Page 30 of Peacemaker

She drew my stare, but not only mine. She had a presence about her, something energetic, stormy and swirly like a cyclone filled with deadly debris. She was a woman accustomed to control, and it showed.

She turned back toward us and put her hands on her hips. Her thin leather jacket gaped, showing the holstered gun at her hip and a silver badge fastened to her belt.

And suddenly, I realized exactly who she was.

Jade Noel.

I had no idea what type of supernat she was. She didn’t appear to be the type to hide in the shadows or work from behind the scenes, so I wasn’t sure why I never saw her.

Apparently, she had been put in place close to thirty years ago, which meant she was old.

Funny how she didn’t look old.

But she did look mean.

Another woman stepped up beside her. One of her crew, most likely. The new woman was light to Jade’s dark—light brown hair, pale skin, eyes that looked almost translucent from the short distance.

When I returned my stare to Jade, she was watching me, and I had to fight not to look away. She saw too much. And I had a feeling she knew a lot more about me than I did about her.

I forced my face to empty and blanked my eyes, and I did something I was pretty sure she would never be able to do. I calmed.

“It is time,” Himself began, and I forgot all about Jade Noel as his voice—and his words—became all that mattered.

The crowd of supernaturals seemed to hold their breath and lean slightly forward, toward their king, and I felt a swelling of pride within me. I was where I belonged, with these people.

He was my king, too.

Then they gasped as the vampire master stepped from the shadows and stood on my left. But Himself ignored Amias, and finally, the supernaturals put their uneasy attention back on their leader.

They trusted him, and obviously, Amias was accepted in Willow-Wisp.

I thought Himself would discuss the opportunity given to us by the attacking vampires. That he’d talk about our new leverage and would have a plan in place. I was hoping for a plan.

But he said none of that.

“We must protect the humans.” His voice was high and cracked and somewhat thin, but it carried throughout the graveyard. “For they are at risk. The world is at risk. The rifters have returned.”

Amias was the only one who reacted. He shuddered. Still, he did not look at me. It was as though he were afraid to let me see what was in his eyes.

“The short version,” Himself continued, “is this. There was a war a long, long time ago. The vampires—our vampires—defeated the rifters after a vicious, bloody battle. Their elders sacrificed themselves to not only send the rifters into exile but to ensure they could never return to us.”

He had our rapt attention, and his somber, eerie voice, combined with the master vampire’s fear, hit us hard. Even Nadine was subdued.

“The rifters are cousins to the vampires. All rifters were of the same line, descended from a common malformed maker. When they were turned, something corrupted inside them. Their code was written with tainted ink.” He paused, as though allowing for questions, but no one said a word.

Finally, he nodded and continued into our breathless silence. “Our vampires are created with an innate respect for human life. They know that without humans, there would be no peace between the supernaturals. Without humans, there would be no vampires. It is a rare vampire who will burn through towns slaughtering every human he sees. This inborn respect is why they do not.” He looked at Amias. “They could, you see. They could.”

“The infection.” Himself turned his ancient stare to me, and my legs weakened. “The sickness that occasionally rises in the vampires is a result of that long ago war between the vampires and the rifters. The vampire elders exiled and imprisoned the rifters, but not before the rifters’ elders created the disease that would live in the earth and rise up sporadically to punish and control vampire populations. It was meant to kill them all during the war, but it failed the rifters, and in the end, our vampires triumphed.”

“But…” I whispered.

“But,” Himself said, “the mystical Wall of Elders has been compromised. One of the elders has weakened. And the rifters are coming.”

A murmur of fear rippled through the crowd of supernaturals, and the old man waited for them to calm before he continued. “The tear in the Wall of Elders was deliberately created by a recent attack. They are doing their best to repair the damage, but they cannot mend it in time. The rifters are coming. They’re coming, and we must prepare.”

Nadine put her hands on her hips. “Now come with your questions.”

“They’re not anything we can’t handle,” Shane said, scoffing despite his attempts to behave in front of Himself. “There were a dozen or so of them tonight, and we took them out just like we take out regular vampires.” He shrugged. “Let them come. We’ll decimate the motherfuckers.”