Blood Servant Pt. 01

There were a lot of assumptions in that, but it was a better bet than them being allies, which would make our situation even worse. Still, I hoped I was wrong about all of it, but I doubted they were here to trade cookie recipes.

Worse, it was rude to come here to our business, and Katrina would be at a severe psychological disadvantage being dressed the way she was, instead of in professional dress.

Katrina shook her head, "It probably took a few days to arrange that. The other two clans joining them as witnesses I mean, which means that bitch Jia must've called Kaori right away."

The change in Regina was remarkable, she was pure predator in that moment, the sweet and sensually playful flirt had left the building.

"What do we do?"

I said, "I've been thinking on this the last few days. What if I repudiate my old clan, take on the last name of my mate, Chevalier."

Katrina tilted her head, "That might work, and I think I love you a little more right now at how proud you'd be to bear my family name. The problem is I suspect there's more going on that we don't understand. For the simple slight of failing to pay them for a job, they should've assassinated your father, and perhaps the heir as well. A thirty-member family of mages is way too high a price for their stated reasons of a slight to their honor. They essentially committed genocide on a preciously rare mage family bloodline.

"That doesn't track right. More and more lately I've been thinking that was just a convenient excuse they used to justify it. Depending on the real reasons for their heartlessly vicious plan of genocide, repudiating your old clan might not work.

"On the other hand, it might make them bringing witnesses backfire, because Braxton and Silvestri will no doubt see the debt as far past reasonably paid in blood after the massacre, and they would accept the repudiation. Unless they know too? But something tells me they don't. The Eastern mage clan has always been a secretive bunch, with their own lore and vastly different spells they guard zealously.

"We'll try it, at the very least the reactions of the witnesses will tell us how deeply we just stepped into it. Bring them to my office, Gregory and I will await them there."

Katrina had some really good points, and I'd wondered the same thing more than once. The cost of a whole clan's blood down to the last woman and child for the insult of only paying half the money for a job seemed... insane. Didn't it?

Of course, all we had was assumptions and no answers. And if Katrina was right, and Kaori wasn't just as petty as Andrei was and that hadn't been the true reason, then we were flying blind. We had no way to know why they wanted me dead, if that was the case, or exactly what they'd risk to see it done. It seemed a little crazy to me, that they'd be so desperate for the death of all my clan.

But it fit the facts better than what we knew. The originally stated reason was just too flimsy to support genocide of a mage bloodline in hindsight. Unless as I said, Kaori was as petty and evil as Andrei had been. At that point I was going in circles in my head, so I pushed the internal argument away from my thoughts. We had no choice but to face it and plan the best we could with the information we had, even if that information might be flawed. If there was more information we lacked, then we were in trouble and things were far more dangerous than they seemed, but we were not beaten.

We weren't beaten until we were dead, after all.

Katrina took my hand and we headed back to her office. As soon as we got inside, I muttered a rather complex conjuring spell under my breath, and a white pencil skirt and blazer appeared in my outstretched hands, along with a bright red blouse and red pumps. Conjured straight from our closet.

Katrina's eyes widened, then she said with feeling, "I love you, Gregory. You always know what I need," even as she feverishly changed in mere seconds at vampire speed. At least she'd be armed and armored in business skirt suit, and not meeting the representatives in slutty club clothes. No more revealing than what half the women in here were wearing at the club, but hardly suitable for business and psychological ground when meeting an enemy on that level.

"Love you too, Katrina."

Even better, her clothes now would be a surprise attack of sorts, because they were expecting her to be off balance in club attire. Perhaps they'd even planned to leer, as an opening move to put her off balance and reduce her importance.

Alexa and Regina didn't even bat an eye at the change, as they walked in with three mages following them, and I didn't fail to notice the four vampires that stationed themselves outside the door as guards.

The three men however, did look taken back, for just a split second, at her unexpected profession appearance. Her speech also shocked me, as she'd come up with several points I'd never even considered. Of course, she was head of the clan for a reason.

Katrina said coolly, "You were not invited here, and this is a breach of protocol and common courtesy that has existed between our clans since time immemorial. Explain yourselves."

The Miyashita representative puffed up a bit to recover from the shock of her appearance and words.

"I bring accusation against your clan, on behalf of Mistress Mage Kaori. Your clan agreed to destroy the Kotch clan down to the last man, woman, and child. Yet," he waved at me, "The son of the head of the clan lives and serves at your feet. This is unacceptable. My mistress will show mercy and not press the matter, if he is executed now and in the presence of these witnesses to restore honor."

Katrina tilted her head, and she let that hang there for a moment.

Then her voice was quiet, persuasive, and filled with regal contempt, "No. I have done no such thing. The deal made was with the Killeso clan, and the slight to your honor happened under Andrei Killeso's watch. Moreover, it was a simple error. This son of the family had no magic at the time, and he was relegated as a servant in the estate's guest house. I had no way to know who or what he was when I took him as a blood servant.

"Moreover, I am not responsible for the failure of honor on the part of a dead man, whose death should be sufficient to restore the honor lost."

She paused for a moment, "If that is not enough, there is also the matter of committing genocide on a whole mage line for a simple slight in lack of payment. There is no honor in that, and I declare Kaori without honor if she pursues this any further. The blood price paid was already way too high, for the stated reasons and slight to Miyashita's honor.

