I Should Die

forward, clutching his hands together and resting his elbows on the table. “What do you know about how that was concluded, Vincent?”
    “Well, we inflicted greater damage on the numa than they did us. They called for a ceasefire. Jean-Baptiste passed an order that we were not to purposefully hunt the numa down. It would be seen as aggravating the situation, which could result in another war flaring up. He recently revoked that order after Lucien ended the peace treaty by breaking into our residence and trying to destroy me.”
    Theodore eyed him for a moment, as if deciding whether Vincent was telling the whole truth, and then nodded. “That is the tip of the iceberg. What actually happened is not quite that cut-and-dry, unfortunately. It was Jean-Baptiste who was in fear for your numbers, not the other way around. When he felt that your kindred were at risk of being decimated, he went to Lucien to broker a peace agreement—letting the numa name their terms.”
    Vincent raised an eyebrow and looked skeptical. “JB . . . made a deal with Lucien?”
    Theodore nodded. “Jean-Baptiste didn’t want any of you to know what he was doing, so he took me—an outsider—to act as his second. To this day, none of your kindred, not even Gaspard, are aware of what happened during that meeting.”
    A chill crept up my spine, as my thoughts traveled from, A peace agreement with the numa. What’s wrong with that? to Negotiations with the enemy kept secret from one’s kindred. Not so good. It was hard to believe that Jean-Baptiste would meet with Lucien and hide it from his kindred. He must have been truly desperate to save them from destruction. But still . . .
    “I didn’t know where Jean-Baptiste was taking me until we got there,” Theo continued. “He swore me to secrecy afterward, saying that the survival of France’s revenants depended on my silence. I left France that same day and haven’t been back to Paris since. When Jean-Baptiste phoned me earlier this week, I hadn’t spoken to him for decades.”
    Vincent sat back, looking like he had been slapped. “I’m sorry, Gold. I just can’t believe that.”
    “It must somehow ring true to you, because you’re not angry. Or defensive,” Theodore stated, studying Vincent’s face. “I think you do believe it. You just don’t want to.”
    Vincent lowered his head to his hands. “What were the terms of the agreement?” he asked, without looking up.
    “Both sides agreed that their permanent places of residence would not be attacked.”
    Vincent looked up and eyed Theodore doubtfully. “But the numa don’t keep permanent places of residence.”
    “Yes, they do. That was the other part of the agreement. As the party declaring defeat, Jean-Baptiste surrendered several of his properties to Lucien. The house in Neuilly. Several apartments in central Paris. An entire apartment building in the République neighborhood.”
    No. It couldn’t be true. Jean-Baptiste giving his properties to the numa. Not only letting them live in his homes, but . . . hiding them? I could understand making concessions in order to save his clan, but giving shelter to the enemy and not informing his own people? That went way beyond mere negotiations. That felt more like treason.
    Vincent looked as upset as I was. He took his napkin off his lap and crushed it between his hands. “That’s not true,” he said, shaking his head in denial. “He rents those out.”
    Theodore smiled sadly at Vincent. “Who takes care of those rentals? Does he ever send any of you to check on the places?”
    “No, he manages those properties himself,” replied Vincent hesitantly.
    “And when Jean-Baptiste retracted his ban on wantonly killing the numa, did he mention that that was where they might be found?”
    “No,” stated Vincent, hanging his head in defeat. “Those would be the last places we would look.”
    “Quite understandably, he hasn’t wanted you to know about his deal. It’s his pride on the line. He’s gotten too far into this mess and can’t get out without bringing shame on himself. And on the phone the other day, he said that he expected me not to bring up ‘old business.’ Which I haven’t until now. But I can’t in good faith let you return to Paris oblivious of what was done.
    “It’s not the danger of the numa having secret safe houses that bothers me. It’s the fact that you will be following a leader who has double dealt behind his own people’s backs.