6. Lucien

As I arrive back at the clan house, I am still turning the conversation I had with Kieran over in my mind. He is an enigma, and one I am unsure I can solve.

I am certain I should not try.

Before I left with him, Vasile requested I check in upon my return, so I head directly for his office, and the chill I feel when I stand before his guards is enough to wipe any lingering interest in Kieran from my mind.

I knock, and Vasile calls for me to enter. I am not wholly unsurprised to find Njáll sitting opposite our crai, his shoulders tense.

"Lucien," Vasile says. He motions for me to fully enter his office, and I close the door quietly behind me.

"Crai."

"Any trouble?"

"No," I reply. It is not technically a lie. Vasile never commanded us to take a car, so Kieran's departure from the vehicle does not mean anything.

Vasile looks at me for a long moment before he nods. "Do you think he's a threat to the clan?"

I think it depends on what the clan is doing, but I shake my head again. "No. I believe he was truly trying to keep himself and the community he lives in safe."

Vasile hums. I am tempted to mention that his building is warded, but part of me wants to keep that information to myself. It is irrelevant, anyway. No vampires should go anywhere near Kieran again.

"I still have to call the Council," Vasile says and sighs. "I am sure they will want to speak with Adelaide and Tristan, but I do not know if that is wise."

I am not certain either.

"We all should have a better idea of what our vampires are doing," Vasile says, and when Njáll flinches, I hold myself still. "There are too many surprises. What Adelaide and Tristan have done threatens to undermine the entire clan."

"Crai," Njáll begins, but Vasile silences him with a sharp look.

"When did William die?" I ask.

"Six months ago, give or take," Vasile replies.

A chill goes down my spine. Everyone had been rather preoccupied at the time, I concede, but that was because they had been preoccupied with me.

Vasile shakes his head. "We all should have seen this," he says, and some of the tension eases from Njáll's shoulders. "Or we should have seen something. Adelaide is much older than Tristan and much more powerful, but I cannot fathom why she would think it a good idea to have him turn humans."

"And Tristan?"

"He was upset when we discovered William was missing. It did not take long to work out he had been killed or that he had been killing humans. Three, in total."

"It was so strange," Njáll says, and Vasile simply watches, letting him speak.

"How so?" I ask.

"William just… wasn't like that. He fed from bags more than donors, and he was generally understood to be friendly, polite."

"That means nothing," Vasile says. "We know no one as well as we think we do."

For a moment, he and Njáll simply stare at each other. Njáll looks away first, and it appears Vasile has made his point.

"What of the human?" Njáll asks after a moment, voice gruff.

"What of him?" Vasile asks.

"Is he even human at all?"

I swallow. "As far as I can tell, he is." If he were a werewolf, I would be able to tell. Any vampire would. We would have sensed it as soon as he was in a room with us.

Hunters are more difficult—being essentially human but with better reflexes, more strength—but they are all meticulously tracked by the Council and, because of the treaty, are not allowed to live in London unless they either work for the Council or regularly check in with them. Magic users can supposedly detect them, but I have never known one well enough to ask if that is true.

None of that matters. No hunter could have done what Kieran did.

"He is not our concern," Vasile says. "So long as he does not kill another vampire, of course."

Njáll nods. He opens his mouth to speak, but a quick knock at the door interrupts us, and Vasile does not seem surprised to hear it.

"Enter."

A slight figure enters the office, one of the donors who resides with the clan. He ducks his head to Vasile, then to Njáll and me, his dark eyes rimmed with liner.

"Crai," he acknowledges. "You asked me to come by…"

"Of course, Jamal." Vasile looks at Njáll and me. "I want you both to meet me tomorrow. Four o'clock. We'll interrogate Tristan and Adelaide before the sun goes down. I imagine her glamour will have worn off the others by then."

"Yes, crai," I say, and Njáll echoes my words. He follows me out, and I catch Jamal's scent as I pass.

I have not fed from a donor in months, and though my mouth waters at the thought, my stomach clenches at the same time. Feeding on bagged blood is not ideal, but the mere thought of hurting one of them—

Njáll sighs heavily once we are far enough up the corridor we can be sure Vasile will not overhear.

"I really fucked up with this one."

I shake my head. "It is not your fault. No one expects a chieftain to know everything their vampires are doing."

Njáll snorts and when he shakes his head, one of his braids comes loose, a bead shining in the light. "There's everything, and then there's one of your vampires turning people left, right, and centre while the other uses her powers on her clanmates."

I chew the inside of my cheek. He has a point. This is certainly a more complicated situation than we have faced in recent years.

"Still. It is not your fault."

"I just can't shake the feeling there's something else going on." We pause at the end of the corridor. "Tristan's always been hot-headed, but this is a lot, even for him."

"We will find out tomorrow, then," I say. One way or another, I am certain that will happen.

