Eleventh Grade Burns(16)

Otis nodded, as if he knew what Vlad was thinking without the use of telepathy. “Apparently for years, he was in full support of locating the person they deemed the Pravus and protecting him at all cost. But something changed—we don’t know what, but whatever it was, it made DAblo rethink his plans and strive to take the so-called Pravus’s place. Thus his little ritual last year.”

Vlad shook his head. To think, if whatever it was that happened hadn’t happened, D’Ablo might be kissing up to him all the time instead of trying to kill him. “Just how big is this cult, anyway?”

Otis looked to Cratus, who said, “Intelligence suggests the following has grown substantially over the years.”

Vlad shifted his eyes between the two of them. “By how much?”

When it seemed no one was going to answer, Vikas spoke up. “We suspect roughly a third of Elysia follows this thinking, but there’s no way to be certain. The followers are incredibly secretive.”

“So what does it mean?”

Otis sighed heavily. “It means that you can trust virtually no one, Vlad. It also means that D’Ablo’s presence on the Council of Elders most assuredly has something to do with you, as he’s convinced that you are this ... this Pravus.”

“I am the Pravus.” Vlad tightened his jaw and locked eyes pointedly with his uncle. “I am. But just because I am doesn’t mean I’m going to become some psychopath.”

He looked around the room at the other vampires. Some looked fearful. Most looked doubtful. “I’m not like the rest of you. You know that. A few of you have seen it firsthand. So call me what you will—Pravus. freak of nature—I’m different. Now what are we going to do about D’Ablo?”

After a long and poignant silence, Cratus sighed. “We wait. And we watch.”

Vikas shook his head. “It is troubling, my friends, that D’Ablo should hold the thread of Otis’s life in his treacherous hands.”

The realization hit Vlad hard. The trial—they were talking about Otis’s trial. The one that would decide if Otis lived or died, the one that would determine whether or not his uncle was a vampire of honor or a criminal doomed to death. And D’Ablo was one of the people who was going to make that decision.

He bit his bottom lip, dropping his eyes to the carpet.

Vikas’s voice, deep and strong, continued to speak. “What’s more, Otis’s pretrial comes fast on the heels of D’Ablo’s lust for vengeance.”

Otis spoke, his voice gruff. “When?”

Vikas held Otis’s gaze, his expression grim. “D’Ablo insisted that it be held this All Hallows Eve.”

All eyes were on Vikas, whose mouth slowly curled into a smile. “But I insisted that it take place at the end of the year. And as he is but a babe and I am an old man, it seems the council is more apt to side with me. Otis has been granted a stay of execution, so to speak, until December twenty-sixth.”

Everyone seemed to exhale at once.

Apparently, the pretrial was something you wanted to put off as long as possible.

“There is more,” Vikas said in his thick Russian accent. “D’Ablo had planned for the pretrial to take place in Stokerton, but the other members of the Council of Elders and myself have determined that the pretrial—like the trial—must be held in the only city without a governing council.”

Otis spoke, his voice just that of a whisper. “New York.”

Vikas nodded. Several vampires looked uncomfortable, but most just looked relieved.

Vlad watched them with intrigue. He’d had no idea that there was a town that wasn’t governed by a council. He thought all cities were governed by the nearest council. Clearly, New York was not. Huh. That wasn’t in the Encyclopedia Vampyrica. Nor was it something Otis had ever mentioned. Vlad pondered that for a few minutes, until Vikas took his seat and the conversation broke off into what was happening elsewhere in Elysia.

To Vlad’s left, two vampires were telling what he thought were dirty jokes in French. To his right, one vampire recounted his last meal to another in plain English. Across the room from Vlad, a young, handsome vampire with copper-colored hair was staring intently, silently at him. Vlad shifted in his seat and was about to call Vikas over when the vampire stood and pointed a long, pale finger at Vlad. The other vampires fell silent. “You. The child of a vampire and a human, if the stories are to be believed. Tell me your name.”