Inside Straight Page 2

  “Can’t you heal him?”

  The question came quicker than I could stop it, but even as I spoke, it sounded heartless.

  She didn’t flinch from answering.

  “Not from age, House Farrell. It’s complex. We were separated for a year. If we hadn’t been, I would have infused him while he was still strong so he could become Athanate. Now it’s too late; he’d never survive crusis from an ordinary infusion.”

  Finally, her purpose and her need became clear to me.

  Oh, damn!

  “You want me to infuse him?”

  Me, with my unique blood.

  “It’s his only hope,” she said. “I’m told your infusion carries less severe crusis and he has a chance of surviving it.”

  I wasn’t ready for this. Every time I thought about infusing someone I felt a leap of eagerness inside, immediately squashed by the fear that it would go wrong.

  “My infusion hasn’t been tested,” I pointed out. “The rumor may have told you my Blood shortens crusis but it’s just that—a rumor. It may kill him outright. Even if it doesn’t, I guess the rumor also told you I’m hybrid Athanate-Were. My infusion may make him a werewolf and drive him rogue.”

  “It’s better to hope than do nothing,” she said. “Please, House Farrell. I’m begging you. Send us back to Michigan if you must. But please, infuse him first.”

  I hesitated. If Prowser wasn’t after her, then Skylur might agree to my giving sanctuary. And there was pressure on me to test my infusion. Nothing like an order from Skylur yet, but definite reminders from time to time.

  Could I use that as a reason for Skylur to agree to them staying?

  Finally, I said, “Well, in any case, you understand I’m going to have to talk to others and ask questions before I can commit to anything?”

  Skylur, House Prowser, Bian. There were a lot of people who had to agree if we were going to move forward.

  “I understand, House Farrell. We’re at the state border. May we come on to Denver? Please? I’m sure I can explain it all better in person.” She faltered, and I got the sense she was working hard to speak calmly and evenly again. “If your final answer is no, I will understand.”

  I could feel how much that last comment had cost her.

  The rest of it, staying outside the state border until I gave permission, was an Athanate courtesy. Strictly, she should have been requesting permission of Bian, not me. Skylur had transferred his whole Colorado territory to Bian when he announced Altau would be moving to New York.

  In any event, the issue opened what I thought could be the deal breaker.

  “House Lloyd, there’s something you should realize before you cross that state border.” I had to warn her, without giving any of Skylur’s secret plans away. “Colorado is going to be closed to unauthorized Athanate movement anytime now. I don’t want to go into details—it’s all to do with House Altau moving his domain to New York and certain tests he wants to perform here. It could mean, if you end up denied sanctuary, you’d be imprisoned here instead.”

  It was immediately clear that nothing would change her mind. “I understand the risks you’ve described, and I take full responsibility, in my capacity as House Lloyd.” She paused to gather herself. “In recompense, my Blood may also be of some value to you. My kin are unusually long-lived and while I was recovering from losing my other kin...” She paused again; her voice crackled with remembered pain. “During that year, I was able to survive without Blood myself.”

  That stunned me. A year! Normal Athanate would go into coma after a couple of weeks.

  It put her into the same category of Athanate freak as me. It was possible my Blood could be valuable to other Athanate because it might reduce crusis. In exactly the same way, her Blood might be valuable because she didn’t need to bite humans so often. Many Athanate would want to treat House Lloyd as they wanted to treat me: by locking me up and milking me of my valuable Blood.

  Thinking of it that way broke something in me. I imagined myself in her situation, begging for sanctuary and having to offer my Blood in exchange to a House I didn’t even know.

  “House Lloyd,” I said. “If I do this, I’m not doing it like some deal in a bazaar, based on what I think your Blood may be worth.”

  The line went quiet for a couple of seconds. She clearly hadn’t been expecting that.

  “Thank you. I truly appreciate that,” she said, her voice lower. “You should still keep in mind what I have to offer. I’m not a wealthy House, and I cannot be proud: I offer Blood for Blood. Infuse Scott and my Blood is yours.”

