TWELVE COLONIES

I was last into the balroom, which was already ful of vampires and nervous, agitated magic. Darius stood at the platform at the front of the room, Ethan and Malik beside him. The vampires whispered and shuffled as they waited for whatever was about to begin.

I moved quietly through the crowd to the front, stopping only when I was close enough to make eye contact with Ethan, to let him know that I was there. Ready to assist if necessary...or be there to soothe him once it was over.

"We live in strange times," Darius said, his accent seeming extra-clipped as he prepared to lecture this room of Chicago vampires.

"The public is aware of us and other of our supernatural brethren. By registration, they have demanded we warn them of our very existence. The Order is in the midst of a crisis of its own, and the city's leadership is in chaos. There are many in the world who revile us, who would have us destroyed en masse if authority permitted."

The magic in the room stirred nervously.

"In such times, the stability of the Houses is even more crucial.

Financialy, managerialy, proceduraly. The Houses exist to protect vampires from the whims of humans. Without them, chaos. Wandering without homes, without support, without leadership."

I wasn't sure about al that, as Noah and the other Rogue vampires in Chicago seemed plenty wel fed and happy.

"The GP exists to support and guide the Houses. The GP has existed, in one form or another, for a very long time, and although some do not believe it, we do have experience and knowledge to offer."

The crowd snickered appreciatively. Whatever Darius's faults, and I'm sure they were legion, he knew how to work a crowd. On the other hand, a captive audience of vampires who feared for their survival wasn't exactly going to boo its purported "king" off the stage.

"Franklin Cabot is not a perfect man," Darius announced.

"And his work as receiver of this House may not have been perfect. Nevertheless, his job was to review, analyze, stabilize, and report. Despite his premature evacuation from this House, he has done so."

The vampires around me stiffened. They knew something was coming, and they weren't convinced the news would be good.

By the look on Ethan's face - and the line of worry between his eyes - he wasn't, either.

"Cabot perused the financial and other records gathered in this House through the nearly one hundred years of its existence.

Financialy, the House is in superb shape. Its investments are adequately diversified, its assets are substantialy larger than its debts, and there are sufficient funds for emergency purposes in a number of international accounts. The House has sufficient contingency planning, and its resident vampires seem wel satisfied with their lot. However..."

I steeled myself for bad news.

"The official position of the GP and its Houses respecting human affairs is avoidance. Vampires keep to themselves.

Human civilizations have risen and falen over the course of history, and they wil continue to do so. It is in our best interest to let them do so and, simply put, stay out of it. The actions of Cadogan House are not consistent with that position. That, of course, raises some obvious concerns about how wel Cadogan House fits within the parameters of the Greenwich Presidium - if at al."

I froze. Around me, nerves churned as vampires considered the possibility at which Darius hinted - that Cadogan House wouldn't be a member of the GP much longer. Instead, we'd be its enemies.

"Cadogan House rejected the efforts of the GP to review and stabilize this House. If Cadogan House does not wish to support the GP's efforts, the GP must inquire whether Cadogan House should remain within the GP."

Darius looked out across the sea of vampires before him, and then back at Ethan.

"The Presidium caled a shofet," he said. "And that shofet has voted to excommunicate Cadogan House from membership in the GP."

The magic went panicky, vampires whispering about the possibility that they'd be Houseless in less than a month. I heard their whispers, and while many felt the House was being betrayed by the GP, they weren't al favorable to Ethan.

"The GP has no right to do this."

"Ethan wil fix this - he has to."

"Is this Ethan's fault?"

For the first time, I was glad Ethan couldn't mentaly hear what his vampires were saying about him.

"I am not convinced that excommunication is the right decision. Although I have serious doubts about decisions made by this House, I do not doubt they were made with good intentions. But those decisions were made, and they were made in ful awareness of their consequences by experienced vampires.

"Therefore, tomorrow I wil cal the ful GP for a vote on this issue. And whatever decision is made, I wish you al happy and productive futures."

Darius looked over the crowd and gave a final nod, then stepped down from the podium and into the crowd. It split as he walked through the vampires, al turning to watch his procession to the door. He walked out of the balroom, and for a moment we al stood there silently, wondering what was going to happen and what was going to become of us.

Could Cadogan House survive on its own? Did the protections of the GP realy matter? I wasn't sure. And from the expressions on the faces around me, I wasn't the only one.

Needing reassurance, we turned and looked back at Ethan.

"Shut the door," he said, gesturing to the vampires in the back of the room. It closed with a thush behind us.

Ethan stood on the podium, gaze stil on the door, his hands on his hips. The line of worry between his eyes was gone, and there was a new determination in his eyes.

