“You’re giving me whiplash here,” Maslin complained. “So which is it? Are the Powers secret masters of the universe controlling every human institution and our very lives, or are they undeserving minorities looking for special treatment?”
“Both. And any other argument that’s going to work and rally the humans.”
“Wow, cynical much?”
I jumped in. “So you must be very pleased about these killings.”
“Naturally we’re always deeply saddened when someone loses their life, but this did shine a bright light on the issues we are raising.” It was a politician’s answer, smooth and noncommittal.
“Kind of convenient how the murders started happening right when you’re flogging this proposition,” Maslin said.
“Are you implying we had something to do with them? You people on the left always ascribe nefarious plots to conservatives. I suppose we should thank you for believing we’re so powerful, but it’s utter nonsense. And our members aren’t violent.”
“Well, I certainly hope not, because I’ve been getting threatening phone calls, and I think they’re from someone in your group.”
“Do they identify themselves?”
“No. It’s a threatening phone call. They don’t usually introduce themselves,” I said, more tartly than I intended.
“Then you have absolutely no proof. It might be some Álfar making the calls to make us look bad.”
Maslin let out a snort. “I think you manage that pretty much all on your own.”
I shot him a shut up look and got us back on track. “But back to these murders: you will take advantage of them,” I said.
“Why wouldn’t we? It’s the Álfar finally showing their true colors.”
“Okay, now, that’s utter nonsense,” Maslin broke in again. “If the Álfar are a bunch of murdering whack jobs, why hasn’t it happened before now? Why didn’t it happen forty years ago, or thirty years ago, or twenty years ago? What’s so different about now?” Maslin asked.
“I have no idea. Maybe you should ask an Álfar.” Despite Cartwright’s best efforts, Maslin was starting to get under her skin so she focused back on me. “Miss Ellery, I understand that you work for a white-fang law firm, that you were fostered by vampires, but you’re a human, and a very intelligent one. Put aside some of our more colorful claims and look at the underlying facts. The Powers have been manipulating us for generations, but suddenly they have come into the open.” She looked back at Maslin. “You might want to consider that question too, Mr. Ambinder. Why have they gone public? What are they planning? And what do they want?”
Human First is high on my list of suspects, but how in the hell could they have gotten the two Álfar to go rogue?
Those had been Maslin’s final words when I dropped him off at his car. He had gone off to research. I had gone back to work, but a day spent banging my head had me no closer to an answer. I realized I needed to get out of my head and out of a chair, so I’d headed to the Equestrian Center. It was a foggy night. The white planks of the fencing formed ghostly lines, and the lights around the riding arena couldn’t really penetrate the mist. They just made it more pearlescent and reflective. Vento gave a disgusted snort as I brought him down from a flowing canter to a walk. It was clear he missed the pasture back at his barn in Brooklyn, and he was eager to stretch his legs and run.
I had hoped that doing something physical would jump-start some ideas, but so far it hadn’t worked. All I could remember was Kerrinan’s bitter grief over the loss of his wife. Maybe it was just an Álfar trick, or maybe he was a great actor, but he seemed to genuinely have loved Michelle.
I pulled back the edge of my glove and checked my watch. It was seven thirty p.m. and it was clear that neither Vento nor I had the patience for detailed dressage work. I nudged him forward off my leg and walked across the parking lot and over to the breezing track. I found the electrical box and flipped on the lights around the track. They didn’t help much, but it gave us a clearer sense of the edges of the track. Here, near the back of the Equestrian Center the hum from the cars on the 134 freeway was like droning deep in my chest.
We reached the center of the track and I turned Vento to face the expanse of dragged dirt. His muscles vibrated beneath me, and he began to piaffe. I wrapped my hands in his flowing mane, sent my hips forward slightly, and backed it up with a touch of my calf. He rocketed into a canter, and within three strides we were at a full gallop. He didn’t have the bounding stride or the speed of the thoroughbreds I had breezed one summer when I was looking for extra cash, but he was still going plenty fast enough for a foggy February night. And what he lacked in speed he made up for in stamina. We had circled the quarter-mile track three times before I began to feel his hindquarters losing push.
I began to reel him in. Then Vento leaped sideways, and I fought to maintain my seat. My intestinal tract seemed to be somewhere in the vicinity of my throat as I looked around wildly for what had spooked him. I spotted a dark figure vaulting over the rail and rushing toward me, hand outstretched toward the bridle. Vento took umbrage at that and went hopping backward.
The figure was now close enough that I could recognize David. “You’re not helping!” I yelled, and he put on the brakes. A second later Vento was standing quietly, though I could feel his sides heaving against my legs, and his breath sounded like a bellows. He swung his head back toward me then looked at David with what I could only interpret as disapprobation.
“Sorry, I guess I spooked him,” said the vampire.
“Do you think?”
“Sorry,” he repeated.
“Why did you run at us?”
“I thought you were in trouble … I was trying … it was stupid.”
“Agreed. Don’t you know anything about horses?”
“Not really.”
Which was another clue to the cypher that was David. He clearly wasn’t as old as many of the vampires of my acquaintance since he wasn’t conversant with horses. I turned to a more pressing question.
“What are you doing out here? And more to the point, where the hell were you yesterday?” The fog was condensing on the brim of his fedora, threatening to become actual droplets of water. His face was a pale oval in the darkness.
“I wanted to check in with you. I heard what happened in the arbitration yesterday.” I tensed waiting for a reprimand. “You did good.”
It wasn’t what I expected. “Thank you.”
“You sound surprised.”
“You guys tend to be a little stingy on the compliment front.”
“You proved yourself. It’s why I decided to help you with the Securitech case,” he said.
“Okay, I call bullshit. You started helping me as a way to get back at Ryan.” I said, laughing.
David stiffened. Vampires hate to be laughed at, but he again surprised me. “All right, that’s true, but once I started to work with you I saw your quality.”
“What exactly does quality mean?”
He gave me a quick smile. “I’m not going to pander to your vanity, and I need to keep you striving to impress me.” There was the echo of laughter in his voice
“And I need to head back to the barn.” I jerked my head behind me. “Want a ride?”
He stepped in close and put his hand on the pommel of the saddle. His arm rested against my hip. I kicked my foot out of the stirrup so he could use it. He looked up at me. I looked down at him. Then he abruptly stepped back and shook his head. “I’ll walk.” We started back toward the barns. “Your horse doesn’t seem very alarmed.”
“Not now. You’re no longer a scary, shadowy figure in the darkness.”
“Most animals object to my kind.”