BLACK BIRD

Catcher met me in the golf cart just outside the door. I climbed in, and he took off for the gate.

"What happened to your medal?"

"I traded it for some magic beans," I grouchily said.

He gave a low whistle. "Those better have been good beans."

"Jury's stil out. Tate agrees the sky and earth issues are caused by a magical imbalance - basical y someone mixing good and evil a little too liberal y. He's not convinced the change wouldn't be a good idea. He mentioned the Maleficium. Do you know anything about it? Is there any chance he could have gotten it?"

Catcher's brow furrowed, but he shook his head. "The Order has the Maleficium. It's in Nebraska in the silo under thirty feet of farmland and Order lock and key."

"I'm sorry," I interrupted. "The silo?"

"Abandoned missile silo. Nebraska's in the middle of the country, so it's ful of Cold War strategic defense munitions.

You know - far enough away from the coasts that you could keep the important stuff there."

"If you say so. Is it secure?"

"Whatever else I might say about the Order - and believe me, I have many choice words in mind - they would not al ow the Maleficium to leave the silo. Tate just likes watching you squirm. The man is a total sadist."

"He succeeded," I said. "I'm squirming. If he doesn't have t h e Maleficium, maybe he's working through someone else. Has he had any visitors?"

"You're the only one we've al owed in."

So much for that theory. "Then by my estimation, here's what we're left with: He says he's not involved, and I tend to believe him. And last we talked, you did, too." I braced myself. "If it's not Tate, and if the Maleficium's involved, and if the Order has the Maleficium . . ." I let him fil in the blank.

"It's not me or Mal ory."

"I know. But that only leaves one person. Simon is the only person in Chicago who's official y associated with the Order. Wouldn't that also make him the only person in Chicago who has access to the Maleficium?"

Catcher didn't respond.

"What's the history with you and Simon?" I asked.

Catcher squealed the golf cart to a stop in front of the gate in a flurry of rocks and gravel. "The problem," he said,

"isn't historicto iniv wal."

"We're past personal vendettas at this point."

"It's not a goddamned personal vendetta!" Catcher yel ed, slamming his fist into the cart's plastic dashboard. "I wanted to protect her from this. I didn't want her dealing with Order bul shit, dealing with Order politics, dealing with Order flunkies. She is freaking out, and we are both exhausted, and he is in there with her - down there with her

- every single day. God only knows what he's putting into her brain."

"Mal ory would never be unfaithful," I quietly said.

"Unfaithful to our relationship? No, she wouldn't," he agreed. "But there are lots of ways to be turned against someone, Merit. If someone you loved was being brainwashed, what would you do about it?"

"Brainwashed? That's putting it a little strongly, isn't it?"

"Does she seem like the same person to you?"

She hadn't, actual y, since she met Simon, which supported my theory that Simon was involved.

"One way or the other, Simon is the linchpin in this thing.

If you can't stand to talk to him, then set up a meeting with me."

"Simon won't meet with a member of the House. The Order won't al ow it. There's a formal process that has to be fol owed just to make the request, which they won't grant."

"I've talked to him before."

"Casual y. You're talking about making him answer to vampires about his actions. That's different."

My patience with sorcerers - Catcher included - was growing thin. I climbed out of the cart, then looked back at him. "If I can't meet with him, then you do it."

Catcher's jaw tightened. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, apparently ready for me to leave.

At least I could do someone a favor.

With another break in the action - since I was surely not going to interrogate Simon without Catcher as backup - I cal ed Keley and offered an update. I advised her about the Maleficium and our new theory that reunification of good and evil was causing the city's problems.

I also cal ed Lindsey, who confirmed the Bruce Campbel movie-thon was under way. I didn't exactly have time for a movie, but I was stressed and tired and I needed real food.

If a movie was playing during the meal, so be it. With dinner in mind, I pul ed over at a taco truck on the way back to Hyde Park and ordered as much as I could stuff into a single bag, which I thought was less likely to raise Frank's ire if I was caught sneaking junk food into the House.

