“And why should I care about the timeline of your petty machinations?” She yawned delicately. “To see Nicholas Magister Luscian cast as a pariah, at my instigation, will gain me enough support in my House to challenge the Magister for mastery and then hold the throne afterward. In any case, you will not live to see your schemes bear fruit unless I allow you to survive.”
Collins stood straighter. “And what if I tell you the location of one of the Winds? Would that be worth saving my life?”
She cocked her head quizzically. “If I wanted to know that, I could just query the Embassy’s Security AI.”
Alex gave her a grim smile. “Not one of the Winds of this generation. I mean I could give you one of the next, still latent and relatively unprotected.”
She stared at him with perfect stillness. Then she rose and stepped forward, closing the distance between them to only a few inches. “Alexander, after so many months of bleating for me to save your life, you have finally said something interesting. How did you come by this information?”
“It doesn’t matter. The important thing is, I know—I’ll tell you who it is as soon as you cure me.” He grinned at her in triumph.
“Do you think your psychic inhibitor will protect the secret from me?” she hissed. “I will tear your fingers from their sockets, one by one, until you beg me to let you tell me what you know.”
Collins paled, but he stood firm. “I left a time-delayed message on my computer. If I don’t cancel it remotely every ten minutes, then it will be delivered directly to Armistice Security, detailing the information and the fact that I have disclosed it to you. If you kill me for my knowledge, then they will kill you afterward to prevent you from sharing it. But if we work together, we both profit. You will gain even more support within your House, and I will be cured and have the perfect weapon to bring down Daniels.”
She smiled lazily at him. “Very well. Give me the information, and once I have verified its validity, then I will cure you of your illness.”
Collins shook his head. “No, the cure first.”
She growled, red eyes shining black in the moonlight, and her voice slipped into a deeper register. “Do not try my patience, human. If you wish to dance with me, I will simply prevent you from canceling your email. Then Armistice Security will try to kill both of us to keep the information secret. Which of us do you think has a better chance at survival?”
Collins swallowed. “All right. I’ll tell you what I know, but there’s a catch. You can’t kill her until after I’m cured. Promise me that, and I will tell you everything.”
Yvette laughed, her voice sliding into a lower register—a deep, ugly, barking sound. “I have no intention of killing something so precious as a latent Wind, Alexander.”
“I don’t understand.”
She scowled at him. “You don’t need to understand. Tell me what I want to know, and I will cure you as soon as she is taken into custody.”
“I have your word on that?”
“You have my word.”
Collins took a deep breath. “Andrea Daniels.”
She laughed again. “The President’s daughter? You would sell out your master’s flesh and blood to save yourself and further your own ambitions?” She smiled widely. “Collins, I may even come to respect you in the days ahead. Where can I find her?”
Collins shivered at the malice dripping from her voice. “She’ll be back in Oxford within the week.”
She clapped her hands in delight. “In my own territory, no less!” Then she frowned. “The Archangel would not be as cavalier with her safety as to allow her free reign in hostile territory. What precautions has he taken to protect her?”
“They gave her a Sentinel bodyguard,” said Collins. “Jackson Anderson, element Earth.”
“Hmm. That poses a problem.” She tapped her fingertips against her jaw, lost in thought. “Even if he is put down quickly, his AI will certainly spread the alarm.”
Alex shrugged. “So burn out his AI implants with an electromagnetic pulse first.”
She faced him in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”
He raised his eyebrows. “It’s a simple magnetic projector. Any government with a nuclear program can supply you with one. The rogue CIA operation that coordinated our attack on the Armistice did extensive research on that aspect of their technology, so we know their biocircuitry is vulnerable.”
She simply stared at him. “And how did this fact not come out at the treason trials?”
Collins smiled. “We kept it to ourselves, along with the formula for the anti-Sentinel gas they developed. We’re still working on an agent to neutralize vampire physiology, but we’re limited by the number of volunteers we’re able to recruit in the wake of Lorcan’s assassination of the Fourth Council. Naturally, he frowns on such projects, but I’ve been able to keep it going in a restricted fashion.”
“You might actually be an ally worth saving.” She considered for a moment. “Very well. You will provide me with one of these magnetic projectors and a supply of the anti-Sentinel gas. I will capture the girl, and then you must come to me at my headquarters outside Manchester. There I will cleanse you of the cancer.” She reached into her blouse and drew a silver medallion on a chain from an inner pocket. “Take this.”
He stared at it. The face showed an inscribed design that made his head hurt. “What is it?”
“It’s a more powerful version of the psychic inhibitor that you already carry. It will be activated by any intrusion into your mind, and it will block out even a Fourth Order telepath for a short time.”
Collins took it from her. “I thought that was impossible.”
She shook her head. “Not impossible. Just very difficult, and costly.”
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What kind of cost?”
“Once the charm is activated, it will glow with a violet light. When that happens, you must seek me out immediately, for you will age a year for every day that the charm is active. It will also accelerate the spread of the cancer in your body, so you must reach me within a day, two at most, or you will not survive.”
