Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Demon’s Legacy
“No.”
“I’m sorry?” asked Adonis.
“I say no,” Paddington repeated.
“Ah.”
Adonis sized Paddington up. One on one, a vampire had the advantage over a wolf – but there was something unsettling about Paddington. He wasn’t taller, or wider, or a better fighter than the others, but somehow Paddington was more Wolf than they were. His coat was thicker, his stance more regal, his golden eyes every inch as intelligent as his human ones.
“Things are going to change,” Paddington said.
Adonis had had three centuries’ experience leading, protecting, ruling. And now this… animal… thought to tell him how things would be? “And what shall change?” he asked. “Would you put Archi on the map, after all I have done to keep her hidden and her people safe? Would you have her ravaged by the world, her beauty tarnished, her traditions drowned beneath a flood of Mainland filth?”
“Don’t play the innocent,” Paddington said, his brown eyes every bit as hard as his tone. “You hid Archi to protect yourself. It must have been a lonely life, trapped in your castle, only visited by the ignorant and the controllable… Which did you think I was, by the way?”
If it was going to be stakes and garlic and crosses, Adonis would meet it head on. “Call the proper authorities, then. Doom us all.”
Paddington smiled. “No.”
What was his game? Adonis tried to think like Paddington, but he couldn’t fit his head into a life that only lasted eighty years. “What, then?”
“For a start,” Paddington said, “you’ll reconnect Lisa’s internet, which stopped working that night you had me to dinner, and you’ll let Mitchell contact the Mainland.”
“And he’ll kill us all,” said Adonis. As Paddington stood there in nothing but his pride, Adonis believed he would. The detective would have no qualms about destroying his entire family, just for being different. Hypocrite.
“I want you monitoring the call,” Paddington said. “If he tries to compromise Archi, cut communications.”
“Then why let him contact the Mainland at all?”
When Paddington finally worked out what Adonis meant, his furrowed brows leapt upward. “Oh! You mean why don’t we just kill them? Because more will come looking. Our only hope of containing this is by letting Mitchell go. Also because I’m against murder; old policeman’s habit.”
“So your friends go free,” said Adonis. He was quite enjoying this. It had been years since anyone had stood up to him. He’d missed the to-and-fro of negotiation. “What else?”
“We need a new mayor,” Paddington said, “and he probably doesn’t need the false teeth.”
“They aren’t false.”
“I… was happier not knowing that.” Paddington swallowed.
“And why should I allow any of this? Mitchell and his fellows have committed an offence: Breach of Embargo. I am within my rights as duke to demand their executions. To be carried out by the senior police officer, if I recall. You, detective.”
Paddington’s eyes took on the same disconcerting intensity they had just after poisoning Adonis and his family. “You’re not innocent here, duke. You tried to fulfil the prophecy, knowing full well what would happen once the zombies got to the Mainland. Maybe you didn’t realise what monsters the Browns would become, but that doesn’t excuse your doing everything you could to create and protect them. You turned Thomas, you had Conall rescue Richard, and you shattered the Bleeding Heck’s thick wooden doors to let the zombies get to Harold.”
Adonis couldn’t remember when someone had last stared at him with such loathing.
“But that’s implication and suspicion,” Paddington said. “Let’s get specific. You ordered Conall to ignore Norman Winslow’s escape, which led to nearly half the island becoming zombies, and you had the wolves kidnap and torture me.”
“Very well, but the sword cuts both ways,” said Adonis. “You stole a priceless text from me and attempted to kill my entire family.”
“Did I mention the second-degree murder of four thousand Archians?” Paddington asked.
How serious was that threat behind the detective’s eyes? Adonis couldn’t trust that they were alone out here, even if they appeared so. The zombies may have left – at Paddington’s command, worryingly – but the wolves were still guarding his family and the Mainlanders would be somewhere nearby, watching them through high-powered scopes. If this didn’t go as he desired, Paddington could kill the Andrastes and invent any story he liked to explain what had happened.
“The final change, I suppose,” asked Adonis, “is your complete control of Archi?” He locked eyes with the detective. “Is this where I beg for mercy?”
“It won’t do you any good,” Paddington said.
Was it best to attack now, before Paddington could change? He was taller than the detective, but it would only take seconds for the wolves to rush to their alpha’s aid, or for the Mainlanders to shoot him from the shadows. Yes, Adonis might best Paddington, but the price was his life.
“It won’t do you any good,” Paddington continued, “because I’m not arresting you. Strangely, Intent to End the World isn’t an offence; and we both know no jury on Archi would ever convict you of anything.”
“Then this is all wind,” said Adonis. “What next? You exterminate my family, without justice, just for being what we are?”
Paddington shrugged a no. “There’s no law against being a vampire.”
Adonis raised a styled eyebrow. “No more visits from your Mainland friends?”
“No vampires on my streets, no wolves in your castle,” Paddington agreed. “Archi needs a clear figurehead as we rebuild.”
Adonis waited for the catch.
“But I’ll need access to the internet,” Paddington said. “Once a week I’ll contact Mitchell, just to let him know we’re okay.”
Adonis smiled. So that was his game: Paddington could call in the cavalry at any time, turning Adonis’s rule into a farce. “What’s to stop them betraying us as soon as they return?” asked Adonis.
“Your Mainland contacts,” Paddington said, “the ones who keep Archi off the map. If they can hide a whole island, four soldiers shouldn’t be a problem.”
“A well constructed defence.” Adonis had expected Paddington to leave Archi burning in his wake. “I hadn’t taken you for a patriot.”
“I’m not,” Paddington said. “This whole island can turn to ash and you with it as far as I’m concerned. I’ll fight its pettiness and bigotry to my dying breath and beyond…” The anger in his voice died away. “…but this place means something to Lisa.”
The Mainlander? “You spare us for her?”
“Damn right. Sir.”
With that, Paddington turned and walked back toward the Tree and the wolves. Adonis watched him go, running the prophecy through his mind. Paddington had summoned the Team that had destroyed the Three Brothers; had begotten peace with wolves, zombies, and now with vampires; and had decried Archi, sparing her only for the sake of a Mainlander.
Adonis had been right a week ago. He’d been right and Paddington’s mother had been wrong, bless her. He smiled at Paddington’s back. “Well played, demon,” he said.