He looked at the mass of wreckage, covered with men pulling away at debris like so many ants, and smiled cruelly, as if they meant no more to him than insects. The smile chilled her to the bone, for it was quite, quite unhuman. That was when she knew what it was-or rather, who-he reminded her of. Mephistopheles, from Faust.
'These strangers mean nothing to me,' he said coolly. 'I have no care for their welfare.'
She rose to her feet and backed away from him a pace or two. 'So the well-being of strangers does not concern you?' she asked, with a curious detachment. 'You have no particular interest in whether they live or die?'
'Of course not,' he replied with a touch of impatience. 'These are mere drones, their lives had no meaning before this earthquake, and have no meaning now. We should concern ourselves with our own welfare, not that of people we do not know.'
Oddly enough, it was his words that freed her from his fascination, and confirmed what she had deduced about him before the quake. He cared no more for her than for these poor people. She was nothing more than a tool to him, to be used to destroy Jason, and then discarded. 'Interesting that you should say that, Master Beltaire,' she replied, just as coolly, 'since you met me less than twenty-four hours ago, and spoke to me for scarcely more than an hour of time. I would hardly call us anything other than strangers. Surely even you would not pretend to a closer acquaintance than that!'
All this time she had been edging away, attempting to put as much distance between herself and the frantic rescue-work going on as possible. If Beltaire erupted into violence, she did not want to involve innocents-
Now I'm beginning to sound like Jason....
He started, looked oddly shocked for a moment, then composed himself He laughed, and held out a hand to her. 'Oh, really, Miss Hawkins. Do be sensible. You are hardly going to equate yourself with these-'
'Less than a year ago I was living in a boarding house exactly like this, with people exactly like this, and looking forward-if it can be termed that-to a career very similar to theirs,' she replied, her own tone icy cold now. She stumbled a little over some rubble and fell, but picked herself up and continued backing away. But the fall had been deliberate, and in her hand, hidden by her skirt, was a nice-sized chunk of brick from a chimney. 'I think perhaps you had better leave me alone, Master Beltaire. I would rather take my chances beside Jason Cameron than with you. I have the feeling that I would be much, much safer.'
It took him a moment to digest her words-then his face twisted into a snarl that absolutely transformed him. Now she saw what really lurked beneath the urbane mask.
She did not wait for him to lunge for her. She threw the brick at his face, turned, and ran.
Smoke had begun to billow in thick curtains through the streets; there were the signs that there were fires everywhere, and she hoped to use the smoke to hide her. She should have known better than to think that would help against a Firemaster.
She had run about fifty paces when he appeared before her, looming out of the smoke, his handsome face disfigured by a broken and bleeding nose. Somehow he had outflanked her! She tried to turn to run from him, but he grabbed her by the arm and swung her towards him before she had a chance to use the tactic that had worked with du Mond. His strength was enormous, and she felt like a rag in his hands.
He delivered a closed-fist, backhanded blow to her face that drove her to the ground and sent her glasses spinning away. The pain in her jaw was incredible, and he came very near to knocking her senseless. She fought for consciousness and held it, as her knees hit the ground with force enough to bruise and cut. Now all but blind, she could only try to scramble away on hands and knees, devastated by her sense of sudden helplessness. He strode over to her and grabbed her again, trying to haul her to her feet as her head spun. Now, though, she could use what had worked against du Mond; she went limp and kicked out at his legs.
But he was quicker and stronger than du Mond. With an audible snarl, he snatched her up, then hurled her full strength against the wreckage of a building, knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the ground, trying desperately to get her breath, and he strode towards her, an angry black shape against the billowing smoke.
'You little hellcat!' he howled. 'Du Mond was right! You listen to me, you worthless bitch! You either help me, or I'll beat you to death with my own two hands, right here in the-''Get away from her, Beltaire!'
The voice sent thrills down her back, but they were chills of fear rather than of joy 'Jason!' she screamed, jaw turning red-hot with pain, turning blindly towards the sound of the voice. 'Don't! Leave me! He's only using me as a trap to get you!'
'I'm perfectly well aware of that, Rose.' She couldn't make out anything clearly, but Jason Cameron was not alone. There was a large, fiery mass beside him and several small golden masses levitating all about him. The Salamanders-and what else?
'You come armed, I see.' Beltaire was all coolness now-but he was also close enough to Rose that he could, if he chose, reach her before Jason could stop him. 'A Firemare? You changed one of your Salamanders to a Firemare? Jason, that must have cost you dearly. Too dearly, perhaps-'
'Turn around and leave, and this doesn't have to be a confrontation, Beltaire,' Jason rasped. 'I've already taken du Mond out of the picture. You don't have an Apprentice to feed off of, now.'