He stared at the charm in his hand as if it would burn him. “Is this really necessary?”
“You tell me, Alexander.” She smiled. “Where will they look first when they find out that she has been betrayed?”
He swallowed in nervousness but then steeled his will and lifted the chain over his head. “How will I find you when the job is done?”
“That is the other function of the charm. Simply touch a drop of your blood to the metal, and it will teleport you directly to me. Do not use this power unless you have no other option.”
“Why not?” he asked, lifting the charm to look at it again.
“The teleport function will require a great deal of energy to cross the ocean without access to the Triumvirate’s fixed-point relay network. It will be powered by a decade of your life, and you will die of your illness within seconds of using it. If I am swift, then I will be able to save you in those seconds, but it will be a near thing. This is an option of last resort, to be used only if you are caught. If at all possible, I would suggest you use conventional transport to find your way to Manchester, and my scions will be able to trace you by the magic of the charm and bring you to me.”
He stared at the charm for a long moment. Then he slipped it into his shirt. “You haven’t told me what you plan to do with her, if you don’t plan on killing her.”
She watched him with her eyes half-closed in anticipation. “I plan to offer her a gift.”
“What gift?”
She smiled, and her fangs gleamed in the moonlight. “Immortality.”
CHAPTER 5
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Toby sat on the couch morosely flipping channels, never pausing more than a second or two on any one station. Finally, after he had skipped through the entire menu twice without stopping, Nick couldn’t stand it anymore and snatched the remote from his hand.
“Okay, that’s enough. Talk to me.”
Toby slumped farther into the cushions. “What’s to talk about?”
Nick took in his brother’s defeated posture. “Damn, Toby. I never thought I’d see you this wound up over a woman.”
“Blow me, Nicholas.”
Nick sat in the leather recliner across from Toby. “So you got dumped. Either you deal with it and move on, or you go after her and get her back.”
Toby’s glare could have stripped paint. “It’s not that simple.”
“Sure it is.” Nick sighed. “You know I was hardly in favor of your getting involved with Layla in the first place.”
Toby laughed harshly. “Yeah, no shit. You said so enough times.”
Nick’s eyes shaded toward red. “The point is you did nothing but fight the whole time you were together.”
Toby snorted as he turned back to the television. “We fucked, too. We fucked a lot.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Now that was just too much information, little brother. Anyway, it’s not like you treated her with any respect.”
Toby’s head snapped around to face Nick. “What the hell are you talking about? I treated her just fine.”
“Sure you did,” Nick sneered. “That’s why I had to find out you were dating when I found the two of you swimming naked in my pool.”
“Um, right. Sorry about that.” Toby’s face reddened. “I thought you were supposed to be in France, to meet with Gabrielle Dupont about bringing Paris into the Armistice.”
“How many ways could Gabrielle turn me down flat? Of course I came home early.” Nick eased the recliner back and put his feet up. “The point is, you kept her your dirty little secret. Did you ever get around to telling Mom or Faith about her?”
Toby opened his mouth for a scathing reply and then closed it silently. He tilted his head back against the cushions to look at the slowly rotating ceiling fan. “No,” he said grudgingly. “I thought they would disapprove.”
“And you’d have been right. But that’s no excuse for keeping them in the dark, unless you’re ashamed of her.”
Toby shot up and threw a cushion at him. “I’m not ashamed of her!” he yelled. “She’s great! Sure, she has a stick up her ass, but she’s smart, and funny, and she was just starting to loosen up, and … and…” Toby trailed off, rubbing at his eyes.
Nick stared at him. “And what?”
Toby slumped back against the couch in misery. “And God, I miss her.”
“Are you crying?” Nick asked in disbelief.
“Fuck off, Nick.” Toby stood and stalked into the kitchen.
Nick followed, watching Toby slam the cabinet doors, looking for something he could make with his limited cooking skills.
Eventually, Toby threw up his hands in disgust. “Christ! Don’t you have anything to eat in here besides blood and popcorn?”
“You already ate everything in the house.” Nick continued to watch him, his vampire senses fully open, reading the barely hidden distress in his brother’s mind, the bitterness in his scent.
Toby propped his arms against the countertop, facing away from Nick, with his head bowed. “She made me breakfast,” he said, his voice breaking.
“What?”
Toby turned around, staring at the floor. “She made me breakfast before she gave me this.” He stroked the gold cross at his throat. “She wanted to make sure I was safe, and I accused her of trying to control me.”
“You want her back, don’t you?” asked Nick.
Toby raised his head to look at his brother with a resigned expression. “Yeah, I do.”
“It wasn’t a healthy relationship. Are you sure you want to jump right back into it?”
Toby scowled. “How would you feel if you lost Jeremy?”
Nick regarded him soberly. “I love Jeremy.”
Toby turned away. “Touché.”
Nick placed his hands gently on his brother’s shoulders, squeezing lightly. “Do you love her, Toby?”
Toby paused for a long moment before speaking. “I don’t know,” he whispered.
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t.” Toby’s voice rose as he pulled away. “Do you think I fall in love every day? How the hell would I know what it feels like?”
