He hadn't been paying attention to the road as they'd driven in. But now, it wasn't hard for anybody to know they were in vampire territory.
This city stood out for its classic architecture. Eighty percent of the buildings were more than a thousand-year-old. Didn't look it though. The spells the vampires were using to preserve them were cast long before the witches began to lose their power.
The large ornate gates were open and they all drove inside. This time he paid attention. The cars finally parked around a large bronze statue in the middle of the drive way. And they all got out at once. His men waved away the vampire provided valet and opened his door. He followed Eva and Tolan deeper in the structure that could only be described as a fortress. It looked icea dark castle out of a nightmare. And since Vampires dwelled inside he did not doubt that actual nightmares lay within.
His men began to reduce in number slowly as they entered deeper into the structure. He did not even know how long they'd been walking because of the sheer size it felt like an hour when it was likely only half that. His wolf could feel the vampires nearby, hidden, but there. He bared his teeth at the chills climbing up his spine, and forged. By the time they reached their destination only Eva and Tolan beside him. Two vampires standing by the huge doors pushed it open, He could see they did so with obvious force as it was very likely the doors were quite heavy.
~let's move slowly, I want to look at everyone here. ~
He said in mindspeak to Eva and Tolan who knew better than to nod obviously.
All dark denizen could communicate mentally with their kind. In situations of extreme trust different species to communicate thatway as well but he was not among friends here.
For lack of a better word, the room was colossal. It looked like it had been built for the dragons of old and it very likely that was the case.
Since he dragons had left this plane, vampires had moved into their old dwelling. Using the size to try and intimidate opponents.
The room as vast it took more than three minutes of walking before they got the large oval table in the center. As they walked he quickly looked around the occupants. There were the people from theVhadlan enclave which was located as close to the south as you could get without actually being in the south.
But also were the Sedonis enclave, the people who were the vampire leaders in this part of the country and very high up in their placement in denizen society.
They had an elder in residence although Mallon could not spot him now. There were Humans present as well, those will be dealt with in no time. Other than a few other vampires from both clans, probably there as witnesses, there was only one other person present. The witch; Isabella. The real reason he was here.
He smiled, if what he did could be called that. His teeth made no attempt to look human and he ended up flashing a face full of sharp canines.
~Stop it Mal, or you'll blow your cover. We are supposed to behave remember? ~
Eva's cool mind voice chided and he tamed down his smile. There were vampire guards around the gathering. They used a scanner to check them for weapons, the device would not be checking for guns. Humans were banned from creating them, and since the denizen had better means of killing there was no use to carry them around. No, they were searching for silver or wood. The true weakness of the vampires.
Mallon suffered through it and finally he sat down with Eva standing beside him and Tolan seating to his right.
"Finally, you sure did take your sweet time. You were supposed to be here six minutes ago." The short angry man was human, just a little bit overweight. Balding with a face full of frown lines. He must've been the human's chief agent for the acquisition.
"Traffic," was all Eva said with a canine grin that had the poorman blanching and looking away.
"Now that the theatrics are over," the vampire seated at the head of the table to his left began. "Can we begin?"
Everyone nodded in affirmation and he looked to Isabela and gave her a nod.
"I declare the meeting open. Calling forth the laws of silence as the privacy shield is incanted." She stated in a clear and loud voice. Mallon did his best not to leap across the table and strangle her.
She flashed him a look before she closed her eyes and began to sing. He tuned her out before he tried to calm the wolf within down.
For years the Pack was looking for new swathe of land to purchase close to their border, land where the different shifters of the pack could run through during shifts. He did have several large landmasses for that same purpose already, it this was an opening in their security that had been taken advantage of before and the small pack there had suffered for it. For years the vampires had held on to the land, refusing to cede ownership.
A year ago they got news the CED Vampires were looking to sell it off. They put in an offer but then a group of humans did so as well. The swathe of land was coincidentally lying on an oil reserve they'd said. Mining for that oil would provide energy for human settlements in the country.
The denizen did not want this, they'd been trying to stop human abuse of the planet for decades so they convince him to offer for the land and other surrounding areas. He more than had the money to cover such an enormous piece of land, he was going to let Tolan handle it.
And then he had heard that Isabela De Fontaine was going to be there and the deal had changed.
A hundred and fifty years ago, quite a number of packs had banded together to run his family's pack out of the Rowan forest, the location was strategic and very enrichening. They wanted it. But it was against wolf law to attack another without just cause and his parents pack had the number to best them all. So they went to the warlocks to do something about it. They warlocks, ever ready to cause chaos agreed but they would need a witch to finish their spell.
Only five witches at the time could complete their incanta, he had already checked and removed all others from the suspect list. Today he was going to touch Isabela and know once and for all if she'd had a hand in his parent's death.