Free Liquid Fire by Anthony Francis Page A

without a second thought.
    “Oh, no,” I said. “What . . . what happened? Do they have any demands—”
    “They didn’t kidnap her,” Saffron said. “She’s just in the hospital—”
    “Oh, no ,” I said, dismayed. “ What happened? ”
    But Darkrose, who had been taking a sip of tea, abruptly spluttered it up in a choked-off laugh. As I stood there, astounded, she shook her head at me, smiling in reassurance, then put her cup down and felt at her mouth. “Caught my fang—”
    “Dakota, I didn’t mean it like that,” Saffron said, her face a mix of embarrassment and amusement. “Nyissa will be fine. She’s still under my protection. She’s undergoing a medical procedure, thanks to the hospitality of the Vampire Court of San Francisco. If all goes well, you’ll see her tonight . . . when we introduce you to the Vampire Court.”
    I stared at her blankly. “I . . . thought we weren’t welcome in their Court.”
    “Until introduced,” Saffron corrected. “Which will happen tonight, because the Vampire Court wants to see you , in person—a powerful new magician entering their territory, under the protection of not one but two vampire lords, with a third high-ranking vampire in tow.”
    I stood there, stunned, trying to process all that. Saffron was a power broker who sat on Atlanta’s City Council, so it didn’t surprise me that the Vampire Court sat up and took notice when she rolled into town with her South African consort.
    But Nyissa wasn’t just my bodyguard; she was the Vampire Queen of the House Beyond Sleep, a vampire house officially recognized by the Gentry of Atlanta. Few people outside this room knew that the House Beyond Sleep was three vampires running a B&D B&B in east Georgia.
    “Jesus,” I said, making Darkrose flinch slightly. “One wizard “guarded” by the queens of not one but two vampire Houses? This has to look like a full-on invasion. And we can’t explain that our forces in Atlanta were decimated by the fires, so this is basically all we have left.”
    “No, we can’t,” Vickman said, closing his phone as he entered the room. “And, just in case someone’s bright enough to hit a spy store and pick up some long-range listening gear, let’s not even talk about any of our vulnerabilities while we’re here in San Francisco, all right?”
    “Damn it,” I said. “If it’s that dangerous, should we just leave?”
    “She can be trained,” Vickman said. “But we can’t leave Nyissa with the Vampire Court, we can’t retrieve her until tonight, and if we’re going to stay the day in San Francisco, we have to make at least a token appearance at the Northern California Practitioner’s Conclave.”
    “Great. The vampires won’t let us leave,” I said, “but the wizards want us gone—”
    “Ferguson’s faction is the least of our worries,” Vickman said, waggling his cell phone. “The leader of the Conclave just contacted me about new ‘security concerns,’ and we have to tread carefully. We expected vamps, witches, and werewolves . . . but now there will be fae.”
    “No one mentioned the fae would be there,” Darkrose said quickly. “Dakota?”
    “First I’ve heard of it, but relax, the fae aren’t that bad,” I said. In fact, Lord Buckhead, the fae lord of Atlanta, was a close friend. Well, a good friend. Well, he’d kept me out of trouble. Well—“Regardless, I thought the fae didn’t usually send a rep to these gatherings.”
    “That’s what we were told,” Vickman said tightly. “That’s what we agreed to. But the fae have a standing seat in the Conclave, and have chosen to exercise it. No one knows why they’re crashing the party; my guess is that they also are interested in meeting you, Dakota.”
    “That’s . . . charming,” I said. Lord Buckhead was a friend, but he could change shape, walk through walls, command the werekindred, and, if legends were true, grant you prosperity—or curse you to ruin. If he was