Adra beamed at them. “Cassie would like to address our subjects.”
“Why?” Marlowe asked immediately.
“To help with our unfortunate enthusiasm gap.”
“You’re saying she can fix this?” a harassed-looking master demanded. He was tall, Asian and handsome, a Chow Yun-Fat clone, if Chow was younger and had a sleek tiger tat prowling around his face. Since it matched those on two of the vamps now being settled onto another section of bleachers, I assumed he had skin in the game. His boys were adjusting the cuffs of their finely tailored suits, trying to look cool and calm and more pulled together than the rest.
Which might have been easier if they hadn’t just been fleeing in terror.
“I’m saying new vamps are new,” I said, forcing him to have to actually address me. “I’ve been watching babies run into walls for the last hour because they’re still trying to see the human way. They don’t even know how their eyes work yet. These guys aren’t that bad, but they’re still a lot closer to what they were than what they will be.”
“Which means what?” he demanded.
“That masters at your level haven’t been human in so long, you’ve forgotten what it feels like. They haven’t. You want them to overcome their fear and do what you want? Not grudgingly, but full out, with enthusiasm? Then treat them as you would a human.”
“And?”
“Give them an incentive.”
Nobody said anything else, so I took that as a yes and walked over to the vamps. They didn’t appear happy to se
e me. Of course, right then I doubt they would have been happy about much.
It was why I’d have preferred to do this later, after they’d had a chance to calm down. Or to take them somewhere else, where their masters wouldn’t be glaring daggers at them the whole time. But I didn’t have a later, and not just because of my own schedule.
But because it was almost dawn.
And while older vamps might not get as fuzzy-headed and slow as the infant variety, it still affected them. I could already see it in some of the younger ones, in nervously tapping feet, jerky movements, and agitated glances—although that last could have had something to do with the hovering horde. They weren’t right on top of us. In fact, it looked like they’d pulled back a bit, possibly at Adra’s command. But they drew the eye.
Unlike me. Few of the vamps were even looking at me, and when they did, their eyes didn’t linger. And why should they? They had bigger problems than some barefoot girl who was almost as nervous as they were.
But Adra would only keep his word if I kept mine. That was how the world worked; nothing was free, nothing was ever free. And I couldn’t let Mircea go into Faerie without protection.
Not if I wanted to see him come out again.
I cleared my throat. “Hi,” I said. “I’m Cassie.”
It wasn’t quite as bad as the vamps on the door; a few of them, especially the ones in the front row, were listening politely—or pretending to. Probably because anything was better than what they’d be doing otherwise. But the rest were talking quietly, or staring at their masters, or glancing surreptitiously at a nearby exit, as if they were still planning to bolt.
I knew the feeling.
But instead I focused on the door, one I hadn’t seen before, hidden between two sets of bleachers. And the plain wooden chair that was propping it open. Which a second later was propping me up, because yeah. That felt better.
I looked up, and found a lot more eyes on me suddenly.
It took me a moment. And then I realized: most vamps weren’t my long-suffering bodyguards, and weren’t used to shifting. Or whatever they thought I’d just done to make a chair appear out of nowhere.
Lucky accident, but I’d take it.
“Hi,” I said again, a little louder. “I’m Cassie. The new Pythia.”
And, okay, it looked like some people had read the paper. Others clearly hadn’t, or else they’d missed today’s edition, because they were looking a little confused. But at least I had their attention.
Now I had to keep it.
“First, I want to assure you that no one is going to force you to do anything. You can go if you like, with no repercussions.”
There was an unhappy stirring from behind me while the vamps in front just looked at me blankly.