It was bad enough, learning the truth about my parentage. Now Xenides was threatening those I cared for. Whom would he go after? Gavin? Franklin or Greg? Charles? Winkler or Weldon? The list was longer than that. I felt cold and shivered.
Wlodek questioned Bartholomew for a very long time, asking him about the murder of the legal secretary in Oklahoma—I'd seen her inside the courtroom years ago; she'd been helping the attorney defending Howard Graham. Now I knew for sure he wasn't my father; he'd been right about that all along. Howard Graham hadn't handled the truth very well and had taken his hate and anger out on my mother and me. I still wanted to curl up in a ball and whimper.
A few Council members were now casting speculative glances my way. I couldn't flinch or allow them to see any weakness. Who knew what they'd do to me if they saw that? And Xenides? I wanted to kill him. Just go out immediately and track him down. Take the head off this snake, to see if the body would die with it. He was threatening me and everyone else I knew. Fucker.
The vote was taken eventually, with all Council members turning in guilty verdicts. Gavin did the beheading and I didn't have any argument with that. Then another vampire was led forward. His name was Llewellyn and he wasn't Saxom's get. I did know who made him, however. Wlodek saw that I didn't touch my hair and looked away. I did my best to send mindspeech to him, just so he'd know.
Nyles Abernathy made him, I sent as strongly as I could. Wlodek fumbled the gold pen he was toying with but recovered quickly. I think he heard me. Gavin and I had faced off against Nyles in Florida shortly after I'd been brought before the Council myself. Nyles had been Edward Desmarais' sire—the vampire who'd made the bet with my own vampire sire, Sergio Velenci. That's how I'd been turned. Nyles had taught his children everything he knew about playing with humans.
"So," Wlodek turned the pen in his hands for a moment, his dark eyes narrow and unrevealing, "I have been informed that Nyles Abernathy was your sire." As bombshells go, that one dropped pretty well. I even heard a gasp or two around the cave.
"Who gave you that information?" Llewellyn demanded. "Only my sire and I knew of this!"
"I have sources you cannot imagine," Wlodek answered calmly. "Did Nyles teach you to play with humans, just as he taught your sibling Edward Desmarais?"
"We enjoyed our games, father and I," Llewellyn snorted. "What should it matter if a few humans die? They are nothing but cattle to us. We are superior to those weaklings."
"Yet you were once of that race, were you not?" Wlodek's eyes were hooded as he watched Llewellyn.
"Only for twenty-two years. I have been vampire for fifteen hundred, now."
"Explain your dealings with Xenides."
"Xenides wishes to take the planet away from you and the humans and allow select vampires to rule." I was still trying to calm down a little, still shivering a little after learning that Howard Graham wasn't my father. Even so, it wasn't hard to find Llewellyn contemptible.
"So, you intended to assist Xenides in his takeover?"
"Obviously. I want humans to serve us. This is the only way it should be."
"Do you know where Xenides is, or plans to go?" Wlodek was hammering away at this guy, but Jovana had already said Xenides might be heading for the U.S. That worried me. He could be after Winkler, Weldon or Thomas Williams and his family; I was a member of the Sacramento Pack, after all.
"He talked of traveling to the United States, but worried that he might not be able to pass the borders again," Llewellyn stated. "Many are actively searching for him, and he has learned that his image has been recorded and handed to the authorities."
"Whom will he target and what are his plans should he go to the U.S.?" Wlodek asked.
"He would not tell me this," Llewellyn grumped. "Although I asked many times."
The guilty verdict was unanimous on Llewellyn and Gavin, as the only Assassin present, performed the execution. I wondered if he ever got tired of doing that. Things wrapped up quickly afterward; Thaddeus and Lorenzo had gotten an eyeful, I think; they'd watched the entire meeting in amazement. They were blindfolded and led from the cave as protocol dictated; they weren't allowed to see again until we'd arrived at Merrill's manor.
Merrill placed the usual compulsion not to harm anyone inside the house or give its location away, before finding them a bedroom on the third floor opposite Paul and Deryn's rooms. I was still shaky, to be honest, and as soon as Lorenzo and Thaddeus were dealt with (Merrill promised we'd consider their dilemma later), Merrill, Gavin, Wlodek, Charles, René and Tony all crowded into Merrill's study with me. Gavin held me on his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around me while Charles read back the notes he'd taken from Llewellyn regarding Xenides' plans.
"Lissa, I am sorry this information came at such a time; we were unsure how to present the knowledge to you concerning Howard Graham. We realized it would upset you when you were given the truth." Wlodek did have a bit of sympathy in his dark eyes.
"Honored One, it did upset me, but what upsets me more is that Xenides is planning to take someone I care for in an effort to trap me."
"That is an old ploy," Merrill interrupted, his piercing blue eyes scanning my face. He saw the fear there and attempted to defuse it. "Xenides likely realizes that we will not allow you to search for him if he manages to do this. He still believes you susceptible to compulsion, and understands that we would place compulsion not to go seeking him or your revenge. I can only imagine he was toying with Llewellyn, convincing him that he had a legitimate way of taking you from us." I wasn't about to point out to Merrill that Xenides had already achieved his goal once; he'd just failed to capture me through Jovana.
"Then what is he going to do?" My voice shook. "Merrill, Weldon has a new grandchild. Winkler's wife is six months pregnant. He could hit any member of Thomas Williams' family in Sacramento."
"Does talent run in families? I heard that Xenides was looking for Lissa's sisters and brothers, if she had any," Tony said.
"It does," Wlodek picked up Merrill's letter opener—it was the replica of a Roman sword that I'd given him. Wlodek found it fascinating. "Lissa, please do not be offended when I tell you that we went looking for the same thing. We found nothing, just as Xenides did."
"I'm not surprised," I muttered, staring at my hands. Gavin gave me a squeeze.
"So, if Lissa's real father had other children," Tony wasn't allowed to finish his statement, René hushed him. Tony shrugged.