“And you may call me Galen.”

“Thank you.”

“Secret, the reason Eilidh is concerned about your involvement in this search is because you and the vampire in question have something…unique in common.”

“Oh? Who is it?”

“The vampire we’re looking for is named Sutherland Halliston.”

He didn’t need to say anything else. No elaborate explanations or fun flip charts would be necessary for me to figure out why they were worried.

I’d never met Sutherland Halliston, but I knew exactly who he was.

The AWOL vampire they wanted me to find was my father.

Chapter Twelve

Keep your cool, keep your cool.

I wanted nothing more than to freak the fuck out, but this was neither the time nor the place. The fact Sutherland was the vampire they wanted me to look for, and Sig had obviously known that before sending me here, brought up so many issues I didn’t have time to deal with.

Namely…Sig’s vampire blood was running through my veins.

Sig was my…I didn’t even know. He wasn’t my grandfather, but he was my vampire grandsire—my great-grandpire—or something. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Biologically we weren’t related, but physiologically I couldn’t exist without his blood.

So we were something.

I stared at Galen and tried to keep my breathing deep and even as I attempted to bury the dark and twisty web of thoughts brewing in my head. I couldn’t think about it now, lest I fall apart completely.

“So?” I chose the shortest question I could think of in order to keep my voice from breaking.

“So?” Arturo parroted, without any malicious tone to his voice. “Does the name mean nothing to you?”

“Sutherland Halliston is my biological father.”

“Yes, and your vampire sire.”

“He’s my father two different ways. What of it?” I had to give myself props for sounding disinterested in the topic while inside everything I thought I knew about the world was unraveling.

“You know a sire can compel their offspring, don’t you?” Arturo asked.

“I think that rule is more for…traditional sire-offspring relationships. My father didn’t turn me. His blood was fed to me in utero. I was born like this.”

“A born vampire?” Eilidh sat upright, suddenly far more interested in what I was saying. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not a perfect science, as you guys can tell.” I was referring to my apparent heartbeat. “I don’t owe him my un-life, and he has never had my blood. The rules don’t apply. You can’t control a vampire whose blood you’ve never had.”

As far as any of us knew, anyway. Like Eilidh said, there was no precedent for my situation. There weren’t a lot of half-vampires running around, certainly not those born with the affliction. I couldn’t be so bold as to say no other halflings existed, since the word dhampir existed solely to describe them, but I’d never met one and no one else I knew had either.

There was a word for unicorn and chupacabra too, but it didn’t make them real. Cryptozoology existed to name things that weren’t real, and a dhampir might be real or it might be a cryptid. I was inclined to be skeptical, except for the fact I was half-vampire.

“Very interesting,” Eilidh said.

“How can you be certain?” Galen asked.

“Because Sig thinks I’m the perfect person to find him. And if Sig believes it, so should you.”

That much I could convince myself of.

“And what do you think?” Arturo shifted forward in his seat, hands clasped together and wearing an intrigued expression.

“First tell me why you want him. Then we can discuss whether or not I’m the one to help you find him. Am I correct in assuming you haven’t declared him a rogue?” Keeping focused on being formal helped ground me.

Holden, Ingrid and the others had left after I’d introduced myself, meaning I didn’t have the sentry with me for additional support. This was all up to me, and the more officially I behaved the easier it was to stay calm.

I guess that meant it was natural for me to want to lose my cool.

“Sutherland was looking for something in San Jose, something important to the council. He was meant to report back a week ago, and we haven’t heard from him.”

“And you think…what exactly?”

“We’d like to believe something has happened to him,” Eilidh said.

“You’d like to?” That sounded ominous.

“When the other option is that he’s found this item and taken it for himself or another group…” Galen’s voice drifted off. “We’d prefer not to think ill of him, but he’s had trouble adjusting to life here. Trusting him after this will be difficult.”

“So it’s easier to believe something terrible has happened to him?”

“It’s that or sign a warrant for his death,” Galen said. “Which do you prefer?”

I frowned, unable to stop the downward curve of my mouth. “No, no warrants. Not yet. Does Maxime know the details of Sutherland’s mission?”

