“As long as the same applies to you, I expect. A few flunkies, and that’s it.”

“He’ll never agree to terms I set. Just watch.”

“We’ll see you there, Caleb.” I clicked off before he could harangue me further. “There. Meeting set.” I relayed the details.

Ned pursed his lips like he’d tasted something sour. “I was hoping we could meet someplace a little more … sheltered. Like here, for example.”

He’d overheard the whole thing. Just meant less for me to explain. “I think he has every right to avoid that. You’re not worried, are you?”

“Don’t worry Ned,” Antony said, smiling. “We’ll be there to back you up.”

“Ah, no you won’t,” I said. “Caleb said just Ned. You all have to hang out somewhere else.”

“Isn’t that a bit unreasonable?” Ned said.

“Not to mention presumptuous,” Antony said. “We agreed to the meeting with certain assumptions in mind. Who are you to undermine that?”

“A werewolf?”

“Exactly! The nerve—”

“Get used to it,” I said. “If this is going to work, you have to treat Caleb and me as equals. If you can’t do that—why are we even here?”

Antony slouched back in his chair, glowering.

“There there,” Ned reassured him. “Humility is a lesson we all have to learn.”

“Remind me again—why are we listening to her?”

“Because she’s faced Dux Bellorum and lived to tell about it. Pay attention, Antony.”

They planned among themselves, which of Ned’s followers should tag along as bodyguards, and how close Marid and Antony could get without violating Caleb’s terms.

“I assume you and I are going to this?” Ben said, leaning in close and whispering. We couldn’t guarantee that the vampires didn’t hear us, but we could make the attempt at privacy.

“I’m the mediator, right?” I whispered. “You know, this makes me seem a whole lot more badass than I actually feel.”

“Just keep playing badass and you’ll do fine.”

“Thanks, dear.”

Chapter 14

I HAD A sudden need to look up where the Jack the Ripper murders had taken place. Not near Hyde Park, it turned out, which was only mildly reassuring. At night the place was spooky enough to start my imagination running. The nearly new moon and gas lamp–looking lights on posts gave the wide lawns and straight paths a sepia tone cast: gray, orange, murky. Stands of trees ringed the area like sentinels, and the buildings beyond the park seemed unnaturally far away.

I was a creature of the night, I wasn’t supposed to be afraid of the dark. Not that it was the dark I was afraid of—it was the other creatures of the night.

Caleb had chosen a spot almost in the center of the park, where several paths converged, and some distance away from the Serpentine, the long, winding lake on the south end, where someone could easily be trapped in case of an ambush. Not that he was thinking in those terms. He probably just wanted to be in a place with good visibility, where he could watch people approach.

Ben, Ned, and I followed one of the paths, then cut across the lawn, roughly in the area Caleb asked us to wait. Emma stayed home; Ned was worried at the interest she’d drawn from Jan’s flunky and wanted her safe. He had four other vampires standing guard. Marid and Antony promised to stay out of the park, but they didn’t say where they would be. I hoped they didn’t spook Caleb. What was I saying, could anything spook Caleb?

“This would be nice if I weren’t so twitchy about it,” Ben said, scanning the shadows.

The place was quiet, peaceful. We could go for a run—the four-legged kind even—and not feel the press of the city. Lie together on the grass and watch clouds passing in front of the moon. But yeah, twitchy. Caleb and his wolves were on the way; I could sense them, a touch of wild on the air. We were in their territory, and Wolf wasn’t happy about it.

“Well, we’re here,” Ned announced. Bundled in a coat, face up, hair ruffled, he was a shadowed figure in the dark, perfectly at home and not at all nervous. “And no werewolf. I’ll give him ten minutes, then give up on him.”

“Here he is,” I said, nodding.

Caleb and three men approached on one of the other paths. He spoke to his companions briefly, and they broke off, cutting across the lawn to take up some kind of perimeter lookout. Ben watched them go—keeping a lookout on them.

Britain’s alpha werewolf closed the distance with an easy stride, as if he’d happened to meet friends on the path during a casual stroll. But his gaze was focused, his shoulders tense.

I smiled at him. “We thought maybe you changed your mind at the last minute.”

“Naw, I wouldn’t miss this. You bossing the bloodsuckers around? Priceless.”

“I do what I can.”

“Ned,” Caleb said flatly.

“Caleb, good of you to come.” The vampire offered his hand. The werewolf considered it a moment, as if thinking of biting it. He finally shook it in a civilized manner. “Kitty said you disabled the security cameras?”

“Of course I did. We’re not stupid, no matter what you lot think of us.”

Ned pouted, but his eyes crinkled with amusement. “Don’t be cross. I had to ask.”

“You wanted this meeting. Why?”

Ned answered, “There’s a war coming, we both know it. There are forces that would destroy what we’ve worked for, and destroy us. I would like to prevent that and I assume you would as well. I believe we can no longer approach this conflict defensively, as insular entities.”

Caleb studied him for a long moment. I was about to interrupt when he finally answered. “That all sounds very fine, but my only concern is keeping the isles stable. You sound like you want to bring a war to our doorstep ahead of schedule.”

Ned said, “If we’re strong enough, the war may not come here at all. We might even consider launching an offensive.”

“Have you been giving him ideas?” Caleb said to me.

I winced. “I might have made a suggestion or two.”

“I knew you were trouble.”

“Here’s the thing,” I said. “This isn’t about territory, this is about building an army to withstand Roman. To raise a defense that he can’t touch. If he solidifies his power in Europe, what does that do to your stability?”