my breath as the guards at the gate let us out again without questioning. The conference call is still happening, and Haywood will take some time to accept that his son is working against the system. And I hope he’ll need time to accept that Warrington and Goodman are working together.

  That’s the only reason we’re escaping.

  We leave the gate behind, and Nathan pulls down a few nearby streets and orders us out once we reach an alley. We get out, and he breaks the lock on a random sedan by pulling on the driver’s side door, hard. We’re stealing a car.

  Of course, I've done much worse.

  “Is this all necessary?” Jeremy asks as we get into the back. He looks at me and works his jaw.

  “Yes,” Nathan insists. “You are in danger. We are all in danger. With Haywood on board, Diamond hunting will go into full swing, and it will become everyone’s priority.”

  Normal politics has ended until further notice.

  And I hate that. We’ve been using it as our weapon, and now that it’s gone, I realize just how valuable it was.

  I link hands with Jeremy as we get moving again, and the car clunks its way through the city. Not something with GPS, then. I hope Nathan and Zane know enough to get me and Jeremy under the radar, because I don’t.

  We’re high profile, and now everyone will hunt for us.

  We pull up to a restaurant and go inside. Nathan snaps his fingers at the server just inside, who fakes a smile and leads us into a private dining room before the patrons in the back can stare or smell who we are. Then the server, without a word, parts a secret panel and lets us into the underground.

  “Beatrice is still out there,” I say as we descend the steps. “She’ll lead Goodman and Warrington to the secret entrances, now that she knows what we were doing the whole time. Maybe we can go back out and stop her. It doesn’t seem like she’s gone back to Goodman yet.”

  We keep descending the metal steps, which click underfoot. Jeremy works his jaw again. “I know. I wish I’d killed her. Now we have to hope she drowns in her own drool.”

  “You did your best.” I was cruel to Beatrice. Try as I might, I can’t shake that feeling, and that maybe I deserve this.

  Is there anything I can do now?

  “No. I didn’t.”

  “Stop beating yourself up.” Jeremy looks over his shoulder as he continues down the steps.

  “Now is not the time for these petty arguments,” Nathan says, hurrying in front of us.

  “Well, we need to do something about Beatrice,” I say. “I wonder if Amelia could help with that?” Now my mind sharpens as it spins. My stomach rumbles with hunger, but that feels like an annoying fly instead of the center of my worries now. Then again, I think of the poor bodybuilder.

  No. We have things to do. News to deliver.

  Nathan pulls out a phone and says stuff into it about meetings and Code Reds as we move through the vast underground network of dim corridors and musty smells. Of course, the Diamonds will have to gather. Well, those who can get away at this hour. And by the time we reach the meeting room, Mike is in his place, just outside the door.

  “You’re safe,” he says, giving me a quick hug.

  I can smell his blood since Mike doesn’t spray any scents on him. I pull away quickly as the faintest look of hurt comes over my brother’s face. “I have to take care of a few things,” I say, which is true, and I motion Jeremy into the crowded meeting room. Already, people put out refreshments but haphazardly instead of in neat formations. That includes the bottles. Am I no longer embarrassed to deal with this stuff in front of Mike? Jeremy looks at me, questioning, but I lead the conversation. “We couldn’t get to Haywood in time.”

  Mike shakes his head, and the helplessness shines in his eyes. “I heard.”

  Once Jeremy and I take care of that hunger, we stand near the front of the meeting room as people seat themselves. I’m relieved to see Amelia in the front. But Voss, of course, isn’t with her. The government is having its business hours, and he must keep up his image in front of Goodman.

  He’s the inside guy now instead of me.

  I’ve failed on that front, too.

  I’m shaking. Now I’ll have to face that before everyone else. As if sensing my nerves, Jeremy stands slightly in front of me, facing the seated people. I spot lots of staffers. A few Reps. The Senate must be in session tonight, but not the House, then, and Amelia must be off. That allows some people to get away without looking suspicious.

  This isn’t all the Diamonds, then.

  Coffrey paces in front of everyone. Slowly, I get my bearings. There must be over a hundred people in here, of both species, and I watch as Mike sits near the front, beside Amelia. Amelia offers him a smile—

  Is there something budding between them?

  Jeremy nudges me in the side.

  Seriously. No way.

  “Everyone,” Coffrey shouts, clapping. “If I had a gavel, I would use it. There have been some profoundly serious developments tonight.” More bags hang under his eyes, and I swear the Rep from Arizona has aged ten years in just a few weeks. He looks ready for the grave.

  Then Jeremy and I get to go onstage and explain the biggest fuck up in our country’s history. Jeremy, being the actor, takes the lead, because public speaking isn’t nearly as terrifying for him as it is for me.

  “And Beatrice is the only one who knows where the entrances to the Diamond meeting places are,” he finishes. “She followed me and Ember to various restaurants where we vanished for hours on end. Goodman mentioned she may still be of use, but he also hinted that her usefulness would run out soon.”

  A few hushed whispers pass through the crowd, and Mike whispers something in Amelia’s ear.

  Amelia nods, and I know she’s about to speak. “I have spoken with Beatrice several times, and she trusts me enough to work beside me.”

  “She does?” I ask. I’ve never paid attention to how the two interact. For all I know, the two just tolerated each other’s presences during work hours.

  Maybe Amelia can help, then.

  Another plan forms in my mind. “Keep going.”

