Probably because they knew the Mijai would be on their tails, and that, if they were caught, their fate would be eternal death, not eternal hell. "Has anything like that broken through recently?"
He shrugged. "Things break though all the time."
In other words, either he had no idea or he wasn’t going to tell me. I squashed the flare of irritation and glanced at my watch. It was nearly ten thirty, so I had to get going if I wanted to make my appointment with Catherine Alston. Given that she was a high councilor—and generally you had to have a few hundred years under your belt to even be considered for the local council—I suspected it would be a bad move to be late. I met Azriel’s gaze again. "Are you going to be present at the interview?"
"Do you wish me to be?"
I hesitated, then nodded. "We both know you’re going to be listening in anyway, and I think I’d feel safer if you were an actual, physical presence."
"Meaning you do not trust this vampire?"
"Right now, I’m not much into trusting anyone."
He studied me for a moment, his face as impassive as ever even if I felt an odd sense of fierceness emanating from him. "Even me?"
Especially you, I wanted to say, but that wasn’t entirely true. "I wouldn’t be asking you to watch my back if I didn’t trust you to do it."
"Which does not entirely answer the question."
"No, it does not."
I gathered my things from the table then brushed past him and headed down the stairs. No footsteps followed me, but I felt his presence nonetheless. And this time, annoyance seemed to mingle with the fierce heat of him.
Although why he’d be annoyed I wasn’t entirely sure. At least I was being honest—which was a lot more than I could say about him.
My phone rang as I neared the front door. I tucked everything under my arm, then dug the phone out of my pocket with my other hand.
"Tao," I said, as his handsome features appeared on the vid-phone’s screen. "What’s up? Is there a problem at the café?"