No.
I would deal with it like I dealt with everything else, excluding my daughter or fighting.
By just doing it.
And pray that my free time wasn’t completely occupied so I could spend time with Isa, and hope there were enough Coms to slaughter so I didn’t completely lose it.
Chapter Three
“Where are you going?” Antonio asked as I kissed Isa’s warm forehead as she slept.
“Reconnaissance,” I stated. “You know I don’t go anywhere without knowing the layout first.”
His eyebrows rose. “You’re going to sneak into King Shadow?”
“Yes.” I lifted my dark brown hair into a ponytail. “All I know about the place is it’s chock-full of Vampires. I want to know the lay of the land and see their normal routine when we’re not around.” I threw on my hooded black fur coat over a simple tight white t-shirt and black leather pants. The coat hid all of my weapons well. A quick head tilt toward Isa. “And you know I’ll be given grief about her since they don’t know and respect me yet. I need to have escape routes in case I get cornered.”
He watched me for a moment, then he nodded. “Just be careful, and call if you need help.”
I felt nothing even though I scowled at him. “Of course.”
He pointed to Bonnie. “And take her with you just in case.”
“I was already planning to.”
Sneaking in hadn’t been too hard. Even though we were on the outskirts of Kansas City, Kansas, the place was set up identically to my camp back in Australia, but with more vegetation; the leaves that were still on the trees in the nippy fall weather were reds and browns and golds. Elder Zeller and King Zeller had set up camp on farm land, which was genius really because food could easily be grown to supply the ranks. I had ordered Bonnie not to wander too far away from my Hummer, which I had parked in the woods about a mile away from the golden protection dome. Then I had jogged the rest of the way and scoped the place out from the branches of a bare tree.
It appeared what these people did when we weren’t around was party, because that was what was happening from what I could see.
There were multiple bonfires, Mysticals playing what sounded like bongos and guitars and possibly flutes, each to their own tune, but oddly, the sounds came together all around King Shadow to make a hypnotic melody. The rest of the Mysticals drank and laughed and danced around the fires, or went in and out of each other’s tents where it appeared the party continued on, some tents overfilling.
It wasn’t like we never had parties in Australia, because we did. I just never attended.
I watched a bit longer, memorizing how the tents were laid out. The set-up appeared to be multiple circles of tents starting from a center point — headquarters, in a black tent — and gradually working out, each circle of white home tents just a bit larger than the last, encompassing the previous ones. Sparring fields were off to the right, and to the left was a large red tent, their dining hall, where people continually milled in and out. Cocking my head, I noticed the majority of Mysticals had spelled hair, like mine was, to appear as Coms, which would work in my favor.
The party also meant that they were, more than likely, celebrating a victory. There hadn’t been anything in the files about current missions, but what I was watching was definitely a celebratory gathering, not just a drunken kegger.
Hopping down the branches, I slipped through the Mage ward on the backside of the red tent, and yes, helped myself to some of their grub while keeping my head down and staying in the darkness, which was harder than I expected thanks to all the damn bonfires. The only thing that really helped was that the majority of the Mysticals were already half lit, so while they partied to the enthralling beat, I watched and learned. It was difficult to detect which Mystical was of what faction with their hair as it was, and having to stay far away meant that all their power signatures were mixed before reaching me. Since I was masking completely, keeping all of my own power under lock and key, I had to go on their size and skin tone alone.