  Her words were coming closer to the form of oaths that bound House to House. I didn’t think I could take on a House without meaning to, but on the other hand, I’d taken Yelena into my House accidentally. I needed to be careful.

  Before I could say anything else, she went on: “To be clear, this is not necessarily exclusive. The reason I believe that House Prowser won’t contest my leaving Michigan is that I allowed one of her House to take Blood from me before I left.”

  “As I understand it, Amanda, Blood doesn’t necessarily work that way, and it’s not going to be the reason I agree or not, but I appreciate you telling me.”

  I had to admit to myself that I was trying to find a way to agree to her request. But she’d dodged my question earlier: there was still the little matter that she might be on the run. And I needed to make sure who I was inviting into my House, whether it was temporarily or permanently. More questions...

  “So it’s you and Scott, and...?”

  “And my new kin. Two of them.” Her voice slowed, tried to sound as if it were unimportant. “They’re Adepts.”

  A thrill coursed through me and I sat up straighter.

  Athanate and Adepts had very little to do with each other; Adepts as kin were almost unheard-of, and highly valued.

  How the hell had this even happened?

  “What coven did they belong to?” I asked.

  “They’re not affiliated, except to each other,” she said. “They’re shamanic.”

  My mouth dropped open. That was a whole new level of risk and opportunity, writhing around each other like snakes.

  My Athanate wanted Adepts in my House. Any Athanate House would, but given I was some kind of latent and possibly shamanic Adept, I needed Adepts who could help me harness or understand whatever powers I had. To help me to get control of the Were ritual, for instance. Which was probably why my wolf side had started to take notice.

  The rest of me wasn’t so sure. Shamanic Adepts were not well regarded by the newer Adept communities. In fact, they were sometimes actively hunted down.

  Oh. The pieces started falling together in my mind.

  “Please tell me you’re not on the run because of these shamanic Adepts.”

  She cleared her throat. “Not exactly on the run. But there would have been trouble if they had stayed in Michigan. Apparently, as shamanic Adepts they’re outcasts from all the communities up there, both sides of the border, and there was a local group of covens that came after them at House Prowser. But we’re not in their territory now, so I don’t see that that’s a problem, and it could even be another factor in Prowser being happy that I left.”

  Adept communities in the north cooperated with others? That was a new one on me—the Denver community didn’t cooperate with anyone. Not even each other, from what I could tell.

  But it was unlikely this northern group of covens would follow two shamanic Adepts halfway across the country. And yes, House Prowser might be glad they weren’t part of her responsibilities any longer, if keeping them would have caused problems with the local Adepts.

  I came to a temporary decision. “Okay,” I said. “I’m inclined to look favorably on your petition. But here’s the problem: all of it, all of it has to be passed up the chain of command. If you’re really sure this is what you want, come on into Colorado, and come here.” I gave her the address of Manassah. “It’s the big place on the corner, look
ing out over the Country Club. There are guards on the gate. Meanwhile, I will make your case as strongly as I’m able, and if I can, I will infuse Scott, but I will have to do what Skylur orders me to do.”

  “Thank you, House Farrell. I understand. Whatever my House can offer is yours.”

  “Call me Amber. I’ll see you in a few hours, Amanda.”

  I ended the call.

  She’d sunk the deepest of hooks into my heart. I remembered only too well what her desperation felt like, from when Jen was dying of her wounds after the rescue at the warehouse in Longmont. I would have done anything at that time, if it meant saving her. It hurt to know so vividly what Amanda Lloyd was going through.

  I was taking a big risk, encouraging her to enter Colorado before talking to Bian. But Amanda had accepted all the risks I listed and she was still coming. How could I turn that away?

  Not to mention the fact that two shamanic Adepts came with her—practically tossed in my lap, just when I needed them most. It was almost as if it were meant to be.

  Pia didn’t agree when I told her everything that had been said.

