"Aedan, surely they won't try to blame you and Nathan for this," Adele reached out a hand to touch her husband's sleeve.
"I hope this is not so," Aedan's Welsh lilt came out with his words. "We were promised another vampire to help us after Old Harold's death, but that help has not come. Nathan and I are stretched to the limit as it is, m'love." Ashe stared at his plate, troubled over his father's statement. Aedan never complained about guarding the community. Never.
"You've called them already." Now it was Adele's turn to stare at her plate, half her food uneaten and growing cold.
"I left a message, Adele. I am obligated to report on the happenings here." Aedan rose from the table. "Finish your dinner, son," he said and walked through the kitchen door, closing it softly behind him.
"This could turn out so badly," Adele sighed.
* * *
Pierce used his small, handheld GPS to track the coordinates the new contact had given. Wildrif was an unusual name, but then Pierce had heard plenty of those over the years. The location turned out to be an old, broken cellar in the middle of an Oklahoma field. A house had likely stood nearby long ago, but traces of it had disappeared beneath tall grass and weeds after many years. Parking his motorcycle, Pierce cautiously approached the old cellar, worried that Wildrif might have misled him or sold him out. A raised, grass-covered mound with a cavernous opening on one side greeted him. A few brave wildflowers grew in the cracks of the broken concrete portal that once held a heavy door.
"Welcome," Ruby and Diamond appeared from nothing at Pierce's side. "Our accommodations aren't the best, but we won't be here long." Pierce was ushered toward the gaping hole in the ground.
* * *
"They plan to move the children in three days," Wildrif informed Obediah Tanner.
"So, we have to move in two nights," Obediah nodded. "I have Josiah nearby already, and I'll send out another six. That ought to be enough to deal with those kids. I don't care what happens to the parents. I'll let the warlock know." Obediah hauled a cell phone from his shirt pocket and tapped in a number.
* * *
"I've had word," Josiah informed Diamond. "You'll have to be there in two nights—the warlock and his associates will lower the shield, and I've told them to deliver the families to your coordinates."
"Nicely done," Diamond nodded at Josiah's words. Diamond was only now seeing Josiah in the flesh; they'd exchanged messages through the mundane method of cell-phone communications before. "I will bring a few others with me, and we will take the children and leave here. And if a few Dark Ones die, so much the better."
"I and my associates want no loose ends," Josiah shrugged. "Do whatever you want with the parents."
"Dead," Diamond shrugged callously. "They're human. We have no need for humans. And those children will learn soon enough what it means to be warriors in the Bright Queen's army. She will search out their gifts and employ them accordingly."
"Is that how you learn what they can do? She tells them?" Josiah was very curious.
"This is information that we normally do not give, but the greater gifts must be sorted out by the Queen, who employs the power of her crown to search for them. I will not tell you what some of those gifts might be—a few have never been written down anywhere, they are so rare. Not that I expect any of those gifts to appear in these—they are only half-Elemaiyan, after all. Fodder for the war and little else," Diamond added.
"No matter to me," Josiah replied, uncaring that any or all of the children and their parents might die. He only desired the promised payoff at the end. Diamond had offered a great deal of money for live children; Obediah and the Dark Ones offered slightly less to have them killed. Perhaps all might be satisfied in the end. Josiah intended to bring in the Dark Ones after turning the children over to Diamond, and the ensuing battle would likely destroy the children and their parents. Either way, he had already been given a down payment—by both sides.
"I'll have the gold ready when the children are handed over," Diamond promised. Josiah smiled.
* * *
Vince turned the key in the post office box he'd rented—the money he'd been promised should be waiting. He'd handed over one last piece of information to Wildrif, and Wildrif informed him when the money would arrive. With shaking fingers, Vince withdrew the envelope from the small box; it was the only item he'd received since renting it more than two months earlier.
Wildrif had been correct all the way through, Vince realized. Wildrif said that the opportunity would present itself so the six half-blood children might be moved in with the seventh one in Cloud Chief. Wildrif knew that Pierce would contact Vince—Vince had known Pierce from years earlier, under another name, of course. I want all the eggs in one basket, Wildrif had joked with Vince. Vince didn't get the joke until days later. Now, Vince would get the payoff and walk away from his job with no regrets. He didn't care who might come in as Director now. He could take his retirement and go where he pleased.
"Where's the check?" Vince pulled a slip of paper from the envelope, but there was no accompanying cashier's check. "What the?" Vince opened the note to read.
Surprise, the note said, even as he was hit from behind and taken down.
* * *
"Director Jennings told us to pack up." Edward shaded his eyes against bright Oklahoma sunlight. Ashe and Sali had gone to visit Edward, Ashe's old, lime-green Frisbee in hand. Keith and Bryce came along as soon as they saw Ashe, Sali and Edward in the field outside the mobile homes, tossing the Frisbee around. Sali had gone to wolf as usual, and Keith laughed every time Sali leapt in the air to catch the flying disk.
"So, how much more do you have to pack?" Ashe asked when Steven Pendley walked out with a small tub of sodas in ice for the boys.
"We're almost done," Steven replied. "Macy and Luanne are with Dori and Wynn today. I really hate to move away from here," he added.
"Dad and I don't want to go," Edward grumbled.
"We don't want you to leave, either," Ashe said. "All of you. Sali and I talked about that on the way over."
"Director Jennings hinted that we might be split up," Bryce sipped his cola. "I don't want that. Macy, Luanne and Edward feel like part of the family, now."
Ashe noticed that none of them had mentioned Philip. Ashe drew a heavy breath at the thought of Philip. Likely, he was feeling Luanne's absence greatly—after all, he was seeking revenge against Chump and Wormy's attack on her when he'd burned their house down. Philip had chosen an ill-advised method of expressing his opinion about Chad and Jeremy's punishment. The Booth home was being rebuilt, too—many community residents had pitched in; building supplies and lumber had been purchased and the frame was already up. Roger and Toby, the extra werewolves that Winkler had brought up, were providing guard duty at night so Aedan and Nathan could work on the Booth home while awake.