“Maxime?” Eilidh sneered. Maybe she didn’t like anyone. I wasn’t special after all. “Why would he know anything?”

“The sooner he knows the better. Because he’s coming with me to San Jose.” I didn’t trust any of them, but Holden said he trusted Maxime, so that gave me one ally within the council.

“We have others. Sentries…” Arturo started to suggest.

“Thanks, but I have my own sentry. I’d like Maxime, please. If we’re keeping things all in the family, that is.”

Galen and Eilidh exchanged glances, but Arturo continued to stare at me with his fierce, catlike eyes. “May I ask you something, Secret?”

“You may.”

“What happens if you find Sutherland and discover he has gone rogue? That our worst fears are realized and he has abandoned the council?”

Did he think I could be tricked into saying the wrong thing with such an obvious question? They clearly didn’t think much of me, in spite of my position. “If my fath…if Sutherland is a rogue, he will meet a rogue’s fate. That’s justice I’m well-versed in delivering. Probably more than any of you are.”

Eilidh reclined in her throne and glared at me, but Galen seemed more interested, pivoting his attention from his sister back to me with a look of intrigue. “You speak boldly for one so young.”

“I speak as I would to any equal.”

His mouth formed a thin line, but for some reason—perhaps the amused twinkle in his eyes—I thought he was masking a grin rather than a frown. What was it about me that fascinated true Tribunal leaders so much?

I thought about Sutherland, and Sig, and I was starting to realize Sig’s interest in me had very, very little to do with how precocious I could be and was rooted in something deeper.

Sig’s interest ran to the blood.

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as I was back in the hall and the ginger twins had left to service their masters, I gave Ingrid a withering glare equal to all the disdainful looks she’d ever shown me during our association. We were still within earshot of the Tribunal chamber, so as we walked I simply said, “Call your master.”

“Excuse me?”

The three of us climbed into the elevator, and Holden remained silent while Ingrid and I spoke.

“You heard me.”

“You aren’t in a position to give me orders. I don’t belong to you.” When I growled, she arched one flaxen brow and appeared as if she was debating being impressed. “And might I remind you threats of violence are pointless, unless you want to make them against Sig.”

Her body made a soft thump when I threw her back against the wall of the elevator, my fingers wrapped around her throat.

Now I had her attention.

Getting my face within an inch of hers, close enough I could smell the fear coming off her, I said, “Maybe I do want that. Maybe you’re the next best thing I have right now.” When I released her, she scuttled out of my reach, touching her neck.

“You’re insane. No one has ever—”

“I don’t care what anyone else has or hasn’t done, Ingrid. I care what Sig has done. Now, I’ll ask you one more time. Get. Him. On. The. Phone.”

The elevator door slid open on our floor, and Maxime was waiting. “Tribunal Lea—”

“No. None of that right now, please. If I hear the words Tribunal Leader one more time tonight, I’m going to snap. Call me Secret or call me nothing, but those are your only two options.”

Maxime gave Holden a helpless glance, to which my vampire consort shrugged. “I once called her Queen of the Bitches, but I think she’d frown upon that becoming commonplace.”

The valet looked appalled. “I… Secret?”

“Yes?”

“Can I get you anything?”

“A glass of blood, my sword and some privacy.” I was deadpan when I said it, but for some reason Holden snorted.

“Here.” Ingrid’s voice was downright frosty as she handed me her cellphone.

“Did you tell him what I did?” I asked.

“I don’t need to tell him things like that. When something happens to me, he knows.”

I snatched the phone from her hand, and knowing Sig was on the other end, I dispensed with any niceties. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“If you believe it is necessary for me to explain myself to you, you are sorely misunderstanding the dynamics of our relationship.”

I walked ahead of the others and into my suite. Holden and Maxime were close behind, but I went into my bedroom and shut the doors, wanting the illusion of privacy for this conversation.

“I can’t believe you sent me in here without any forewarning. I think you’re the perfect person for the job,” I said, repeating what he’d told me before I left. “Well, fuck you. You might have mentioned you thought that because the missing vampire was my goddamn father.” The plastic casing around the phone cracked, and I had to calm myself before the whole damned thing shattered in my hand.