  “Diazoun!” she muttered, shaking her head. “You realize the potential problems? What if some Agiagraphos fanatics in the old Eastern Seaboard Association decide that surviving for a year without Blood is epitre? Or what if she’s wrong about House Prowser? Prowser might be happy those Adepts aren’t her problem any more, but she’s an old, proud House. What if she’s offended by House Lloyd’s refusal to be a sub-House? What if Prowser declares feud unless they’re executed? What if Skylur demands you execute them?”

  That shook me. I knew enough of Athanate rules that the scenario Pia painted was entirely possible.

  “Do you really think he’d do that?” I asked.

  Pia just gave me a look. “You’ve heard Skylur talk about Emergence. He’ll do whatever he has to, to keep his alliances from falling apart. He has to think of all Athanate, not the individuals.”

  Her words brought me a memory of Skylur speaking to me in Los Angeles: I don’t care about Ibarre. I will kill him, or exile him, or forgive him, just so long as it does not hinder our plans for a safe Emergence. That applies to anyone and everyone. Nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of a controlled Emergence.

  Ibarre had been an old, well-connected Athanate House, but he’d put himself in Skylur’s way, and paid for it with his life.

  Yes, if the alternative was damage to the process of Emergence, Skylur would order the execution of Amanda Lloyd and all her House.

  Would I do it? Execute a House on the basis they’d disobeyed a command from Skylur that I didn’t entirely agree with myself?

  If I didn’t follow his orders, my House in turn would become outcast. We’d all be diazoun, and under sentence of death.

  Which Bian would be responsible for carrying out.

  Would she do it?

  I didn’t know. I hoped not, even at the expense of her own House.

  But where did that stop?

  Alternately, what if Prowser was okay with it, but Skylur wanted them for himself? An Athanate with potentially useful Blood and Adepts willing to work with Athanate. Why wouldn’t he want them under his direct control?

  I found I was really unhappy with the idea that Skylur might want to take House Lloyd and her Adepts from me. Mine, I wanted to snarl, just thinking about it. Even my wolf joined in on that.

  However, there was no point in snarling at Skylur; I needed to present a case to him showing the benefits of House Lloyd being here in Denver, in my House.

  As I’d warned Amanda, Colorado was about to become isolated from the rest of the USA for Athanate. The real reason for it was that Diana and Kaothos were coming here, and on no account could news of them leak to the Empire of Heaven, or the barely balanced political arrangement which had Skylur and the Emperor running the Assembly from the sidelines would collapse.

  The reason Skylur would give, when the isolation directive went out, was that the potential for my Blood to reduce crusis was being investigated, and the control on movement was a sort of quarantine.

  So... it would make sense for House Lloyd’s Blood to be tested here, in the ‘quarantine’ zone. I could use that argument. At the same time, infusing Scott would show I was willing to do what Skylur wanted and it would support the reason for his directive.

  What else? The shamanic Adepts might be useful to help get Kaothos transferred back from Diana to Tullah, and they might be able to help Tullah learn to harness her powers.

  Also, since both Tullah and I were considered to have broken Adept community law, maybe a couple of Adepts in my House would provide some defense against the Denver community.

  Not great arguments, certainly not knockouts, but a start.

  And I needed to show I was willing to cooperate in other ways, by going through the correct channels and following protocol. Before I even got to making arguments, I needed to contact Bian and Skylur.

  Bian first, simply because she was the only one with a direct line to Skylur at the moment.

  Which meant I’d have to wake her in the middle of the night and admit to inviting House Lloyd into Colorado.

  I winced.

  Not a great beginning.

  Chapter 2

  So... I’m doing things the right way. For once. Go me.

  It was still stupid o’clock, the early morning of Christmas Eve, with the sun sensible enough to be in bed, and I was out at Bian’s house, Haven, Colorado’s Athanate HQ.

  So much for my Christmas vacation.

  You and your House rest. Christmas with your family. Food and wine and television. Cards and presents: Down in LA, Skylur had ordered me to take the time off.

