Dangerous Games

"Ah," he said, his gaze on mine and filled with a flame that was all sexual awareness, all desires. "Is that why you're here?"

"Partly. Jin tried getting rough out of bed, and I decided he needed a lesson in ma

"So the whole gang is here?"

"Including Rhoan and Gautier." I studied him as I lashed the ends of my sweater over my breasts. "Have you been back home yet?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Do I need to?"

"Well, I smashed a few things, but other than that, it's in reasonable order."

"All." He paused. "There were some figurines amongst the casualties, I suppose?"

"One or two."

"They were worth a fortune, you know."

"Good."

"That's not very adult behavior."

"And drugging me, taking away my clothes and car, and locking me up, was?"

"I was only trying to—"

"Next time," I interrupted, "try treating me like an adult. Let me make my own decisions and mistakes."

"A mistake on this case could get you killed."

"I'm we!! aware of that fact. But it's my decision, and my decision alone. You have no rights, and no say, in my life, Qui

"We'll see."

Frustration swirled through me. I wondered—and not for the first time—if continuing a relationship with Qui

He raised the eyebrow again. "Are you willing to give up your white picket fences and two-point-five kids dream?"

"No—"

"Then do not tell me to give up what I desire."

"The difference is, I'm not trying to force my dreams on anyone. You are."

He didn't answer, his gaze going to the house instead. Part of me figured it was little more than a ruse to avoid answering a difficult accusation, but I lowered a shield and stretched out telepathically anyway. Not toward him, which would be a stupid thing to do considering his telepathic skills could sweep mine under the nearby daisies and stomp all over them, but toward the house. Only my telepathic "beam" somehow mingled with Qui

Voices sprang into focus—not just one person, but everyone in the house—in some strange sort of "conference call." I was hearing their thoughts as conversations, in real-time. Weird, totally weird.

And yet another sign the drugs I'd been injected with were continuing to affect my body and my psi-skills in unexpected ways.

"We can't afford to have this O'Conor person sniffing around much longer," Jin's mental tones were filled with simmering tension—tension that was both sexual and physical. "He's getting too close."

"We're trying our best to get rid of him," another voice said, the mental tone mild and yet filled with an underlying iciness. Only it was more an inhumanity than any mere coldness, and it had my soul shivering.

"Obviously, you're not trying hard enough." The words were practically spat. Jin was a very unhappy boy indeed. The thought cheered me no end.

"The demons are having trouble tracking his life force. It's intermittent." The voice was female, and presumably Maisie Foster. Something in the way she spoke was oddly familiar—though why, I had no idea.

"He's a fucking vampire—how could his life force be intermittent?"

"Because before he was a vampire he was something else. He almost destroyed me once. I do not wish to risk it again."

The a

"I have my reasons for keeping secrets," he said softly, without even looking at me.

"And I've just about had enough of your secrets and lies. You could have saved the Directorate so much time and energy if you'd just told us what you knew from the begi

Not to mention the fact that his admission might have prevented my needing to fuck the creep. I didn't want to sleep with bad guys just to get information—and Qui

"Because I did not know that your case and mine were one and the same."

Mainly because he didn't bother to check. But I resisted the urge to say the words out loud. Those inside the house were still talking, and right now, getting information that might end this case was far more important than sorting out a vampire determined to get his own way—whether it be on the case or in our relationship.

"He could destroy us again if we do not proceed cautiously," the deep voice said. "He is one of the few on this earth who even remembers us as anything more than legend."

"So, we sit around and twiddle our thumbs until his life force becomes strong enough for the demons to track?"

"No," Maisie said. "I intend to conjure a stronger class of demon, but it takes time to summon them. I've had to send the sub-demons back to hell so I have the energy reserves required."

I glanced at Qui

"If we take her out of the picture, we warn the others."

"They already know you're after them."

"But they do not know the Directorate is after them."

I snorted. "If these are the people responsible for the sacrifices, then they know we're after them."

"But they are not yet aware how close you are to them."

"I wouldn't bet on that—we think Gautier's one of them. The death head, in fact."

He glanced at me sharply.

"Yeah," I added. "We figured out some of the history. But it'd be nice if you took some time out of your busy schedule to fill in the blanks."

"If Gautier is the death head, then Jin knows you're a guardian. That makes it even more important that you stay away from him."

"He doesn't know."

"You ca

"I can, because the one thing Gautier wants, besides power, is my destruction at his hands. He'll give up his soul, he'll give up control of his body, but he won't give up that."

"You'd trust your life on that fact?"

"Yes." I glanced back at the house. "If we snatch Maisie, they'll just think that you took her out."

He studied me, his features carefully neutral. It was a look I'd seen many times before—usually right before he told me some lie.

"Maisie Foster is an extremely powerful sorcerer. It will not be easy to take her out."

"Even so, it'd be a hell of a lot easier to remove her from the scene than one of the dragons, wouldn't it?" It was a question aimed more at Rhoan than Qui

"Capture her, you mean?" Qui

I nodded. "I'm sure Jack will want to chat with her."

"She will never 'chat,' nor could Jack or the Directorate contain her."

I raised my eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because, as I said, she is an extremely powerful sorcerer. Magic ca

"But it can be contained via other means?"

"Yes." He hesitated. "To be honest, I do not think the effort worth it. She will die before she tells us anything about her master."

"John Kingsley is her half brother, not her master."

"John Kingsley no longer exists. Nor do any of the other men inside that house. They are merely living breathing receptacles for the spirits of evil."