"Thanks, but I prefer to stand." At least she could run if he tried to jump her for a little sunset refreshment. "Why aren't you in the land of nod, like all good little vampires should be at this hour?"
He smiled. There was nothing nice about that smile. "Sunshine may be dangerous to a vampire's health, but that doesn't mean we can't move around during the daylight hours." He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Have you learned nothing in the years we've been together?"
She crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "I've learned that friends can't be trusted."
"Ah." He gave a small smile, swiveled his chair around and sat down. "Come and sit. I promise not to jump you."
She remained exactly where she was. A small vein near his temple pulsed slightly in response.
"If I wanted to harm you, I could have well and truly done it before now."
"But you didn't want me harmed. You wanted me scared." As Gabriel had suggested. Her gaze roamed the features that were so familiar, and yet somehow so foreign. "Why, Jack?"
Surprise flared in his eyes and just as quickly died. He leaned back in his chair. "You never were a fool."
Yes, she was. She'd called this man her friend. Had trusted him beyond common sense. "Just answer the question."
He shrugged. "You have talents. Granted, they're just developing and not yet understood, but they are talents that will be quite formidable, nonetheless."
Talents suggested more than one, and as far as she knew, she only had the one. How would some weird ability to sense things like the kites help him in whatever mad scheme he had going on here?
"That makes about as much sense as you becoming a vampire," she retorted. "Speak English, Jack. Or has turning robbed you of that ability?"
The vein ticked a little harder. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to make him angry, but in the past, an angry Jack had always been a verbal one. He'd give away more than he intended if she got to him.
All she had to do then was survive it.
The chair thumped forward again. "I plan a take over. This war is not happening soon enough for my liking. You, dear friend, will assist me in achieving my goal."
She raised her eyebrows. "Is this war you're talking about the one in which the human race will be the loser?"
"Yes."
"Well, in case its escaped your notice, I'm human. Guess which side of the line I tend to fall on?"
His smile was smug, like that of a rat that'd just eaten the cat. "You're anything but human, my dear Samantha."
She stared at him, uncertain whether she should believe him or not. Jack could lie with the best of them, but usually, she could tell when he was. He wasn't lying now. She clenched her fists. Damn it, she was human, despite what that unknown chromosome Finley had found might reveal. She was human. Nothing more, nothing less.
"What is the one thing you have wanted?" he continued softly. "The one thing you have searched for all these years?"
He knew the answer to those questions. He'd helped her search the records often enough. But was he also the reason she'd found nothing?
His smile grew, as did the coldness in his eyes. He leaned forward and slid a sheet of paper across the table towards her. "Part one of the answers. The first link in the trail to who you really are. Please, feel free to look. It's only a taste of what I know."
She stared at that sheet of paper, her throat dry. It was tempting, so very tempting. The desire to know who she really was, to know who her parents, who her grandparents, were — to find whatever kin might still be out there — was something she'd lived and breathed since she'd been a teenager and awakened from a nightmare and found herself abandoned in the shelter. If the information was all that he promised, she'd want more, there was no doubt about it. She didn't know if she was strong enough to resist the lure once she'd taken a bite.
Better by far to refuse straight out.
She met Jack's gaze. "Since I seem to be your guest, it's impossible for me to discover whether the information on that sheet is the truth or lies."
"The sheet tells no lies."
"But you do, Jack."
His mouth narrowed to a slash of anger. "I've told you no lies today."
She considered him for a moment. So far, he'd done nothing to hurt her. If he hoped to enlist her in his mad schemes, he might just hold off using force for a while. Maybe she should push his generosity and see just how far he was willing to go.