Shadowed Steel by Neill Chloe

Author:Neill, Chloe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

* * *

We made our way through the House, which was quiet now. That was the case, I discovered, because virtually every vampire was on the lawn, swords belted, waiting for orders.

The Bureau vampires were, as promised, on the other side of the fence. Clive stood in front, as was his way, and didn’t seem to appreciate the katana blades currently aimed at his neck by the duty guards. But there was a bright cut on one guard’s face, and Clive’s knuckles were white around the handle of his katana.

We strode down the sidewalk, my father in the lead, flanked by Lindsey and my mother. I was behind them, and it didn’t take a vampiric load of strategy to realize they’d formed a wall to protect me. Some of that was bravado; my parents didn’t want war against the AAM. But some of it, I knew, was parental ferocity. And I hoped it wouldn’t get them hurt.

At the sight of me, the vampires behind Clive moved forward. Two of the three who’d come to my doorway that first night were with him—Levi and Sloan. Their third, Blake, was gone. And each of them gazed at me with hatred born of their belief that I’d killed him.

“Johnson,” Lindsey called out to the guard with the injury. “You good?”

“Fine,” Johnson said, with a curl to his lip. “This excuse for a vampire believed he could trespass on Cadogan property. I corrected him.”

“Well done,” she said, then nodded at my father.

“I am Ethan Sullivan,” he said, stepping forward. “Master of Cadogan House and member of the Assembly of American . . . Masters,” he stressed after a dramatic pause, emphasizing the fact that he outranked Clive.

If Clive was shamed, he didn’t show it. “Clive. Compliance Bureau, AAM. We are here on the authority of Nicole Heart.”

I couldn’t see my father’s face, but guessed it held great displeasure. “You have surrounded a registered House with soldiers and weaponry without invitation. I very seriously doubt Nicole Heart authorized that.”

“We have business with Elisa Sullivan.”

“Who is on private property,” my father pointed out. “And who, as she’s told you before, is not a Novitiate of Cadogan House. You have no business here.”

“We have business with Elisa Sullivan,” Clive repeated, either too arrogant or too stupid to hear the threat in my father’s words. “The longer it takes to resolve this issue, the more people will be injured.”

My father’s head tilted. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s a statement of fact.”

“Please trespass,” my mother called out. “Please give me an opportunity.” My mother loved a good fight.

“Sentinel,” my dad said, a gentle rebuke that carried no heat.

But the Bureau vamps exchanged glances, looked not entirely sure it was a good idea to take on Cadogan’s famous Sentinel. Levi stepped forward, whispered something to his brother that had Clive’s expression tightening.

My father allowed silence to fall again, watching the vampires with the mildest expression. Clive swallowed hard; the tips of the katanas were millimeters from his skin.

A minute passed, then two, while they watched each other.

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