  “I got her number since she had a lot of animosity towards you,” Amelia said with a frown. She still feels awful about what happened to me, and now she wants to help. “I got as close as I could to the other familiars and staff. And it may have paid off.”

  “You can reach Beatrice? Without her, Goodman and Warrington will have a harder time tracking down the Diamonds.” Coffrey turns to her. “They’ll find us soon. Diamond searches in the past got hampered by partisan politics and other distractions, and even without Beatrice, Goodman and Warrington will think to search the tunnel system. It’s a vast system, but with their combined forces, they can make it happen. But if we reach Beatrice, we delay that search and buy time.”

  I swallow because he’s right. Any organized searches would have gotten stopped by normal political crap.

  But now enemies are allies.

  “Is the media saying anything?” I ask. “TNH? SPN?”

  “I’d like to know,” Mike says.

  “They’ve gone quiet about the attack on the Freedom Center,” Coffrey says. “I suspect Goodman and Warrington won’t want the public to know about the hunt. Too many people turning up dead will turn everyone’s heads.”

  “So maybe they can’t do the attack?” I ask as hope swells into my chest.

  Jeremy shakes his head at me.

  Coffrey looks right at me for the first time in weeks. “To cover it up, they will probably make the human Diamonds die of natural causes, get caught up in scandals, or go to prison. For the vampire members, there’s a way to keep the death count low.”

  I gulp.

  They might kill a few of us, but to cover up the destruction of the Diamonds, they’ll make us kill people, maybe even some of our fellow Diamonds. They’ll force us to their side. Jeremy seizes my arm, and Mike almost gets out of his chair.

  I’ll repeat myself. “So we need to find Beatrice.”

  We have one advantage.

  And that’s me knowing that Goodman probably wants to off Beatrice as soon as she’s done being useful. What if I tell her that, and tell her the truth about her mother so that she can regain her status? I can come clean, and maybe Beatrice will have to cooperate with us or at the very least, leave us alone?

  Maybe I can do something right for once, even if Beatrice is horrible.

  Of course, she probably won’t ever forgive me.

  “Ember? Evil plan?” Jeremy prompts.

  “Not quite,” I say, hating that I’ve had plenty of those, too. “Beatrice. I might get to her if Amelia can get her somewhere where we can talk. And then I might have her delay them from finding us. Or better yet, she can throw Goodman and Warrington off our trail after I save her life.”

  It’s a stupid plan, but it’s our only plan. Tomorrow night, we must get to Beatrice. She’s still at large, apparently, so there may be time to catch her. Amelia hasn’t seen her around Goodman yet. The theory is that Beatrice is too scared of admitting her failure to him.

  But Goodman will find her, and that’s the problem.

  I’ll have to go on this mission alone. Jeremy can’t risk going out from the underground right now because he smells just like Haywood. They share that open desert scent that anyone will recognize, and after Jeremy filmed those commercials singing the President’s praises, everyone will know that perfect jaw and that hair swept over to the side.

  And I’m jealous.

  But I push those feelings down.

  And my other feelings, too. Jeremy and I once again retreat to the medical bay because there is nowhere else, and once again, we lie on separate cots.

  “Just thinking about what I have to do.” I hate that we must waste more time, but the soonest Amelia can find and arrange something with Beatrice is early tomorrow night.

  Amelia comes through.

  Coffrey tells me early that following night that she’s arranged “breakfast” with Beatrice before their shift at the Senate building starts. Beatrice still has her phone, apparently, or a new one with the same number. Which is stupid, considering that Goodman could hunt her.

  Or that’s a sign that she’s about to go to Goodman and calm his wrath. If she’s going to work, then she has a plan for doing that.

  And throwing me and Jeremy into the grinder.

  Jeremy and I stand in Coffrey’s little office, which is next to Voss’s empty one. “The Senate goes into session today, but later, and Goodman will not expect the two to work before then.” He flips through his contact cards as he speaks, trying to organize things. Coffrey’s white hair is everywhere, and I’m glad to see him scrambling. “Amelia says Beatrice did not show up to work last night, which is good. Perhaps she was recovering from her ordeal and making her plans.” Then he looks at me, expecting me to say something.

  I really don’t like that man.

  And I can’t put my finger on why.

  “I wonder how much my absence is humiliating him,” I say.

  Jeremy grins beside me and nudges me again. Yes, that’s evil. But at least this is the good evil.

  “I imagine you left Goodman with quite a mess,” Coffrey says, not smiling. “But he may use your absence to intimidate his colleagues. Vampires have had their own heirs killed before if they step too far out of line or reach for power too early. It is not common but expected of someone like him.”

  Yes. Goodman would kill me if he got angry enough.

  “I want him to suffer,” I say, thinking of Mike back at his cot, doing a fresh round of research. I wish I could help him, but I have another mission early tonight.

  Coffrey hands me a paper map. “Amelia is meeting with Beatrice at Grandma’s Breakfast and Diner. She is under the pretense of discussing you and exchanging theories. After all, she is a familiar about to prove herself.”

  “Won’t this blow Amelia’s cover?” I ask. I get the guilt. But she might go too far. I look at Jeremy, and then he glares at Coffrey.

  “Or don’t you mind that?” he asks. “You love it when people go out and do the dangerous stuff while you hide behind this desk.”

  The Rep shifts, uncomfortable. “If we cannot get Beatrice on our side or otherwise subdue her, then she and Voss will need to go into hiding. It is a risky plan.”

  So now he’s throwing Voss under the bus, too. I’m not so special after all.

 

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