Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

“He confessed to turning Littleton, confessed to everything: the creation of Littleton, the incident with Daniel, setting me up to meet Littleton at that hotel.”
    â€œIt was about you,” I said. “He was jealous of you.”
    â€œYes. It was during a conversation with him that I decided there was something odd about Daniel’s experience. He made sure someone told me Littleton had registered at that hotel.”
    â€œLittleton was supposed to kill you,” I said.
    â€œYes. He was supposed to kill me—but that was the night he broke Andre’s control. Andre thinks that all the killing strengthened the demon so Littleton didn’t have to listen to him anymore. Andre couldn’t find him after that night. But he wasn’t too worried until Littleton started leaving presents on his doorstep.”
    â€œPresents?”
    â€œBody parts.” When I didn’t say anything Stefan continued. “Andre was getting pretty desperate, and when Littleton captured Daniel, Warren, Ben and me, he convinced Marsilia that you were the only hope of finding Littleton. He was around when the walkers nearly drove the vampires out of the Western territories. It should please you that he was really shocked when you found Littleton so soon.”
    â€œHe confessed,” I said. “So what is bothering you?”
    â€œThere was no permanent harm done to the seethe,” he said, biting off the words.
    I sat down on the floor of the kitchen. I’d heard those words before.
    â€œShe released him.” I couldn’t believe it. “Did she just let him go?”
    Samuel had known it might happen, I thought. Both he and Stefan had known there was a good chance he’d be freed: that’s why Stefan had worked so hard to get evidence.
    â€œI told them that by calling you into the hunt, the seethe was responsible for the damage to your trailer and for you missing work for almost two weeks. The seethe has retained the services of a contractor to replace the siding, though that may take a while—this is their busy season. In the next few days, though, our accountants will issue you a check to compensate you for your loss of work.”
    â€œThey just let him go.”
    â€œHe sent Littleton here, hoping to destroy those he perceived as Marsilia’s enemies. The chair witnessed his truthfulness.”
    â€œYou aren’t Marsilia’s enemy.”
    â€œNo. I just stood between him and what he wanted. Such things are understood in the seethe.”
    â€œWhat about all the people who died?” I asked. “The family of harvest workers, the people in the hotel?” The poor woman whose only crime was working a crummy job at the wrong place and time. What about Warren, screaming in agony, and Ben who refused to be human again?
    â€œThe seethe does not consider human life to be of much worth,” Stefan said softly. “Marsilia is intrigued by the idea of a sorcerer who is also a vampire. She thinks that such a one might bring the end to her exile here. The Tri-Cities is not the deserted wasteland it was two hundred years ago when she was sent here for trespasses against the Old One who rules in Italy, but neither is it Milan. The Old Master would be intrigued by the power of a creature who can make a vampire as old as I bow to his will. Maybe even intrigued enough to call us home.”
    â€œShe wants him to make another one,” I whispered.
    â€œYes.”
    Â 
    Samuel called me from his work the next morning. Ben had been confined to the cell in Adam’s house. He’d attacked another male werewolf without provocation—attempted suicide, werewolf style. He was badly hurt, but expected to recover.
    I thought of Ben’s dull eyes, of Warren’s limp and the dead woman who haunted my dreams. I thought of the “nearly forty” deaths Uncle Mike laid at Littleton’s feet; many of them were killed while Andre was still in control. I remembered Stefan’s admission that the vampires didn’t consider human lives to be of much worth.
    With the vampire’s judgement given, if the wolves did anything to Andre it would be seen as an attack on the seethe and precipitate a war that would cost many more lives on all sides. So, even though Bran and Adam were livid, their hands were tied. If Samuel hadn’t been the Marrok’s son, he could have done something.
    Stefan couldn’t do anything, even if he