from recent memory prompted me to look away from those glinting rubies and squeeze my eyes shut. The positive feelings I had for him faded and a dull ache settled into my head. "Stop using your little vampire tricks on me," I said. "Maybe you had a rotten childhood. Maybe rats almost ate you. It's sad—tragic even. But it's no excuse to kidnap me or my father and start Overworld War One or whichever war you guys are on now." I opened my eyes and looked him full on. "So cut it out."
A surprised look crossed his face. "How did you—" He shook his head. "You're right. Compulsion is obviously not the way to convince you. Perhaps one day you'll see and agree with me. Until then, I regret to say, you must be confined. Once we've dealt with the impending Templar attack, I'll see about relocating you to more comfortable quarters."
"Templar attack?"
"Oh, yes." He smiled. "Their fearless leader, Thomas Borathen, has a very sneaky plan in mind."
"And you know this how?"
"How else? Daelissa has eyes and ears everywhere. One of her minions delivered the details to me. I regret to say we'll have to kill any Templar who sets foot in my domain."
Fear stabbed into my chest. Would Elyssa be in the attacking force? "What do they plan to do?"
"How about this—I'll tell you all about it for your next bedtime story." He checked the time on his phone. "In fact, we have only a few more hours until our uninvited guests show up."
"No, please, Maximus. I'll do whatever you want. Don't kill them."
He leaned down until his face was half an inch from mine. "You spurned my offer earlier, Slade. I may be kind to my allies, but I am unforgiving to my enemies. Bear this in mind for future reference."
With that, he left the room.
"I think your friends are in dire trouble," said the nearly monotone voice of my roommate after a moment of silence.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Chapter 16
Elyssa
Bella opened Jean-Claude's apartment with a swish of her wand.
"Finally," Fausta said and pushed past the other woman. "Took you long enough."
"They had wards protecting this place." Bella followed her in. "If I'd opened it without disarming them, every Templar in the compound would have come running."
Elyssa touched Bella's arm. "Can you check the locks on the other apartments? Maybe disarm them in advance?"
The Arcane smiled. "What a wonderful idea, Elyssa. I'll be back soon."
As soon as the other woman vanished, Elyssa stormed over to Fausta and jerked her away from the kitchen drawer she was rifling. "What the hell's your problem with Bella?"
"Let me go before I—"
"Before you what? Start a fight in an officer's apartment, which you've just illegally broken into?"
Fausta freed her arm and resumed looking through the drawer. "Fine. I'll treat her nice." She flicked her eyes to Elyssa. "Happy?"
Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I swear you're the grumpiest, most volatile Templar I've met."
"I'm not grumpy!"
"You'd never even know how pretty you are with that frown always on your face. It's like someone pees in your oatmeal every morning."
"I don't frown all the—wait, you think I'm pretty?" A look of astonishment crossed Fausta's face.
Elyssa felt acutely uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah—but don't let it go to your head."
"Well, well, what have we here?" said a male voice from the door.
The two women jumped.
Adam Nosti waved from his position where he casually leaned on the doorframe. He arched an eyebrow. "I knew you guys had that furtive look to you." He pushed off the jamb and glanced around the room. "Isn't this one of the officer's quarters?"
"Shhh," Elyssa said and snatched him by the arm, jerking him further inside. Half a dozen lies ran through her head before she decided to tell him the truth. Adam, after all, was quite the conspiracy theorist, so he might believe her. "We think there's a traitor in Christian's upper brass."
"A traitor?" said a horrified voice from the doorway. Meghan came inside, eyes wide.
"Madre de dios," Bella said, coming in behind Meghan. "Who let the dogs out?"
All eyes settled on her, and for a brief moment, there was absolute silence.
"Does that not mean what I think it does?" the Arcane said, her eyes uncertain. "I'm practicing my American idioms."
"If they know we're in here, who else is going to just stumble in?" Fausta demanded, arms akimbo. "We haven't even searched the first apartment yet."
"Looking for incriminating evidence?" Adam said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I have a practiced