Chapter Nineteen - Part One

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

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“Mr. Talbot,” I said, in greeting, as I sank into the opposite seat at our table. I had finally made it to the Maison. I was late, and a little shell-shocked, but hey, I was there.

“Naomi,” Mr. Talbot replied, with a friendly nod. “Hmm, is that a twig in your hair?”

“Um, yes, yes it is.” I said embarrassed, as I ran my fingers through my hair, plucking out the leaf.

“Well, here are the forms you require,” he said, sliding one of his familiar manila folders to me across the table. I noticed that his hands were gloved, just as mine were. “It’s an excellent copy. And apart from a few, slight changes in the numbers here and there, you won’t be able to tell the difference. So I labeled them for you.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me what any of this is for?” I asked as he stood, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from his dark suit.

“Remember, asking questions isn’t part of my job, Miss Noble.”

“Right. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Again.”

“No need for thanks. This is what I do. Good day.”

I watched him leave before opening the folder. And sure enough, inside there was the original, Eve’s fake, and the fake that Mr. Talbot’s associate had made. Swiftly, I withdrew the original, folded it, and stuck it inside my purse. Only the two fakes were left in the folder now – mine and Eve’s.

*  *  *

Sofia arrived shortly after the champagne did. My shoulder had begun to ache miserably in her wake, so I had ordered the alcohol in advance, hoping to smother some of the pain. She approached me now as I uncorked the bottle, wearing a plain, black, dress with sensible high heels and a small, leather tote from Coach. She took Mr. Talbot’s previous seat, regarding me with her large, dark eyes, looking like a business woman that belonged in some glossy magazine.

“You’re here,” I said, pouring two glasses and offering one. “Should I take that as a good sign?”

“Ultimately, I am interested in anything that has to do with the Leadership.” Sofia said, accepting the glass and slightly swirling the contents. “The real question, is whether or not you have anything of value for me?”

“Well I can offer you another Leader – their fate, sealed, in your hands.”

“I have served these Leaders for quite some time now. So why would you think that I would ever turn my back on one of them for you? That would be terribly unwise on my part…”

“You don’t get to question me.” I said, in a low, harsh voice. “You’re having an affair with my grandmother’s husband. Diane is the Pack Leader’s wife. And as his wife, I’m sure she has a lot more pull in this town than you’d care to admit. Think about it, Sofia. Packs are very loyal, and this kind of treachery is almost unforgivable. If this were to get out, the whole town would paint you as a traitor. They’d demand your job, and your own Leadership would be forced to ostracize you. And meanwhile, Diane Noble would walk away the martyr.”

Sofia took a delicate sip of her wine, and smiled. But her eyes were filled with despair and fury.

“I agree, that would be extremely unfortunate, Naomi.” she said, looking back at me, carefully.

“Then do this for me. Because if you don’t, I’ll have to step forward and turn this Leader in myself. And as compromising of a situation that I would be left in, it isn’t an impossible one – I would recover. And then, I would focus every waking moment of your entire, unhappy existence in destroying you. And then, I would expose the affair. And I just don’t think that the Garou could handle two betrayals in a row. The entire Pack would be… degraded. Are you really willing to risk that?”

I sat back in my seat, crossing one leg confidently over the other. I was smug because the look on her face said that she knew I was right, and she was scared. And odds were that the town wouldn’t care about the Elder’s affair nearly half as much as Mathew Raines’ treachery. But then again, there was still that small chance that they might react, and badly. And for that woman, this was entirely too dicey.

“What is the evidence that you would have me submit?” she said, stiffly.

“Bank statements,” I said, placing my own drink on the table and over-utilizing the limit of my shoulder. I felt it protest sharply from the movement, but I masked the pain with a smile.

Now was not the time to fall apart.

“Mathew Raines is skimming from the revenue that the Leadership brings in.” I continued. “He’s been doing it for a while, and since Charles has given him full access to the accounts, he’s somehow learned how to fudge the numbers and then hide the missing money. This statement on top comes from a fake program. And whatever the program is, it’s how he creates the statements to show the Elder. Like I said, this one is identical to the original statement for a balance from two weeks ago. But the paper below that is from the real account. And as you can see, the ending balances just don’t add up. I mean, the difference might be subtle, but that’s still a significant number – wouldn’t you say?”

Sofia accepted the folder from my gloved hands with her own bare ones, and pulled the two transcripts halfway out. She studied them intently for several seconds, and then dropped them back into the folder, which she then set aside on the table.

“How did you acquire this information? Even I have never had access to the Leadership’s accounts. That information is considered very private –”

“Well, let’s just say that my Champion has grown very fond of me.” I said. “And it’s a partnership of many perks. But regardless, you’d do well to keep his name out of it. In the end, the only thing that that matters is Mathew losing his position. We can’t tolerate thievery within the Pack – Leader or not.”

“Surely you realize that this man will end up in cuffs?” Sofia said, with eyebrows raised.

I opened my mouth, faltering for the briefest of seconds as I realized, with my heart, that this was true.

“The man is stealing,” I reiterated, with firmness. “And that can’t go unpunished. Not if he’s to be made an example. Sofia, Charles is in love with having power over this Leadership, and you have the chance to give that to him. Hand him Mathew on a silver platter and he’ll thank you for it. You’ll see.”

