“This is my First Disciple, Kevin. He is here as my witness.” She indicated the man by her side with a gesture underlined by the soft rattle of her many beaded bracelets. “And I brought young Raven to keep your human company, should the proceedings go well and a need for longer discussion arise.”
“Three witches present? Not the best start to negotiations for peace.” Warin narrowed his eyes at the Priestess. “I must warn you, witch. If I so much as smell a spark of magic, you will not like the consequences.”
Joana glanced at me, and I shook my head the slightest bit, hoping she’d pick up on the fact that I hadn’t told him about her curse—and that mentioning it right now would be a terrible idea.
Thankfully, she seemed to catch on.
“As long as you and the dead ones you brought to our domain this evening behave, you have nothing to fear from our magic, vampire.” She gestured toward the opposite side of the table. “Please, sit. Both of you.”
So she knew about Carina and the Guard Warin had mentioned bringing. I wondered if learning to spot a vampire in a crowded room was part of witch training—Raven had also clocked on to Warin’s lack of a pulse the first time they met.
I followed Warin around to the other side of the table and sat at his side.
“Liv tells me she was attacked by skinwalkers not far from her home,” Joana began. “Before we begin, I must assure you that no one from my coven had anything to do with that.”
“If I thought you did, we would be having a different kind of conversation,” Warin said, voice cold and even.
I bumped his shin with my shoe underneath, trying to get him to lay off with the threats, but he ignored me.
“Be that as it may,” Joana continued, “Skinwalkers so close to our coven is not something we are happy about, either. They have a history of savaging witches to sire offspring. So, it seems we have a common enemy at hand. What I offer is help locating the skinwalker nest in Chicago, in return for your blood oath that no other witch in the city will be harmed.”
Warin arched an eyebrow. “You will not receive a drop of my blood. If you help in locating the skinwalkers proves valuable, you have my word any witch who stays out of my business will not be hunted within the city limits.”
“The word of a dead man,” Kevin spat. “What are we doing here, Joana? This thing is not our ally, and no amount of wishing will make it so.”
The redhead put a soothing hand on her First Disciple’s shoulder without taking her eyes off Warin. “Settle yourself, Kevin. Times change, and we must adapt with them. This particular vampire has not harmed any of our coven, and we must give him a fair chance to prove himself.”
Warin remained quiet as he stared at the two witches on the other side of the table.
“Look, you all have to compromise if you want this to work,” I interrupted, growing tired of the tension in the room. “Everyone here wants the skinwalkers dead. No one wants an all-out witch-vampire war. So make it work. You,” I pointed at the two older witches with a finger form the the hand currently holding my glass, “have to remember that as little as you trust the vampires, as little do they trust you. You don’t get to make grand demands about needing proof of trust without offering some up yourself. What will you do to ensure he can trust you?”
Kevin sputtered, indignation clear across his round face. “How he can trust us? Young lady, do you have the faintest idea what these… these creatures can do?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Some. I do know they don’t go around cursing people. As long as I’ve known this man, he hasn’t once tried to harm me. In fact, he’s saved my ass more than once. Your kind, however… your kind has threatened and assaulted me. So let’s try starting these negotiations again, shall we? And let’s all attempt to remember that the other party is going out of their way to make this work.”
Kevin opened his mouth, the red splotches of blooming anger on his cheeks indicating whatever he was planning to say wasn’t going to help matters any. But Joana lifted her hand, silencing him before he could speak. “The girl is right.” She drew in a deep breath. “We have a long history of mistrust between us, vampire, and I acknowledge that it will be difficult for you as well as us to put this aside. But, if Liv will put her word in alongside yours, we will forego the demand of a blood oath. As a sign of good faith.”
“Sure, of course I will,” I said, glancing at Warin to make sure he didn’t take offense. His blank expression gave nothing away. At least he didn’t realize it didn’t make a difference one way or the other, since I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out what happened if the curse was unleashed. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust Warin implicitly.” Or, ya know, if crazy skinwalker-witches weren’t gunning for me.
Joana nodded, though the wariness in her eyes didn’t diminish. “Do we have an agreement, vampire?”
Warin nodded once. “We do.” He glanced at me. “Thank you for your aid, Liv. I believe, if the Priestess agrees, the rest of this meeting will be best conducted with minimal participation.”
“Time for me to shoo,” I agreed, feeling slightly guilty at the rush of relief. As much as I wanted to be kept in the loop, the tension in the room was killing my buzz. If Warin wanted to hammer out the details of their truce alone, it was a-okay with me. “See you in a bit.”
I got up, grabbed the remainder of my drink and motioned for Raven to come with me with a finger. “Let’s leave the important people to their talk.”
She snorted, but after a quick look at Joana followed me out the door. We’d only made it a few yards down the corridor before the door opened again and Kevin—looking sullen as all hell—stepped out too.
“No extra seat at the grown-up table, huh?” I asked him, and received an elbow to the ribs from Raven as a thank-you.
Kevin huffed and strode down the hallway toward the nightclub. We heard the sound of pulsing music and loud chatter followed by a slam of the door closing shortly after.
“He’s not a people-person, is he?” I asked my friend as I rubbed at my ribs.
“You don’t even know the half of it,” Raven sighed. “He didn’t even want us to help you, let alone meet with the vampire. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m keen, either, but I get that it’s the smartest move for us. Kevin… not so much.”
“Well, hopefully he’ll be more cheerful about it once Warin’s gotten rid of the skinwalkers for all of us.” I gulped down the final bit of my drink and wiped my mouth with the back of my arm, like a lady. “Come one—there’s nothing we can do one way or the other, so I say for us lowly minions, it’s dancy time!”
Raven laughed as she followed me into the club. “You’re awfully relaxed for someone who’s got skinwalkers on her ass, Liv.”