"The GP has existed for many years," he said. "Vampires formed Houses within its control because it was in their best interest to do so, because the protections afforded by the GP - financial, political, military - were worth it."

He looked down at us. "But the world has changed. The British Empire no longer rules the world, and the United States are no longer colonies in need of protection. If the GP decides Cadogan House's membership must be revoked...then perhaps

it is time we ask ourselves if the GP should be our concern."

"They can't just kick us out!" A male vampire - dark hair, worried expression - stepped forward from the crowd, his eyes moving franticaly between Ethan and Malik. "Our immortality has never been more precarious."

"We aren't Rogue vampires!" someone else caled out. "We are better than that."

There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd.

"We can't just defect," someone yeled out. "We can't just give up."

The murmurs grew to a cacophonous roar. However strongly these vampires felt about Ethan - and however many doubts they may have had about the GP - their fear of being Houseless was apparently stronger.

"Silence," Ethan roared out, and the room went quiet. His gaze went green and steely - the gaze of a Master vampire, not a man standing by while Darius West set forth his destiny.

"Remember who you are, and who we are together. Do not let your fear lead you - that's what the GP has done. We have survived for more than a century as Cadogan vampires, and whatever else happens in Chicago or the world beyond, we wil remain Cadogan vampires."

Ethan's eyes softened, and he took a step forward on the platform, his body visibly relaxing as he changed from Master vampire to friend and confidant.

"There is no doubt this situation is serious," he said. He spoke more softly now, and the room was silent to catch every word that fel from his lips. It was an effective technique.

"But consider what we have seen over the past year. We were outed without our consent by a Master who kiled three human girls that we know of. Our vampires were recruited and hunted by her and her minions, and we have become the targets of militia apparently intent on eliminating Chicago's 'vampire problem.' "

The crowd got a kick out of his air quotes. Riding the good humor, Ethan pushed his hands into his pockets and stepped down into the crowd. "Sit down," he said. "Al of you."

Vampires looked at one another nervously before sitting down on the hardwood floor.

"Good," Ethan said, and then did the same, sitting down on the edge of the platform to face them. It was a remarkably casual move for Ethan - maybe another bit of his postmortem transformation.

With nearly one hundred vampires at his feet, Ethan linked his hands and put his elbows on his knees. He leaned forward.

"They sent a man to this House who rationed blood, who sent our vampires into the sun, who stripped us of our protections.

Are those the acts of an entity that supports us? That protects us? Or are those the actions of an entity that tests us and provokes us? The world is different than it was a hundred years ago, and it is worthwhile to seriously consider whether membership is, as they say, worth the privilege."

He looked across the sea of vampires. "To excommunicate a House is a profound action. Not being affiliated with the GP would not be an easy course. There is a stigma, of course, and the concern we lack protection if we are not affiliated. But this House is financialy secure and would be able to maintain itself without the GP. It has connections throughout this city, including Merit's grandfather, the Apex of the North American Central Pack, water nymphs, fairies, the Lake Michigan siren, and potentialy the Queen of the Fae. My friends, my brothers, my sisters, I am not afraid."

He stood up again, walked to the edge of the platform, and lifted up a smal box that had been placed there. There was a slit in the top, just wide enough for a piece of paper or two.

It was a balot box.

"We are not colonials of the British Empire. We are citizens of these United States, and our ways are different. I say we make our own decision. We can wait for a formal excommunication to be handed down tomorrow. Or we can act tonight. We can leave the GP on our own terms. We can establish a new kind of vampire organization which recognizes our contemporary needs."

He put the box down again and slipped his hands into his pockets. He must have had doubts about leaving the GP, but you'd never have known it to look at him.

"Al I ask is that you vote your consciences," he said. "If you do that, whatever the outcome, I wil support it. I wil be proud of it." He nodded once. "You are dismissed."

The vampires filed out of the room again, and the chatter started immediately.

"What are you going to do?"

"Is this completely crazy?"

Their doubts were loud, but at the same time there was a bit of nervously hopeful energy. I guessed these weren't the types of decisions Novitiates were usualy alowed to make.

When the room was mostly clear, Ethan stepped down from the platform and walked to me, hand extended. I took it.

"What do you think they'l do?" I asked.

"It hardly matters," he said. "The decision isn't important. The action is. Either we recommit to the GP and beg for their forgiveness, or we reject their authority on terms of our own. These are exciting times, Sentinel."

Hand in hand, we walked to the balroom door. "By exciting, do you mean moderately terrifying?"

"I wasn't going to use those words, but if the shoe fits..."

"Que sera, sera," I said. "Now, let's go kil an angel."

