Invisible Recruit: Invisible Power Part 24

Pdraig jumped to his feet. "So let's say this Adbertos just ups and quits his job and decides to go on the dole instead."

"Acting totally against his base self needs." Jeb could see where the young man was going with his line of thinking.

"The Council would never know of this individual but the one behind the use of the drug would be aware that he, or she, was able to overcome what makes an Adbertos an Adbertos."

"The Adbertos would die though and fairly quickly," Jeb mused aloud. "Because to act so against their nature would be suicide."

A smile lit Pdraig's face as he grabbed his drink and started walking around the room. "A perfect murder. Self-murder. And no one would be the wiser."

"Are you suggesting such a thing has been done?" Jeb asked, leaning forward.

"No." The Irishman punctuated the word with a wave of his gla.s.s before pivoting to face Jeb. "But that's the beauty of the situation. We've been thinking that if this mind-altering drug has been used up to this point that the Council would be aware of it. After all, the impact on preternaturals worldwide is enormous."

"And what does this have to do with the warlock?"

"This man travels around the world on a regular basis."

Jeb nodded. "As far as I'm aware, yes."

"So what if he's been trying out the drug on a chambermaid here, a clerk there?"

"Only these were not humans?"

Pdraig shook his head, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "They were n.o.bodys. A kobold here, a sylph there. Beings the Council rarely considers unless they threaten the Council's functions."

"And what did he hope to gain?" Jeb asked, playing devil's advocate.

"Power of course." Pdraig's eyes appeared to flicker as if he could understand so clearly what could drive this dress designer. "He's a warlock. Their reputation presedes them.

Their need to possess and control power legendary. Almost equal to their ability to seduce."

Jeb ignored the knotting of his gut as he thought of Alex with this warlock. From what he'd read of this Bran, his daughter was playing with a true power-player. High stakes for a girl from southern Idaho. Could what Pdraig be saying be so simple and so insidious?

But Pdraig was oblivious to the impact of his words as he poured himself another drink and continued, his back turned toward Jeb. "Seduction is all about mastering the bold move, proving yourself, stirring up the taboos and most of all- " He paused, raising his gla.s.s as if to salute the absent warlock. "The absolute win is to create the perfect illusion."

"Which is?"

Pdraig glanced over his shoulder. "Why, that this Bran is a victim and not the transgressor. He is not the brains and power behind the design and use of this drug, but has been victimized by it as he claims his cousin was."

"And what is the end goal?" Jeb asked, his mouth dry, his heart sick.

Pdraig turned, slowly, pointing his gla.s.s at Jeb. "If I was such a warlock, I'd be seeking a seat on the Council where, with a few more masterful strokes, I'd become Council leader. Then the world would be mine."

Jeb watched the young man, heard the truth in his words even as he wanted to ignore them. "You are forgetting one thing," he said, tumbling the concept around his mind as Pdraig tumbled the drink around his tongue.

"And that is?"

"There is only one Council seat presently given to the magic users, which is what a warlock is."

Pdraig nodded, taking a deep breath. "Shamans, mages, sorcerers, seers, soothsayers, the whole lot."

"My seat. The one that cannot be pa.s.sed to another unless I die."

Pdraig raised his brow and gave a low, deep chuckle. "And you think this would stop this warlock for long?"

CHAPTER 48.

I scooted back on the couch, my muscles clenched so tight I was surprised I could move at all. All things circled back to the Council.

I should just stencil the d.a.m.n message across my forehead and look in the mirror every five minutes. Instead I shook my head. Bran's hunting for Vaverek led to Bran's being pulled before the Council. How convenient. Van's disappearance being tied to Vaverek, and thus the Council, has led to my hunting for Van. But the closer I got to him, the faster Ling Mai jerked me back. At this point I wouldn't be surprised to learn Ling Mai was a Council member.

With a sharp glance at Bran I asked, "Was there a full quorum at the Council when you were there today?"

"All six remaining members. Yes."

"I don't suppose Ling Mai was there?"

He paused then shook his head.

"You saying no or you can't tell me?"

"What do you think?" His words held a bitter edge. Not that I blamed him. Die if you do or die if you don't. It was one thing to share that he'd even been called and what happened to him directly, but a whole different thing to reveal anything that those on the Council might see as an attack on them or their b.l.o.o.d.y group. Which meant everything that might reveal a hint about the Council location, its procedures, and most of all its members.

I glanced at Francois and Willie. "Maybe you guys had better plug your ears since it appears I can't say anything about my dad without bringing the big C into the conversation."

"Too late." Francois shrugged. "We're in too deep to get off with a slap on the wrist now. Might as well spill the beans so we can clear up this mess before it takes us all out."

I cut a you-too look toward Willie. His nod was his only answer, though I did notice he had paled a little.

It was Bran I spoke to as I asked, "At this point you're under suspicion from the Council for a.s.sociation with the designer drug, but nothing more. You want to leave it at that or move forward?"

He actually impressed me by taking a moment to consider. No jump-in-first-and-cry-foul-later approach. Instead he said, "Of the six Council members present two were women, the other four male, but I had no idea of all of their abilities. And no, your Ling Mai wasn't there."

I hated it when he seemed able to read my mind. It was only a trick, right? Otherwise I was in even deeper do-do.

"Bet I could have sniffed them out," Willie said, puffing out his chest.

"Not from within the gla.s.s tube all outsiders are forced to stand in as they come before the Council," came Bran's laconic reply.

"And I bet that tube is reinforced against any number of super-human preternaturals," Francois said as if already considering how to get out of such a trap.

Bran nodded.

