12. Mother (if applicable):
a. Full name (include maiden name in parentheses): ________________
b. Birth date: _______________
c. Citizenship(s): _______________
d. Date of death (if applicable). Affix copy of death certificate and location (in latitude and longitude) of interment. If cremated, provide receipt of cremation and, if possible, sample of ashes: _______________
13. Father (if applicable): _______________
a. Full name: _______________
b. Birth date: _______________
c. Citizenship(s): _______________
d. Date of death (if applicable). Affix copy of death certificate and location (in latitude and longitude) of interment. If cremated, provide receipt of cremation and, if possible, sample of ashes: _______________
14. Siblings (if applicable). Provide names and gender of any and all full, half, step-, or foster siblings. Include current addresses. Please list in order of birth and note, with a red asterisk, where you appear in the birth order: a. _______________
b. _______________
c. _______________
15. Sexual partners (if applicable):
a. Current. Provide name, gender, contact details: _______________
b. List all previous partners, including name, gender, contact details, and the estimated level of acrimony (on a scale of 1 to 14) that they currently feel toward you.
(Page 1 of 168)
20
Odette stomped angrily but carefully through the hallways of the hotel. In an effort to muster every shred of authority when interacting with Pawn Clements, she had put on her tallest, most expensive stiletto heels and her third-best suit (the best and the second-best no longer constituting appropriate business wear except in abattoirs, séances, or, possibly, highly specific erotica). That morning, she had sailed out of the bathroom armored in her elegance, intending to show that she was not cowed. Her confidence had lasted for approximately thirty seconds, at which point Clements had sat her down and given her a half-hour soul-withering lecture on how this whole bodyguarding arrangement would work.
It was apparent that, in the eyes of the Checquy, Odette Leliefeld had come to represent a tremendous liability. They did not trust her to walk in the hallways of a Checquy facility without threatening the negotiations. They did not trust her to cross the street without getting harmed. They barely trusted her to dress herself. And so Clements would be accompanying her everywhere for the foreseeable future.
“I will escort you from this hotel to the various places they are sending you,” Clements had explained. “If you go to Apex House, or the Rookery, or the little field office in Lancaster, I will be standing right with you. When you go to the various social occasions and junkets that they have organized for you, I’ll be frocked up and rolling my eyes right behind you.
“Now, all this responsibility doesn’t fall just on me. It’s going to require a new way of thinking on your part. From now on, before you leave a room, you make certain that I’m with you. If you need to go to the toilet, you let me know, because I’ll be outside the stall door, making sure no one comes in to bother you. If you decide that you want to go out to Harvey Nichols and get some new shoes and a spot of lunch, you run it by me, and you book a table for two, because I’ll be there, not carrying your bags for you.
“You do not try to ditch me. You do not absentmindedly get lost in a crowd. You do not ever, ever, fail to have your mobile phone with you and turned on. If I call you, you take that call. And if I give you an order, you follow it.
“All of this is not just because your safety is at risk. It’s because if anything happens to you, it will affect my career. And I like my career.
“In short, if you even leave this floor of the hotel without me, I will make certain that you regret it.”
It was patronizing, humiliating, and frightening. Alessio had listened, wide-eyed, presumably deciding that he didn’t really want a bodyguard like Clements, even if she was a hot woman. At the end, Odette had nodded weakly and then gotten permission to attend the Broederschap planning meeting. Clements had grudgingly allowed her to walk down the hallway by herself, but only because there were guards stationed at every corridor junction.
Now, as she walked angrily down the hallway, she was aware that her choice of footwear and the elaborate caution it required in order for her to stomp effectively meant that she looked somewhat like a dressage pony, or possibly a dressage praying mantis. She was too pissed off to care.
It was bad enough that they dragged me here to interact with these horrible people. These horrible Gruwels! But now I’m supposed to have one of them trailing around after me like Frankenstein’s bossier monster?
Well, forget it! she thought, and her fists clenched. I’m going to tell them I don’t need or want this bodyguard! I don’t care what the Checquy says. I am not having that woman stalking around after me, holding a leash!
Odette ignored the wary looks that the guards in the halls gave her and marched into the graaf’s suite, where people were already gathered. Filled with righteous indignation, she looked around for Marie in order to deliver her edict and saw that she was reading through a stack of fax paper. Judging from her furrowed brow and the flat blackness of her hair, Marie was not getting good news. Odette hesitated. Righteous indignation was all very well, but dealing with Marie in a bad mood was an even more dire prospect than having Clements looming over her.
Maybe I’ll talk to her afterward.
Great-Uncle Marcel smiled good morning at her, and she smiled back weakly and sat next to him.
“About this Clements woman,” she began.
“I think it’s a splendid development, don’t you?” he said.
“What?”
“It will give you a very good opportunity to get insight into the Checquy, and it may provide you with some excellent contacts.”
“But I hate her,” protested Odette.
“Oh, I’m sure you think you do,” said Marcel cheerfully, “but you’re still young. It takes decades to really hate someone.” Odette sighed heavily. “I’ll tell you what, if, after fifteen years, you still think you hate her, we’ll do something about it.”
“She’s not going to be my bodyguard for fifteen years,” Odette objected.
“Then quit your complaining,” said Marcel. “And stand up.”
They all stood as Grootvader Ernst entered the room accompanied by his secretary Anabella.
“Sit,” he said. They sat. “Before we move on to the bad news, let’s just review the good news. Yesterday went well, for the most part,” he said, looking only briefly in Odette’s direction. “Our meetings were productive, and the transcripts are in the folders in front of you. We will be reviewing these before we depart for Apex House. Please indicate if there are any amendments that you feel need to be made.
“I was particularly pleased with the excellent presentation that Reinier gave on our latest developments in ergonomic office furniture. Rook Thomas has advised me that, in the end, only two of the sick bags provided were used.” Reinier smiled hesitantly. “And now, Marie will share the current situation on the Continent,” Ernst said. “Marie?”
“It’s extremely bad,” she said, looking up from her faxes. Odette was shocked to see that she had been crying. “The... the Antagonists killed another house. The Vienna house.”
“No!” exclaimed one of the lawyers in shock. All around the table, people looked stricken.
“Are the residents all right?” asked Marcel.
“They’re fine,” said Marie. “Everyone got out okay, but the house is... it’s gone. They lobotomized it before burning the place down.” The lawyer who had cried out before was now sobbing quietly in his seat. Marie looked to Graaf Ernst. “Sir, we have to move up our schedule. These attacks are escalating.”