“Ulbrine,” Piscary said, his voice smooth with promised threat and anticipation. “You left my meeting prematurely. There’s something important you need to bring to the enclave’s attention.” His eyes slid to Kal. “And I have a small task for you, Dr. Kalamack. Dr. Cambri told me you know of a metabolism booster. Is that true? Be careful; your life depends upon it.”
Kal jerked his arm free of Ulbrine, the remembered betrayal of the enclave member haunting his eyes. “I do,” Kal said, and Piscary beamed. The expression seemed practiced on the master vampire, but was effective nevertheless.
“Grand!” Motions fast, Piscary made a gesture, sending Leo for the car, presumably. “There will be no more ruckus tonight. You’ll stay in Cincinnati and make your metabolism booster for all of the vampire society. Something clean and without undesirable side effects.”
“I will not,” Kal said clearly, and Piscary jerked to a stop, his eyebrows high.
“I force no man to do anything,” Piscary said, and Trisk surreptitiously tapped the nearest ley line, laying a thought among it so light that even Quen beside her couldn’t feel it. “But if your answer remains unchanged, you alone will take the entirety of blame for the plague.”
Kal drew himself up. “I hold a chartered name that can be traced back to our beginnings. You can’t force me to do anything.”
Piscary’s eyes went to Ulbrine, who was standing deathly still with no expression. “The enclave will do anything to hide that the Angel tomato plague was the elves’ fault,” Piscary said. “Sacrifice you without thought. He did so once already. If it’s allowed to become public knowledge that the elves caused the unbalance, the world would band together and finish what the demons started.” Piscary’s smile shifted from one of practiced, fond persuasion to one of pure dominance. This one was real, and Trisk shuddered, glad it wasn’t directed at her.
“Tell me I lie,” Piscary said to Ulbrine, and the man’s jaw clenched. “One elf, even from as high a house as yours, is a small sacrifice to save your species.”
Kal’s confidence faltered as he turned to Ulbrine and the man looked away. Slowly Kal’s expression went blank. His finger twitched. It was one of his tells, and Trisk took a huge breath.
“Look out!” she exclaimed, dropping back even as Quen jerked her behind him. Tossed, she spun to the pavement, hitting Daniel to send them both sprawling. Quen stood before them, and she winced, feeling it when his circle sprang up around all three of them, undrawn but firm.
“Detrudo!” Kal shouted, and cries rang out as everyone outside Quen’s circle was bowled over by an expanding bubble of air. Leo rolled almost into the bonfire. With a whoosh, the flames sprang high only to nearly go out when the wood scattered.
“Catch him!” she shouted from the ground, but Kal had pulled Ulbrine to his feet, dragging him to the large circle the witches had etched in the pavement before the bonfire.
“Stay back!” Kal shouted as a huge bubble rose up around them. It was too large for any but perhaps a coven of witches to hold comfortably, but Kal held it alone, impressing Trisk. “I will not be betrayed a second time,” he muttered as he pushed Ulbrine out of the way and used a half-charred stick to etch an even smaller circle within his larger one.
A circle within a circle? Trisk thought, fear a cold spike when she figured it out.
Piscary found his feet, his hands on his hips as he stared at Kal as if he were a spoiled child throwing a tantrum. “This is getting tiresome. Ellen, how did he get the charmed silver off?” he asked, and she shrugged.
“What are you doing, Kalamack?” Ulbrine said as he stood, eyeing the circle that kept the vampires at bay. “There is nowhere to go.”
“You’d give me up? Twice?” Angry, Kal tossed the stick aside. “I’m no one’s scapegoat. You set me to this task, and I will not be punished for it.” Biting his lip, he spat blood into the small circle and invoked it. “Algaliarept, I summon you.”
Trisk felt ill, clutching at Quen when power swarmed up out of the earth. Edging backward, Ulbrine went pale. “No,” he whispered as understanding filled him. “You can’t!”
“What is he doing?” Daniel asked, and Quen’s eyes narrowed.
“Committing suicide,” Quen said, his expression shifting to one of guilt. “Trisk. I’m sorry.”
Trisk shook her head. It wasn’t suicide, but it was close. They were in the open. Anyone could see. If Kal didn’t make the booster, they wouldn’t come out of the closet, and if that didn’t happen, Cincinnati would be destroyed as Detroit had been. “Kal!” she exclaimed, pulling strands of her hair from her face. “What are you doing!”
But it was too late, and with no fanfare, Algaliarept appeared within the smaller circle.
“I will not be dragged about,” the demon intoned, his goat-slitted red eyes finding Trisk over his blue-tinted glasses. “You spread my name like butter across bread. You will live a thousand years in pain for this.”
“I summoned you, demon. Not her,” Kal said boldly, and Algaliarept shifted, his surprise genuine as he saw Kal with Ulbrine, the older elf nervously backing up. “You forgot something in your haste to leave this morning.”