"Glen, honey, I'm so sorry," I was crying now that the reality was setting in. "I had the choice to make and I made the wrong one. I went to protect the mister thinking you might have a better chance at surviving. I was wrong." I reached out and touched his hand; it was already going cold.
"Lissa, he can't hear you," Winkler said softly. I turned on him.
"How the f**k do you know?" I shouted, wiping tears away. "What the f**k do any of you know?" I stood up and turned to mist right there in front of everybody in the space of a blink. I heard some muttering around the wide warehouse, but I didn't care. There were other dead scattered around the room, some of them werewolves. The vampires had already turned to ash. I saw Tony off to the side with his men; they were collecting their own dead into a corner. This had been a cooperative effort between the vampires, werewolves and Tony's department. They'd planned this and left me completely out of it. If Mr. Vampy hadn't come to the hotel with his bitch contingent, I still might not have known. My skin would have continued to itch and I would have known after the fact, if at all. Yeah, I was young as a vampire but that didn't make me worthless or stupid. They were going to treat me that way, though. And Flavio said there would be consequences for disobeying my sire. Well, swell. I had to go back before they took it upon themselves to declare me rogue again.
Merrill was standing near Winkler and Weldon while bodies were carted away. I noticed that the trucks that had come were unmarked. That spelled Tony to me. Flavio and Radomir were also there and they were discussing something with the Grand Master. When I misted closer, I discovered they were talking about me.
"Where do you think she might go?" Flavio asked. "We have already checked the hotel. She isn't there."
"Like I had time to get there," I made myself solid. I wanted to say duh, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Flavio was on the Council, after all. And Wlodek was his sire. That was trouble to the twelfth power.
"Lissa," Merrill gripped my arm, "you may not leave my sight unless I say so, do you hear me?" That compulsion sounded like the voice of God and it still slid right off my brain. I wasn't about to tell him that, though. Somehow, I got the feeling that if he knew and if Flavio knew right then, things might go very badly for me. I nodded instead. That information was about to stay with me. Permanently.
* * *
I sat on the bed in what was once Glen's room, wondering if he had any family while I listened to the argument going on next door. Weldon was shouting at times and I sure hoped there wasn't anybody human within hearing distance. Merrill had left me in Glen's room, told me not to go anywhere and then went with Flavio to do verbal battle with Weldon and Winkler. Weldon didn't mince words. "Do you know how many of those f**kers she took out?" I could see him in my mind, he gestured wildly when he was that angry; I'd seen it before.
"We are aware of what she did," Flavio calmly replied and there was knowledge of the good and the bad that I'd committed in his words. The bad being my disobedience, I suppose, and then allowing everybody to see me turn to mist. I'll bet there was a lot of compulsion surrounding that one.
"I still expect her to finish out the tour," Weldon snarled.
"Out of the question," Merrill said. "She will be returning with us immediately. We are assigning Dalroy and Rhett to you; they will protect you just as well."
Weldon wasn't convinced and said so, along with the fact that he trusted me and not some strange vampires foisted off on him.
"The Council is insisting," Flavio said. Yeah. He was on the Council so of course they were insisting. And since he was Wlodek's vampire child, what Flavio knew, Wlodek would know. If he didn't already, he would very soon. I had no idea where the other vampires went; I'd been hustled right out of the building by Merrill and Flavio and driven straight to the hotel. I might have wanted to talk to Tony but didn't have the chance and Merrill had taken my cell phone away. If the Council wanted, they wouldn't hold somebody back from killing me this time. Maybe it was for the best.
Chapter 13
All of Glen's things were neatly packed up in his suitcases by the time the argument was over and I'd tidied his room. My things were still in Weldon's room and I couldn't get to them while the conversation had taken place. Merrill walked in, ordered me to go get all my things and stood against Weldon's wall while I did it. Flavio had left already; he might have been pissed but he wasn't showing it to the wolves. Oh, no. He wore the mask just as well as any of the rest of them.
When I had all my things packed up, including my laptop, Merrill pointed me in the direction of his room and I had to go. I figured the lecture was coming and I wasn't wrong. "Now, Lissa, you will explain to me why you left the hotel and how you found us." He was angry.
I had to tell him about the vampire and the three women who'd come for me, explaining that I'd managed to get away from them and then followed them out to the parking lot. I hadn't disobeyed Merrill's compulsion—I hadn't followed him and Weldon. I had followed Mr. Vampy and his companions instead, knowing they were most likely headed to the confirmation. I didn't know whether help or a warning was needed and I attempted to explain that to Merrill. He listened, stone-faced, to my story. I was truthful when I told him that I had no idea the other vampires and the soldiers or whatever they were would be there, too. He nodded at that—nobody had told me anything. He also asked if I'd been telling the truth about whether to protect Glen or the mister. I wiped away tears when I said yes. There was no comfort from Merrill and I didn't expect any. If Gavin was ordered to remove my head this time, I figured he'd just close his eyes and do it.
Vampires were a strange lot and I still didn't feel I belonged to their race. Truly, I had no idea what I was, not being human any longer and feeling like an outsider as a vampire. What I realized, however, was that I was now stuck in vampire limbo until the vampires who ruled the race decided my fate again. After all, Wlodek told me the first time that if I found myself before the Council a second time, it was likely the death penalty would be levied.
Dutifully I answered all of Merrill's questions, my head bowed as I pondered my fate. After going over my story multiple times, searching for cracks or discrepancies, Merrill fed me a little blood shortly before dawn. I was thirsty and exhausted; I'd used up a lot of energy after all. The rest of the bag was returned to the cooler and I covered myself up in one of two queen beds, turning my back on Merrill and falling asleep with the dawn.