Useless as a mage, Silvia Copse finds herself so upset that she goes and gets black out drunk at the bar. So drunk that she can't tell up from down, she picks up a man with red eyes, white hair, and skin of ice.
What does a useless mage do when the...
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Something didn't feel right, and Alec couldn't place it as they slid into the Angelus castle. The right doors were open, as Lorenzo de Fleur had said, and the patrols were lax as they made their way into an open courtyard at the heart of the complex. On the other side, it led to the barracks that the vampires should be sleeping in, but as they progressed into the central gardens, the door slammed shut behind them. Alec spun around, but Tide cut off his line of sight protectively as dark magic filled the air.
"Welcome," a vampire said with a chuckle as he stood in front of the door.
The man was alone, but he was a well-known house head–Thel Steel. The man's hard square face was unique in its structure, and his dark hair disappeared into the shadows he was clinging to against the wall. With the sun rising, there would be few left soon. The vampire was awfully confident for a fight at dawn, even with the vampires creeping down from the battlements. A few more slipped from the door ahead of them, and Alec prepared himself for more of a fight than they'd expected.
This was an ambush. Forest had warned him that this might be subterfuge, but the Fleurs had been leaking them information for some time. When Lorenzo de Fleur had said their operative was being brutally raped and tortured, Forest hadn't hesitated. Unfortunately, that meant their vampire allies weren't with them. Still, the numbers weren't bad with the mages against the vampires.
What was he missing?
"It's an awfully poor morning to die," a voice he knew said, and he lifted his eyes to Neil Arc's crimson. "Come," Neil held out his hand to him, and Alec tried to figure out what was going on.
A few mages dropped their eyes to his, the worst of which were his uncle's.
"There is no reason for one of my spies to get mixed-up in this fight, Alec Copse," Neil continued. "You have served me faithfully,"
Alex hadn't done anything for him, not to his knowledge, but there was a serious and demanding call in the man's eyes. Neil was trying to protect him. If he was a house head and thought that this fight was already over, then it probably was. It wasn't in him to betray his uncle, but Silvia trusted this man, and Neil had protected them on the battlefield. Without the Arc general and Idus, his uncle might not even be here.
If Neil wanted him and was putting his reputation on the line if Alec were to decline, then it was important to this mission. The steps away from his uncle were loud in his ears, though every mage and vampire there was silent. All except for his uncle. If Tide had not been so stunned, he would have stopped him sooner.
"Alec? What are you doing?" Tide asked, taking a few steps for him, but Alec brandished his staff with a spell at the ready, and his uncle flinched back.
"Something the mages never did for my family. Protecting myself." They were ugly words that turned Tide's pallor the color of old milk, but Alec had to say them. It was a betrayal, but Silvia and Neil were working together, and whatever Neil wanted him for, he had to trust his cousin's faith in this man. Alec went to Neil's side and bowed his head.