I drove back and slid into a parking spot, then walked back into the House past rhythmical y chanting protestors and stoic men and women in uniform. The House was quiet when I walked in, only a few vampires mil ing about in the front rooms. There was a kind of solemnity in the House under Malik's rule, and I wasn't sure if that was because the House reflected his general y solemn personality, because vampires were stil grieving, or because we were stil under GP occupation.

A mix of al three, maybe.

Without my medal but with contraband, I hustled upstairs to Lindsey's third-floor room. I didn't bother knocking, but careful y opened the door - there were usual y vamps spread out in every spare nook andspah="1em cranny, and if you weren't careful, you inevitably banged someone on the head.

The dark room was, as per usual, ful of noise from Lindsey's wee television and ful of vampires. Lindsey, Margot, and Katherine had spots on the bed, and a slew of vamps I'd seen only in passing were packed onto the floor, maybe fifteen in al ? That was certainly a violation of Tate's rule against assembling in groups larger than ten.

Long live the revolution!

I picked my way across the Novitiates, distributing paper-wrapped tacos like a culinary Santa Claus, and eventual y stopping in a smal empty spot in a far corner of the room.

The vamp beside me smiled and offered one of her pil ows, which I took with a whispered "thanks."

One campy horror movie later, I reached two conclusions:

One: I loved my friends.

Two: I stil didn't get it.

We'd just cleared the room of taco wrappings and vampires when my and Lindsey's beepers simultaneously erupted.

I pul ed mine off and checked the screen. "TRAINING

ROOM," it read, with a "DRESS FOR TRAINING" fol ow-up.

I looked up at Lindsey. "What's this about?"

"I'm sure Frankfurter has some vital lesson he wants to teach us."

"Sadly, Frankfurter does not ask us for advice," I said.

"And I total y support the use of 'Frankfurter.' "

"I knew you would," she said, heading for her bathroom door, probably to go change into our required yoga pants.

"He could learn a lot from two hip, big city vamps."

"Did you just cast your own sitcom?"

"I believe I did, yeah. I'm some witty dialogue and an after-school special away from an Emmy. You know, in case this vampire guard thing doesn't work out."

I offered a sound of agreement and walked to the door so I could change clothes. "Frank's stil here," I pointed out.

"There's probably a good chance this guard thing won't work out for either of us."

It said a lot that she didn't disagree with me.

Once clothed in a black sports bra and yoga pants, I gathered together with Lindsey, Juliet, and Keley in the sparring room.

We stood barefoot at the edges of the mats, waiting for our cal to arms - or whatever Frank had in store. He stood in the middle of the room - in the middle of the mats - stil in a suit and fancy shoes.

Lindsey quietly clucked her tongue. "Luc is not going to be thril ed Frankfurter's wearing shoes on his tatami mats."

"No," I whispered in agreement. "That is not going to go over wel . Not that he can do anything about it."

Malik and Luc stood together on the other side of the room, irritated magic seeping from their corner. The balcony that ringed the room was fil ing with House vampires, their expressions ranging from curious to concerned. They clearly didn't trust Frank any more than we did.

When the balcony was ful , Frank loudly cleared his throat and stared daggers at the vampires until everyone was seated. Then he lowered his gaze to the four of us.

"I have determined it is in the best intn te did.

Stunned silence descended over the room, at least until the whispering started. The Novitiates' quiet comments echoed my own: This wasn't the time to take the House guards out of commission for a test. And even if we failed, who was going to replace us?

This had al the markings of an attempt to charge us as incompetent - or make me look worse than Frank already imagined I was.

Luc was the first to speak aloud. "You want to give them a test? That's ridiculous. They need to be outside defending the House, not dealing with bureaucratic nonsense."

"Fortunately," Frank said, "I did not ask for, nor do I require, your opinion. As the GP has repeatedly attempted to dril into this House, this House and its operation is your primary - and only - concern. The complications of human existence are not."

"As you and the GP are wel aware," Luc spat back, "the city is fal ing apart, one piece of real estate at a time, and you don't think we need to be worried about that? You don't think we need to be out there on the streets dealing with it?"

