He came to stand beside her, looking out the gap himself at the now-empty training room. “When Auren was Prime, humans all over the South died every night to satisfy the bloodlust of his Court. It was kept out of the media because they feared Auren’s wrath, but eventually our world would have been exposed and the entire territory would have been swarmed with vampire hunters. These people want the no-kill laws lifted so they can take lives again—hundreds of innocent lives. If I have to break the bones of every last insurgent to prevent that, I will, and though I may hate doing it, I won’t waste one second on regret.”
His eyes were hard, glittering in the dim light like shards of obsidian, and he added harshly, “I don’t expect you to understand what I face every night. I am responsible for every vampire under my influence and every human they feed on. That means making difficult choices. Judge all you like—you would do the same in my place.”
“What do you want me to say?” she demanded. “You’re right, I don’t understand. I’m never going to understand. I’m just a human, remember?”
He glared at her wordlessly for a moment before saying quietly, “You’ll never be just anything, Miranda Grey.”
Behind him the door opened again and Faith said with studied nonchalance, “Everything all right in here, Sire? I was going to take Miranda back to the suite before I went to the patrol leaders’ conference call.”
Eyes still fixed on Miranda, David said to Faith, “That’s fine. I’ll meet you in the conference room.”
With that, he turned away from Miranda and walked past the Second out into the night.
Faith watched him go, then gave Miranda an impressed look. “Nice work,” she said. “Not many people can get under his skin like that.”
Miranda tried, and failed, to come up with a clever rejoinder. All she could summon was a sigh. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
“You two are so cute,” Faith remarked as they walked.
“That’s not exactly the word I’d use.”
Faith walked with her hands clasped behind her back, ostensibly looking up at the cloudy night sky. More rain was on the way. “You know,” she said, “When I met the Prime, he was a lieutenant in Arrabicci’s Elite, and a very different person. He was arrogant, even cruel at times. War was a game to him, and consequences were for humans.”
Miranda frowned. “What changed?”
“I don’t really know. He’s never been one to share the details of his past—for the most part vampires don’t talk about that kind of thing. We all have a tacit understanding that everyone has a painful history.” She held open the Haven door for Miranda. “All I know for sure is that the Signet changed him. I don’t think any of them realize what a burden that thing is until they have it around their necks. They take the power, the responsibility, and the fame, and there’s no way out but death.”
Faith gave her a sidelong look and concluded, “If you ask me, he needs a Queen.”
Miranda groaned. “Not you, too! I thought you said all of that was just rumor.”
“It is. But it’s still a nice idea. It’s almost a fairy tale, or some sort of archetypal myth. You’re Persephone, wrenched away from spring and taken to live in the underworld, where you eat the pomegranate seeds and become the Queen.”
Miranda rounded on her. “You’ve got to be joking. Has everyone around here conveniently forgotten what happened to me a couple of weeks ago? Do you really think now’s a good time for matchmaking? And what, I’m supposed to give up being human for a man? When I don’t think I’ll ever want one to touch me again? There’s so much that’s insane about that I don’t even know where to start, forgetting about the fact that nobody in their right mind would ever, ever want to live like you. God, Faith, please just let it be.”
Faith looked neither taken aback by her outburst or the least bit sheepish. She shrugged. “I didn’t say you should go jump his bones right this second, or in a month or a year. I’m just saying . . .” She nodded to the suite door guards and, again, held the door as for Miranda as she said, “Don’t deny yourself the possibility of happiness one day because you’re broken right now. At least consider the pomegranate seeds. Who knows? Besides . . . I hear Hades is spectacular in bed.”
Faith was laughing as Miranda slammed the door on her.
Eight
The insurgent had apparently never seen a Prime before.
He struggled in the grasp of the two Elite who held him on his knees on the wet concrete, his eyes huge and white, whimpering under the gaze of the black-clad man who stood watching him impassively and waiting for him to shut up.
