“Who is the Council that they need to be guarded?”
Her question raised his brow. “Not they. It. We’re not here for the individuals. They have their own private security for that. My men protect the group. The idea. The symbol...the Council. Not the Council members. Does that make sense?”
Alice’s head hurt. “No.”
“It’s a new concept for us.” She figured he meant the vampire populace. “One ruling body to keep us from being hunted, from warring over territory, from trying to take over. There are thousands over the world. Way too many people to be governed by one person, so some of the younger vampires came up with this. It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually it was an idea most could agree upon. But there are those who want nothing to do with the Council, preferring the old ways. So we guard the Council, to ensure that any threat to it is immediately squashed.”
“So wait, are you saying that even if one of the actual members was a threat to the group...”
“He or she would be sacrificed for the greater good. Yes.”
“Whoa.” Talk about hardcore.
“I’m telling you this so that you understand that if you go in there with your intentions centered on the group, and not the individuals, you’ll support us being there with you. And when they all find out why you’re there, there isn’t a single one of them who won’t be curious.”
She dropped her face in a hand, covering her eyes. After a deep breath, she said, “All right. Tell me again who I’m dealing with.”
By the time Sebastian finished, an hour had passed, and Alice’s head was buzzing. She stared down at her short, blunt nails, noticing the distinct lack of professional care. Odd that her natural nails didn’t bother her before. Dolled up now next to Sebastian, about to face men and women who could buy and sell her, she couldn’t help but notice how different she would be to them.
Where was Richard now? He probably couldn’t ever imagine that his older sister sat in a car worth more than the rundown two-bedroom he shared with his crackhead friends, nor that the cost of her dress could have bought them groceries for a few months.
Hell, she’d stopped trying to figure out what she could lift for quick resale from Sebastian from the first day she’d met him. If she thought hard enough about it, within hours of meeting him, he’d stopped being a walking dollar sign.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d been eating out of garbage bins, cursing violently if their lids had been locked tight against people like her. Homeless. Desperate.
A sense of shame, not pride like she expected, washed over her at the thought of walking into a room where people—vampires—had no clue about the struggles of humans around them. She would not only pretend to be like them, Alice would have to dust off creaky manners and long-gone charm in order not to be an embarrassment to the man who’d brought her here. The pressure was excruciating.
“Hey,” Sebastian called softly. “You’re going to do fine. Relax.”
She cut her eyes to him. “You a mind-reader now?”
“No, but I can detect the change of your scent. It’s wild now. Not like before.”
“Wait...” Her eyes narrowed. “You can smell my emotions?”
His grin didn’t put her shock at ease. “Something like that.”
Alice’s stomach did a barrel roll. “You’re not helping. Not even a little bit.”
“Come on, let’s go. I think anticipation of the event is making it a lot worse than it’ll ever be.”
Blowing out a breath, she nodded. Still, as she waited for Sebastian to exit and then come to her side of the vehicle, she couldn’t help but visualize what others saw if they’d happened to turn right now—a tall, brooding man built like a badass intent on intimidating anything or anyone in his way opened the backdoor to a luxury vehicle. A woman who’d missed one too many meals stepped out in heels and couture. Before both feet were on the ground, a five-man contingent of even more badasses surrounded her and Bast.
The men paid her little attention; instead, their focus trained on their surroundings. None spoke, but hell, she’d probably not want to know what was on their minds anyway. They moved with quiet efficiency, jaws clenched, hands deceptively loose. She knew better. Bast had already warned her they would be armed to the teeth.