Nick wrapped Toby in his arms. “That’s easy. It feels like all the bullshit in the world is worth it for another day together.” He kissed the top of Toby’s head as he felt his brother relax. “Maybe you should take a walk and think about that.”
The Citadel, Lunar Farside
Jeremy carried his bag down the short hallway that connected the passenger transport to the main transit hub. Stepping into the disembarkation lounge, he was surprised to see the Triumvirate waiting for him, escorted by Scott and Anaba, both dressed in the gray uniform of Armistice Security. Ana had reported in January that the authority of the Wind of Fire had left her, but she remained on as a Special Agent for Armistice Security in deference to her power and experience. It wasn’t uncommon for her to accompany Rory and Take to provide security, as there was no better protection than a linked team to watch each other’s backs, but for Scott to join them and leave the side of his pregnant wife could only mean serious trouble. Not even Nick usually gets the four most powerful Sentinels in the world in one place for a welcoming party, not to mention two of the strongest vampires in the entire Armistice. Then his heart dropped. Oh, God. Where’s Nick?
Concerned, he pushed his way through the small crowd of other passengers, trying to remain calm. “Hey, guys. Where’s Nick? He was supposed to meet me.” He took in their grave expressions. “Did something happen?”
Rory shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong, Jer. We just asked Nick to let us bring you home.”
“I see.” Jeremy’s heartbeat returned to normal and he frowned in annoyance. He’d been looking forward to seeing his husband again. After six weeks apart, he was surprised that Nick wouldn’t be tearing up the walls with impatience. “Any particular reason?”
“Yes,” said Take. “We can’t really discuss it here, though. Mind if we go to your apartment first?”
Jeremy looked back and forth between them. “Sure.” He followed them to the internal teleport gateways, and they jumped to the tower apartment that Nick and Jeremy shared when they visited the Citadel. Letting them into the apartment, Jeremy dropped his suitcase next to the couch and tried to contain his curiosity as Scott took up position outside the door. Then Ana sealed them inside the apartment behind a complex warding spell. “Can I get you guys anything? We’ve got whiskey, Tiamat, soda—”
Layla shook her head. “No thank you, Jeremy. I hoped you would help me with a matter of personal security, actually.”
Jeremy sat down on the couch. “Okay. What do you need?”
Layla took a seat in a chair across the coffee table from him. “Toby and I had a fight.”
Jeremy tried to keep a straight face. “That’s hardly news, Layla.”
Layla narrowed her eyes. “I am concerned that my emotional control is compromised. I am suspicious that it may be a symptom of a larger problem, and I need you to verify that my mind has not been tampered with.”
Jeremy looked at Rory and Take for confirmation before turning back to Layla. “Are you sure you’re not overreacting?”
“Of course, I’m not sure!” she snapped. “If I were, I wouldn’t need your assistance!”
Jeremy tilted his head, examining her. “Okay, I’m convinced. You never lose your temper enough to be rude in casual conversation.” He leaned forward. “You want me to do it now?”
“Yes. The sooner the better, please. Just to set my mind at ease.” She leaned back in her chair, apparently forcing herself to relax. “Do you need me to lower my shields?”
“First let me take a look with your shields up. Maybe whatever’s wrong is tied to your defenses. Let me compare what I see before and after you drop your shields.”
He focused his mind on her and gently probed over her sh
ields. For more than half an hour, he sifted through her thoughts and memories. Feeling defeated, he shook his head. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, Layla.”
She ground her teeth in frustration. “Then take another look with my shields down.”
“I don’t know that it will do much good.”
“Jeremy, please,” she said. “I need to know.”
Jeremy glanced at Rory and Take. Take’s expression was unreadable, as usual, but Rory nodded in encouragement, one telepath to another. Jeremy turned again to face Layla. “All right. Drop your shields, and I’ll take another look.”
Layla closed her eyes and dismantled her mental defenses. When her shields were entirely down, he walked the perimeter of her mind, inspecting her fortifications, but saw nothing to explain her bouts of uncontrolled emotion. He started to withdraw from her mind when he noticed something new. Her thoughts carried a curious resonance that he hadn’t noticed before. He spread his mind out across the periphery of her defenses and listened. There it is again. An echo of her surface thoughts, reflected off another mental shield. Slowly, carefully, he tracked the echo, finding it originating internally to her body. He directed his senses lower, following the trace until he found it, low in her abdomen. Another mind, heavily shielded. He tried to probe beyond the shield and was shocked when he met a wall he couldn’t cross. That’s impossible. I’m a Fourth Order telepath. No one can keep me out.
Then the barrier to his thoughts lifted, and a mental probe reached out to him. Jeremy linked with it and found a curious void beyond. Not empty, just unformed. He caught a sense of lassitude, of contentment … of anticipation. Then the other mind came more awake and focused its attention on Jeremy. The probe went through his shields as if they weren’t even there, and he felt his memories being read. He tried to pull away, to break the link, but he was held fast, completely helpless while the other mind completed its inspection. Then the probe withdrew from his mind, leaving him free again.
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