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LORD KREATON WAS SLIGHTLY agitated when he followed his allies into their private sitting room. Their latest fruitless meeting with the Guild Masters and their guildmembers had just concluded. He followed Lord Graham and Lord Dallinar into the room, screwing up his nose at the smell of whiskey that wafted from the diminutive fairy’s breath. He shut the door, then crossed to the window rather than taking a seat. He looked down at the snowy City Square, lost in thought.
“What’s wrong with you, Lord Kreaton?” Lord Graham asked when it became apparent the master vampire wasn’t paying any attention to their conversation.
“Our ally has been rather distracted lately,” Lord Dallinar said as he poured himself yet another tumbler of whiskey. He was weaving on his feet slightly. “Perhaps he’s fallen in love,” he said slyly, then tittered at the ridiculous idea in sly amusement.
“I’ve heard whispers that Sebastian has arrived in the city,” the vampire told them.
Their amusement instantly vanished at that news. “Send Sorcha to eliminate him,” the alpha werewolf growled.
“Sorcha won’t be able to get close enough to him to kill him,” Lord Kreaton said in derision. “He’ll be fast enough to avoid any spell she throws at him. The sorceress will be useless against him. Eden will have a better chance. I’ve already given her the order to eradicate him.”
“Her succubus power won’t work against a vampire,” Lord Dallinar pointed out, slurring his words slightly as he headed for his chair.
“Our assassins have been trained to kill with weapons as well as with magic,” Lord Kreaton reminded him in a surly tone.
“When did you give her the order?” Lord Graham asked. He slouched in his chair and scratched his hairy belly. Even in his human form, his torso and stomach were covered in ginger hair.
“Two nights ago,” the vampire said with his upper lip lifted at the sight of the werewolf’s excessive body hair. “She hasn’t succeeded yet.”
“So, that’s the secret mission you sent her on and why you didn’t want us to issue her with any kill orders,” Lord Dallinar realized. He shook his finger at his ally playfully. “You shouldn’t hide things from us, Lord Kreaton. It makes me think we can’t trust you.”
Lord Kreaton gave the fairy a sardonic look. Despite their bond, none of them fully trusted each other and they all knew it. “I was hoping Eden would be able to track Sebastian down quickly and kill him,” he said. “It looks like he’s going to be harder to find than I’d anticipated.”
“Why would he be difficult to find?” the alpha asked. “The order you sent Eden should have given her his address.”
“The magic didn’t work,” his tall, dark and dour ally replied in a clipped tone. “The quill just hung in the air when I ordered it to write down his address.”
“He’s a fugitive,” Lord Dallinar said lazily. “He probably doesn’t have a home. I imagine he must spend his days in different abandoned buildings where no one will ever find him.” There were tens of thousands of empty homes in the Vampire, Fae and Shifter Districts that were waiting to be occupied. The population of the city wasn’t growing as fast as they’d expected. It seemed the abandoned houses of the dead would remain empty for years, or possibly even decades.
“You have a point,” Lord Kreaton admitted. “That will make Eden’s task even more difficult. She’ll have to search the Vampire District until she gets close enough to him for the spell to guide her to him.”
“That was a clever idea of mine,” the fairy said in self-congratulations. “No one else would have thought to create an enchantment that could link our assassins to their targets.”
“Yeah, you’re a real genius,” Lord Graham said with a faint sneer.
Lord Dallinar inclined his head, accepting the praise and ignoring his sarcasm. “I know,” he said without an ounce of humility.
“How long will Eden last before she goes insane if she can’t find her target?” the alpha asked.
Lord Dallinar frowned, then shrugged. “A few nights at the most,” he said. “I doubt she’ll be able to keep hold of her sanity for an entire week.” That was the only downside to the spell. If the succubus failed to find her mark, the enchantment would tear her mind apart as punishment for her failure. He hadn’t intended it to work that way, but there was nothing he could do to change it.
“I don’t think either of you is aware of the gravity of Sebastian’s arrival,” Lord Kreaton said in a cutting tone. “He suspects that I was responsible for the murder of his kiss.”
“So?” the werewolf said. “Who cares if he knows? It isn’t like he can demand that you stand trial for it. All of the Night Cursed holy folk are locked away in their District. He can’t exactly trot them out and get them to question you.”
“There are other holy people who are uncursed,” Lord Kreaton said tightly. “What do you think it would do to our reputations if the populace discovers the methods we used to form our Triumvirate?”
“They won’t find out,” Lord Dallinar said, waving his hand dismissively. “Eden will do the job she was created for. She’ll find this vampire and kill him, just like she’s killed every other target we’ve sent her to hunt down.”
Lord Kreaton turned his back on them to stare at the City Square again. He peered at the fountain that was covered in snow and could just make out his own likeness beneath the ice. His stone face looked distorted and twisted, as if the statue was screaming. He tore his gaze away from it and watched the action in the square.
People came and went constantly. Some carried packages in and out of the buildings. Others were standing together to gossip. The atmosphere in the City of Night became more and more oppressive with each year that passed. Fewer lights shone from the windows and streetlamps as the magic slowly faded. He’d heard whispers that Nox would eventually become the City of Darkness and he couldn’t help but wonder how accurate they were. Nox couldn’t exist without magic. Everything was falling apart and it seemed it was only a matter of time before their carefully crafted empire collapsed.
