Adopt a Vampire
: Chapter 16

Their neutral meeting ground was a cemetery.

I wished I was making this up.

Everyone, for whatever reason, chose to meet at Citizens Cemetery.

I mean, it was kinda sorta not really in the middle of town? So thereby sort of neutral territory? I didn’t know how to justify the decision, really, other than it was empty of people. Well, living people.

It was sort of charming, really, with the moonlit grass and the pine trees and all. So long as you watched where you were going to avoid tripping over tombstones, you were fine. Ross had us pack up a bunch of folding chairs for people to sit in, which was smart of him, as it wasn’t like there were picnic tables or anything at our destination.

Still…of all places to choose…

As we unloaded from the car, Barrett also wrinkled his nose. “Why here?”

“See! I’m not the only one who thinks this is weird, right?”

Ross piped up as he slid out of the back seat. “Cemeteries are quiet, and the dead won’t complain if we start making too much noise. Anyone who operates a cemetery ignores people that visit in groups, it’s an unspoken understanding. So long as we don’t break shit.”

I turned and said accusingly, “It’s your blood that influences you to think like this. A creature who walks the night likes being among the dead or something.”

He lifted a pointed eyebrow at me. “Says the vampire.”

Erk. I did forget somedays. Maybe living with wolves nonstop did it.

Anyway, we were here. Might as well get this over with. Hopefully Glenn could negotiate-slash-intimidate people into agreeing to some hard boundaries so territory conflicts stopped. That’d be lovely. I had priorities, after all. Barrett-shaped priorities.

We weren’t the only ones to arrive, of course. The witches showed up in two full vans, while the vampires in three different SUVs. The whole clan was in unrelieved black, looking dark and mysterious. I took them in as they filed out of the vehicles, and some part of me became a little creeped out. Did they all dress in black to be more intimidating? Or was this just the norm for them? I hoped it wasn’t the norm because it was kinda cultish. I felt very glad I hadn’t ended up with them, as I had the feeling I would have left quickly.

Barrett took my hand as we walked into the cemetery. I liked holding hands with him, but we so rarely got the chance to do it. We hadn’t had enough date nights, or chances to do date nights, really. I should take him on a date tonight, assuming this meeting let out anytime before midnight.

They chose a fairly empty spot under the trees, and people took advantage of the folding chairs, sitting promptly. Barrett tugged me down to sit next to him, which was fair. I was technically an alpha, too.

Vampires to my right looked at me like I’d dragged a wet, muddy dog into this for no good reason. Witches arrayed across from us, Glenn standing to my left, all of us forming one big circle. Honestly, I was a little unnerved smelling this much magic, being surrounded by this many witches, as it brought up bad memories.

Barrett must have sensed my unease, as he squeezed my hand firmly. I squeezed back, reassured. If they did try something, I had no doubt Barrett would throw down.

Ross manned a map and pencil, which he’d clipped to a poster board. That man thought of everything.

“All right, introductions first.” Glenn put a hand to his own chest. “I’m the Mediator, Glenn Ó Riagáin. Witches, who is your leader?”

An elderly woman with greying hair at the temples stood. “I’m Vivian Griswold, head of the coven. I will speak for my coven.”

“Thank you, noted. Vampires?”

Oscar grunted in acknowledgement. “I’m Oscar Deering, acting in my master’s stead for this clan. I speak for the vampires.”

“Thank you. Wolves?”

This must be some kind of formal etiquette thing since of course he knew Barrett. Still, my boyfriend didn’t hesitate.

“Barrett Walker, alpha of my pack. I speak for the werewolves and my vampire.”

Loved how he threw that in there, just tacking me on.

Oscar glowered at him but wisely didn’t try and dispute it. I could feel Huxley standing at my shoulder, daring him to say a word. Huxley was still mad about the whole stabby thing.

“Thank you.” Glenn took in a breath and on his exhale, he somehow seemed to fill the space. This man had charisma and prestige in spades. “Now, I understand that this being new territory, there’s conflict on what should be neutral and who should have claims. Right now, let me get an idea of who is where. We’ll go in order.”

No one had any arguments, and they listed where their people were and such. Ross noted all this down on his map.

“Good, now, what should be neutral?”

Annnnd here we go. This was what had gathered us here today.

Oscar was the first to stir. “I do not think we agree on that. As previously discussed, the downtown public areas should be neutral. The main street, shopping centers, and government offices should also be neutral, of course, but I think the rest of Flagstaff should be divided with firm boundaries.”

“Even if there’s a park in your area, which we previously agreed would be accessible to all? So now you’re saying we can’t use public space because we’d have to cross through your territory to reach it?” Vivian challenged.

“Even then.”

Ah, Oscar. You started out so well, sounding reasonable, only to reveal your douchiness in the end.