Ultimately, Sofia Devila’s trust and adoration for the handsome, cold-hearted Elder would be her own downfall. For the woman to put her own career on the line, made it quite obvious that Charles had sucked her into an ugly black hole filled with the same assurances that he had probably once sold to Diane.

But in the end, his pledges were just as hollow as the hole.

*  *  *

As I had anticipated, Sofia left with the folder, dialing Charles on her way out of the hotel doors. Meanwhile, I was left to celebratory my half-victory alone, over a quick lunch. And so I ate, with my thoughts aimed towards the task of questioning Claudia for information about The Order and removing the ring’s curse.

I finished lunch, and as usual the meal was hastily comped, and I was able to make my exit from the hotel. I pulled out my phone as I stood out front, waiting for the valet to arrive with my car. I dialed Tidus’ number and listened to the phone ring.

“Naomi, I hadn’t expected to be hearing from you until Johl’s party.” came Tidus’ voice from the other end of the line.

“Me neither,” I said. “But I ran into a bump with my plan, and I could use your help in fixing it.”

“I’m listening,”

“I need to see Claudia today, like now. I’ve already got her ingredients, and since I helped her out, I could use a return in the favor.”

“Well, what is it? What’s happened?” Tidus asked, with a wary sigh.

“It’s the ring,” I said, after a moment’s hesitation. “I’m sorry, but it was kind of… stolen.” I finished, with a wince, watching as my car pulled up.

“You lost the ring?”

“Stolen,” I replied, gently. “But I know who has it, and I have a chance at getting it back, as long as Claudia is willing to work with me. After all, this affects her sister more than any of us.”

Tidus didn’t respond, but in his silence I heard everything that he should have said. He should have said that he was wrong for trusting me with the ring, that I was incompetent, and a selfish fool. After all, that’s how I felt. I had screwed things up, and this was my chance to salvage the situation and make it right. I couldn’t let the sacrifice of Mathew’s reputation end for nothing. There was still a chance for some good to come of it.

“Tell me how I can help?” he asked in an unmistakably short tone of voice.

So I told him.

*  *  *

“I can’t believe I’m doing anything that benefits you,” Claudia was saying, twenty minutes later as she was allowing me into her home. “Especially seeing as how Tidus says you lost the ring.”

Since I was saddled under the weight of the two bags of ingredients in my hands, Claudia reached out and held the screen door open for me. But she didn’t look happy about it. Instead she waited for me with an annoyed, impatient expression, to which I responded by shooting her my own dirty look.

“Hey, I didn’t ask to babysit the ring,” I said, dropping the bags onto the couch. “And if anyone should be pissed off, I think it should be me. What the hell Claudia? Do you recall leaving out the part about you owing money to the triplets? They were practically demanding an arm and a leg for repayment, but who knows, maybe they would have settled for your first-born instead.”

“For your information, I’m not the one who really owes money to the triplets,” Claudia shot back, sifting through the contents of the bags with an angry curiosity. “A few months back I took on a job for my grandmother as a supply runner. But there were some ingredients that couldn’t be found within our Coven, so from time to time I went through the triplets for supply. And after a while, they trusted me enough to pick up the merchandize first and just pay later. But after a pick up one day, something happened. The triples had a dispute with my grandmother, and then she decided not to pay them for the last haul.”

“So you got the shaft and ended up stuck with the tab?” I said.

“Pretty much,” Claudia replied with a distant and regretful expression on her face.

“Yeah, well, the tab is taken care of, and the cost of the ingredients too, so you still owe me,” I reminded.

I sank into the comfortable, pink armchair as Claudia considered me for a moment or two, but I could see that some of the residual fight within her had had lessened. After all, I had been the one to travel with Tidus to New York to help retrieve the ring in the first place. And while I may have been slightly unreliable when it came to protecting priceless amulets from slightly deranged, slightly perverted miscreants, I had still proven my worth. I couldn’t be completely held at fault here.

“You know what, Naomi? You’re absolutely right.” Claudia agreed. “And I do need that ring. But, truth is, I haven’t been able to come up with a solution to your problem yet. This girl that you told Tidus about – the one that stole the ring? She’s screwed. Plain and simple.”

“Keep thinking,” I replied calmly. “We still have time.”

Claudia stopped messing with the bags long enough to give me an exasperated look.

“Naomi, you said this girl is in love. Which means the ring will be able to feed off of that. And the only way to stop the curse is to stop her from being in love – and I can’t do that. Not even with magic. It’s against the rules.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “Because it goes against the laws of nature, right? Just like it’s against the rules to bring back the dead?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Claudia said.

“Well last time I checked, Vampires are Humans brought back from the dead and nature seems to be pretty ok with them. So we’ll get through this, we just have to think.”

“All I’m saying, is if you’re looking for a quick fix, you might as well forget it. That’s pretty much impossible when it comes to magic.”

“Yup,” I said, with an absentminded sigh. “Wait a minute… say that again Claudia?”

“What? You mean about magic? I just meant that it’s impossible to find easy solutions when it comes to –”

“No-no-no,” I said interrupting impatiently. “Back up to the part where you mentioned forgetting – as in memory loss. Claudia, you’re a fracking genius!” I said.

“What are you talking about?” she replied blankly.

“What if Eve couldn’t remember her feelings for Ethan? If we can’t use magic to get rid of her love for him, then can we can use it to make her just forget