"You're right." Njáll musters up a smile. "I guess I'm here for the day, too. See you in a few hours, chieftain."

He winks before he heads towards his rooms. All the chieftains have a set of rooms in the clan house, as there are seven of us, and there are times when it helps for us to be close by.

I am the only one who has spent so much time in them, and I head there now, tracing the same familiar path I have almost every day for the past six months.

I hear Elle and Adam before I even open the door, though they fall silent for a moment as I step inside. Adam twists in the armchair, leaning up on his knees to better look me over. I can see Elle is just as concerned by the way her eyes narrow.

"Everything is fine," I say. "Crai Vasile has requested Chieftain Njáll and I go with him for the interrogation tomorrow."

Adam frowns, tracking me as I take a seat next to Elle on the sofa. His red curls are in disarray, almost as though he has been running his hands through his hair. I shake my head. "Nothing happened. I am fine."

While Adam is technically in his early seventies—though he of course does not look it—he is my only turn. He is old enough that we ordinarily would not be so close.

"Did the human say anything?" He curls up in the chair, knuckles white where he is gripping the armrests. Beside me, Elle frowns.

"Nothing that sheds any more light on the situation." I shrug. "I took him home. I am under the impression he wants nothing to do with the supernatural—at least, no more than he has already experienced."

Adam chews his lower lip.

"Did you manage to talk to Vasile before everything went to shit?" Elle asks.

"A little. He mentioned he wishes for you to run the district alongside me."

She nods, and I am not surprised that she appears to already know what Vasile shared with me. She has been doing all the work, after all. I want my position back, certainly, but like Vasile, I am sure she will be ready for her own district, should the opportunity arise.

"He doesn't want you to have it back?" Adam asks.

"It is not that." I shake my head. "Elle has worked hard to keep the district running while I have been indisposed. I feel better for having her there as I move back into that role, and I am certain Vasile knows that. Besides, this means she will be next in line to take over another district when the chance arises."

Elle rolls her eyes. "Yeah, not likely to be soon."

"What if…?" Adam's gaze is distant, as though he is thinking of something else.

"What if what?" Elle asks.

"What if that human's more dangerous than Vasile thought?"

The way he says human brings me up short. I frown. "Did you sense something?"

Adam has a rare skill for a vampire—the ability to scent magic, the same way we can scent blood. He cannot feel it the way a true magic user can, but if someone were to hurl a spell at him, he would sense it coming.

"No." Adam crosses his arms over his chest. "No magic, anyway. He's not a wolf. We'd have picked that up, too."

"And not a hunter?" Elle asks. "They're sure?"

"After speaking to him, I am," I reply. "He wants nothing to do with any of this."

Adam hisses through clenched teeth. "Then why was he here?" He is pale, so much so that his freckles stand out in stark relief on his face, and when he uncrosses his arms, I am startled to see his hands are trembling.

"Vasile knows what he is doing," I rush to reassure Adam. "And the human is gone. He wants nothing to do with this."

"But Vasile didn't know! He just let Nathan come in here and—" He cuts himself off, snapping his jaw shut as though it is the only way to keep the words in. His green eyes are bright in his chalk-white face.

"Adam!" Elle leans forward.

I shake my head and stand, crossing to where Adam is sitting. He jumps when I crouch down and take his hands, clasping them between my own. His whole body shakes with—I am not certain. Anger? Fear? The bond between us, so quiet most of the time, flares briefly with conflicting emotions.

"It was not the fault of anyone that Nathan was not seen for what he truly was," I say quietly. "Least of all Vasile's. Or yours."

Adam's head shoots up. He looks surprised, but at least he is now meeting my gaze.

"Nathan was insidious," I say, willing my voice not to shake. "As was the way he operated. The human Tristan and Adelaide brought to our door tonight is dangerous. I have no doubt of that. But I do not believe he is dangerous if not threatened, and we are no longer a threat to him."

Adam breaks eye contact to stare past Elle and me, at some spot in the distance neither of us can see.

"All right," he says finally, with some reluctance. "He's not coming back?"

I shake my head, thinking of the challenge I threw at Kieran before I left. I was foolish, but I doubt the prospect of knowing my age will be enough to bring him back into our orbit. "He is the Council's problem, and Vasile will inform them of everything that has taken place tonight. They may wish to speak to him, but that is not our responsibility."

"He shouldn't have been able to snap the cuffs like that, right? He shouldn't have been able to fight like that."

No. I do not say it aloud, but I know that Elle and I are in agreement. No, he should not have been able to do any of that. But he did.

"We will be fine," I say, giving Adam's hands a squeeze. "Whatever storm is to come, we can weather it together."

Adam nods faintly. Elle moves and perches on the arm of the chair next to him, curving her body into his and moving her fingers through his hair.

We all have wounds that need to heal, which is why I know better than to think about Kieran for too long.

I did not lie. He is a dangerous man. There is no need for me to court danger again.