Part 27 (1/2)
”G.o.d bless and protect you,” Father Juan said, making the sign of the cross. Jenn's father hissed.
”Your G.o.d has lost this war,” he said. ”Lucifer will cleanse the world of him and all who follow him.”
Jenn's lips parted as she traded shocked looks with Father Juan. Lucifer? Dantalion is in league with him ?
Betraying no further emotion, she stepped back as Father Juan guided her father into the cell and closed the heavy metal door with a clang. A tiny rectangle was cut into it, and through it Jenn watched as her father sat down on the cot.
”Jenn,” he whispered brokenly.
I hate you, she insisted.
She and Father Juan moved away from the door just as Father Wadim approached. Antonio and Holgar followed him. Noah had remained behind to guard Sade.
Holgar took up position beside her father's door. Neither Holgar nor Noah would reveal their presence to their prisoners. Food and other personal business would be attended to by monks.
Once they were upstairs, Jenn whipped out her cell phone as she, Father Wadim, Antonio, and Father Juan took seats at the dining table, Antonio facing the doorway, scanning anxiously, as if for more intruders. The three of them looked as thrown as she felt.
”What's Solomon's number?” she asked Father Juan.
”I'll punch it in,” he said, taking the phone from her.
Jenn watched him. ”That double-crossing vam-”
”Senora?” Antonio said, half rising. ”Are you all right?”
As Jenn's grandmother paused on the threshold, she looked haggard. She shrugged and walked slowly into the room, as if the wind had been knocked out of her sails.
”It's Leslie,” she said. ”She's having a rough time of it. She'd taken to mothering Sade, and now, with Sade locked up . . .” She ran a hand across the side of her mouth and let her hand drop to her side. ”And then, seeing Paul like that. Leslie had been pus.h.i.+ng hard for a rescue mission, ever since we realized he was communicating by tapping during those broadcasts. Then he finally shows up, and he's in thrall to a vampire we thought was dead.”
”Plus, there is the heartbreak of Heather,” Antonio said.
The heartbreak. Well put. This war is destroying my family, Jenn thought. Her throat tightened, as if she were choking on more rage, more fury.
”Yes, our Heather,” Esther agreed. She shook her head. ”I wish Charles were here.” She sighed and looked at the others. ”And I'm guessing from the looks on your faces that there's even more bad news.”
”The call has connected,” Father Juan announced.
”Hold on,” Jenn said to her grandmother, as Father Juan handed the phone to her.
”Jennifer, have you missed me?” Solomon said pleasantly.
Jenn made sure he was on speaker, although the sound wouldn't carry very far. ”Why don't you put this on speaker so your friends Dantalion and Lucifer can hear what I've got to say?” she said sourly.
”Dantalion? What are you talking about?” Solomon asked on the other end of the phone.
”What's going on?” Esther murmured to Antonio. Antonio remained silent. Since Antonio had been in the room when Paul Leitner and Sade had revealed each other to be spies, Solomon probably already knew he was at the monastery. But as with the others, it had been agreed that Antonio should stay off the radar.
Father Juan gave Esther a grim half smile. ”We're not sure.”
”Jennifer?” Solomon said anxiously. ”Dantalion? What are you talking about?” Jenn quickly filled him in.
”Lucifer? Dantalion is with Lucifer?” Solomon repeated. Either he was a very good actor or he had been truly caught off guard, just as they had been.
”My father's been Dantalion's spy while he's been with you,” Jenn told him. ”He's been telling us all your secrets,” she lied. But she could have kicked herself. It had just occurred to her that they should have seen if Antonio could demesmerize her father and Sade both. They could still do that. Or maybe it would be dangerous. She was sure of so little.
”Dantalion's alive. And he's with Lucifer,” Solomon said again, as if he just couldn't get over it.
”What about Milwaukee? What happened there?” Jenn demanded, changing the subject.
”That was done by rogue vigilantes, without my permission,” Solomon said. ”I swear I had nothing to do with it.”
”That's what you said when the president's daughter was converted on national TV,” Jenn said.
”Do you think I would authorize an attack at the same time I'm trying to make peace with you?” he asked, sounding wounded.
”You tell me,” Jenn shot back. ”In fact, I want you to tell me everything you've done. And are doing. All of it. Or I'll come and get you myself, Solomon. I'll drive a stake through your lying, evil heart. I swear it.” The rage inside her roared like a wild animal. She wanted to break something.
Kill someone . . .
”You? You aren't . . . ,” Solomon began in a patronizing tone; then he cleared his throat as if thinking the better of what he'd been about to say. ”Okay, okay, Jennifer. Here it all is.”
And he told her about his supersoldiers, and how he'd double-crossed Dantalion in Russia, and that he had a spy at Project Crusade who had told him about the virus. Antonio, Father Juan, Father Wadim, and Gramma Esther listened intently. It dawned on Jenn that she was the youngest person in the room, but she was the one in the leaders.h.i.+p position. A little fillip of panic tickled the base of her spine.
I was chosen, she reminded herself. I can do this.
”So I came to you because I need allies. My vampires will fight with you against Lucifer,” Solomon concluded. ”In return, I want the antidote.”
The antidote that they didn't have. She decided to test him. Mentally crossing her fingers for luck, she said, ”Oh, come on. Your spy at Project Crusade must have some hidden away for you.”
”I think something happened to him,” he said. ”The line went dead while he was briefing me.”
Jenn wondered if Noah had had anything to do with that. She'd have to ask him.
”What about your best friend, the president?” she prodded. ”Can't he get it for you?”
There was a pause. ”You don't have it either, do you,” the vampire said.
Jenn's heart skipped a beat. ”I didn't say that.”
”What about the president?” Father Juan said loudly. ”Doesn't he want his ally to survive? Or is humanity turning its back on the charming vampire from California?”
”You don't want to p.i.s.s me off, priest,” Solomon hissed through the phone. ”You really don't. If I come at you from one side, and Lucifer attacks from the other . . .”
Father Juan smiled thinly. ”Then you'll deplete your troops before you face each other.”
Solomon went silent. Antonio and Father Wadim gave Father Juan a nod. Priest power.