Page 22 of To Catch A Rogue

Lark peered at Byrnes over the top of her cards. The Company of Rogues had broken up after dinner, but some of them had chosen to remain in the main cabin and share a hand—or ten—of cards. They'd invited both her and Blade to play.

"A little bit of this and that," Lark replied.

"She's a thief," Charlie said, sinking into the chair beside her and uncorking a bottle of blud-wein. He splashed some of it into a pair of glasses and handed one to her. "A damned good one too."

Byrnes grimaced. "I'm an ex-Nighthawk. I don't think I need to know this."

"Aw, poor Byrnes. Rubbing shoulders with the dregs of society. All sorts of bad manners might rub off."

"Speaking of thieves...." Byrnes's eyes narrowed on the bottle in Charlie's hand. "Is that one of mine?"

"Absolutely not." Charlie blinked innocent eyes at him. "I absolutely did not take this from the wine cabinet you've been storing in your rooms."

"Bloody hell. Why does everyone have to drinkmyblud-wein?"

"Because nobody else has acquired your fine tastes."

"So, a thief." Byrnes considered her again. He seemed remarkably interested in her for some reason. "Are you any good?"

"I make do."

Byrnes leaned back in his chair and then discarded a card on the small table between them. "You'll have to be better than 'making do' if you're to be a true asset to the team. Lord Balfour's incredibly dangerous, and he has at least twodhampirworking for him."

Ah. Testing her. This she understood. “Dhampir?"

"When blue bloods approach the Fade, they usually begin to devolve into a vampire," Charlie explained. "It was always thought to be inevitable. But several years ago, a scientist called Dr. Erasmus Cremorne created a serum that could transmute the process. Instead of becoming vampires, his surviving test subjects becamedhampir. They have all the benefits of a vampire—insanely strong, incredibly fast, and almost immune to any sort of injury or illness—but they retain their rational instincts."

"And incredibly good stamina," Byrnes added, which earned a snort of amusement from Ingrid.

"Balfour had recruited thedhampirthat broke out of Falkirk Asylum, which was where Cremorne was performing his experiments. Obsidian was one of them, but he recently defected to our side," Charlie said, tossing a card on the discard pile. "We’ve managed to kill most of his otherdhampiragents. Only three remain alive, according to Obsidian; Jelena and Dido, whom we’re bound to meet in Russia, and Silas, who could be anywhere. His allegiances are… unknown at this stage."

She looked at Byrnes, with his pale blond hair and skin. Albinism was an almost certain sign of the Fade. "So Obsidian isdhampir, and…?"

"I was given that ‘gift’ also," Byrnes replied, with a rueful twist of his lips.

Ingrid dealt them all another card, her bronze eyes heating as the wild within her roused with fury. "Not by choice. You barely survived."

Charlie shot Lark a look that clearly said, "Don’t ask."

"If you encounter adhampiragent my advice is get the hell out of there," Ingrid said.

"My advice is, don’t encounter one in the first place," Byrnes muttered. "You’re not equipped to sneak up on one, and escaping is virtually impossible, even for someone like me. This isn’t the rookeries anymore, sweetheart. Their senses are superb, their reflexes sublime."

"Understood." Lark rolled her eyes and stood. "More blud-wein?"

She tripped a little, and managed to catch herself on Byrnes's shoulder, spilling the dregs from her glass on his hand and shoulder. He steadied her, the faint arch to his brow indicating she hadn't impressed him with this little maneuver.

"I'm so sorry," Lark said, brushing the blud-wein off him, and Charlie suddenly became very interested in his cards all of a sudden.

"Quite all right," Byrnes drawled. "Perhaps you should have a glass of water, before you drink more?"

Lark glided past him. "I'll keep that in mind."

When she returned with the second bottle, Charlie flashed her a quiet smile.

"So," Lark said, as she resumed her cards. "As an ex-Nighthawk, areyouany good?"

Byrnes looked up from his cards incredulously. "I beg your pardon?"