"I bet it's rigged with the means to execute on the spot, too," I added, thinking aloud. Then I looked around at the three others. Talk about the party p.o.o.per. Nothing like pointing out that Bran was going to be contained in that very same tube in about eleven hours.

I squared my shoulders and took a different approach. "So let's go worst case scenario."

Bran's brow arched as if asking, hadn't we already done that?

I waved one hand and pulled myself forward to the edge of the couch. "I mean, let's a.s.sume the Council, or someone on the Council-" Please not Dad. Anyone except Dad. I sucked in a deep breath and continued, "That the Council is backing this designer preternatural drug. Why?"

Francois pushed himself off the wall. "To use it against other preternaturals."

"But why?"

"To wipe another species out of existence?" he offered, then looked at Willie.

The Were scratched his chin. "I know that the Weres have been unhappy for decades at their lack of Council representation."

"But there's always some group that wants something," Francois said. "The fae want distinct subgroups to each have seats. The dragons are being ignored. The- "

That surprised me. "There are really dragons?"

"Not many but they're very long-lived, have outstanding memories, especially of every perceived slight ever offered to them, and once roused are very nasty and hard to kill. They're also mean as h.e.l.l when they're not roused."

The description sounded like dozens of the species Frau Fa.s.sbinder had discussed in bestiary and myth cla.s.ses. The ones I needed to pay way more attention to in the future. If there was a future.

Francois gave a chin nod toward Bran. "Even the warlocks have pet.i.tioned the Council for more recognition."

I glanced at Bran, "Was that you?"

His look was short and pithy.

"Right. What was I thinking." Bran was a more behind the scenes manipulator. The pickpocket kind of thief, rather than the one who ran in guns blazing. Not that Bran would stoop to picking pockets, too small potatoes for him.

I was missing something. Something important. "Why now? What's changed?"

"Whatja' mean?" Willie asked, eyeing the kitchen, probably wondering if he'd left a drop of food anywhere in it after his last forage and devour.

"We're talking about longstanding gripes. A feud a few centuries in the making might be at the root of this, but it's not like the Montagues and Capulets decided it was a Tuesday so it must be the perfect day to wreak havoc."

Willie shrugged. "They were Italians, they probably did that all the time."

This was the challenge when working with Weres, they tended to be short sighted. Shifters could be the same way. I can't tell you how many times one of my brothers focused on 'getting the new girl' and forgot that the girl's father was the ump at the upcoming state baseball finals, or her cousin's best friend was just dumped to make room for the new relationship.

"You mean it was Romeo going a.r.s.e over elbow over Juliet that set off the fallout that Willie wrote about," Francois said. Then shook his head at our Willie's bright look. "Not you, a different Willie."

"Yeah." At least I think I was following Francois. "Somebody has gone to a lot of manipulation here. Van's kidnapping. Cheverill's murder. Van's exposure in the park. It's as if all these events are leading to one big kaboom."

"Kaboom?" Bran asked, both brows now raised.

"Get off your warlock high-horse. You know exactly what I mean." I was on to something but it was like wrestling with a ghost in a fog bank. I couldn't figure out what I had.

"Let's look at this from a different direction then." Francois started pacing across the room. "See what might be missing."

"You mean like Cheverill is now missing from the Council?" I offered, grabbing the most obvious. "Which means the Council is down a druid."

"Right." Francois snapped his fingers. "And what about your brother's kidnapping? That brought you on the scene."

I snorted. "I don't think I'm important enough to anyone for them go to such lengths."

"There you may be wrong," Bran said, starting a flicker of warmth deep inside me. Then he added, "You're a powerful witch, but I doubt many know of that because you barely acknowledge it."

That quick the flame went out. But he wasn't finished.

"Unless someone suspected that you could do what you did in the fight yesterday." He looked at me as if looking to see if I'd grown a second head.

"But n.o.body would know about that . . ." Suddenly I realized who did, but Bran was there before me.

"Your father knows, doesn't he." He didn't even bother to pose it as a question.

I was shaking my head. There was betrayal and then there was setting up your own flesh and blood. I drew the line there.

"Yes, he knew but so did the Council. They've known since last year."

Francois and Willie had been exchanging quizzical glances until Willie couldn't stand it any longer and blurted out. "Know what? What happened in the street? Why did the Council know what?"

"Nothing important," I answered, still dealing with all the ramifications. "What is important is that except for my father the Council are the only other ones who understand what a freak I am."

"Alex's word for gifted," Bran interjected, earning him a head nod from Willie.

I ignored both of them. "All roads lead back to the Council," I said aloud this time. Then added, "But we don't know for sure Van was kidnapped to be used as bait. What if he knew something about someone on the Council that would be dangerous if revealed?"

"Or if he was kidnapped because he was a shifter and someone needed to expose a shifter to the general public," Willie said.

I could have hugged him. Sometimes the simplest was the straightest line between two points. Leave it up to a Were to uncomplicate matters. "And if Van is exposed as a shifter, the person who'll be impacted the most is my father."

"Your father on the Council." Willie connected all the dots. "Which means he could be removed."

"Not could but most likely would," Bran said, being the one of us who thought most like a Council member. "Permanently."

Francois jumped in after a quick look at my face. "Which would free open another Council seat. So two new Council members within a short period of time. That could change the balance of power among the Council."

"To what?" I asked, still grappling with the ramifications of Bran's words.

"From moderate to radical. Radical to conservative. We'd have to know more about who is currently on the Council," Francois shrugged. "And it's not likely we're going to get that intel any time soon."

"There's one piece we're missing here." Bran pulled all gazes to him, including my own.

"What?" Willie asked, his face screwed up in confusion. For such a good-looking guy he was a few crayons short of a whole box, but that was Weres for you.

"The Were and others who have your brother did not leave him to be exposed at the park?"