“By that logic, your vampires should not have been in Buffalo Park today,” Glenn drawled, “considering the vampires claim the southeastern side of town. There’s no way to reach that park without stepping into werewolf territory.”

Oscar’s mouth snapped shut and he glowered.

Ha, Glenn had him there.

Barrett stirred a little before speaking. “I do need a certain amount of desert for my wolves to run in. That said, I agree the city itself should be neutral space for us all.”

“But some of our neighborhoods are in the middle of the city!” Vivian objected.

She did have a point. I mean, our subdivision was in the northeast section of town, so technically we were in “neutral” territory too.

Glenn held up a staying hand. “We can compromise this idea, I promise you. We had to do something similar in Salem, as Huxley can attest.”

Huxley let out a sigh. “Yes, so you did, although god, I do not like to remember that argument. Three days of it.”

Three days…yikes on bikes, do not tell me we were going to be sitting here for three days!

Save us, Glenn. You’re our only hope.

While Glenn had spoken, Ross had been busy drawing. He turned the map to let his husband see, and Glenn gave him a soft, proud smile.

“Always so quick to anticipate me. Yes, that’s fine.”

He had Ross flip the map again so we could all see it as well.

I took a good look and then let out a low whistle. Oh-ho. Ross had drawn lines around each of our neighborhoods and then basically fanned them outward, beyond city limits, into the desert around us. The boundaries ended again when they hit another city limit, such as Kachina, to the south of us. It left each group a LOT of acreage, to say the least. Plenty of room for even two hundred wolves to stretch out in.

It also meant most of Flagstaff itself was neutral territory, with plenty of buffer space between each group.

Now, this I liked.

Oscar looked at it and grumbled. “Now, where are my vampires supposed to feed if we’re assigned nothing but rocks and sand?”

“You can still hunt in town,” Glenn said with some asperity. “No one’s denying you a meal or some fun. I’m not telling the wolves or the witches they can’t eat at restaurants, now am I?”

Oscar glowered some more.

Really, I felt like Oscar was just mad he wasn’t in charge of the meeting. Such a petty soul, our Oscar.

Vivian lifted a hand, a wide smile on her face. “Personally, I like this division very much.”

Next to me, Barrett gave a grunt. “Yes, it works out well for us, too.”

We all turned and stared at Oscar. Oscar stared back. Oh, I could tell he was trying hard to think of an argument, but he couldn’t quite vocalize anything without sounding like a whiny brat. Finally, he gave a sigh and looked deliberately elsewhere.

“Fine. It’s fine.”

Glenn ignored the attitude like a seasoned pro and whipped out an agreement form. “Then, everyone fill this out and sign it. I’ll draw the lines in with a marker and have each of you sign on your territories as well. This all will be filed with the council, with copies given to each of you for reference.”

Funny, he said reference, but I got this visual of him rolling the map up and smacking people in the head with it the second they started being obstinate. I believed he’d do it, too.

We all filled out paperwork, and Glenn did the redrawing with a thick black marker, which felt a little anticlimactic. I’d fully expected Oscar at least to start throwing hands at some point, but I had a feeling he didn’t dare cross Glenn.

Once he’d collected the forms, Glenn gave us a polite smile. “Thank you all for coming. These boundaries begin immediately, so please inform your people.”

Vivian immediately stood and came in closer. “Hold on, I want to take a picture of this with my phone to text everyone.”

“Feel free,” Glenn encouraged.

This was a good idea, so I immediately joined her, taking pictures and then putting them into the group chat.

The vampires were quick to leave and no one missed them. Huxley sidled up next to me, watching them pull out of the parking lot with a frown. “Promise me something.”

I quirked a brow. “What?”

“If things go south—because I don’t believe that one wants to obey the rules set today—then you need to come to me.”

“Only if you’re willing to take in two hundred werewolves because I won’t be coming alone.”

Ross’s head snapped up and he went, “NO. No more werewolves!”

Eh?

Glenn laughed before correcting his husband, “Not for our clan, astór. Huxley would be the one dealing with them.”

Ross glowered at Huxley, still not appeased. “Werewolves replace trouble, do you understand what I’m saying? It can be a perfectly nice day, not a sign of trouble to be had, and they’ll make trouble. They do ridiculous things like adopt every single dog out of a shelter and then go running around barking at random things all day. Do not encourage this!”

Huxley blinked at him, as if trying to wrap his head around this and failing. “They really adopted a whole pound of dogs? They can do that?”

“No one stopped them. And I tried, dammit,” Ross whined.

It was a little concerning that Ross acted so scarred from this experience. Like, how bad had this actually gone down…?

Anyway, we were done now. Time to go home and celebrate.

Maybe, if I was lucky, I could get Barrett alone. We had interrupted sexy times to get back to.

A house full of wolves and guests would make it tricky, but I was both determined and clever. I was sure I could make it happen.