To Walk the Night by E. S. Moore Page A

and I am sorry. When Count Valentino ordered your family’s death, I stayed behind. I had nothing to do with the slaughter.”
    He seemed so genuine I couldn’t help but believe him. I’m not sure what I would have done if he would have admitted to killing my parents, my friends. Would I have risked being overwhelmed just to kill him?
    “You changed my life,” Jonathan went on. “I survived and realized that living my life a slave to the vampires was not a life at all. I could have found another House and risen in the ranks there, but chose instead to stay with the Cult, to work with the Denmaster to form our own vampire-free House.”
    “Wait,” I said, shaking my head. “You aren’t leader here? Then who is?”
    “Simon is our Denmaster, not that you would know him. He doesn’t know who you are.”
    I frowned. “I don’t understand.”
    “Simon is the reason I have asked you to come.”
    I was about to ask him about Simon, but it was then that something else he had said hit me. “A vampire-free House?” I said. “Are you serious?”
    “Just because we aren’t vampires doesn’t mean we can’t have our own House. We stand against the vampire Houses, refuse to bow down to them. The Luna Cult has given us more power than we ever dreamed possible, and we do not wish to relinquish that power and return to our subservient ways.”
    I tried to come up with something to say, but words failed me. This was insane. Werewolves didn’t have their own Houses. They were the pawns of the vampires, supposedly the weaker of the two shifters. They protected the vamps, were their daytime guardians. They didn’t form their own organizations. There was no werewolf union. It just didn’t happen.
    “Come,” Jonathan said, rising. “I want to show you something.”
    I looked from Jonathan to the two men sitting on the couch. This whole thing made no sense. If they were indeed werewolves who had rebelled against the vampires who enslaved them, then why would they have come to me, a vampire? If he had been a part of House Valentino like he claimed, Jonathan would know what I was. He would have seen my fangs, seen my rage. Hell, he might have been responsible for what I had become.
    Nathan and Gregory both rose. They had no weapons on them. At least none that I could see. They moved to stand beside Jonathan as he reached a hand beneath his desk. I tensed, expecting him to pull a gun; but instead, I heard a click and the wall to my left slid open. He gestured me toward the yawning darkness.
    “Please,” he said. “We need your help.”
    The sincerity in his voice left me speechless. I could easily kill all three of them, I was sure. I probably should have.
    Then again, they could have had me killed already if that was what they had planned. There had been more than enough opportunities for that. I couldn’t bring myself to kill them, not until I knew what they wanted. After that, we’d see what happened.
    I bowed my head slightly and sheathed my sword. I took a step back, clearing the way to the new opening. “After you,” I said.
    Jonathan gave me his half smile and then a quick nod. He ushered Nathan and Gregory ahead of them. They passed by me and headed down into the darkness.
    “Thank you,” Jonathan said as he came up next to me.
    “Don’t thank me yet,” I said. “I haven’t agreed to anything. I’m still trying to decide if I should kill you or not.”
    He nodded as if he wouldn’t have expected anything less, then followed his two associates into the gloom.
    I stared after him a moment, wondering if I was doing the right thing. This wolf might have been responsible for my change, for the loss of my family. He had been there when I killed Count Valentino and his followers. He had to be guilty of something.
    I took a deep breath, swallowed my anger, my fear, and followed the werewolves down into the darkness below.

11
     
    “This part of the Den was here before we took over,” Jonathan said as we made