Sabina was announced then. Arria went to greet her. We took some time to bring her up to speed. She told the same story as Dmitriy of being hounded by old ones wanting my head.

  “So, do we have a plan? How will we keep the old ones from panicking?” Sabina asked.

  “Lorac and I were thinking of having a council member attend as many events as possible. Between the nine of us, we can cover a lot of ground. If the old ones see us joining them, maybe they will be able to relax somewhat.” Arria offered.

  Dmitriy looked at me briefly after Arria’s plan was announced. I knew he would be thinking it but would he say it?

  “Titan would not be welcome.” Dmitriy said it. “The old ones are convinced he is behind the killing. They will not want him there.”

  “I said the same. We may be sending the other eight of us out to the events.” Lorac stated out loud. To me he thought. “If you and Arria remain here, which event will be attacked?”

  “The one with Menolo.” I thought back. He gave a slight nod in understanding.

  “That is doable.” Sabina sounded more cheerful than I thought she should be. I wondered over it briefly.

  “It was the best idea Lorac and I came up with. Of course, we will be posing the question to the council once we are all here. If a better idea is presented, we will go with it instead.” Arria clarified.

  “There is one more thing we wanted to bring up. This is not to be spread among the other council members either. Menolo was in with Micah for the illegal fights.” Lorac informed them.

  “That is inexcusable! How could he do that?” Sabina was outraged. Now she was overly angry. She was confusing me.

  “We are still trying to decide if we should execute him during this meeting or if we should wait for a better time.” Arria explained.

  Lorac gave me a look. I understood what he wanted.

  “You should wait. You will be down one council member for the events because of me. Let Menolo attend an event or two to help out with calming the old ones.” I suggested.

  “Still, to let him get away with trying to break the rules is wrong.” Sabina added her thoughts.

  “I will think about it.” Arria gave me a look. It was both good and bad. “You will need to explain that to me in more detail.”

  I nodded slightly and blinked to reassure her I would.

  I looked around to see Ghost smiling again. I couldn’t help but smile back. He loved these conversations. There was so much more being said than the spoken words could convey. I had the added enjoyment of knowing I could ask him why Sabina was acting so weird.

  Our conversation turned a little less dramatic after that. I considered Dmitriy and Sabina as friends. During my ruse as Darius and afterwards, we found some common ground and enjoyed each other’s company. Arria and Lorac were obviously more comfortable around them than when these two were first added to the council. Dmitriy and Sabina had proven themselves to us.

  Ghost and I excused ourselves after a while. Arria and Lorac reminded us to keep our phones handy in case we were needed.

  I managed to wait until we were some distance away before I asked Ghost.

  “What is going on with Sabina? Her emotions were erratic.”

  “She’s in love. She kept getting this dreamy look in her eyes. She must be head over heels for the guy to be so affected.” Ghost informed me.

  “I couldn’t figure her out.” I admitted.

  Ghost just laughed.

  Chapter 10

  The council members did not hold an event during this meeting. They spent several hours going over what they expected to happen. It took them a few more hours to make their plans. Each council member was assigned events to attend over the coming days. While some of them didn’t like it, they kept their grumbling to a minimum.

  Arria understood when I explained the Menolo situation. She made sure he was assigned the event with the most underhanded of the old ones. She figured he wouldn’t mind since he would fit right in. She was right. Menolo wasn’t grumbling at all.

  Arria did as I asked her to do. She made sure each council member knew which events the other council members would be attending. That way, we could be sure that Menolo would be the one attacked.

  Lorac would be flying out to Saul’s event tonight. The other council members were already headed to one event or another. It was agreed that Arria would not be going since it would be frowned upon because of me. Besides, we wanted Menolo to be the one attacked. If I showed up at an event, that event would be the one with the murders

  I sat in Arria’s suite. I know I should call it our suite but the technicalities get me. This was Arria’s facility. This was her suite. I was just the boyfriend, life partner, significant other.

  I sat pondering everything unimportant I could ponder. I was avoiding the thoughts of the council, the old ones hatred of me, and the dead old ones. I was doing a decent job of it for a while. Still, those things couldn’t be ignored.

  Arria provided some relief. She entered her suite with a relieved smile.

  “Lorac just left. With all the turmoil of the last week, it seems weird that we get a vacation of sorts.” Arria sat in my lap.

  “If I’d known that, I would have went on the killing spree myself.” I teased as I held her closer. Arria laughed lightly.

  “I wouldn’t go that far but it does look like we have the next few days to ourselves. Let’s hope it stays that way.” Arria said. She then leaned in and kissed me.

  We spent the rest of that night forgetting all the stress and frustration we’d been facing.

  We woke the next night to much the same. Peace. We enjoyed every minute of it.

  I visited my friends and didn’t have one single important thing to say to them. They could see that I was trying to enjoy the moment.

  I think they knew it would be short lived. Apollo and Speedy took it upon themselves to keep the laughter going. We all enjoyed a few hours of friendship while we could.

  Arria’s call brought me back to reality.

  “Hello?”

  “There are problems at almost every event. The old ones are fighting amongst themselves. According to some of the council, you are being defended quite well by some of the old ones.” Arria began. “Come to the suite and I will fill you in.”

