Dangerous Games

He didn't say anything, and that in itself was damning.

"Turn around and place your hands behind your back."

"There is no need for this," he said quietly, even as he obeyed. "And there was a good reason for sending you home last night."

"I don't care if there was or there wasn't. And there is every need for me to do this. There are consequences for every action, Qui

"We—"

"Are finished." I looked at Rhoan. "You ready?"

He nodded, then looked at Qui

"For interrogating a suspect?"

"No. For abusing Riley's trust yet again." He picked up Maisie, throwing her like a securely cuffed sack over his shoulder. "Let's get this show on the road."

I stepped back and waved Qui

He hadn't expected that I'd really end it. Hadn't believed that I'd meant what I said.

Now all I had to do was find the strength to really walk away.

Chapter Ten

I leaned my head against my hand and barely restrained a huge yawn. "This is going nowhere fast."

Jack handed me a coffee, his expression grim. "No one said breaking a mage's defense would be easy."

I sipped at the hot liquid in the cup. It couldn't be called coffee because it just didn't look, or taste, anything like it. Still, if it served the purpose of keeping me awake, I'd drink a gallon of the muck.

I eyed our captive through the one-way glass. Maisie was currently being interrogated by both a specialist in magic and a specialist in "interviewing" techniques. I'd seen the interviewers in action on several occasions over recent months, and knew their methods could get extremely gruesome. Unlike regular police, the Directorate didn't have to worry about prisoner rights. If the person being questioned posed a threat to the human population in any form or shape, then the Directorate could basically do what they wanted to get the required answers. Except, of course, if the person involved was human or part human. Then it got trickier.

Which was probably why the techniques being used today had been pretty mild so far. Maisie might be a mage of extreme power, but she was also human. By law, the Directorate had to tread cautiously.

My gaze moved to the spindly woman standing in the corner of the room. I hadn't even known we had a whole section of people specializing in magic, and I'd been working here for nearly eight years. Right now, she didn't seem to be doing a whole lot, but sweat was begi

"How much longer do we have before Marg starts to weaken and the stones loose their ability to contain Maisie?"

Jack shrugged. "Marg will signal when her strength is giving out. As a general rule, she can last four or five hours if she's doing nothing more than boosting the strength of the warding stones."

"Why don't we just raid her mind telepathically?"

"I tried earlier, when you were talking to Qui

And hadn't that provided a whole lot of information. Qui

"And, her shields are unlike anything I've ever come across. I've asked Director Hunter to come down and assist me."

That raised my eyebrows. After eight years of being here, I'd actually catch a glimpse of the elusive Director Hunter? "She's not exactly hurrying."

"She's interviewing Qui

"Ah." And according to the weird hierarchy and honor system vamps had going, Qui

"Could be. Qui

"Which means what?"

"That while he may be obliged to answer, he can't be forced. It all really depends on Qui

And vampires never followed the rules unless it suited them. I sipped the brown muck for several minutes, then glanced at my watch. If I didn't get some sleep soon, I was going to be a baggy-eyed wreck tonight. And that was never a good look.

"Why don't you and I have a crack at her?"

Jack glanced at me, and I swear there was a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes. "Are you feeling up to it?"

"No, but if it's the only way to get out of here and get to bed, then I'll give it a shot."

"Good." He rose from the chair immediately, and that gleam became more pronounced. I had a sudden, very powerful feeling of falling into a well-laid trap. And it had me wondering if he'd even asked Hunter to come down and help, or whether it was a nice little ruse to get me to volunteer. But I didn't bother asking because I just didn't have the energy to get mad right now.

I only wanted to get home, even if the cost was playing Jack's game and stepping just a little bit more into the shoes of a full-fledged guardian.

"I'll hold her mind still and open," he continued. "While you weave your way inside and see what you can find."

"Okay." I drained the remainder of the brown muck then put the empty cup down on the bench. "Let's do this."

I followed him into the interview room, and stopped slightly behind him. Maisie's gaze skimmed us both, and a slight sneer touched her pale lips. "What, two people not enough to break one little blonde? We've got to add a couple more?" Her voice was sharp and irritating, and yet, once again, the way she phrased her words had that odd sense of familiarity scratching at my senses.

"And people fear the guardians," she continued. "What a joke."

Jack glanced at the specialist interrogator, and without another word, she left the room. "Last chance, Miss Foster. Are you going to answer our questions willingly, or shall we do it the hard way?"

"If you could do anything more than contain me, I think it would have happened by now. We both know your pet magician ca

Power touched the air, a tingly, spidery flare of electricity that flowed like wildfire across the room. Its center was Jack, not Maisie or the Directorate's magician, and its touch had the tiny hairs along my arms and the back of my neck standing upright.

"People are always underestimating the Directorate," he said softly, as the net of power flowed up and around Maisie. She stiffened, her eyes going wide as her body became immobile. "It is never to their benefit to do so. Go, Riley."

I blew out a breath, then closed my eyes and carefully shut down my other senses, until my only awareness was of Maisie and the net of power that blazed around her. Slowly, carefully, I touched the net telepathically. The thrum within it was potent, a distant thunder that seemed at once forbidding and barely controlled. Like a storm about to break.

It was frightening, in some ways. I'd always known Jack was powerful, but I'd never felt just how powerful, even during our training sessions. And yet, he'd admitted himself that he was far less so than Qui