They ran, stampeding over themselves to get out of the door, except for the one now frozen in what looked like plastic wrap. He stared out at me, perfectly fine since vamps don’t need to breathe, like a vintage Ken doll still inside his box. But he wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Others were coming.
I closed and locked the door, which activated the ramped-up shields. But that wouldn’t stop Hassani’s children, who would rip it apart with their bare hands if necessary, to reach their master. Teacher, I corrected myself, pulling a knife and cutting away the webbing from over his face.
Pretentious twat.
But the pretentious twat wasn’t stupid, and had finally stopped struggling.
I didn’t have much time, and he knew it. He also knew something else. “You won’t kill a consul,” he told me, the rich voice untroubled. “It would destroy the alliance.”
“But you would kill a senator?”
Hassani looked aggrieved. “Right sleeve.”
“What?”
“Check my right sleeve, you annoying woman!”
I checked his right sleeve. That required cutting away more of the webbing, which I doubted my tiny allies had the strength to replace. Not that it mattered; the door to the suite was already starting to shake.
I pulled out a folded letter, and knew immediately who it was from. My name was on the front, and that perfect, copperplate handwriting belonged to only one person. I unfolded it and—
Don’t kill Hassani.
Motherfucker.
“You could have just given this to me,” I pointed out, to the smarmy bastard on the floor.
“I always heard dhampirs were mad,” he countered, staring prayerfully at the ceiling. “I did not think it actually true.”
I ignored that and went back to reading.
Dearest, I expect that this will not please you. What would not please me is your death. We do not know the effect that halving a soul might have, but it would be inadvisable for you to enter combat at the moment.
“Ironic,” Hassani offered, because he was reading over my shoulder.
I jerked the letter away.
Please do me the honor of fulfilling our mission in Egypt. In return, I will fulfill the vow I made to you last night. Those who have hurt you will pay, I promise you that. And if possible, I will also retrieve those we have lost. I will be in touch.
Louis-Cesare
I just knelt there for a moment, rereading the letter. Then I read it a third time, before it really sank in. And I felt my face burn.
I guessed I knew what that look of peace had been about last night, huh? He’d suddenly been calm, but not because he was with me. Not because we’d comforted each other, and were about to chase down our enemies together. But because he’d decided what he was going to do. Which involved leaving the little woman behind while he ran after Jonathan.
Alone.
He was chasing the one man who’d ever beaten him, but he didn’t want backup? Bet if Dorina was still here he’d have wanted some damned backup. But plain old Dory? Nah. What the hell could I do for him?
I heard the letter crumple in my fist.
Hassani sat up, having freed himself as far as the waist. “You see,” he said, watching me. “You could go to the queen’s mausoleum, after all.”
I shot him a look of pure fury. “Is that what you’d do?”
“No. But I am not a dhampir.”
The look didn’t change.
The door burst open, and at least a dozen master vampires tore into the room, blades out and faces set on hate. Hassani held up a hand and they stopped, so suddenly that some of them ran into each other. One toppled Ken, who fell onto his face, still unmoving.
Hassani regarded them calmly. “Children, a teachable moment. As it is written, ‘Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.’”
One of the vampire’s hissed, and another bared fangs.
“So, I’m evil?” I demanded.
Hassani brushed it aside. “Exaggerated for effect.”
“Do they know that?”
He freed himself the rest of the way and took his time standing up and shaking out his perfect clothes. A number of tiny golden bugs fell out and rattled against the floor. He sighed.
Then he looked at me, and the dark eyes were somehow different than before. “Come. There is something I want to show you.”
Chapter Nine
Dory, Cairo
We headed to a part of the complex I hadn’t seen before, with sets of rock cut stairs going down into limestone caverns well below city level. Going down also meant