"So, in short. I am not responsible for my old master's and clan's agreements. Honor has already been met by Kotch blood, and your mistress is the one lacking honor at this point. It was also a mistake for you to bring witnesses, for surely you know all of this and didn't want it revealed. I can tell the honorable representatives from Braxton and Silvestri are extremely uncomfortable with this, now that the false honor and murderous hypocrisy of your clan has been pointed out."

She paused, and the Miyashita representative looked apoplectic in that moment.

"However, despite your mistress's honor already being in tatters for past actions and the gall of invading my territory without permission, not to mention daring to blame me for things that weren't my responsibility. My mate has agreed to a compromise that should satisfy the honor of anyone reasonable. He is prepared repudiate his bloodline and take on the name and honor of Chevalier. At that point, the Kotch legacy and clan will truly be dead. That is the only compromise I am prepared to offer you, but by all rights I should ship you back to Kaori in small boxes."

The Silvestri representative frowned, "She is right about all of that, and you completely misrepresented this supposed slight to your honor. I came here expecting to see a monster without honor, only to find the opposite is true. Mage Bella will not be happy when I report what happened here. I imagine if your mistress dares to commit genocide on another clan for the stated reasons, your clan will not be long for this world. It would make your mistress insane, dangerous, and the rest of the remaining clans would put her down like a dog once the truth was spread."

The Braxton man nodded, and said, "Unless there is more to this, that you'd care to share, and would shed some light on this insanity? If not, then I doubt Reginald will be moved to assist your clan in this matter."

Well, that was some good news. The inconsistencies and truth had made the witness idea backfire for the Miyashita clan. That was good news, because if they came for us it would only be them, and we'd have more than a fighting chance. I'd also never considered the fact that our clan couldn't be held accountable for Andrei's failures either. My mate was brilliant, and it looked like the Miyashita representative was going to explode.

But, the man took a deep breath, and mastered himself.

"I will share your arguments and words, as well as your offered compromise with my lady. You will hear from us shortly, one way or another, on what she decides."

Well that poorly veiled threat didn't even make Katrina blink.

Katrina ordered coolly, "Leave my territory, and make sure you use the covenants to deliver that message, or I may need to remove her for her slight against my honor and her obvious instability at turning to genocide. Maybe the next leader of your clan will be more reasonable."

She turned to the witnesses and nodded ceremoniously, "I hold no blame toward your clans, master or mistress, for this uncouth intrusion arranged by deception. Go in peace, and I would welcome establishing ties and renewing those contracts and peaceful agreements your leaders had with my old clan."

The witnesses nodded slightly in respect, then left the room, with the still angry Miyashita representative following after. Once they were gone and the door was closed, we all shared a look.

Regina said, "You were a bit rough with him."

Katrina nodded, "A reasonable response to his rude invasion of my territory, for accusations based on untruths. The measures of political negotiation should be observed, don't you think, before we make threats and rattle our sabers leading to war. Besides, it had the intended affects, Braxton and Silvestri will not involve themselves further in this disagreement, and they will kill Kaori if Kaori dares to destroy my whole clan.

"We are still in danger, the four of us, but the clan will live on regardless of our fate. That much I've assured today. If we fall, Calina will take the reins per our plans."

Regina teased, "Your still in oratory mode."

Katrina smiled ruefully, "Sorry. Point is, I think they'll come for us, but they won't wipe out the entire clan. Which means we'll use a retreating tactical plan with the club contingency if they come for us in force. I won't spend the lives of my clan lightly, and if they don't offer a fight then our enemy won't be able to justify killing them."

Alexa snorted, "So we just have to kill them all then? By ourselves?"

Katrina nodded, "That about sums it up. If she attacks us, we'll try to take her out and make peace with the heir. We'll also take out any teams sent after us in self-defense. If all forty come after us at once, we run too, and they'll chase us alone, leaving our clan behind to run the club without harassment. Once we lose them, we can start hunting them instead."

Alexa said, "You seem very sure they'll leave the clan alone?"

Katrina shrugged, "Despite how it looks, Kaori is not insane. She has a reason and a fear to make sense of this all, something that's making her need to hunt down my mate. She already looks crazy committing genocide and coming after me with accusations for a previous clan's mistakes. If she does it again, the rest of the supernatural clans will destroy her, and after the backfire that just happened with the witness's she'll know it. She'll kill as few as she possibly can, to take out my Gregory."

Regina bit her lip, "His magic is impressive, but I don't see why she would fear it."

I shrugged, and no one had an answer to that, nor were we even positive it was about my magic at all. We were missing a critical piece of the puzzle.

I wasn't sure what was next, but I was sure we'd keep an eye on the Miyashita clan, and we would know when they mobilized long before they arrived. One representative could sneak up, but a whole mage clan would make ripples when moving to war. Our clan had spies too, after all.

My mate was ready for it, and we had a plan of sorts.

For the moment, I'd just take care of my mate, work on learning martial arts, and deepening the growing friendship with Regina and Alexa. I wouldn't stop living out of fear, and there wasn't much more we could do. At the very least, I was already powerful and knowledgeable in magic, that didn't need work at all and would help us if the fight came to our doorstep.

My future had so many amazing possibilities, and while not perfect I'd never had a better life. A woman to love, possess, cherish, and even take care of. One that loved me deliriously. Three other close friends which added richness and breadth to my life, one of which was a hot shifter I was fucking. The future looked really bright.

We just needed to stay alive to meet it and fulfill its promise...