Okay, that had sounded a lot better in my head.

We assembled in the Ops Room: the messenger, the sorceress, the vampires. And on the phone, a sorcerer, another sorceress, and a shifter.

We hardly fit around the conference table, but that wasn't the important part. We were a team, working together to solve a problem, even if Darius would have preferred we simply let the world spin around us.

We were also working the low-tech way. Instead of whiteboards or touch screens, we'd placed giant sheets of white paper in the middle of the table, and everyone had a permanent marker.

"So," Luc said, "we know the actual battle goes down with a sword. That's Ethan's job." He pointed at Ethan with his marker, then wrote SWORD on one end of the page.

"And on the other end," Lindsey said, "is actualy getting Dominic to the battle spot. That's where the summoning comes in." She wrote SUMMONING on the other end of the page.

"That process is relatively straightforward," Seth said, putting the sigil on the table. "The sigil is like a phone number for an angel of justice. We draw the sigil, and Dominic must appear."

"Does that work for you, too?" I asked.

Seth shook his head. "In fact, it's entirely new to me.

According to our research, only angels of justice were assigned sigils. It was a check on their power, created by archangels who apparently believed there was a risk the angels of justice would act beyond their authority."

"Which is precisely what they did," Ethan darkly said.

Seth nodded.

"Okay, then," Luc said. "We have summoning magic to get him here. We have a sword bearer to fight him." He drew a circle in the middle of the page. "Now, we just need a way to make him vulnerable." He looked at Paige. "Thoughts?"

Paige grimaced. "Not yet. I mean, technicaly, we've got some ideas. We think nulification would work on him. If it can work on sorcerers, there's no reason it can't work on messengers. They're both creatures of magic. But there is a bit of a logistical problem."

"Which is?" Ethan asked.

"Nulification is what's caled a wicking spel. The person working the magic has to actualy touch the other one to wick their power away. It doesn't take long, and there are things we can do to expedite the spel, but there's no way Dominic is going to let me, Catcher, or Malory touch him. He knows what we are, and he won't let us get near him."

"That's a problem," Luc said.

"Actualy, maybe not," I said. "There may be a way to manage it."

"What's that?" Paige asked.

I blew out a breath, steeled my courage, and looked at Ethan.

"You can get closer to Dominic than anyone else. He won't think you're a threat - not like they are. He's let you close enough to punch him before. But we already know Ethan and Malory have a connection to each other. I was thinking we could use that."

"No," Catcher and Ethan simultaneously said.

"There is no way in hel I wil let someone control me," Ethan said. "Besides, I'm supposed to be fighting him. I can't concentrate on anything when she's in there, much less fighting him."

"We're not talking about control," I quietly said. "Malory can't do that anyway, because the spel wasn't completed. But maybe she could work the wicking spel through you."

"No," Catcher repeated. "She's not putting herself at that kind of risk. He's an angel, for Christ's sake. Do you know how much magic he has? And how much she'd have to funnel through both of them? That could kil her."

Magic peaked in the room as tensions rose - from Ethan and the rest.

"I'l do it," Malory quietly said.

We stared at the phone.

"This is my fault," she said. "There's no argument about that, and no way around it. If this is the way it has to be, then so be it."

"Malory - " Catcher interrupted, and I imagined her shaking her head.

"I have to do this," she said. "If Ethan wil alow it."

The room was quiet as he silently fumed. And after a moment, I watched the anger fade into something else - savvy.

"How would it work?" he asked.

I leaned toward the phone. "Malory, as I understand it, the point of a familiar is to give you an extra bit of capacity for controling the universe, right?"

"That's the basic idea," she said. "The familiar's like a battery. Kind of. But he's not a familiar."

"Not enough that you could actualy make him do something," I agreed. "But you have a connection, certainly. And if your emotions are connected, maybe the magic could be, too? And maybe, if you can use Ethan to funnel power, couldn't he also be used to take it away from Dominic? You don't need to control him for that - he just needs to act as a conduit. A magical conduit between you and Dominic."

Silence.

Ethan ran his hands through his hair, then looked back at me.

"He wouldn't expect me."

"Not to use magic. To punch him in the face, though? Yes. He would probably expect that. But that's the key - it fits with who he thinks you are. He'd suspect you were getting close enough to hit him. Not to wick his magic away."

"So I'm to become a utility. A functionality of magic?"

"A tool," I said. "And a handsome one."

"And only a temporary one," Malory assured.

"Malory, you want me to trust you," Ethan told her. "To alow you to use me as that tool. As a puppet on a string. You ask much of me. Much that no vampire gives wilingly."

