Who: Mac, Una, and Cassius What: Warning and plotting Where: An upscale club somewhere in London When: A day after this Ratings/warnings: talk of dark things
Mac had wasted little time sending word on the breeze to Una that he needed to see both her and her husband at their earliest convenience about an important matter. A few brief messages passed back and forth established a location and time to meet.
The next day saw him (properly glamoured, of course, and using one of his older names) reserve a private room at the agreed upon club, one outside London’s supernatural circles and thus less likely to be spotted or overheard. Still, one couldn’t be too careful, and he cast some rudimentary wards to ensure their privacy and make him aware if anyone tried magical means to eavesdrop. One of his retainers stood watch outside by the door, a notice me not keeping curious eyes blissfully unaware.
Satisfied everything was correct, Mac sat at the head of the table to wait. Aside from the political headache and the chaos that would ensue from a successful assassination he honestly didn’t care what happened to Cassius. But Una would, and Mac would as soon cut off his own arm as to give her unnecessary reason to find fault. Allowing her new husband to come to harm when he could have prevented it or given warning certainly fell into that category.
Una had glamoured both herself and Cassius so they appeared to be certain long-dead persons whose guises she bent to her own purpose, often for members of her household staff who needed such things to function in the mortal world. They were well-dressed according to expectations for this club and time, and to the eyes of the world they were simply two men meeting with someone, but to the eyes of Mac's retainers and to the lord himself, they were themselves.
The retainer greeted Una and Cassis and let them in to join Mac, closing the door firmly behind them after they entered. Una suspected they were setting some sort of enchantment on the door.
It amused Cassius to no end that he needed to be glamoured in order to appear in public with his own wife; when the fae became involved in politics, they took disguises to a new level.
"Mac Ruadh," he greeted their companion after the door had closed, allowing enough time for anyone outside it to make themselves scarce and offering his hand. "I hadn't thought to hear from you so soon." Mac’s countenance at the wedding reception had not been the happiest one, which could have been Mac’s feeling regarding weddings in general, but was likely more specific to the identity of the bride. Cassius couldn’t blame him; there was no question that he had been granted a great prize. "Have you caught something in the whispers?"
Mac kissed Una on the cheek and shook hands with Cassius, but his heart wasn’t in social niceties at the moment.
“Something like that,” he answered in response to Cassius’s question. “The information I have to share is given freely of my own will, without need for recompense or favor. Someone is plotting to have you assassinated. They’re the same group behind the attempt on Lucien Swinton’s life earlier in the year.” He smiled, but there was no pleasure in his expression. “Fortunately, the agent they selected for the job works for me now. The price for keeping his head attached to his shoulders and his family’s reputation intact.”
“Unfortunately they’re clever bastards and my agent hasn’t been able to get beyond his contact to find the ones pulling the strings.”
"Oak, ash, and thorn," Una swore. If there were more to be said, she thought Mac would have said it; but he was being formal here, if terse, and she did not want to ask what else he knew about the troubles that lay behind all this. This confirmed the suspicions she had expressed to Mac earlier this summer, if the gifts she had been given had not. "We will be expecting an attempt, then."
She turned to her husband, who would surely have a better idea of what to expect than she would.
Cassius had gone still and sober, taking in that information. "Black and I are hardly likely targets for a single group," he observed. "You know, I take it, who this group is, and what their aims are? And do you have a plan already, or are we here to make one? It's a delicate business, making an assassination attempt without either killing the target or unmasking the betrayal of the assassin. I expect you want your spy to remain alive, and in his present useful position?"
“You are, actually, if the short term goal is to restart the war between the wolves and vampires.” Mac replied easily. “I don’t know who the ultimate puppet masters are, but the task they’ve set my spy to has never changed. Only the means of it. What they have in mind beyond that I can only guess, but I’d imagine a threat to the Crown itself or at their power at the very least.”
He watched Cassius, and Una, for their reactions. “And I would prefer my spy to remain alive and in place, which is why I asked you both here to plan the response. You’re a pain in the arse, Corbet, but you’re honorable and Una would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you when I could prevent it.” He felt no need to refrain from putting everything out in the open between the three of them. “And seeing the war kick off again after I put so much time and effort into stopping it in the first place would make me very upset indeed.”
