she’s far too strong for me.”
George spun on his heel to face his brother. Don’t scare him away. “She’s amassed an enormous following, Phillip. If I stepped foot in France or England, her Houses would be on me in an instant. It was dreadful in London. You’ve been away too long. It’s a veritable war. Her, Mother—”
“Mother? You saw her?”
That was a low blow, George admitted, but it was the one card he had up his sleeve. Phillip always softened at the mention of her. Their mother had wanted little to do with George since in a moment of weakness he’d become his brother’s maker. Still, she had little room to talk, didn’t she? George himself had been her first meal.
“She can take care of herself. But she won’t help me, and we both know why. So Madam Lucifer continues her hunt unimpeded. I have no allies. Evidently I do not inspire devotion. I cannot imagine why.”
He sniffed out a laugh, but Phillip remained stone-faced. “Why hide here? Go to some exotic outpost, to the Orient or the western frontier of America! Why involve me in your mess?”
George turned away. So, there it was. He would have to use force. Phillip would cover the same familiar ground, and how could George blame him? He’d destroyed his brother’s soul in one frenzied moment of hunger, need, and loneliness. His first taste of mortal blood.
“Marie may listen to you. I’m sure there’s some affection left in those icy veins. You are the father of her child. We think. Tell her, Phillip, ask her, beg her to let us stay in the dark alleyways of small unappealing towns. Tell her we are no threat.”
“If she has amassed the following you claim, you do indeed pose no threat. She was strong from the first day. Do you suspect her of attacking her own children?”
“There can be no doubt of it! She rules through fear. You must try to dissuade her, plea on my behalf, tell her that we are at peace!”
“Are we at peace, George? Truly? Now that you are in Baltimore, I must look over my shoulder constantly, wondering who you will strike next. I come home from New Orleans to learn my young neighbor died of an apparent suicide. The mayor also died of his own hand a few days before that, knife drawn across his throat and then cast aside in the same manner. Does no one own a pistol in this town? Baltimoreans evidently choose to slice their own throats when they can no longer stand to live. Can I expect my beautiful fiancée to slit her throat if I should go away for a night? The law might not have made the connection, but I certainly saw your modus operandi in those deaths. How are we at peace when I cannot trust you to be in the same city as my beloved?”
“You can trust me not to harm Kitty. Of course you can. I cannot undo what has been done, brother. I cannot give your short human life back, your funeral procession, and a grave in Saint-Denis. Don’t you think I’ve lived with regret?” George smelled the guilt wafting from Phillip. This tactic had always worked, and it would work now. “It is the one true shame of my life.”
Phillip held up his hand for silence. “I am sorry. I promised myself years ago not to lord it over you. I know your regret. We were young and you were weak and nearly insane with isolation, with betrayal over mother’s act. It was your way of hurting her; we both know that. But what of our bargain? What am I to do now? You would bring a vampire-eater down on me as well?”
He pushed his hand through his hair and paced the length of the room. “Kitty will turn you in if you continue to slaughter innocents. Her moral compass shows one direction only—goodness. She gives me leeway, as you know, only because I hunt the already damned. If you see her as a threat, you will kill her, I know it. Your loyalty to me does not outweigh your wanton desires. What would you have me do, George!”
“I’ve had time to think this through. I have weighed everything. I know Kitty loathes me. If I could