"You give it wilingly to a vampire," she said. "Each time a new one is made. You communicate with them, don't you? Cal and control them, in a fashion?"

Ethan looked sharply away.

"He can't communicate with anyone anymore," I confessed, not that the vampires in the room would have been surprised.

"The spel seems to have knocked that out of him."

"I'm sorry," she quietly said. "I know that's not good enough, but I'm sorry."

There was silence for a moment.

"I am glad I'm alive, Malory. I thank you for that. But you have put me and mine in danger, and those acts may ultimately prove unforgiveable." He looked over at me, love shining in his eyes. "And for al that, Merit stil seems to believe in you. I don't trust you," he said after a moment, "but I trust Merit. And I have seen her fight. And if you do anything to hurt me, she wil come after you with al that she has."

"I understand," Malory said.

"Wonderful. But if I'm doing the nulifying, who battles Dominic?"

Courage, I reminded myself. "I wil."

Al eyes turned to me.

"No," Ethan said.

"Yes," I countered. "I'm the only one close to your level.

You can argue," I said, parroting back his words, "and I'm sure that argument wil be wel reasoned, but you know I'm right."

We looked at each other again, the risk of losing ourselves again between us. But this wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last, that we were faced with choices like these.

Ethan nodded. "You wil fight him."

There was a colective heave of relief in the room.

"There is one more issue," Paige said. We al looked at her.

"I'm fairly confident this counts as black magic. If so, it seems unlikely the shifters or the Order wil alow her to do it."

That was a bit of a sticking point.

"There's risk," Malory said. "Even if Gabriel said it was okay, I'd be nervous about backtracking. About getting worse instead of getting better. But for the first time, I'd have the chance to help someone else, not just myself."

"I'l be there," Catcher said. "I'l keep an eye on you."

The decision made, Luc uncapped his marker again and filed in the empty space in the middle of our plan. WICKING, he wrote.

"When he appears," Seth said, "you'l only have seconds to strip his magic. The summoning only cals him to appear - it won't hold him forever."

"And if he's summoned, he'l already have his guard up," Ethan said.

"Quite probably. You'l need to act fast."

Another reason for Ethan to work the mojo instead of Malory. Dominic would instantaneously react if Malory appeared at his side, but if Ethan was there, he might just be curious enough to wait a moment, just long enough for Ethan to get the job done.

"We'l set things up before he arrives," Paige said, "so you only need to touch him to trigger the magic."

Ethan nodded, but the worry was clear in his face.

"And when his magic is gone, he won't be able to leave again.

He'l be stuck here, and in human form." Seth looked at me.

"That wil be your cue."

I nodded.

"Then we know the plan," Seth said. "I wil summon him.

Ethan and Malory wil neutralize him. Merit wil fight him."

His list left out an item: Merit will kill him. However unpleasant, that result seemed inevitable and would be required regardless of whether step number two worked. Dominic had to be eliminated, or even more people would die. And he had no right to play judge, jury, and executioner. Although I wasn't looking forward to playing that role myself - playing a game that would end only with a death by my hand and sword - I didn't think we had a lot of other options.

"It's not a bad plan," Luc said. "I mean, in my opinion. Lots of parts."

"Lots of places for things to go wrong," Catcher agreed.

"Where can we do this?" Ethan asked.

"Halowed ground," Seth said. "It has to be."

Paige nodded. "If you're messing with dark magic, you want to stick to halowed ground. The goal is to make this better - not worse."

"We'd need a church?" Ethan asked.

"Not necessarily," Paige said. "Any land that's been blessed or purified would work."

"How do we locate suitable property?" Ethan asked.

"I can ask Gabriel," Jeff suggested.

"Gabriel?" Ethan asked.

"We have bonds with the land," he said. "If anyone would know it, he would."

"Gabe may not want us summoning Dominic on ground he's decided is blessed," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't think you'l find a pastor in Chicago who's crazy about it, either."

Jeff had a point.

Ethan nodded. "Shifters it is. Jeff, please make the cal and see if he has time to talk or survey or whatever else it wil take."

He looked at Seth and Paige. "Make sure we have what we need to make the magic work. If you need materials, have Helen order them, and get double sets of anything we might need."

"Eye of newt and toe of frog?" Malory asked.

" 'Double double toil and trouble,' " Ethan said, quoting Shakespeare's Macbeth. "Just get it done. Let's meet back here in an hour."

I murmured the rest of the witches' song. " 'Fire burn, and caldron bubble. Cool it with a baboon's blood - ' "

Malory's voice echoed through the phone. " 'And then the charm is firm and good.' "

An ominous chil ran through me. But it was too late to turn back now.