The Last of the Monsters (14 page)

“Does he know we’re right here?” Henry asked generally.

“I don’t think he cares,” Luke said.

“I could make him care.” Runako took a half step forward.

The PR people sucked in a breath. Jack held up a hand. “My apologies. Normally we wouldn’t have this kind of meeting with clients in the room.”

Luke pulled Runako back. “We’re fine. Continue.”

A woman with a streak of pink in her hair and bright red lipstick narrowed her eyes. “What’s their history with humans?”

Luke opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Jack cut him off. “Doesn’t matter. That’s going to be part of the mystery—let historians and scholars rewrite history. Let them beg the monsters for chances to interview them. Reality is complicated. We want to tell a simple story.”

“Protectors. They’ve been the protectors of humans for all of history,” a young man with dark eyes said. “They’re bodyguards, warriors.”

“Good, keep going.”

“That’s why there are gargoyles on buildings—it’s a remnant of a time when real gargoyles protected humans.”

“And that one looks a bit like a parade dragon.” An older woman wearing miles of gold necklaces pointed at Tokaki.

“My Clan were the protectors of the Chinese and Japanese emperors,” Tokaki said.

“Good to know, but irrelevant,” Jack said

Henry looked at Tokaki and saw the surprise on the tiger’s face.

When writing the screenplay, Jane had made a point of not including too many true things, but that had been to protect them. Jo, the production designer, had also been careful to create sets that didn’t closely resemble either the Great Clan’s home in the Rocky Mountains or Tokaki’s Clan’s home in China. But they’d all assumed that once the movie was out and they started talking about their people, the thing that would save them would be truths like the fact that Tokaki was descended from a human princess.

“Why is it irrelevant?” Luke asked.

Jack braced a hand on the back of a chair. He was older, polished. He looked like the men on the covers of the magazines they’d used as guides when first arriving in LA.

“Is this movie a true story?”

They looked at each other, then Luke answered, “No.”

“Exactly.” Jack started pacing again. “What you’re doing is creating a first impression. The truth has too many variables—if the story is based on a kernel of truth, all the better. If it’s not—” he shrugged, “—the fallout is managed.

“I’m not saying the movie is a bad idea—it’s not. We saw some clips, and it looks good. But that’s not going to be enough. The movie will reach the small people, the flyovers, but it won’t sway policymakers, pundits and leaders.”

“What do you propose?” Lena asked.

“A marketing campaign for the movie and a simultaneous PR campaign about the reality of monsters. When it all comes out, we’ll be ready with a press release that tells the story we want told.”

“Superheroes.” The woman with the pink hair had been writing furiously. “They’re superheroes, out of hiding. They want to let the world know they exist.”

“Why now?” Jack asked his employee.

One of the men spoke up. “They’ve just defeated something, someone.”

“That implies there’s something to fear and opens them up to attack.”

“The world is ready. The world is finally ready to see them, and now that there’s global communication, they can come out to everyone at once.”

“Good,” Jack said. He looked at Michael. “And what about you?”

Michael grumbled a little, then shifted. Unlike the others he appeared fairly human in his true form, with huge white wings.

“An angel?” The woman with the gold chains sat back and whistled. “That’s a lot.”

Jack examined Michael. “Agreed. You stay under wraps unless we need you.”

Michael nodded, looking relieved.

“This is great and all,” Cali said, “but what do you want them to do exactly?”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “We’re going to start at the top.”

“The top?” Lena asked.

“Which one of you is in charge?” he asked the monsters.

They all looked at Maeve, then each other. Henry shook his head slightly. Maeve was too important to risk. Plus she was a bit nuts.

“I guess I am,” Luke said.

“Good, then you’re coming with me to Washington. You’re going to meet the president.”

Chapter Eleven

“Jack, how are you doing?”

“Good, good. How about you?”

“Not bad.”

Henry watched as Jack Vice embraced the White House Press Secretary. The men looked eerily similar.

“Are they…?” he asked Luke.

“Brothers? Yes. Lena looked up Jack Vice’s bio. His real last name is Tanel—he changed it because his brother was in politics.”
 

Luke stood with his arms crossed, but Henry could tell he was nervous. They’d boarded a private jet to Washington this morning. After much debate among themselves, it had been decided that Henry would go with Luke. Runako couldn’t keep his mouth shut, Tokaki was too easygoing and Michael was officially under wraps unless they needed him.

Henry had really never imagined they’d end up here. Long ago, their people had been the advisors and guards of human rulers—in cultures and dynasties around the world and spanning thousands of years. But it had been centuries since any of their people had met with a human leader.

“So, what is it?” The press secretary, Adam Tanel, looked curiously at Henry and Luke.

“Let’s go someplace private.”

They were led to an inner room in the hotel where they were meeting.

“These two gentlemen are part of a secret race. In the past, they were human protectors, but a few hundred years ago they went into hiding. Now they want to make their presence known.”

Adam narrowed his eyes, looking first at Henry and Luke, then at Jack. “Secret race? Not more vampires?”

“No, the vampires are taken care of.
Twilight
did what they needed it to do, so they’re okay.”

Henry and Luke looked at each other. The humans knew about vampires? The Clan wasn’t even sure they existed.

“So what are they?”

“Monsters.”

“That feels like a derogatory term.”

“How about gargoyles?”

Adam looked at them. “They look human enough.”

“Right now.”

The press secretary sighed. “Jack, don’t give me the spin.”

