and there he saw that the person Damon was talking to was a woman wearing what looked like buckskin breeches and shirt, who had weathered skin, and a general aura of being more at home outside civilization than inside it. Damon was saying, “Make sure there are enough warm clothes for the girl. She’s not exactly hardy, you know —”
“Then where are you taking her — and why?” Stefan asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
He had the good fortune to once — just this once — take Damon unaware. His brother glanced up, and then jerked like a startled cat. It was priceless to watch Damon scrambling for a mask until he decided on the facade of absent amiability.
Stefan guessed that no one had ever put so much effort into walking over to a desk chair, sitting down, and forcing himself to lounge.
“Well, well! Little brother! You dropped in for a visit! How…nice. What a pity, though, that I’m practically running out the door on a journey, and there’s no room for you.”
At this point the weather-beaten woman who had been taking notes — and who had risen when Stefan entered the room — spoke up. “Oh, no, my lord. The thurgs won’t mind the extra weight of this gentleman. They probably won’t notice it. If his baggage can be ready by tomorrow you can start out in the early morning just as you planned.”
Damon gave her his best “shut up or die” glare. She shut up. Through clenched teeth, Damon managed to say, “This is Pelat. She’s the coordinator of our little expedition. Hello, Pelat. Good-bye, Pelat. You may go.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
Pelat bowed and left.
“Aren’t you taking this ‘my lord’ thing a bit too seriously?” Stefan asked. “And what is that costume you’re wearing?”
“It’s the uniform of the captain of the guard of Madame le Princess Jessalyn D’Aubigne,” Damon said coldly.
“You got a job?”
“It was a position.” Damon bared his teeth. “And it’s none of your business.”
“Got your canines back, too, I see.”
“And that’s none of your business either. But if you want me to knock you out and trample over your undead body, I’ll be delighted to oblige.”
Something was wrong, Stefan thought. Damon should be through the taunting phase and be actually trampling on him by now. It only made sense if…
“I’ve already spoken to Bonnie,” he said. And so he had, to ask where he was.
But to a guilty mind, apparent foreknowledge often worked wonders.
And Damon hastily said exactly what Stefan hoped he wouldn’t. “I can explain!”
“Oh, God,” Stefan said.
“If she’d just done as I told her—”
“While you were off becoming a princess’s captain of the guard? And she waswhere?”
“She was safe, at least! But, no, she had to go out into the street and then to that shop—”
“Shocking! She actually walked in the street?”
Damon ground his teeth. “You don’t know how it is around here — or how the slave trade works. Every day —” Stefan slammed both hands on the desk, now truly angry. “She was picked up by slavers? While you were sleazing around with a princess?”
“Princess Jessalyn does not sleaze,” Damon replied icily. “Nor do I. And anyway it all turned out to be a good thing because now we know where the Seven Kitsune Treasures are.”
“What treasures? And who cares about treasures when there’s a town being destroyed by kitsune?”
Damon opened his mouth, shut it, then looked narrowly at Stefan. “You said that you’d talked to Bonnie about all this.”
“I did talk to Bonnie,” Stefan said flatly. “I said hello.”
Damon’s dark eyes flared. For a moment Stefan thought he was going to snarl or start a fight. But then, through clenched teeth, he said, “It’s all for the damned town, don’t you see that? Those treasures include the largest star ball ever to be filled with Power. And that Power may be enough to save Fell’s Church. At least to stop its total annihilation. Maybe to even clear out every malach that exists and destroy Shinichi and Misao with a single blow. Is that noble enough for you, little brother? Is it reason enough?”
“But taking Bonnie—”
“You stay with her here if you like! Spend your lives here! I might mention that without her I would never have been able to set up an expedition, and that she’s determined to go. Besides, we’re not coming back this way. There has to be an easier route from the Gatehouse to Earth. We wouldn’t survive coming back, so you’d better hope like hell that there is one.”
Stefan was surprised. He had never heard his brother speak with such passion about anything that involved humans. He was about to reply, when behind him there came a scream of pure, unadulterated rage. It was frightening — and worrying, too, because Stefan would recognize that voice anywhere, anytime. It was Elena’s.
Stefan whirled around and saw Bonnie, with only a towel wrapped around her, trying to physically restrain Elena, who was similarly clad. Elena’s hair was wet and uncombed. Something had caused her to leap out of the bathing pool and run directly into the corridor.
Stefan was surprised by Damon’s reaction. Was that a spark of alarm in the endlessly dark eyes that had remained impassive watching a thousand disasters, calamities, cruelties?
No, it couldn’t be. But it certainly looked like one.
Elena was getting closer. Her voice rang out clearly through the hallway, which was spacious enough to give it a slight echo. “Damon! I see you! You wait right there — I’m coming to kill you!”
This time the flicker was unmistakable. Damon glanced at the window, which was partly open.
Meanwhile Bonnie had lost the fight and Elena was running like a gazelle toward the office. Her eyes, however, were definitely not doe-like. Stefan saw them glitter dangerously as Elena herself eluded him — mainly because he didn’t dare grab her by the towel, and every other part of her was slippery. Elena was now facing Damon, who had risen from his chair.
“How could you?” she cried. “Using Bonnie like that — Influencing her, drugging her — all to get at what didn’t belong to you! Using almost all the Power that was left in Misao’s star ball — what did you think Shinichi would do when you did that? He came after us, that’s what he did — and who knows if the boardinghouse is still standing?”
Damon opened his mouth, but Elena wasn’t finished.
“And then to bring Bonnie to the Dark Dimension with you — I don’t care if you didn’t want to waste opening the Gate or not. You knew you shouldn’t be taking her here.”
Damon was angry now. “I—” But Elena cut him off without even hesitating. “Then once you drag her here you abandon her. You leave her terrified, alone, in a room where she’s not even allowed to look out of the window, with a collection of star balls that you don’t even bother to examine — but which are completely unsuitable and give her nightmares!
You—”
“If the little dolt had just had the sense to wait quietly—”
“What? What did you say?”
“I said, if the little dolt had just had the sense—” Stefan, who was already on the move, shut his eyes briefly. He opened them again in time to see the slap and to feel Elena putting all her Power into it. It snapped Damon’s head around.
What astonished him — even though he positioned himself precisely in case of it — was to see Damon’s hand flash up as quick as a cobra’s strike. There was no follow-through, but Stefan had already picked Elena up bodily and pulled her back out of range.
“Let go!” Elena cried, struggling to get out of Stefan’s arms, or at least get her feet on the ground. “I’m going