David was running out of patience. The spy in the recruits had been dealt with and the informant executed, but so far none of the captives had provided any useful information leading to the rest of the syndicate. The attacks had died down, turning back on humans again, but their viciousness was increasing. The last victim had been flayed, her skin stretched like a cow’s at the tanner and branded with the Seal of Auren. David could only hope that she had been dead when her flesh was peeled from her bones.
The next step was to take the interrogation to the streets of Austin, and so he had come to the Shadow District where the vampire-only bars and businesses were, to go through all of this again, this time out in public where the others could watch from their hidden corners and carry the news to their friends.
“Are you finished?” he asked.
The insurgent was gaping at him and his mouth was working soundlessly, making him look rather like a fish on dry land.
“Let’s make this quick,” David went on. “I have better things to do than stand out here in this godforsaken weather and torture you. Now, tell me who you’re working for and where I can find them.”
No answer. He hadn’t really expected one. He was starting to think that the reason none of the captives had told him anything was that they honestly didn’t know. He was sure Helen had been higher on the totem pole, but the rest . . . all their tattoos had been fairly new. They couldn’t have ranked too highly in the organization yet. They were expendable, and so they knew little of the real plan or the leadership. Chances were this fool had no idea whose service he was in.
He decided to take a different approach and motioned for the guards to loosen their hold on the vampire. The insurgent all but tumbled to the ground with a grunt, catching himself with his hands.
David crouched in front of him, leaning in to catch his eye. “Let’s just talk, then. What’s your name, lad?”
Confused by the sudden change of tone, the kid—and kid he was, he couldn’t have been over ten years immortal—muttered, “Rollins.”
“How long have you been a vampire, Rollins?”
The kid didn’t meet his eyes, but said, “Three years.”
“So I take it you’ve never seen me before.”
“No, Sire.” There was both fear and contempt in the last word.
“What did your new friends tell you about me?” David asked.
Rollins looked from left to right at the guards who were still blocking his escape and judged the odds were not in his favor. “They said you were the enemy. That you want to tell us all when to feed and what we can feed on. That pretty soon we’ll all be living in camps out at the Haven standing in line for blood.”
“I see. Do you know who’s behind all of this, Rollins? Where those stories came from?”
“We’re fighting for our freedom. The Shadow World is rising up against tyranny. You think I’m going to tell you anything? This is worth more than my life.”
David nodded. “Righteousness is satisfying, isn’t it? Sometimes having a cause to believe in is what makes this all worthwhile. But then you have to wonder: When it comes right down to it, are you really willing to lay down your life for a creed, especially one given to people you’ve never seen?”
Rollins looked up at him, baffled.
“Let me give you what you want, then, Rollins. Release him.”
The guards clearly thought their Prime had lost his mind but did as they were told, stepping back from the kid to let him stand.
David straightened. “Here’s your chance,” the Prime told Rollins, holding out his hands. “Be a hero. Kill me, if you can. Everyone else, stand back.”
The boy’s eyes narrowed, understandably. “This is a trick.”
“No trick.” David pulled back his coat and drew his sword, handing it hilt first to the nearest Elite. She held it like it was Excalibur. “Hand-to-hand combat to the death. Show me how strongly you believe. Kill me and take the Signet back to your masters. I’m sure the rewards will be great.”
Rollins stood staring at him, thunderstruck, trying to gather his wits and his courage; he had to know how ridiculous the idea was, but at the same time, if he really did buy into what these “freedom fighters” were selling, he couldn’t pass up the chance. There had to be some kind of standing order to slay the Prime on sight.
The minute stretched out interminably as Rollins panted, his eyes wide, his hands fisting at his sides. David simply waited, letting his power-aura expand to show the boy exactly what he was facing: the full complement of darkness and death that bent only to the Prime’s will. The Elite watched on full alert. They were ready to pounce on the boy the second he twitched if it looked like he might actually harm their leader, although it would hardly be necessary. Even if he did try to attack, it would take a much greater vampire than Rollins to defeat a Prime in anything like a fair fight.