“How about they show you?”

At that, Henry and Luke rose and carefully took off their suits. Under them they were wearing loose shorts made out of the stretchiest material the wardrobe department could find.

When Jack nodded, they changed.

Adam whistled. “Damn.”

“As you can see, this is something the president needs to know about.”

“They’re human-friendly?”

“They want to be. They went to Hollywood looking for help.”

“Hollywood?” Adam shook his head.

“Because Washington is so welcoming?” Jack raised a brow.

“Fair enough.” He took his phone from his pocket. “The president has a light schedule today—hopefully we can catch him. You’ll fill me in on the rest as we go.”

“Change back, guys.”

Henry and Luke melted back into their human forms and quickly redressed before following the humans out to a car.

Henry looked at Luke. “Is this really going to work?”

Luke raised his eyebrows. “You never thought it would, did you?”

“I hoped, but humans are not known for being accepting.”

“We don’t need all of them to accept us. Just enough of them to keep our Clan safe.”

Henry nodded and joined Luke in the black car that was taking them to the White House.

“We have a problem,” Jo said.

“Oh thank God, the Secret Service didn’t kill you.” Akta dropped down onto the floor.

“What? The Secret Service killed who?”

“Jo?” Akta stared at her phone. She’d been so anxious to answer it she hadn’t even looked at the screen.

“Uh, yeah, remember me?”

“Yeah, sorry, I thought you were Henry.”

“Didn’t he go to Washington with Luke?”

“Yes, their plane landed a few hours ago.”

“And you think that they’ve already been killed by the Secret Service?”

“Okay, probably not, but I haven’t heard from them.”

“Have you talked to Lena? She’d know if Luke was in trouble.” Mates could tell when the other was in danger or hurt. Tokaki hadn’t known Jo was his mate until she’d been seriously hurt and he’d been able to feel her pain.

“I did. She says they’re fine and that I should stop calling her every five minutes.”

Jo sighed. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, can we talk about our problem?”

“We have another one?”

“Yeah. We do. I—”

There was a clatter on the other end of the line.

“Hello? Hello!” The voice was female and sounded young, no more than seventeen or eighteen.

“Uh, hello?”

“ARE YOU THE MOVIE STAR?”

Akta held the phone away from her ear. Who the hell was she talking to?

“I’VE SEEN ALL YOUR MOVIES!”

“Can I talk to Joanna, please?”

“She’s my, uh…” The line went quiet for a moment, and Akta heard muttering in what might have been Chinese or Japanese. “She’s my sister-in-law!”

“Jo is your sister-in-law?” Akta had a vague memory of Jo saying something about Tokaki’s sister, who’d helped take care of Jo when she was injured.

“Yes, I’m Madoka, and I’m going to be a movie star!”

“Oh shit,” Akta whispered.

There was more clacking and the sound of voices arguing before Jo came back on the line.

“Akta.”

“I get the problem.”

“Madoka is a little Hollywood mad.”

“Why is she here?”

“Tokaki told her she had to stay at home, but she must have slipped away from their father.”

“Is she a monster too?”

“Yep.”

“Great, so now we have
two
big-ass white tigers and a bunch of gargoyles.” Akta headed for the wineglasses.

“Uh, actually, no. We have one angel, a bunch of gargoyles, one white tiger…and one purple dragon.”

“Hold.” Akta put down the phone, braced her hands on the counter and took a deep breath. She picked up the phone again.

“Still with me?” Jo asked.

“Yep. Purple dragon girl. Awesome. Have you talked to Lena or Margo?”

“Tokaki is calling them. Madoka really wanted to talk to you.”

“Why me?”

“Like she said, she’s seen your movies.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet. I really appreciate my fans and people who are willing to take a risk on independent films.”

“Focus, woman. You can play grateful movie star later.”

“Well, I do appreciate them.”

“She wants to meet you.”

In the background Akta heard Madoka yell out, “I want to be in the movie!”

“Ah, okay, how about you come here?”

“See you in twenty minutes.”

Akta heard the car engine and checked her reflection one last time. She’d cleaned up quickly and changed into a cute, casual dress, paired with a long braid and chunky jewelry. Maybe it was vain, but it gave her something to do, kept her mind off what might or might not be happening to Henry, and after all, she had an image to maintain.

The doorbell rang.

Akta opened the door, a gracious smile on her face.

“Oh my God, hi!” A five-foot-tall whirlwind of neon pink, lavender and plastic jewelry barreled through the door. “Hell-Oh!”

Akta fell back a step.

Madoka bounced her way in. She had long dark hair worn in two high pigtails, the base of each decorated with an assortment of sparkly scrunchies and barrettes. She was wearing a pink shirt, a short floral skirt and a long sparkly scarf.

Jo and Tokaki were on the porch. Jo was hiding a smile and Tokaki’s head was hanging down as if he was exhausted.

“Is this your house?” Madoka flopped down onto the couch.

“Thanks, Akta.” Jo hauled Tokaki inside. “She wasn’t going to be happy until she got some Hollywood in her life.”

“She’s only a teenager. It’s too dangerous for her to be here,” Akta whispered.

“She’s not a teenager,” Tokaki muttered.

Akta looked at the spunky Asian girl on her couch. “She’s younger?”

“No, older. Much older.”

“I wonder what her skin care regimen is.” Akta eyed Madoka’s smooth face enviously.

“It’s called being a purple dragon half the time.” Jo patted Akta on the shoulder.