Una resisted the impulse to say anything untoward. She did not quite have to bite the inside of her lip to do it. Turning to practical matters, she agreed, reluctantly, "Then we must leave the spy intact. Are we under similar limitations regarding the spy's minions? Because if no one dies, it won't look like much of an attack."
She was right. At least one of the assassins would have to die. Mac didn’t enjoy sending mortals to their deaths without good cause, but all of Peter’s men had committed treason against the Crown at one point or another sense plotting against the treaty. They were trying to redeem themselves, true, but their lives were forfeit. If any of their deaths would serve the Crown’s purposes better than staying alive, then death it would be.
“Aye. At least one of them will have to die.” He agreed, expression and voice steady. “There could be other plots I’m unaware of, don’t expect this will be the only one.”
Cassius was reminded that while vampires had a thirst for blood, the fae were bloodthirstier by far.
“If you feel it best,” Cassius agreed, choosing the magnanimous route in the face of his companions’ hunger; their opinions were far stronger than his own. “Although if they’re trying to redeem themselves - turning to spies themselves? - then I do hate to waste resources when a poorly-timed explosion could generate as much attention as a physical attack, and with more control over bystander interaction. Or is the public meant to see a werewolf attack a vampire? And is the attempt meant to succeed with no cost of life on their side, or is this a suicide mission from the start, with a werewolf then intended to die at the hands of a vampire?”
He took a sip from his wine goblet and said mildly, “If the goal is to prevent a renewal of hostilities, then a vampire living while a werewolf dies is unlikely to achieve it. Or,” his eyebrows arched in Mac’s direction. “Is it your intention to send a message back to this group, through the death of one of their fellows?”
Sometimes Mac forgot about explosives. For himself and for Una explosives small enough to be used in an assassination attempt (with the exception of the gunpowder plot) were a very recent development. “My goal is both to preserve the peace and to find who they are and end them, by whatever means necessary. A public assassination attempt where no-one is injured or died suggests to me that the assassins didn’t try hard enough to accomplish their mission. If I were the masterminds behind this I would question my agent’s commitment to the cause.” He paused and glanced at Una, then back to Cassius. “Depending on circumstances, a glamour could be used. If they thought their servants had succeeded it may bring them into the open.”
He wondered just how much influence Cassius had among his folk, and how much trust there was between the vampire covens.
"Our goals seem clear," Cassius agreed. "It's theirs that we seem to lack some insight on." He tapped his finger lightly on the handle of his walking stick as he considered. "I would caution against feigning my death and removing me from play without more intelligence than we currently have. While it may draw our conspirators into the open, it will also destabilize the Ravensworth coven and affect the balance in the House of Shadows. While my coven's elders could - and would - be entrusted with the secret, they would appear vulnerable to attack, and not only by these assassins. It would be just the opening we assume the American vampires are watching for, and other werewolf packs may also act to consolidate their power. A seeming power vacuum could create more problems than it solves, unless we're certain of the actions the conspirators will take to follow. It would be a threat to more than the vampire covens, if the ploy should fail."
Mac had brought them all of the information he had--or so Cassius would charitably believe, until given reason to believe otherwise. What they needed was an opportunity for another, and more exhaustive, interrogation.
"I will need to meet this spy of yours," Cassius decided, folding his hands at the edge of the table, still and certain. "In your presence, if you wish it. I believe more questioning is required, and assurances on both sides of a single plan. Too much may go wrong, otherwise, and it would be a missed opportunity not to learn as much as we can, should the spy not survive this assassination attempt."
Mac frowned, drumming the fingers of one hand against the table as he thought. It was a reasonable request, but one he was reluctant to agree to. The more people who knew of Peter the better chance he was exposed and killed. Granted, Mac didn’t particularly care if the werewolf lived or died in the great scheme of things, but not until the mission was complete. If he died before they knew who the plotters were and where they were hiding then their best chance was gone.
He hadn’t really expected for Cassius to agree to the idea of having his death faked, but it had been worth a try. A glance toward Una suggested she’d be of no help convincing him otherwise, and the logic was sound. Damn him.
