"I offer you aid, not harm."
"No thanks."
He smiled, and again it was not Willie's thoughts that slid over his face. "It upsets you so much that I inhabit this body. Why?"
"He's my friend," I said.
"Friendship. You claim friendship with this vampire. He is nothing. A power not to be reckoned with."
"He's not my friend because he's powerful or not powerful. He's just my friend."
"It has been a very long time since someone has invoked friendship in my presence. They will beg for mercy, but never on the grounds of friendship."
Jean-Claude stood. "No one else would have thought of it."
"No one else would have been so naive," the Traveler said.
"It is a form of naivete," Jean-Claude said. "That is true, but how long has it been, Traveler, since someone, anyone, had the courage to be naive before the council? They come before you asking for power, safety, vengeance, but not friendship, not loyalty. No, that they will not ask of the council."
Willie's head did that little turn to one side again, as if the Traveler were thinking. "Does she offer me friendship or ask it of me?"
I started to answer, but Jean-Claude beat me to it. "Can you offer true friendship without asking for it in return?"
I opened my mouth to say that I'd sooner be friends with a hungry crocodile, but Jean-Claude touched my arm gently. It was enough. We were winning. Don't blow it.
"Friendship," the Traveler said. "Now that is indeed something I have not been offered since I took my seat upon the council."
I spoke then, without thinking first. "That must be very lonely."
He laughed, and it was that same eerie mixture of Willie's loud bray and a slithering chuckle. "She is like a wind through a window long closed, Jean-Claude. A mixture of cynicism, naivete, and power." He touched my face, and I let him. He cupped the side of my face in his hand in an almost familiar gesture. "She does have a certain . . . charm."
His hand trailed down my face, fingertips lingering against my cheek. He dropped his hand suddenly, fingers rubbing against each other as if he were trying to feel some invisible something. He shook his head. "I and this body will await you in the torture room." He answered me before I could even say no. "I do not plan to harm this body, Anita, but I do need it to walk about. I will leave this host if there is one that you would prefer I take."
He turned and stared at the rest of the group. His gaze came to rest at last on Damian. "I could take this one. Balthasar would enjoy that, I think."
I shook my head. "No."
"Is this one also your friend?"
I glanced at Damian. "Not my friend, no, but he's still mine."
The Traveler turned his head to one side, staring at me. "He belongs to you, how? Is he your lover?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Brother? Cousin? Ancestor?"
"No," I said.
"Then how is he . . . yours?"
I didn't know how to explain it. "I won't give Damian to you to save Willie. You said it yourself. You're not hurting him."
"And if I was? Would you trade Damian's safety for your friend?"
I shook my head. "I'm not going to debate this with you."
"I am merely trying to discern how important your friends are to you, Anita."