  “I’m on my way.” I disconnected and looked at my friends. “Thanks guys. I needed this break. See y’all later.”

  “Bye, Titan.” Apollo led the goodbyes that were echoed by the rest of them.

  I mostly ran to the suite. Not at top speed but fast enough. Arria was smiling sweetly as I walked through the door.

  “Saul, Petra, Phoenix, Dorian, Hermes, Gronk, and several others are all defending you against the old ones. It is amazing that the ones that were so angry at you before, are the ones defending you now.” Arria was happy to hear of it.

  “They got to know me. They didn’t like what happened but they know I wouldn’t kill innocents like what is happening now. It does make me feel a whole lot better.” I couldn’t hold back my own smile. “How bad are the ‘discussions’ getting?”

  “There have been a couple of minor fights. Dmitriy and Alexander broke them up before they grew more serious.” Arria let her smile fade a little. “It is Cronus isn’t it.”

  “Yes.”

  “Will Ares stop him?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Arria didn’t want to hear that. She didn’t need to be told that Ares was the only one who could stand against Cronus.

  “Is there any hope?” Arria asked.

  “Yes. I don’t know if Ares is willing to stop Cronus, but he will talk to him. Maybe he can convince Cronus to give up on this whole thing. There is also the point that Ares might stand between us and not let it happen, kind of like what I did last year. He wouldn’t necessarily kill Cronus for me but he might not let Cronus kill me either. That is kind of my greatest hope right now.”

  “Ghost knows all this, I presume.”

  “We don’t talk about it. Ghost asked me to stop thinking things through. I acted like I would but I couldn’t stop my mind from dwelling on it.” I admitted. I also knew Ghost was worrying over something. I got the impression it was something older. Like we had come to a wrong conclusion. I knew his mind and expressions well. That something would have been presumed wrong or stumped him for a period of time seemed impossible.

  “Theoretically, I could send the special guard after Cronus. They might be able to do the job.” Arria didn’t sound like she would actually do it.

  “You would lose the guard that way. You might want to use them to make a statement of trust. Send some of them to each event the council members don’t attend. That way, the old ones will think you are trying to protect them.” I suggested.

  “Good idea. Will we be able to predict where Cronus will strike after the Menolo thing?” Arria looked at me hopefully.

  “Ghost might be able to guess. I haven’t thought it through yet. It takes me longer.” I said, smiling sadly.

  “You underestimate yourself. So you don’t think as fast as Ghost. Who does? I’ve heard you and Lorac brag about how smart he is so much but you usually end up figuring the same things out on your own.”

  “Thanks, that helps.” It really did.

  I saw Arria’s look and I knew her inner debate. Should she take the time to organize the special guard or take some time to enjoy being with me. I saw when her decision was made.

  Woohoo!

  “Hello?”

  “Come to the suite. Run. It happened just like you said. Menolo is dead.” Arria’s voice was mostly without emotion.

  “I’m on my way.” I told her. I disconnected and looked to Reptile. “See you later, Reptile. Enjoy your vacation.”

  “Thanks, Titan. I will.”

  I ran to our suite. Arria was pacing a bit. I saw the way she held the phone out in front of her and figured Lorac was on the other end.

  “Ghost is here now.” Lorac’s voice stated.

  “Titan is too. Now, we’ve let you two keep some things from us and we understand why that might continue. You need to share what you think we can know so we can make our plans going forward. For starters, who will be hit next?” Arria was getting into her straightforward mode.

  “It will depend on a few things. This is something we will happily share.” Ghost answered before I could. “We will need to see the lineup of upcoming events and the old ones slated to attend.”

  “That can be done easily enough. Now, is there any way to try and stop Cronus without endangering Titan?” Lorac asked.

  No one answered for a moment. I knew the answer and so did Ghost. I wanted to give them hope but I didn’t want to lie to them. The one hope would be rejected.

  “Not really.” I answered.

  “There is one thing. I don’t think either of you will like it though.” Ghost paused before making his suggestion. I knew what he would say. “Let Titan drink from the council members.”

  I saw Arria’s sharp look in my direction. I figured Lorac wore a similar look as he stared at Ghost. I could see the wheels turning in Arria’s mind.

  “The old ones would be outraged. All of them. Even the ones who are defending Titan now, will turn against him if we do that.” Lorac sounded appalled.

  “It is the only way Titan might match Cronus. To tell you the truth, Titan would still probably lose that fight. Cronus is over nine thousand years old. Ares told me it wasn’t a sure thing that he could beat Cronus.” Ghost informed us.

  Everyone needed a minute to let that sink in.

  “If it looks like we won’t be able to avoid it, then maybe. That will be our last resort. It won’t do us any good to survive Cronus if every old one turns against us.” Arria declared. She used her council leader voice. We all understood.

  “Then we need to look and prepare for the next events.” Ghost suggested.

  “I will send you the list of fights and the card for each, Lorac. You and Ghost can work on that. Also, I haven’t told you but I ordered the special guard to send members to each event. They won’t be enough to stop Cronus but it will be a show of good intention by the council.” Arria had been making those arrangements while I was talking to Reptile.

