"Sounds like a barrel of laughs," Ashe said.
"I always feel better after I work out. My troubles sometimes vanish completely."
"Say that to me when your parents split up." Ashe cursed before calling the Head of the Vampire Council a few names. His mother would be shocked at the words Ashe used. Trajan listened patiently and never said a thing.
The flight was bumpy over Colorado, but smoothed out and became boring. Ashe didn't want to read, although he'd brought two books along. Trajan and Trace failed to pull him into conversation—Winkler watched occasionally through hooded, worried eyes. At one point Winkler called the Grand Master, but Ashe failed to hear the conversation. He was too deep in depression to care.
The jet landed at the airport around six, local time. Winkler's cell rang. The noise of flight had abated, allowing Ashe to hear every word as the Grand Master confirmed his fears—Wlodek had refused to renew Aedan's marriage to Adele. Weldon added that Wlodek was upset that Weldon had called about it, saying that three new vampires would be sent to Star Cove to guard at night. Ashe sighed—he'd have three more spies to avoid.
"You heard that, didn't you?" Winkler asked as Ashe pulled his backpack over his shoulder and prepared to deplane. Winkler had walked to Ashe's seat as soon as the conversation with Weldon was over.
"I heard." Ashe wasn't looking at Winkler.
"Kid, I'm sorry."
"You can't be anywhere near as sorry as I am."
* * *
Josiah Dunnigan lifted his bags from the luggage carousel at the Corpus Christi airport. He'd be meeting with his contact soon and together they would devise a plan to eliminate William Winkler. Josiah gripped the handles of his suitcases and walked through the small terminal building toward the rental car aisle. He'd get a car and drive into town, searching for a suitable hotel. Soon—very soon—Winkler would be dead and Josiah could retire on his ranch, set for life. Josiah grinned and stepped up to the rental car agent, pulling his suitcase behind him.
Chapter 10
"Child, I refused to renew in order to separate them. Aedan will never willingly consent to turning the boy—I have that information from Nathan. I have no desire to fight Aedan Evans when it's time to take his son." Wlodek gave Flavio a hard look. "I’ll send three to keep an eye on things and help guard the community until Ashe Evans turns eighteen. I intend to conscript immediately after."
"You're using Aedan's vampire child against his sire."
"Child, do not point the finger at me, I have already gone over this ground," Wlodek sighed and rose from his seat. He had chosen his library as a place to talk and now Wlodek pretended to gaze across a shelf of ancient titles. "Is it fair to the boy? No. Is it fair to Aedan or his wife? Certainly not. You know as well as I that the vampire race is in peril. Many of our citizens are turning to crime after the last wave of economic crises. They lost much—if not all—of what they have. We have more rogues than ever before. We need the boy, Flavio. If the information we have is halfway accurate, he will be the answer to our problems."
"Surely we need more than one boy, Father. Have you not thought to conscript others or to look among our ranks for those who might help? The boy and his family suffer, my sire."
"It is only two years. I will allow the marriage to continue after that, and Aedan can be instrumental in training the boy after he is turned."
"Father, while two years is nothing to us, it is quite a long time to others. Much can happen in two years."
"For us as well, never forget that."
"Whom do you plan to send to Texas?"
"I have contacted Hector, Edmond and Casimir. Casimir will perform the turning when the time comes. He is experienced and not so hard as some of the others might be. You see, I have some sympathy over this."
"Father, you should have left things alone. I feel this quite strongly."
"Child, we will disagree on this, I know. If Aedan gives Nathan a direct order, it will supersede anything I might command Nathan to do. This concerns me, as there may be information I have not or will not receive as a result. My three will act as spies in the community. I will have information on the boy regardless of the source."
"Father, someday your plans may backfire. I believe that is the modern term, anyway."
"Then hope it is not the term for this situation. We need the boy and we do not want him taken by the werewolves for their purposes or hired by the U.S. government for their own use against terrorists and such. We allowed the experiment, hoping for gifted vampires. This may be the most gifted of all."
* * *
"We need the kid in a suit. He’ll have to look as if he belongs there—as much as we can make him look that way," Matt Michaels looked Ashe over. Ashe, slightly offended, was dressed in a pair of cargo pants and a T-shirt with sneakers. His clothes were clean, at least.
"Come on, you," Trajan pulled Ashe away from the hotel room. Matt was putting them up in one of D.C.'s best. "Trace, let's go find tall and skinny here a suit."
"Where am I going to be that I have to wear a suit?" Ashe jerked his arm away from Trajan as they walked toward the hotel elevator.
"A hearing. A couple of members of Congress will be present when we question Jack Howard."
Ashe muttered a foul word; Trace laughed and pushed him onto the elevator when it opened. Half an hour and a harrowing cab ride later, Ashe was trying on suit coats in a men's clothing store. "Can you hem these now?" Trajan was eyeing the bottom of Ashe's trousers. They'd found a decent jacket that didn't have to be altered right away but the pants were another problem.
"Know how to tie a tie?" Trace asked Ashe when the salesclerk carried the pants toward the back for an emergency hemming.
"No. Never needed one," Ashe muttered. While the pants were hemmed, Ashe received a quick lesson on tying the tie Trajan picked out. Dress shoes came next. Ashe wasn't fond of those—the hard soles were aggravating.
"Kid, your feet are nearly as big as mine," Trajan grinned.
"He's probably not finished growing," Trace pointed out. "We may make a shooting guard out of him yet."
Ashe glared at Trajan. "I thought you gave up basketball," he grumped. The tie was tight around his neck and he didn't like it. "If I want a hanging injury, I can get one easier than this," Ashe jerked on the silk annoyance. "I need to make a call," he pulled the cell from a pocket of his cargo pants. "Can you leave me alone for five minutes?"