Death's Mistress

“How did you know about the rune? You weren’t at the auction.”

I wanted to know, but I also wanted to keep her attention on me. Louis-Cesare had circled around behind her while we’d been talking.

“Elyas could talk of nothing else. All day he was on the telephone to Lord Cheung, all but begging him for it. He was afraid that once Louis-Cesare left the European Senate, he would no longer be able to retain his seat without help. I overheard enough to realize what it was, and what it could do.”

“So that’s why you picked up the carrier in the office.”

She nodded. “I’d searched it when I killed Elyas. I’d remembered about the knives, not to touch them directly. But I’d thought the necklace wouldn’t show fingerprints because of all the ridges. I’d forgotten about clairvoyants.” She looked a

“How did you learn to kill vampires that way? It isn’t common knowledge.”

“I have had to learn many new methods in order to hunt.” She looked frustrated. “Louis-Cesare was so careful; it was almost impossible for me to do anything. And Alejandro wasn’t much better. He watched me all the time, afraid that I would run away. It was easier when I went to Elyas. He never noticed me.”

Neither had anyone else, I thought grimly.

“Why wait until the party to kill Elyas?” I asked. “You could have killed him at any time.”

“But if I did it before the party, only the family would have been home,” she said reasonably. “There had to be other suspects, or everyone would have started to look at me.”

“So you waited until the apartment was filled with people, and you could get Elyas alone.”

“Yes. I didn’t mean for Louis-Cesare to be blamed. I knew he had an appointment for that night; I had heard Elyas telling the doorman about it. But it was for earlier that evening. I waited to kill him until I thought the master would have come and gone.”

“But Louis-Cesare was delayed.” She nodded. “Is that why you killed Lutkin? To throw suspicion off Louis-Cesare?”

“No, the mage was at Elyas’s party. I saw them talking together. It might have meant nothing; Elyas liked the races and Lutkin was a champion. But I thought there was a chance that a powerful mage could have stolen it.”

I spared a thought for poor Lutkin, who had died because Christine thought there was an outside chance he had the stone. He’d probably never even seen it.

“But Lutkin was killed in daylight.”

“I have been a daywalker for two centuries.”

Daywalker was the old term for anything above a third-level master, because they were the only ones who could stand direct sunlight for any length of time. It looked like Anthony had known what he was talking about.

“How did you get in? The consul’s security is pretty tight.”

“They let me in. Louis-Cesare’s name was still on the guest list, and I am his servant.” She shrugged.

“So that left Geminus.”

“Yes. I was sure he had the stone. He was at the nightclub that night. I saw him when I was leaving, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. And Geminus was at the party. But he didn’t have it, either.”

“That’s why you used the wax-covered knife on him.” I had wondered. There were more efficient ways to kill people.

“I wanted to be able to search him before he died and the reaction set in. And then Anthony came, and so of course I had to kill him, too. I didn’t mean to use a wax blade on him, but that was the one I grabbed first.”

I made a mental note to tell Anthony: maybe the Fates didn’t hate him as much as he thought.

“You killed him because he could have named you as the guilty party.”

“Yes. I tied him and stabbed him and left, but when I didn’t hear a second death rumble, I knew something had gone wrong.”

“Clever.”

“I can be clever.” She glanced behind her, where the guys had disappeared through the fall. “I know they are leaving. It is all right. Anthony needed to go. I might have made a mistake with him here, and I can’t afford that. Not tonight.”

“What’s special about tonight?”

“But haven’t you realized? That is why it doesn’t matter if they stay or go. Tonight is when I kill them. Tonight is when I kill all of them.”

“Kill who?” I asked slowly.

Christine didn’t answer. Her gaze had fallen to her watch, and her eyes widened. “I didn’t know it was so late! I must go.”

I caught her arm as she whirled and headed down the corridor, away from the landslide. I didn’t so much as slow her down; it was more like I got towed along for the ride. “Wait! You haven’t told me why you wanted the rune. It isn’t as if you need the protection.”

“Oh, but I do. That is why I came here tonight. One last chance…” Her voice faded, but then came back stronger, more resolute. “But then, perhaps this is God’s way of telling me that it is enough. That once this is done, I will have redeemed myself at last.”

“Once what is done?”

“I prayed so long for a miracle, and there was nothing. For years I thought that God had abandoned me, now that I was tainted. Unclean.” She looked down at her blood-streaked clothes, her nose wrinkling in distaste. “But then He sent you to me, and all became clear.”

“I made things clear?” I asked, panting in an effort to keep up.

“It has been your life’s work, removing their stain from humanity. But there are too few of you. Too few dhampirs and so very many of them. And they reproduce at will, constantly making more and more. You need help.”

“And you are going to help me?”

“I’m going to do more than that. After tonight, the vampire world will be in chaos, families feeding on one another as they once did, master against master, line against line. They will destroy themselves, and those who are left will be a

“Why can’t you?”

She shot me a puzzled look. “Because I’ll be dead. The rune was my last chance to survive what lies ahead. But I am begi

“If you tell me a little more about what you plan to do, maybe I can help,” I offered as bricklined nineteenth-century work blurred into modern concrete.

“You have already helped. You gave me the key.”

Christine ducked into a side tu

“For a long time, I could not understand why God had allowed this to happen, why I of all people should be chosen for this fate,” she told me. “But over many years, it slowly became clear: in order to destroy them, I had to be one of them. Only one who knew them intimately could devise a way to bring them down.”

“You’ve been pla

“Something like this,” she agreed. “But I was missing a key element. Killing one or two vampires, here and there, does nothing. Killing masters is better, for then an entire line is weakened. And killing senators is truly useful, for it undermines the political structure and starts the process toward anarchy. But one or two senators will not do. They are merely replaced. To truly destroy their society, I needed a way to kill a great many leaders, all at once, from a great many Senates. But it seemed hopeless. When were they ever together?”

“For the Challenge,” I said, starting to feel a little cold.

“I realized the opportunity the Challenge presented at once, but I did not know how to capitalize on it. I should have known that God would not let me come so far and fail to provide.”

“He provided the rune?”

“No, Dory.” She laughed. “He provided you. The task seemed impossible, but you showed me the way.”

The darkness up ahead fractured, pierced by a dozen tiny shafts of light. It turned out to be a manhole cover, with a ladder leading up. I grabbed her sleeve with both hands. “How did I do that, exactly?”