  “Great idea, Arria. It will give some sense of calm to the ones at the events.” Ghost sounded surprised. Maybe I actually thought of something he didn’t.

  “Was there anything different about this attack? You haven’t told me anything of it yet.” I asked.

  “Same here. We need to make sure it was like the others.” Ghost agreed.

  “That’s the thing, it wasn’t the same. One of Herod’s employees went into the city for supplies. When he returned, he found the corpses. He found Menolo lying dead next to Herod. He used Menolo’s phone to call me. He told me what he saw but I am thinking of flying there with Titan to see everything with our own eyes. He said there was some destruction along with the corpses. He said it wasn’t making sense. He wasn’t in the best mental state to say the least.” Arria told us.

  “Do that! The two of you should be able to figure out what happened well enough.” Lorac offered his opinion. Ghost waited a second longer before he agreed.

  “It would be better if we knew any differences in this attack.” I heard Ghost’s hesitation.

  “Wait. Are you thinking what I think, Ghost?” I asked.

  “I went through it. It isn’t a trap.” Ghost assured me.

  “Good. Scared myself for a minute.” I tried to laugh it off.

  “Sometimes I question why you two aren’t a two man council instead of the nine of us.” Lorac came out of nowhere with that one.

  “I wouldn’t want the notoriety.” Ghost laughed. “That should be everything until you guys look into the latest facility. Make sure to send the details for the events. I will get started on that today.”

  “You got it.” Arria said.

  She disconnected and smiled sadly.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Lorac’s right. You two should be the only council needed.”

  Arria called the pilots while I called Reptile. I needed to spend the first part of the conversation apologizing for cutting short the vacation we were talking about earlier. He spoke graciously about understanding.

  We boarded a couple of hours later. I took a few minutes to bring my group of friends up to speed. They would in turn tell the added employees we were bringing what they needed to know.

  “It will mostly be like the other two facilities. Like the last time, Arria and I will want to walk the place and see things before they are disturbed.” I was mostly speaking to Apollo. He was the unofficial leader of the group.

  “Can you tell us who is doing this? Do we even know who it is?” Apollo asked.

  I debated. I motioned them closer so the other employees wouldn’t hear.

  “Cronus. Do not spread that around. I am only telling you guys so you will be on your toes. I am going to give the same speech about not trying to fight, but it wouldn’t do you any good to have me or Arria there anyway. Cronus might be as powerful as Ares.” I told them in a whisper.

  “Wow.” Apollo was stunned.

  “Who is he?” Jade asked. I could see the same question on Pan’s face.

  “I will tell you later. We will keep this between us, Titan.” Apollo promised.

  “We are bringing a few who weren’t at the last two clean ups. Tell them the basics so they won’t need it explained later.”

  “We will.” Apollo assured me.

  I headed up front to sit with Arria.

  “How much do they know?” Arria asked me.

  “Only the basics. I did tell them Cronus was the one doing this. I warned them about telling others. I know Apollo will have the other employees ready for what they will be asked to do by the time we land.” I related this but was distracted by Reptile. He rode up front with Arria and me on these trips. His head shot up when I mentioned the name of Cronus. “Reptile, I guess you just heard. Cronus is the one doing the killing.”

  “I heard. It is hard to imagine. One of the old ones I worked for knew Cronus. He spoke so highly of him. Of course, he told me Cronus was dead.” Reptile explained his reaction.

  “Everyone thought he was dead. We found out a little over a year ago. It was a shock to me too. Then and now. I knew Cronus. He was good through and through. Everyone thought so.” Arria’s voice sounded sad.

  “So, when Cronus decides to come for you, will you be able to fight him?” Reptile asked. I was pleased to see such a leap of enlightenment.

  “No. Only Ares can fight him.” I admitted.

  “Would it help if you drank from an old one?” Reptile was quick.

  “Yes, but whether it would be enough is still in question.”

  We spent the next little while in quiet reflection. Arria and I had our hands linked as was our custom. We liked touching.

  Spider met us in the hangar. He was the one who found the bodies. Arria and I got a few questions answered before we headed in for our inspection.

  Herod’s facility was slightly different from the first two. We found corpse after corpse, all of them headless. That part was the same.

  There were some things damaged here and there through the facility. It was clear enough that it involved bodies being thrown into the walls and furniture. What wasn’t clear was why this had been necessary.

  Cronus wouldn’t need to struggle with these vampires. He could have killed them and moved on without all the damage being done.

  Why?

  It was Arria that figured it out.

  “He was angry.” Arria’s words surprised me. After some thought I knew why she saw it when I didn’t. Arria was acutely aware of others emotions. It was her nature. We were in the meeting hall where Herod and Menolo lay dead. “All this killing is getting to him.”

  “That would fit. I was having trouble figuring out why he did the damage. Anger would fit.” I agreed.

  We searched through some more of the facility before giving the go ahead for the cleanup. Apollo and Reptile already had the employees ready. They were just waiting on Arria or me to tell them to get started. They dove into their work as Arria and I sat in the waiting room to call Lorac and Ghost.

 

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