"Only if he's doing what everyone thinks he's doing." Not that I particularly wanted to defend the man, but hey, I owed him my existence. No one had actually brought me any proof that he was up to no good. "And you could have sent any of your subordinates here to ask about my absent parent, so why are you really here?"
Again the sculpted eyebrow rose, but the green eyes underneath gave nothing away. Then again, this was a woman who'd seen over fifteen hundred years. She'd be more than a little practiced at containing her emotions.
"I merely wish to ask you to contact me the moment you hear from your father."
Contact her. Not the Directorate. Did that mean this wasn't an official Directorate meeting? Was she here for reasons of her own?
My heart skipped a beat. Madeline Hunter wasn't just the woman in charge of the Directorate, but also a top-ranking member of the vampire high council. And it was a scary thought that they might be getting involved in this.
I swallowed to ease the sudden dryness in my throat, and said, "Why?"
"Because I wish to speak to him."
Again, I rather than we. "The Directorate doesn't usually talk to people intent on destroying millions."
"Unless," she drawled softly, "they are involved in research that has interesting possibilities."
Dread rippled through me. I stared at her for a moment, then leaned back in my chair. "What sort of interesting possibilities?"
"It occurs to us that a device designed to permanently close the gates could be re-engineered and used to open or close them at will." She tapped a purple-painted nail against the plastic tabletop. "The ability to do that would be useful, and it would also provide us an interesting alternative."
Something cold settled into the pit of my stomach. I took a long drink of coffee, but it didn't do much to dislodge the ice. I licked my lips, then said, somewhat incredulously, "You want to use hell as your own private jail?"
Yet again that eyebrow rose. "You sound surprised."
"It's hell. You know, the place where all manner of demons, devils, and bad souls hang out. Playing around with the gates that protect us all is not a good idea."
And I could just imagine what the reapers would make of it. They certainly wouldn't be thrilled about the prospect of someone else gaining control over the light or dark pathways.