Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

to the seethe. All the businesses in the greater Tri-Cities who weren’t affiliated with more powerful groups paid protection money to the vampires. That’s how I first met Stefan. He had helped me negotiate my payment from cash (which I couldn’t afford) to work—mostly on his van, as it turned out, though I did the upkeep on the seethe’s cars as well. They were Mercedes and BMWs, big, black sedans with dark, dark windows—just what you’d expect a bunch of vampires to drive.
    â€œThey popped open the trunk—and I thought they were going to shove me in, but it was worse than that. They already had Joey in there.” She jumped up abruptly and ran from the room. I heard her throwing up.
    â€œThey killed Joey, cut off her head so she wouldn’t ever become one of them.” Naomi spoke evenly, but had to set down her coffee so she wouldn’t spill it. “They told Rachel that we were to stay inside this house until they decided what to do with us. They didn’t have to kill Joey to deliver that message. They could just have brought her back here—or one of them could have brought her over, the way Andre brought over Daniel.”
    â€œRachel said ‘she’. Was it Marsilia?” I asked.
    Naomi shook her head. “It was the Teacher. Marsilia…Stefan was a favorite of hers. I don’t think she’d have killed one of us.”
    â€œThe Teacher?” I asked.
    â€œHer real name is Estelle—she reminds me of an evil Mary Poppins.”
    I knew the one she meant.
    â€œThey all have names among themselves,” she explained. “Stefan was the Soldier, Andre is the Courtier. Stefan said it had to do with an old suspicion that if you spoke evil’s name, you drew its attention. Stefan didn’t believe in it, but some of the older vampires won’t use real names when they talk of others.”
    â€œSo Estelle,” I said her name deliberately, “went against Marsilia’s wishes?”
    â€œNo. Well, probably, but not against her orders.”
    â€œI’m trying to understand how the seethe works,” I told her. “That’s why I came here.”
    Rachel came back in the room looking even more pale than she had before. “I thought you were looking for Stefan?”
    I nodded. They wouldn’t care about Samuel and Adam. “I think… I think that there is more going on than just a vampire turned sorcerer. I wonder, for instance— who turned the sorcerer into a vampire.”
    â€œYou think there’s another vampire involved?” Naomi asked.
    â€œStefan said that the sorcerer was a new-made vampire. It occurred to me that his maker might be pulling the monster’s strings. But I don’t really know enough about vampires to make an educated guess.”
    â€œI do,” Naomi said slowly, straightening in her chair. Something shifted in her face and I saw yesterday’s competent woman take control. “I can help you, but there’s a price.”
    â€œWhat price?” I asked.
    I somehow doubted that she wanted me to sing for her; she didn’t have Uncle Mike’s sense of humor. And as the thought occurred to me, I finally figured out that once Uncle Mike claimed me as his guest, the fae couldn’t do anything bad to me without challenging him—which was why the big woman had sighed in disappointment when Uncle Mike told them I was his guest, even as he condemned me to sing in front of the whole lot.
    I was so lost in thought, I almost missed Naomi’s answer to my question.
    â€œYou have connections to the werewolves. I want you to ask the Alpha to intercede for us. If Stefan is dead, then so are we. Marsilia will scatter us among the menageries of the other vampires who will imprison us until we die.”
    â€œAll the other vampires kill their…” I almost said food and I couldn’t think of any more diplomatic way to put it so I just stopped speaking.
    She shook her head. “Not on purpose, but most of them don’t have Stefan’s control. But we are Stefan’s. That means that their mind tricks won’t work as well on us—and those of us who are bound like Joey…When a bound one is made over by someone they’re not bound to, odd things happen. I’ve heard people say that’s why Stefan was never properly subservient to Marsilia, that he was bound by a different vampire. They won’t want