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Book: The Reluctant Goddess (The Montgomery Chronicles Book 2) by Karen Ranney
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Authors: Karen Ranney
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confidences with them, looked up to the women who raised them.
I’ve spent most of my life avoiding my mother at all costs. Even into my adulthood I had found that it was a good choice.
Evidently, her escape wasn’t the worst of it.
“From what we’ve heard, she joined the The Militia of God. We suspect they're hiding her."
I blinked at her. “What do you mean, they’re hiding her? Don’t you have a warrant for her arrest? Didn’t she escape from the jail?”
Kenisha’s eyes turned flat again. “Yes and yes, but unless you know where she is, there isn’t much we can do.”
“Are they claiming sanctuary?” Dan asked.
I frowned at him. “Can they do that?”
“Not legally, but they can make a public stink. Lots of people aren’t all that happy with vampires being among us. They could play on that.”
Kenisha nodded, glanced at Mike, then back at Dan.
I didn't know much about The Militia of God, other than that they hated anyone who wasn’t human and weren’t shy about promoting that hatred. They’d adopted a cute little ghost symbol and drawn a red line through it, reminding me of the movie out years ago. Their television commercials were well done. The last one had featured an innocent looking little girl with golden hair sitting on the steps in front of her house at dusk. A vampire had accosted her, promising her candy and delivering death, instead. The last frame showed her drained white, crimson blood drops sprinkled across her pink dress.
Their membership had grown to millions in the last few years.
Dan and Mike looked at each other. I could almost see their antennae shiver. God forbid they should actually have antennae.
One of these days we were all going to sit in a Kumbaya circle and fess up. They knew everything to know about me, but I didn't know anything about them. Exactly what were they? Not quite human, I was certain, but what I didn’t know.
"Oh goodie," I said, for lack of anything else to say in the silence. "But why didn't you tell me on the phone? Why did we have to meet in person?"
"That's not the purpose of this meeting," she said.
I got that feeling again, a prickling at the nape of my neck. I looked around, surreptitiously. No one looked back at me. No witches stared holes in me. If there were other vampires in the room among the diners, I couldn't tell. They didn't exactly give off an odor to me anymore, which was a damn shame. I could've at least figured out who they were by their smell.
“The Council wants me to ask you something,” Kenisha said.
The feeling traveled from the back of my neck to lodge in my stomach.
Dan reached under the table and grabbed my hand, holding onto it tightly. I didn’t know if he was signaling for me to shut up or just giving me moral support.
"Are you working for the Council now?" I asked.
"They thought I might be able to tell if you were lying," she said. "Because we were fledglings together."
I could tell from the curl of her lip what she thought of that idea. We had attended exactly one orientation class together. Granted, our relationship went a little deeper than that, since she considered me responsible for Ophelia's death and I had asked her to arrest my mother, but that was about it. We weren’t going to call each other for coffee or giggle about guys.
"About what?"
Good, my voice didn't sound as frightened as I felt.
The Council had jurisdiction over vampire crimes. The legal system didn't know what to do with the undead, so they were grateful to the vampire Council for stepping in and adjudicating anything involving a vampire.
My attempt to kill Maddock was definitely one of those crimes they would handle. If they knew about it. To the best of my knowledge, they didn’t and I wasn’t going to blab to Kenisha.
She glanced at the two men, then leaned over the table, whispering to me. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was embarrassed.
"Are you menstruating?"
Well, hell, I
I’ve spent most of my life avoiding my mother at all costs. Even into my adulthood I had found that it was a good choice.
Evidently, her escape wasn’t the worst of it.
“From what we’ve heard, she joined the The Militia of God. We suspect they're hiding her."
I blinked at her. “What do you mean, they’re hiding her? Don’t you have a warrant for her arrest? Didn’t she escape from the jail?”
Kenisha’s eyes turned flat again. “Yes and yes, but unless you know where she is, there isn’t much we can do.”
“Are they claiming sanctuary?” Dan asked.
I frowned at him. “Can they do that?”
“Not legally, but they can make a public stink. Lots of people aren’t all that happy with vampires being among us. They could play on that.”
Kenisha nodded, glanced at Mike, then back at Dan.
I didn't know much about The Militia of God, other than that they hated anyone who wasn’t human and weren’t shy about promoting that hatred. They’d adopted a cute little ghost symbol and drawn a red line through it, reminding me of the movie out years ago. Their television commercials were well done. The last one had featured an innocent looking little girl with golden hair sitting on the steps in front of her house at dusk. A vampire had accosted her, promising her candy and delivering death, instead. The last frame showed her drained white, crimson blood drops sprinkled across her pink dress.
Their membership had grown to millions in the last few years.
Dan and Mike looked at each other. I could almost see their antennae shiver. God forbid they should actually have antennae.
One of these days we were all going to sit in a Kumbaya circle and fess up. They knew everything to know about me, but I didn't know anything about them. Exactly what were they? Not quite human, I was certain, but what I didn’t know.
"Oh goodie," I said, for lack of anything else to say in the silence. "But why didn't you tell me on the phone? Why did we have to meet in person?"
"That's not the purpose of this meeting," she said.
I got that feeling again, a prickling at the nape of my neck. I looked around, surreptitiously. No one looked back at me. No witches stared holes in me. If there were other vampires in the room among the diners, I couldn't tell. They didn't exactly give off an odor to me anymore, which was a damn shame. I could've at least figured out who they were by their smell.
“The Council wants me to ask you something,” Kenisha said.
The feeling traveled from the back of my neck to lodge in my stomach.
Dan reached under the table and grabbed my hand, holding onto it tightly. I didn’t know if he was signaling for me to shut up or just giving me moral support.
"Are you working for the Council now?" I asked.
"They thought I might be able to tell if you were lying," she said. "Because we were fledglings together."
I could tell from the curl of her lip what she thought of that idea. We had attended exactly one orientation class together. Granted, our relationship went a little deeper than that, since she considered me responsible for Ophelia's death and I had asked her to arrest my mother, but that was about it. We weren’t going to call each other for coffee or giggle about guys.
"About what?"
Good, my voice didn't sound as frightened as I felt.
The Council had jurisdiction over vampire crimes. The legal system didn't know what to do with the undead, so they were grateful to the vampire Council for stepping in and adjudicating anything involving a vampire.
My attempt to kill Maddock was definitely one of those crimes they would handle. If they knew about it. To the best of my knowledge, they didn’t and I wasn’t going to blab to Kenisha.
She glanced at the two men, then leaned over the table, whispering to me. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was embarrassed.
"Are you menstruating?"
Well, hell, I
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