“Peter Foster is the agent.” He said, breaking the long silence as they’d waited for him to respond. A hard stare included both the other occupants in the room. “If I hear his name even breathed of outside of this room I will be most unhappy. I’ll set up a meeting with him, and with Lord Black, who is also aware of what Foster is doing. We’ll coordinate our actions and smoke the bastards out.”
"My lips are sealed on this matter," Una said at once.
It was rather like Christmas had come early. "Black Park is involved in this? The Fosters are members of that pack, are they not?" And Lucien Swinton, Lord Black, knew of it and had kept silent. Cassius was going to crucify him in the House of Shadows once it was out in the open, unless he had far better reasons than Cassius suspected for playing a part.
"I have nothing to gain from betraying his identity now," Cassius agreed, waving a negligent hand. It was hard to contain his giddiness. He rather wanted to kiss Una's hand, and more than that, once they were behind closed doors, from the sheer delight of it. "Bring me Foster, and Swinton as well, and we'll set our trap."
“Peter Foster is estranged from his family and cast out of the pack.” Mac could see the gleam in the vampire’s eyes and stomped on what he suspected was behind it. “The lad fell out with Lord Black when Lucien became pack Alpha, and recently tried to assassinate him after getting in over his head with those who wish to see the war reignited. Lucien agreed to this to protect the reputation of the remaining Fosters and allow Peter to serve the Crown rather than face the gallows for treason, that is the extent of his involvement until now.” He narrowed his eyes at Cassius. “Lord Black acted to protect those under his care, as a good liege lord and loyal subject of the Crown should.”
He hoped he didn’t have to spell it out for Cassius: any attempt to play political games with the information would be taken as a personal insult by Mac and acted on accordingly.
"Of course he did," Cassius agreed amiably. "Quite convenient, isn't it? Don't worry, though, I believe we have enough to worry about without my threatening your pet." For all that he claimed neutrality, Mac's favoritism toward the packs and dislike of the covens was obvious to all, and Cassius wasn't surprised at all that Swinton was a golden boy. Lucien had that air about him, of a charmed, youthful life, emerging from family tragedy to become the leader for a generation. Cassius hoped this tripped him up somewhat on his way to the top.
"Is the Ravensworth Coven to be trusted with this information at once, or shall we wait to see what comes of the meeting, and come to an agreement then on who should be informed?" Cassius suspected it would be the latter, but he wasn't particularly bothered either way--the coven would know when they needed to, and Cassius wouldn't risk losing the opportunity for interrogation for an early warning. Having Swinton on hand would also force a direct comparison--if the Black Park beta and advisors, notably Lady Black, had already been informed, it would be thin ice to deny the same courtesy to the coven.
Mac had prided himself on his neutrality when it came to matters of the House of Shadows. For all he disliked vampires (and in his opinion the creatures were an affront to magic, bringing back the dead in this way should have been forbidden and wiped out long before he’d been born) he’d made a point of being neutral when it came to legislation. Who he chose to associate with on his own time, well, that wasn’t anyone else’s business was it? If the bloodsuckers thought him biased now, they had no idea what things would be like if he truly threw his lot in with the wolves.
His role was to serve the interests of the Fae courts, and for now that meant that the vampires were allowed to exist.
The implied accusation was clear as day, and Mac simply smiled at the vampire. “If you believe that the leadership of Ravensworth Coven is to be trusted with this information I have no objections. Lord Black brought the matter to my attention, and until now this has been exclusively a werewolf matter. Once it became clear that the scum had ambitions on the vampires as well as the wolves I arranged this meeting.”
"For which I am duly appreciative," Una said, clear and cool, in a way that cut through the rising air of testosterone in the room. "Someone, whether it's the Stahls or--other parties--" and here she looked at Mac, wondering if he'd been able to pin down Velathra about the trouble in the Winter Court "--is trying to foment war and trouble. I am glad for the courtesy of this notice and intend that we should act to foil the intentions of our collective foe."
"Well said," Cassius agreed, switching at once to harmless charm and letting graver matters drop for the time being. "May I propose a toast, that we should all drink to such a noble thought?" He lifted his glass and smiled, perfectly pleasantly, at Mac across the table. "To foiling the intentions of our foes. Whomever they may be."