"Luc," Malik said, putting a hand on Luc's arm. "Not now."

His words suggested Luc show respect for Frank, but his own emotions were clearly roiling. It was evident in the furrow of his brow, the tenseness in his posture and the vibration of tense magic from his corner.

The conflict Malik faced was obvious - to stand up for your guards and your second in command, or to obey the council responsible for your House's existence and the protection of your vampires.

Sometimes, you had to lose the battle to win the campaign.

"Mr. Cabot," Malik said into the tense silence. "Continue."

Frank nodded pompously, but the rest of the vampires took Malik at his word, and immediately quieted. "As I was saying, you wil be tested and evaluated in various forms of physical fitness and endurance. If you refuse to participate, you wil be stripped of your position in the House. If you fail, you wil be stripped of your position in the House."

The room went deathly silent, al of us shocked. He looked up and looked right at me.

"You're al rated Very Strong Phys. Let's see if those classifications hold true." Frank looked down at his watch.

"You wil begin . . ."

"This can't be for real - " Keley pleaded, but she was silenced by a withering glance from the narc.

"You wil begin," Frank said again, "now."

Testing a vampire's strength and endurance was tricky, especial y if the vampires were guards of one of the nation's oldest vampire Houses. We were obviously strong, fast, and flexible. We'd been trained in combat, both with and without swords, and we'd run our fair share of miles.

We'd done thousands upon thousands of sit-ups and squats, push-ups, and chin-ups. The four of us probably could have exercised into infinity. But Frank wasn't interested in infinity.

Frank was interested in what we could do right now on half rations of blood, measured by a testing regimen probably created in the 1950s. Our strength was tested by throwing giant iron bal s and weights across the Cadogan grounds. One smashed window notwithstanding - they w e r e really hard to aim - we managed to surpanath wasass his arbitrary milestones.

Our flexibility and speed were tested with jump ropes that we were expected to use with ever-faster repetitions. We bel y-crawled across the backyard, flipped gigantic truck tires he'd hauled in for the task, and ran back-and-forth sprints until our legs felt like dead weight. He ordered us into the pool, freezing in the November chil , and made us swim laps until our skin was milky white and our teeth chattered from the cold.

We climbed out of the pool with soaked clothes and hair, steam rising from our bodies, and hatred of Frank growing in our hearts.

Frank carried around a clipboard and made notes as we worked through his dril s, his gaze disdainful, as if we were failing in every respect to meet whatever mental criteria he'd established.

Not that that was surprising. He couldn't have honestly thought this was a good time to test the only remaining three-and-a-half guards in Cadogan House. The House was peaceful only because we'd paid Claudia's minions to protect us, and it was a waste of time trying to prove a point he was never going to accept. Whether we passed or we failed . . . we stil failed.

But while the workout was exhausting, it was stil just a workout. Painful, sure. Tiring, yes. But just as in a normal workout, you reached a point where you zoned into the rhythm. We were vampires, and strong ones, and that meant something. We were strong, fast and flexible, whatever Frank's criticisms.

And we weren't the only ones who thought so. Word of the test spread through the House. Slowly but surely, a trickle of Cadogan vampires began to spil into the yard.

They formed a protective circle around us as we worked, occasional y handing over blood boxes and bottles of water like marathon volunteers.

We were bel y-crawling across the grass for the second time when Margot and Katherine popped through the edge of the crowd.

"We have something for you," Margot said, glancing around sneakily to locate Frank.

Lindsey, her hair stil wet and stringy from the pool and her face streaked with dirt and sweat, looked up from the ground. "He's taking a cal from Darius," she said, "so if it's against any of his numerous rules, get to it."

"We can do that," Katherine said, and a semicircle of vampires surrounded her to face us as we wormed our way across the ground. "We thought a little night music might do the trick."

Katherine sang a note to test her pitch, which was as perfect as a wel -tuned grand piano. She winked, and with no more ado than that, Katherine and the rest of her vampire glee club began to sing the Beatles' "Black Bird."