  If it hadn’t been so serious, I would have laughed, but even putting House Lloyd’s petition to one side, it was becoming clear something had gone wrong out in the wider Athanate world.

  As far as the rest of the paranormal world was concerned, Skylur was in mourning for Diana after her dramatic death in LA. In fact, Skylur, Alice, Diana and Kaothos had left LA in a magically shielded van to drive up here in the utmost secrecy. Only Bian, my House, and those four in the van really knew the truth: Diana’s ‘death’ had been carefully stage managed by Kaothos, Tullah’s dragon spirit guide, to divert the Empire from the truth about the dragon they demanded the right to control.

  In keeping with the deception, Bian had gone through her protocol of sending out a request signal. She warned me we would have to wait for a response before opening a triple-encrypted connection.

  But the request signal had been answered immediately. Bian opened the protected connection and Skylur was there, waiting.

  And if that was the back of a truck on the road from LA, I was a pink flamingo.

  What the hell is going on?

  Skylur’s eyes narrowed to see me there, but all we got was: “Bian, Amber. Hello. Quickly, please.”

  Bian went straight in.

  “Amber’s received a petition for sanctuary from a Michigan-based diazoun House. We’ve warned them that Colorado would be under quarantine, but that didn’t dissuade them, so we’ve allowed them to proceed. They’ll be with us in a couple of hours.”

  I got a rush from hearing that little lie, that ‘we’ had allowed them to proceed.

  Bian had my back. We were sitting close together, facing the conference call cameras with poker faces, but this close, each of us felt the other’s eukori and Bian would know how grateful I was that she’d taken my side.

  “Ah.” Skylur sat back and steepled his fingers in his familiar pose. “That’ll be why I’ve had email requests for an urgent conference from Amelie through both Naryn and Tarez.”

  “She requested the same though me,” Bian said. “No details, and it’s in the hopper along with seventeen other Houses’ requests of similar stated urgency.”

  Skylur smiled, if you could call the thin stretch of his mouth a smile.

  “The rest will have to be passed to others to deal with
. Plans have changed, as you can see,” he said, gesturing at his surroundings. “I’m in New York already. Diana is coming directly to you in the van and should be with you tomorrow. Given what this involves, we have to deal with it, but none of us are going to have a lot of time to handle it, so make your suggestions succinctly.”

  If he’d left Diana in the van, there was a lot going on, but it didn’t look as if he was going to explain it, and I couldn’t get distracted by that at the moment. I’d made a gut-level commitment to House Lloyd and I needed Skylur’s permission to make it formal.

  Heart racing, I launched into my pitch, dovetailing arguments that we should actually be doing the things Skylur was going to establish the quarantine for, along with the security issues for House Lloyd herself. I followed up with Amanda’s Adept kin clearly not being welcome in Michigan and potentially of great use to us here, so we wouldn’t have to depend solely on Alice for magical protections or advice. I added that they might be able to teach me about my own Adept powers, which, I pointed out, he’d included in the list of things I should be working on.

  Skylur asked a couple of sharp questions to establish that we didn’t know what House Prowser was thinking about it, and certainly didn’t know how powerful or useful these Adepts were.

  He wasn’t buying my arguments.

  “I’m not sure you’re thinking dispassionately about this,” he said. “You appear to have made some level of commitment already.”

  “Yes,” I replied, because I had to. “It was difficult not to identify with what she must be going through. I’ve acted on my gut instinct.”

  Bian was about to say something, but Skylur had gotten that brooding look in his eyes and she held off. I took my cue from her, much as I wanted to keep making my case.

  The silence let other issues sneak into my thoughts.

  Diana coming directly? Did that mean she’d already picked up Tullah? Why had he left them and gone on to New York?

  Skylur sat back up. “Despite your emotional involvement in this, your instincts have worked well before. House Lloyd are proceeding to Denver on your responsibility. I’m not going to micromanage. Make your own decision whether to carry on with the infusion of her dying kin, using assistance from Bian and Pia, or Diana if she gets there in time. I’d advise you prepare yourself for the likely outcome.”