“On full alert,” Luc said. “We pulled all the temps onto duty, have them outside. We’ve also offered asylum to any Navarre vamps who need a place to go.”
“Good,” Ethan said. “Good. Keep an eye on things, and make contact with Jonah. Offer whatever assistance you can provide. And in the meantime, call the lawyers. We’re coming home.”
Fear bloomed cold in my chest. Ethan hung up the phone, tossed it on the bed.
“You want to go back so you can be Kowalcyzk’s next victim?”
“Better me than them in my place,” Ethan said. “I can’t let any more vampires take my punishment. I’ve stood by too long.”
“She’s baiting you. Escalating to scare you back to Chicago.”
Ethan began to get dressed, pulling a shirt over his head, his hair still damp and tucked behind his ears. “Quite possibly.” He zipped up his jeans. “And I did as everyone asked. I waited her out. But no more.”
I hadn’t made Kowalcyzk’s decisions, but I still felt like I’d failed. If Harold Monmonth hadn’t made it so far into Cadogan House, if I’d taken him out first, if the GP had been more afraid of the House’s Sentinel, Ethan might be out of danger.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry for this.”
Ethan looked at me, danger in his eyes. “Are you under the impression this has something to do with you, Sentinel?”
“I was supposed to protect you, protect the House. And look where that’s gotten us. The mayor thinks we’re enemies of the state, and she’s not above beating a Master vampire. I should have killed Harold Monmonth when I’d had the chance.”
He strode to me, took my chin in hand, forced my gaze to his.
“That woman’s personal failures are not your responsibility. Nor would the death of Harold Monmonth by your hand have changed anything. Except that it would be you heading to prison, rather than me.”
“My father could have kept me out.”
Ethan’s eyes cooled. “Perhaps. Perhaps he would have. Perhaps he’d have bribed Kowalcyzk to keep you out. And if he had? And assuming she’d actually accept it, he’d consider the bribe a loan, and he’d exact payback, come hell or high water. You’ve owed a favor to a very powerful individual, Merit. You know how oppressive that feels.”
He was right, but that only made it worse. There was no knight in shining armor who could rescue him, no trick of Chicago politics—and there were a lot of tricks in that particular bag—that would keep him out of prison. We’d already used the chit in our possession, the fact that Detective Jacobs didn’t blindly follow the mayor’s dictates, and the reprieve had been only temporary.
I nodded. “I know you’re right. I just want things to be different.”
He put his forehead against mine. “We cannot change the world, Merit. We do what we can in our small corner, and we act with honor. We rise to the occasion, and we do our best.”
He kissed me. “That is what we will do for now. Our best. Get dressed. Message Catcher and make sure he knows what’s going on. Message Jonah and let him know we’re coming back. I’ll talk to Gabriel. This is going to require some finessing.”
I nodded. “I’ll pack, get our stuff together.”
He looked at me, considered. “Actually, I think I’d prefer you go with me. You are his kitten, after all.”
I humphed. I was nobody’s kitten.
We found him in the kitchen with Tanya and Connor, who sat in a high chair with bright orange goo smeared across his face. He gargled happily when we walked in.
“Vampires,” Gabe said, offering Connor another spoonful of orange goo. “What brings you by?”
“Are you hungry?” Tanya asked, gesturing toward the kitchen. “The staff’s asleep, but we could find you something.”
“We’re good, thank you. We actually wanted to talk to you about leaving. Things have come to a head in Chicago—and we believe the carnival is headed there anyway. We’d like to return, as well.”
“A head?” Gabe asked.
“The mayor had roughed up Scott Grey. Tonight, they raided Navarre House.”
“She’s not playing around to get you back.”
“No, she is not. And others have taken the brunt of this particular experiment long enough.”
Gabriel chuckled. “Yeah, running isn’t really your style.” He smiled at Connor, who mawed the mouthful of goo with bright and happy eyes. “Kid loves carrots. Craziest thing. Tanya and I both hate them.”
He used the rubber edge of the spoon to clean up Connor’s mouth, then passed the utensil to Tanya and wiped his hands on a kitchen towel.
“The Pack is gone,” he said. “You upheld your deal to investigate while they were here. And when the elves were attacked in daylight, they knew it wasn’t your doing. The Brecks haven’t left, obviously, but solving a mystery isn’t going to change their minds about you.”
“No,” Ethan said. “I imagine it will not.”
“And you still have the elves to sate,” Gabriel said. “You owe them Niera, or we’ll all have hell to pay.”
I imagined Chicago overrun with androgynous bow-and-arrow-wielding elves. Considering the state of their technology, couldn’t the military handle them easily?
Ethan looked at me. “I know what you’re thinking, Sentinel. That they’d be no match for black helicopters. But locusts do not need weapons to constitute a plague. They only have to be themselves.”
A potent metaphor.
“Safe travels and good luck,” Gabriel said, standing and offering each of us a hand. “You do your species proud.”
“Call me the next time you’re in the city,” Ethan said, then slid his gaze to me. “I believe we have some things to discuss.”
Gabriel smiled wolfishly. “So we do, Sullivan. So we do.”
I let Ethan drive back to Chicago. Considering his looming incarceration, it seemed only fair.
I also let him select the channel, and he found a station playing hard-driving Chicago- and Delta-style blues. The songs were grim, their lyrics telling tales of love and love lost, of heartache and adversity. He kept his hands on the steering wheel and his gaze on the road, but he seemed buoyed by the music, by the reminders that hard times were universal, but time always marched on. Usually in twelve bars.
Ethan pulled directly into the House garage and parked the car in the spot he’d given me—but solely for the protection of Moneypenny. Ethan keyed us into the House but paused before ascending the stairway to the first floor, clearly contemplating what he was about to do.