The grounds fel completely silent, every vampire quiet as her voice rang, clear and strong, across the night.

Weeks and weeks of Frank's abusive behavior had taken its tol on the House. When Ethan had been Master, Cadogan House had been more than a structure; it had been a home. I hoped Malik could make it that way again, but as Frank had made clear, his goal was to break Cadogan House down, brick by brick, vampire by vampire.

But as I lay on my stomach on cold, dewy grass, I couldn't have felt any closer to those vampires. Tears began to stream down my face, and I wasn't the only one moved.

There were tear tracks on Lindsey's face, and Keley was biting her lip to hold them back.

When the ensemble reached the bridge, the rest of the hundred vampiresndron on the lawn joined her, their voices a chorus against idiocy. Their voices a chorus for the House, and for us, and for al that Ethan had tried to create.

For the family he'd wanted to make of us.

Magic lifted and rose, peppering my arms with goose bumps, and I sent a silent prayer of "thanks" into the universe. Frank may be an asshole, but he'd managed to bring us together even after Ethan's death had pul ed us apart.

The chorus had only just finished the song when Frank emerged through the crowd again. The vampires rustled nervously while he pushed his hands into his pockets and surveyed us with obvious disdain.

"I'm not sure concerts are within the spirit of the rules.

This is a testing procedure, not a block party."

Malik, who also stood at the edge of the crowd, his hands behind his back, turned to regard him. "It may not be within the spirit of your rules," he said, "but neither is it against their letter. And that, as you have reminded us, is what's important. The rules."

Frank stared at Malik for a moment . . . but he didn't argue. Maybe he could learn to pick his battles after al .

Alas, I was wrong again. Having tested our agility, strength, and stamina, Frank decided to test them al again.

He led us to the far back corner of the House grounds, where four wooden posts the width of telephone poles had been pounded into the ground. They were four feet tal and maybe ten inches in diameter.

"Juliet, Keley, Lindsey, Merit," he said, pointing to the poles in succession. "Stand atop your pole."

We al looked at him for a second, probably al thinking the same thing: I'm sorry; you want me to stand on a pole?

"That wasn't a request," he said in the prickly tone of a leader so inadequate he had to bul y people to fol ow his orders.

We al shared a glance, but without a better option -

other than losing our positions in the House - we obeyed.

I hopped up onto the post and windmil ed my arms to keep from fal ing over again. On shaky knees and ankles, arms outstretched, I slowly stood up, then cast a glance back at Frank.

"This vol ey tests your endurance, your strength, your balance," he said.

"What do we do exactly?" Juliet asked.

"You stand there," Frank said, "until you can't stand there anymore."

"The sun wil be rising soon," Lindsey pointed out.

"And you wil stand there until you can't stand there anymore," Frank repeated.

I looked at Malik. He nodded at me, an acknowledgment of our struggle, and a promise to intervene should the need arise. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the coming drama and wished for the strength to deal with it.

And so, with three hours to go until dawn, we stood on posts in the middle of Hyde Park, and we waited for the sun to rise.

For nearly three hours, we stood on our posts - vampires being used as pawns in a political game that had nothing to do with us. It was unfair, sure, but certainly not the first time people had been used and manipulated to meet some political goal. Wasn't that the mechanism of virtual y every dictator and demagogue an bu in history? To use the people to accomplish some presumably important political end?

Three hours ago there'd been four of us. Now we were down to two. Keley had stumbled and fal en from her pole as darkness began to give way to dawn and exhaustion had final y overtaken her. Lindsey, tired and dehydrated, had gotten a cramp and had crumpled to the ground.

The test, whatever its purpose, was down to me and Juliet.

We stood in silence, she of the elfish frame and delicate features. Me with the fortuitous balance of a former bal erina, but stil stiff and aching. Juliet had thrown on tennis shoes for the racing portions of the test, but I was stil barefoot, and I could hardly feel my feet, the cramps having long since given way to a buzzing numbness. Every other muscle in my body ached from the effort of balancing myself in that spot, and I knew I'd be sore when this task was done.

