Part 1
Richard had spent most of his life unable to be direct when asking for favors, and the years after coming under the employ of his new family had proven it to be a good habit. When he approached Grendel with his concerns, he knew better than to ask. In fact, he knew better than to make first contact. He was simply passing through. He just happened to be in the area.
“Richard!”
He held back a smile and turned to see Grendel running to him from across the road. Grendel collided with him and forced the air from his lungs with an over-enthusiastic hug. “Grendel,” he said nonchalantly. “What a surprise.”
He let the man engage him in idle chatter, speaking of Molly’s artwork and shows and how she must enjoy having a place to call home. He asked in turn about Isabel, and—purely out of habit— whether she has considered working with the Kaw-Sekhmu on a more official level.
He only realized what he had done when Grendel shot him a look of disapproval. “Sorry. Habit.” The family did not approve of their kind being left uncontracted and unattended; if one of the Ka-Sekhm was free to do whatever they wanted, they risked allowing themselves to be discovered. Isabel was in a position of some power and influence, but Richard had to wonder if they feared what she could do or if they just wanted in on her enterprise.
Grendel’s ill humor didn’t last, but neither would the right moment. Richard rubbed his knuckles and looked around surreptitiously before leaning in. “I needed to ask you something,” he said softly.
Grendel’s eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you just ask, then?”
Richard looked down toward his shoes and sighed. “Another necrobeast.”
His hand darted to his belt, where no weapon hung. “Where?”
“Coming,” Richard explained. “It’ll take a couple of days. I felt it out there. I think it wanted me to feel it.”
Grendel scratched at his scalp. “I don’t understand,” he muttered. “I mean, I’ve heard of them living in packs, but why wait so long to come after you? If they wanted revenge, they would have done it a long time ago… unless someone told them that we managed to kill one of their own, but it’s not easy to communicate with those things. They’re almost feral.”
That did nothing to put Richard at ease. “I don’t care about the why,” he said irritably. “I care about how to keep Molly safe. Are you going to have to kill this one too?”
“You didn’t tell anyone about what happened, did you? The night that…” Grendel bit his lip. He knew Richard would never admit it, but he had lost more than his wagons and his livelihood that night. Human or not, the circus had been his family.
Richard glared at him, then looked around and lowered his voice. “Of course I didn’t,” he hissed. “Why would I do something like that?”
“Good,” Grendel said. “Keep it that way. I’ll talk to Milo about this and get back to you.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would they be targeting you now?” Milo sat with his hands folded against his chin, eyebrows heavy with concern. “Are you sure about this?”
“Trust me, Milo, there’s nothing I’d rather be more wrong about.” He’d begun to regret coming to Grendel and Milo for aid. When he’d spent all those years traveling with the circus, the threat of death hadn’t weighed upon him like this. He couldn’t sit and wait. He couldn’t have the people he kept close dying because of him. Not again.
The Kaw-Sekhmu were meeting with the Netopuri, a key family of cold-blooded vampires, in less than a day’s time and Richard would be required to attend. The past two decades had brought with them a surge in the strength of his senses, and Richard could feel the beast coming. Perhaps it wanted him to know. If it kept up its current pace, it would find him in the midst of the families’ talks. The timing was too coincidental.
“There’s no way,” Grendel said again. “Necrobeasts are practically feral! You can’t reason with them. There’s no way someone planned this all out.” Nevertheless, the three spent hours brainstorming, trying to find a way for Milo and Grendel to accompany Richard and their kin. In the face of the Kaw-Sekhmu leadership’s rules and regulations, it seemed impossible—until word suddenly arrived that the two had been extended an invitation.
As the messenger left, the trio stared at the missive in silence. “Yeah, alright,” Grendel said finally. “It’s a trap.”
Milo folded it neatly and slipped it into his breast pocket. “Then we’ll have to set our own.”
