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“This is the domain of the great Adilla,” he said, waving both hands in the air, derision dripping from his tongue. “No vampire survives here without his favor. You wouldn’t be the first new arrival to run afoul of him.”

“He murdered my emissary.” At the other vampire’s questioning look, Dominique amended, “My friend.”

“So you came running for revenge? Not wise.”

“Since you are here, are you acting on his behalf as well, then?”

The broad, gentle face split into a savage grin that made Dominique’s hackles rise. “He would love to kill me if he could, but I’m just a little too strong and too clever. I survive to be an eternal thorn in his side.” The grin faded. “Fear not. Any foe of Adilla’s is a friend of mine, and any victim of his is under my protection.”

“Then I am in your debt.Je vous remercie.”

“You are lucky is what you are. Adilla and his sycophants left two nights ago for their summer quarters. So when I spotted his goon, Esteban, in the street earlier, I knew something ugly must be happening.” He looked Dominique up and down. “Strange that he would stay behind for a mere youngling.”

“I am a very big thorn,” Dominique said, flashing an equally ferocious grin. In his present condition, he wouldn’t even try to explain it. No blood-drinker in their right mind would believe a word of the truth from him right now. “My name is Dominique Marchant.”

“Isao Kiyomori,” the other vampire offered with a small bow before coming closer. “Put all fantasies of revenge aside and leave this city tonight. Esteban will come for your ashes tomorrow night. If he doesn’t find them, he will find you. Am I making myself clear?”

Dominique considered his new ally. Isao smelled of deep woodland, confirming Dominique’s estimate of his age. Maybe not an ancient one, but close, and not an entity to trifle with. “I do not have the luxury of seeking revenge, no matter how deserved. Nor do I have a choice about finding Adilla. Can you tell me where he is?”

“I could,” Isao said after a moment’s thought. “But I won’t. I won’t be responsible for your death. But understand this, young one. If you stay here, you are on your own. I save those I can, but I’m not carrying a battle to Adilla.”

He brushed past Dominique and headed for the exit, but stopped when Dominique said, “Why is that, old man? If you oppose him, surely he has caused you grief?”

Isao didn’t respond right away, and Dominique turned to see him paused in the doorway, one hand on the frame as if to steady himself. With quiet vehemence he said, “Adilla has caused me grief without end from the moment he turned me.” Glancing over his shoulder, he added, “I cannot destroy him without destroying myself.”

Dominique opened his mouth, but Isao was already gone. “I know,” he said softly. “I know the feeling.”

20

Necessary Evils

WhenDominiqueemergedfromhis lair in the suite’s closet, Cassidy embraced him. Her delicious, lush scent wafted around him as he held her close. Her delicious, lush,pregnantscent.

“Finally,” she muttered against his shoulder. “The sun takes forever to set around here.”

She was dressed to go out, and there were two other unexpected but familiar heartbeats thumping away in the suite’s living room.

“How do you feel?” she asked, stepping back to appraise him with a critical eye.

“Restored,” he assured her. After the previous night’s trials, he had indulged in all the blood he could find until the sun was all but up. That, plus a full day spent at rest rather than pretending to be human, had restored him to the full and terrifying power of the Lord of Night.

“Maybe you can restore us tonight, too,” she suggested, one arched brow saying all he could no longer see in her mind.

His teeth—and other parts of him—ached to oblige, but now was not the time. Their ritual was not something he wanted to share with their present company. “Plus tard.”

“Yes,” she agreed with a sigh. “Definitely later.”

Dominique swapped his wrinkled shirt for a fresh one, finger-combed his hair, and followed Cassidy into the living room.

Jackson and Garrett Striker rose from the sofa when they entered. Both their faces were lined with exhaustion, though Garrett’s far more so than his nephew’s. “Gentlemen. I did not expect you.”

“Can’t keep me down for long. You know that,” Garrett said and smoothed his thinning hair against his skull. A strange discomfort edged his usually feral smile.

The bantering response gave Dominique pause. For all the time the hunters had worked for him, the moments they all occupied the same space could be counted on one hand. Unless he was moving in for a kill, Garrett kept his distance from all things vampire.

Dominique and Cassidy settled into the second sofa. She, too, watched Garrett with suspicion. As did Jackson.

The two hunters sat again. Jackson placed a small, flat case on the table. “You didn’t ask for this, but the lab’s been busy. I thought you might have a use for them, so I had them couriered today. There are three doses in here.”