The eastern sky was beginning to turn a searing shade of orange. The vampires who'd stayed outdoors with us hunched into bits of shade that would protect them from the rising sun.

We had no such option.

Frank walked into the backyard, a pretentiously delicate mug in his hand. He'd popped in and out of the House to check in on us, presumably to ensure we hadn't fal en off the posts or taken disqualifying breaks. I had no respect for a proctor who couldn't bother to keep vigil over the exams he'd decided were crucial for the House.

Malik, on the other hand, stood in front of us, his back to the east, arms crossed over his chest. He looked obviously tired, his eyes swol en with exhaustion, but he'd stayed with us. He'd watched over us. It was like a promise from father to children that even if he couldn't face the trials for us, he'd unwaveringly support us while we went through them.

This man was a Master of vampires.

He watched Frank suspiciously as he crossed the yard.

"The sun is rising," Malik said. "If there's a point to this test, you should reach it now."

"Of course there's a point," Frank responded. "This is an endurance test. The endurance isn't merely standing on the pole; that's not exactly a complicated task. The endurance is standing on the pole in the sun."

Juliet and I exchanged a nervous glance. "But that wil kil us," she said.

We were partial y protected by the trees at the back of the yard, but as the sun rose, the rays of light would shift across the lawn, moving ever closer to where we stood . . .

And Juliet was closer to those rays than I was.

"This is ridiculous," I said, and could hear the hysteria in my voice. "She's closer than I am. The sun wil burn her before it ever reaches me."

"That was the luck of the draw," Frank said. "She drew the position she finds herself in. There is no one to blame for that."

But that simply wasn't true. Frank had directed us to our poles.

"I cannot believe the GP would condone such a thing,"

Malik said. "Not to any vampires who've taken oaths to their House, who've sworn to protect it."

Frank tilted his head at Malik. "You don't think facing the sun is an important skil for a vampire? You don't think it's a situation they may encounter?"

"God wil ing," Malik said, eyes narrowing, "should they everoulk it face it, it would be at the hands of an enemy, not an organization that exists to protect them."

And that, I thought, encapsulated perfectly what I'd seen of the GP. It might have been established al those years ago to protect vampires, to organize Houses, and to provide order, but from what I'd seen of Darius West and this monster, it was only now concerned with proving a political point.

Maybe it was time to reconsider my involvement in the Red Guard. Maybe, now that Ethan was gone and Malik was under the gun, it was time to think about taking a step to protect al vampires, not just those in the House.

As the sun breached the horizon and light crossed the yard, the case in favor of RG membership grew stronger.

The ray of sunlight lengthened, deepened, reaching Juliet's post and crawling up the side. Horrified, I watched as the tips of her tennis shoes began to glow bright red.

"Juliet? Are you okay?"

Tears began to stream down her face, but she clenched her jaw and maintained her position in stoic silence. She must have been in tremendous pain, and stil she stood atop her post, refusing to submit.

Her hunger also seemed to take its tol ; her eyes silvered and her fangs extended, the predator awoken by pain, hunger, and exhaustion.

I looked back at Frank, who was sipping from his mug, completely unmoved by her agony. "You have to cal a stop to this. Can't you see she's in pain?"

He just arched an arrogant eyebrow.

"Fine. If you won't do something, then I wil . I'l resign from the test." I made a move to hop down from the post, but his words stopped me cold.

"Maintain your position, Merit. Maintain your position on that post, or your position as Sentinel wil be revoked immediately. And the same goes for Juliet. If you cannot respect the importance of the common good over any individual vampire, neither of you deserve your positions."

A sob echoed from Juliet's corner of the lawn as I gaped at Frank. "You can't unmake me Sentinel. Ethan gave me that position. Only Malik can make that cal ."

"Oh, but I can," Frank said. "It's my responsibility to get this House in order. A vampire who voluntarily withdraws from the testing - who refuses to hold herself to the standards of her brothers and sisters in arms - is not a vampire who has the best interests of the House foremost in mind."

