The building itself was mammoth, a long, handsome, three-storied brick front with two wings jutting at wide angles back from its sides.

Each of them was to have their own room and, he reckoned, half an army could be put up there. Which was what was happening. He sensed it being filled with those arriving, mostly vampires, some wolves.

He was now in a room on the bottom floor at the far back of the north wing. It was the library, if the walls covered in shelved books was anything to go by.

Abel sensed Gregor’s approach and turned from the view well before he walked through the door.

Abel watched the vampire close it behind him, but the instant he turned toward Abel, Abel spoke.

“You got a shitload of explaining to do.”

Gregor lifted a hand, nodding and slowly moving into the room. “I understand, Abel. But I’ve requested Lucien and Callum come to us so we can finally share with you all that needs to be shared.”

“My guess is they already know what those bitches were at the restaurant, so you can start with enlightening me on them while we wait,” he demanded.

“Those…bitches?” Gregor asked, sounding confused.

“The ones who formed out of thin air,” Abel explained.

“Ah,” he murmured, moving further into the room, then stopping. “You mean the wraiths.”

“The what?”

“Wraiths,” Gregor repeated. “You see, there are more immortal beings beyond vampires and werewolves. There are wraiths, phantoms, golem, and The Wee.”

Fabulous.

“You obviously don’t know this,” Gregor started as he moved to a chest that had a bunch of glasses and finely cut stoppered bottles on it. “But their appearance today was most welcome.”

“I do know it, seein’ as if they hadn’t shown, we’d all be dead,” Abel returned.

“No,” Gregor said quietly, making the chest with the bottles but turning to Abel. “That’s not the entire reason. You see, until recently, we did not have their allegiance. They’ve since explained to me that this was withheld for the purpose of them being able to intervene in the likes of what happened today. Knowing plans were being made, plans that were to be carried out, they were paying lip service to our foes. This meant there was a trust established that allowed them to be in the know of things we were not, including their plans to attack today, en masse, after they’d dispatched my scout. Something they did within seconds of his making his all-clear call, giving them the opportunity to be on the move swiftly and take us by surprise.”

“And they found him how?” Abel asked.