“You don’t get Zack.” Pike didn’t move from his central space in the hall, and the two vampires dragging Nash had to laboriously work past him. “But since you’re leaving, take his bodyguard.” Pike sniffed, and the two dropped him between us and backed off. “Such as he is.”

“Nash . . .” I pulled on him, but it wasn’t until Edden helped that I was able to move the heavy man out of Pike’s reach. As Jenks stood guard, I crouched to feel his pulse and measure his breaths. He was out cold, but it was probably a charm.

“Sir?” the woman with the clipboard said, and I looked up, shocked at the fear in her voice. The three with her were pale. “She’s coming,” she whispered.

CHAPTER

10

The woman backed sideways until she hit the wall. Head down, she hardly breathed, fingers shaking as they held her clipboard in front of her as if it was a shield.

Jenks shrugged, and I rose to stand before Pike, Nash behind me. Edden was trying to pat him awake, and I heard Nash snort at the snap of smelling salts. Not a charm, then, I thought, not sure if I was glad they hadn’t gotten the help of a witch, or unhappy because it meant they’d probably hit him too hard.

“I told her I had this,” Pike whispered, his furtive glance returning from the mouth of the empty hallway. “You should have left,” he said louder to me as Nash sat on the floor and tried to find himself. “Some advice. If you’re going to spout demands at her, I suggest you couch them with platitudes. Here.” He drew a necklace from an inner jacket pocket and extended it to me. “I don’t know why I’m doing this, but you’ve got nothing,” he added. “If you want to keep that ring of yours, hide it.”

I instinctively covered my hand, confused. Hide my ring? What is she? A pickpocket? “Thanks, but I’ve got my external bling at the level I’m comfortable with.” In vampire circles, the more you drew attention to your neck, the more you were looking for trouble, and my estimation of Pike went down for such a lame attempt at getting me to trigger Constance.

“I’ll take it.” Edden leaned past me, and Pike let it coil up in his palm. “It was in the information packet,” he whispered as he dropped back to show me the simple, fake gold strand. There was no magic in it for all its shine, and it probably cost all of five dollars. “She’s got a thing for jewelry,” he added. “It wouldn’t hurt to put it on.”

“I’m not wearing that piece of cheap crap, and not for her,” I said, and Pike snickered.

“You try to do something nice for someone . . .” Pike drawled.

I stiffened, my next words lost when Nash shook off his daze and staggered to his feet. “Rachel,” he rasped, his fingers finding my arm. “Thank the Goddess you’re here. They have him. They stole him.”

“Whoops!” I said, grappling for his arm when Nash wobbled, threatening to go down and take me with him. “Up you go,” I wheezed. “Got your balance? Edden, some help here?”

“Next time hide when I tell you to,” Jenks said to Nash, and then I gasped when a growl of rage erupted from Nash and he lurched forward.

“Nash!” Edden tackled the man in a sliding thud. “Knock it off, or I’ll down you myself!” the captain bellowed, almost sitting on him. “You don’t rush vampires. Ever!”

I looked up, my own anger swelling.

It was Landon. My lip curled in distaste as he came down the hallway at the back of an entourage of beautiful people, both men and women, all vampires, evidenced by the grace they showed, all living by their subservient cast. The former leader of the elven dewar was in a suit as usual, the high ribbon of office around his neck and that same flat-top hat that seemed to mean status in both the elven and the demon world. The living vampires with him were in professional-looking office dresses or tailored suits, none of them as nice as Pike’s, though. And the women are all wearing ugly jewelry, I mused, my thoughts going to the necklace in Edden’s pocket.

“He gave Zack to them!” Nash cried out, his frustration and helplessness obvious as Edden dragged him back behind me. “He gave him to them! You are a traitor, Landon,” he all but raged. “And you will be held accountable!”

“We’re not at war. There can be no traitors,” Landon said as Pike shifted to make room for them, though he did not plaster himself against the walls as did the others. “Constance wanted to speak with the head of the dewar is all, and since she can’t go to him, he came to her.”

Against his will, I thought, face warming as I checked to see that Edden had Nash.

Landon drifted to a halt, clearly content to stay at the back. I thought the smile he wore wasn’t nearly worried enough for the number of vampires down here. Just because living vampires didn’t need blood to survive, it didn’t mean they didn’t like it.

“I should have let you die on my church floor,” I said, and Landon’s smile vanished. He was probably betting he would get control of the dewar through this little stunt, and as I glanced over the vampires coming to a slow halt between us, I vowed that wouldn’t happen.

There was only one person before me besides Pike and Landon who didn’t have his or her eyes downcast. She had to be Constance, and my suspicion grew as I took in the small woman standing before me with a neutral, pleasant expression, her rings and jewelry draped about her in an overdone, clinking show.

Constance had died in her mid-thirties, maybe, being somewhat short and small, with her dark hair loosely curled and oiled to a shine. Though her smooth features and small chest made her look childlike, her wide hips and sultry stance said otherwise. Her dark skin glistened, lots of it showing under a low-cut dress that stood in sharp contrast to the professional suits and office dresses around her. The tiny, metallic print gave the illusion of moving as she did. Her face was painted to a china-doll perfection, and her brown eyes were mostly pupil black. Even with the two inches of hidden lift in her slip-on shoes, she looked small beside Pike, and I grimaced as I tried not to imagine them together.

Pike smiled, his pupils widening as if he knew my thoughts, and a shiver shook me.

“Wow, Rache,” Jenks smart-mouthed. “I didn’t know you could do slutty-casual, but vamp-girl here nailed it.”

“Mmmm,” Constance said, clearly seeing what Pike’s flash of teeth had done to me. “Is this the witch who had been living in my new apartments?” Her high voice was soft, and the woman with the clipboard excused herself and hurried down the hall as if fleeing. “The scent of her is everywhere,” Constance continued, her manicured nails playing with her jewelry. “The walls, the floors.” She sniffed, making it an insult. “At least it was until that lily. Introduce us.”

Pike turned toward Constance and I stepped forward.