I looked over at Juliet, who was shaking ferociously at the pain, her hands wrapped around her waist as she sobbed.

"Juliet, get down from there!"

"I c-c-can't," she stuttered out. "I can't not be a guard. It's al I've known. This House is my life."

She wouldn't have much of one left if I didn't act. The punishment was unfair, but it was more unfair for Juliet to suffer doubly - the burns of the rising sun and the loss of her position in the House.

For as long as I was able to do it - even if only a few more minutes - my job was to protect the House and its vampires. If I could so easy dismiss the value of her life, I shouldn't have been Sentinel anyway.

It was an easy cal , but that didn't mean the repercussions would be easy to bear. Ethan had named me Sentinel. Ethan had Commended me into the House and thrown me into thewn t th position. And while I may not have been ready to accept it at the time, it was my position now. Mine to have. Mine to protect.

And just as with my Cadogan medal, mine to forfeit.

I found Malik's face in the crowd, and when he nodded at me, I raised my hands in the air. "I forfeit," I said. "I forfeit.

Juliet wins. Get her down!"

There was a mad rush to Juliet's pole. Luc reached up and grabbed her and carried her into the House, fol owed by a stream of vampires seeking the cover of shade. The sun was rising, and my faculties were deserting me. I was shaking with exhaustion, but I managed to hop down without fal ing into the nearing ray of light - only to face Frank, who stood before me with a gleeful expression on his face.

"There are simpler ways to get me to resign," I told him, and enjoyed seeing the smile wiped from his face. He'd been the one who'd ensured I was on the safest pole, that I'd have to forfeit in order to protect someone else from being burned. I guess it was a compliment that he thought I'd sacrifice myself . . . and that he thought me dangerous enough that he'd rather leave the House without a Sentinel than leave me in that position.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I doubt that," I said, "but that's between you and your conscience." I hurried toward Malik, who now stood in the doorway of the House, ensuring everyone made it inside safely.

Frank was the last one inside, and he made it in just as the sun fil ed the backyard with light. Thankful y, the House's shutters were already down.

I stood inside the cool, quiet of the kitchen for a moment with my eyes closed, savoring the darkness.

When I opened my eyes, Malik was the only vampire in sight.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "It may not have been the right thing to do for the House - to forfeit my position - but I couldn't just stand there and let her take it."

"It was the only right thing to do," he assured. "That said, with Cabot here . . ."

He didn't need to finish the point. I couldn't stand Sentinel as long as Frank - and the GP - had control of the House.

Oh, how things had changed. In a few short months, Ethan had lost his life and a new Master had been instal ed.

And summarily replaced. The Ombud's office had been dismantled. I'd been stripped of my identity as a Sentinel.

But just as there'd been no choice those months ago when Ethan had named me to the position in the first place, there was no choice now but to accept the change and deal with it with as much grace as possible.

Even if I acted alone, I would act with bravery. A Sentinel in heart and mind, even if not official y.

I nodded. "I understand."

"Ethan would have been proud of you today, Merit. I am proud of you today, as are the other vampires of this House. You played Cabot's game the only respectable way it could have been played, even if the outcome was predetermined."

"The result's the same, though. The House is left without a Sentinel."

Malik smiled slyly. "The forfeit extended only to your current position. You cannot stand Sentinel, at least not for the time being. But he placed no restrictions on your service as a guard."

Although exhaustion was beginning to wear me down, I managed a smile. "Very creative, Liege."

"I have my moments."

I hobbled back to my room, nearly wiped unconscious by the sun, and into the cool, crisp sheets and comforting dark that awaited me there. I wasn't too exhausted to cry when my head hit the pil ow, pent up rage and frustration and grief escaping now that I'd managed to finish the testing.

Grief, because in the matter of an evening I'd lost my connections to Ethan and the House: the bond that we'd shared when he named me Sentinel and the medal I'd worn as a symbol of my oaths.

I'd stil stand guard for the House, and there was no denying the importance of that role. But it felt like another little bit of Ethan had been torn away.

And that hurt as much as anything else.