Read Online Bite Back 05 - Angel Stakes by Mark Henwick - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mark Henwick
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Genre Fiction, dark fantasy, Paranormal & Urban
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concentrate on the surroundings and Elizabetta’s briefing.
To house the meetings, Skylur had bought one of the older convention centers in Los Angeles. It had been too close to the massive Los Angeles Convention Center in Downtown to prosper, and I heard from Jen that he’d gotten it for a good price. The remains of the last paying event that took place were all over—huge posters and empty skeleton stands for an RV exhibition. Skylur had them left up as a disguise. They gave the place an eerie feel.
Elizabetta’s summary of progress toward the new Assembly was succinct and useful.
After all the struggle since the breakup of the last Assembly, Panethus and the Hidden Path were still closely balanced. In addition to waverers on their own sides, both Skylur and Correia were courting the Houses of the Midnight Empire, the shrinking Athanate group that had originally comprised most of the territories of the old British Empire.
Panethus was better placed at the moment, but unless the Midnight Empire declared one way or the other, and brought all their Houses with them, neither Panethus nor the Hidden Path could be sure of an outright majority in the new Assembly.
As for those Athanate groups missing: the Empire of Heaven, the huge association comprising China and most of the Far East, and the Carpathians, the oldest of all the groups—neither had indicated they would attend. Or honor the laws of the new Assembly. How would they react to a decision on Emergence?
From another Athanate conversation behind us, I could hear murmurs that maybe Diana would have been able to get the missing groups to attend.
I snorted quietly to myself; for once I knew things they didn’t. The Empire of Heaven might be closer than they suspected, and the Carpathians were here, in the sense that both Yelena and I qualified by Blood. Of course, that didn’t matter as far as getting the Domain of Carpathia to cooperate with the rest of the world on Emergence.
And what does that Carpathian Blood truly mean for me?
More for me to explore when the current crisis was over.
Bian came in late and made a welcome interruption.
She insisted on a formal greeting, neck kisses and hugs for the three of us that everyone could see. And for me, I got her teeth playfully nipping at my earlobe.
“Stick it to ’em, Round-eye,” she murmured before slinking off to find the seat that the main Altau group had kept for her. She snarled at every Hidden Path member sitting nearby, and one or two unconsciously shrank back.
I’d despaired of Bian ever actually telling me her age, but working on clues from Pia, Yelena and I guessed it was more than a century but less than one-fifty. Most of the Masters or Mistresses of the Hidden Path Houses were far older that. All of which made them theoretically stronger than Bian, but her reputation was chilling, even in a conference covered by Altau’s oath of peace.
She found her seat and the idle chatter ceased as Skylur entered.
Attention gathered and focused. Despite all the comments about delaying the business of the conference, there was an almost subconscious pull and excitement about this nomicane.
The full conference was about formulas for representation, numbers, procedures and a slew of similarly worthy topics.
But today…for the Athanate here, today’s business was about oaths. And Blood. And betrayal. About new laws, that had only ever been drafted on computer, and old laws, so old they’d first been carved on stone.
The heart of the Athanate community was beating in this room.
I shivered.
Chapter 10
Skylur strode onto the podium, where a table and chairs waited. He took the center seat. He was flanked by three other Houses. I recognized one as Eugenie, Herzogin von Urach-Passau, House Passau, the foremost House of Europe. Another I remembered from the last Assembly: House Stanbrigge, the representative from the Midnight Empire. The last I didn’t recognize, and I assumed she was Hidden
To house the meetings, Skylur had bought one of the older convention centers in Los Angeles. It had been too close to the massive Los Angeles Convention Center in Downtown to prosper, and I heard from Jen that he’d gotten it for a good price. The remains of the last paying event that took place were all over—huge posters and empty skeleton stands for an RV exhibition. Skylur had them left up as a disguise. They gave the place an eerie feel.
Elizabetta’s summary of progress toward the new Assembly was succinct and useful.
After all the struggle since the breakup of the last Assembly, Panethus and the Hidden Path were still closely balanced. In addition to waverers on their own sides, both Skylur and Correia were courting the Houses of the Midnight Empire, the shrinking Athanate group that had originally comprised most of the territories of the old British Empire.
Panethus was better placed at the moment, but unless the Midnight Empire declared one way or the other, and brought all their Houses with them, neither Panethus nor the Hidden Path could be sure of an outright majority in the new Assembly.
As for those Athanate groups missing: the Empire of Heaven, the huge association comprising China and most of the Far East, and the Carpathians, the oldest of all the groups—neither had indicated they would attend. Or honor the laws of the new Assembly. How would they react to a decision on Emergence?
From another Athanate conversation behind us, I could hear murmurs that maybe Diana would have been able to get the missing groups to attend.
I snorted quietly to myself; for once I knew things they didn’t. The Empire of Heaven might be closer than they suspected, and the Carpathians were here, in the sense that both Yelena and I qualified by Blood. Of course, that didn’t matter as far as getting the Domain of Carpathia to cooperate with the rest of the world on Emergence.
And what does that Carpathian Blood truly mean for me?
More for me to explore when the current crisis was over.
Bian came in late and made a welcome interruption.
She insisted on a formal greeting, neck kisses and hugs for the three of us that everyone could see. And for me, I got her teeth playfully nipping at my earlobe.
“Stick it to ’em, Round-eye,” she murmured before slinking off to find the seat that the main Altau group had kept for her. She snarled at every Hidden Path member sitting nearby, and one or two unconsciously shrank back.
I’d despaired of Bian ever actually telling me her age, but working on clues from Pia, Yelena and I guessed it was more than a century but less than one-fifty. Most of the Masters or Mistresses of the Hidden Path Houses were far older that. All of which made them theoretically stronger than Bian, but her reputation was chilling, even in a conference covered by Altau’s oath of peace.
She found her seat and the idle chatter ceased as Skylur entered.
Attention gathered and focused. Despite all the comments about delaying the business of the conference, there was an almost subconscious pull and excitement about this nomicane.
The full conference was about formulas for representation, numbers, procedures and a slew of similarly worthy topics.
But today…for the Athanate here, today’s business was about oaths. And Blood. And betrayal. About new laws, that had only ever been drafted on computer, and old laws, so old they’d first been carved on stone.
The heart of the Athanate community was beating in this room.
I shivered.
Chapter 10
Skylur strode onto the podium, where a table and chairs waited. He took the center seat. He was flanked by three other Houses. I recognized one as Eugenie, Herzogin von Urach-Passau, House Passau, the foremost House of Europe. Another I remembered from the last Assembly: House Stanbrigge, the representative from the Midnight Empire. The last I didn’t recognize, and I assumed she was Hidden
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