“You could have tried to sneak past us, ran straight to Arcturus-”
“Oh, that worked so well last time,” I said, clanking my wrists experimentally. The cuffs were not locked-but then she glared, and I sat still. “Your little stunt nearly cost me my child. ”
“What?” Transomnia asked sharply. “You don’t mean… Stray?”
“No-yes, oh, never mind, I’ll explain later,” I said. “The point is, you’re being used. Zinaga, Arcturus’ current apprentice, wants him to herself. So she ratted me to you, you made me miss my appointment with him, and that got me on Arcturus’ shit list-”
“Back up. Ratted you out… to us? ” Transomnia said, raising an eyebrow-then raising his eyes to Nyissa, who shifted on the arm of the chair. “And again, you did not think to tell me your contact with the skindancers was the master’s current apprentice?”
“When you sent me here, you ordered me to establish relationships with the locals,” Nyissa said. “And we have both survived by keeping our associates compartmentalized.”
“True enough. So, Dakota Frost,” Transomnia said, eyes returning to me, “what can you offer me in exchange for permission to visit your old master?”
“I didn’t come here just to ask for permission,” I said, and confusion spread among the vampires. “I want a favor too-and I can’t offer you anything worth what I’m asking.”
Transomnia scowled, and his eyes glowed red. “What favor? Out with it.”
“Return the Sanctuary Stone,” I said, “and make peace with the tattooed in Blood Rock.”
Deal with the Devil
Transomnia sat there stunned for a moment. “You want me to what? ”
“Rescind the ban on skindancers and their ink in Blood Rock,” I said, watching his eyes glow brighter and his lip curl into a snarl. “And return the Sanctuary Stone-”
“What? No. No!” Nyissa said. “The Stone is mine. ”
“Return it to the Stonegrinders,” I repeated, “and let Arcturus know I’m behind it.”
I flinched back as the other vampires snarled at me and Transomnia just glared. It was easier not to look him in the eyes. He was a vampire, after all. It wasn’t safe to look in his eyes. It was easier to look away, to admit that I feared his gaze, that he had me cowed, damn it.
So I looked up and held his gaze, and immediately his eyes blazed. I started to flinch as I felt his aura expanding, challenging my shields; but that’s as far as it went: my hackles didn’t rise; my knuckles didn’t tingle. Apparently the scary vampire mojo could go off like a reflex.
“I’m sorry, Dakota, I didn’t quite catch that,” Transomnia said, fangs fully visible. “It sounded like you just asked me to roll over before a magician of the brand that enslaved me, and open my gates to his legions. Perhaps I misheard you. Care to run it by me again?”
“All right,” I said. “Arcturus is deadly serious about his shit list. I’m in Coventry or something, which basically means I’m exiled until he feels he’s pissed on me enough. Even with your permission, I need to get back into his good graces, or he’ll just turn me away.”
Transomnia stared at me, then laughed. “And so he will turn you away.”
“With our permission, of course,” Nyissa said, sweetly with an edge of venom.
“ Zinaga will turn me away,” I said, uncomfortable with her so close, “and then promptly rat me out. If she finds out you’ve given your permission, she’ll just turn to Steyn, and I’ll be lucky if he just arrests me. Steyn’s more of a piece of work than you guys are. I need to bring the both of them something which will make them take me back into their good graces.”
“I will not return the Sanctuary Stone,” Nyissa growled in my ear, and I leaned away from her, best I could in the chair. “This is the Stone’s home. I built this place for it.
“I thought… the Stonegrinder’s Grove was its home,” I said, still leaning away.
“The Grove!” Nyissa said, leaning back in disgust. “It’s three miles from the Rock! It barely works there! I didn’t design it for that distance! I only gave it to them for safekeeping.”
“But clearly, Dakota didn’t know that, because the Stonegrinders did not tell her,” Transomnia said. “Remember the trouble we had retrieving it from the Grove.”
“Rescuing it, you mean,” Nyissa hissed. “Treated my work like their birthright -”
“I’m sorry!” I said, trying to raise my hands, only to have them clank against the cuffs. “I wouldn’t have asked had I known it was yours. My request for a treaty still stands, though.”
The vampires were silent for a minute, and then Gregor laughed. “Very well,” he said. “What does that sound like, my Lord? A four-pint request?”
“No,” Nyissa said. Gregor was amused, but she was still angry. “No amount of blood, no matter how sweet, is worth shifting the balance of power.”
“And yet we must consider the suggestion, once heard,” Transomnia said.
“Why?” Gregor said, followed a half second later by, “… my Lord?”
“This is a vampire court,” Transomnia said, steepling his fingers. “There are protocols to be observed when supplicants petition us. All right, Dakota Frost. You had to know we wouldn’t take this well. I assume you had a good reason for asking. Let’s hear your argument.”
“People are dying,” I said. “ Vampires are dying-”
“Yes, yes, and you’re the only one who is fighting it, or can stop it?” Nyissa said, and I looked sidelong at her. “You bring us this ridiculous story of remote attacks on other vampires by graffiti, of all things, and then ask us to turn our backs on the real threat right here.”
“And yet, we had heard of the disturbing attacks on other vampires,” Transomnia said pleasantly. “Now why is it, Nyissa, that when you argue with her I feel like taking her side-her my worst enemy, and you my most loyal servant?”
While she froze, I leapt in. “No, my master is the last best hope to stop it. He’s a real old-school magician with hidden knowledge, and we need to get him involved. So I need you to do him a favor on my behalf, something spectacular, so he’ll forget I… I blew him off.”
Nyissa looked at me with sharp amusement. “To make him forget you stripped your mastermark, you mean,” she said, eyes narrowing at me. “According to Zinaga, Arcturus considers it a personal insult. Our favor would need to be spectacular indeed.”
“Honoring her request would be spectacular… and in the apprentice’s interests as well,” Transomnia mused. “It would make it unlikely she would rat you out to the authorities.”
“Can we not order the apprentice to silence?” Gregor asked.
“Threats to the apprentice will not endear us to the master,” Nyissa said, “and are not likely to be effective. Zinaga’s powers are growing.”
“Look, this… plague affects all of us,” I said. “And, yes, I am effectively the only one fighting it. The police are tripping over themselves because they can’t involve magicians in the investigation. The Consulate can’t help because they’re vampires, and this stuff will eat them alive. Even you can’t help-directly. But you can help me try.”
Transomnia frowned. “Assuming I wanted to help you fight this plague,” he said, “why should I allow an army of my enemies to flourish in my stronghold?”
“They aren’t your enemies. You, personally, have a bad history with skindancers,” I said. “So you banned skindancing magic here. But this town is known for its tattooing, and by acting like gangsters, you’ve pissed off a townful of people, half of whom have magical powers.”
“What does that matter?” Gregor said. “We have the Sanctuary Stone-”
“It’s a burglar alarm, not a defense system,” I said. “If Nyissa built it, she knows.”
“We… we could still take them,” Nyissa said, resentful and almost… pouting?
“I know you’re vampires,” I said, trying to remain patient, trying to remain calm with her on the arm of my chair. “You’re tough, experienced and powerful. You might win the battle, but if it came to that, you’d almost certainly lose the war-you’d have to flee Blood Rock.”
“Well, aren’t you the peacemaker,” Transomnia said, still smiling pleasantly, but more mocking. “Shooting for a secretary of state position in the new administration?” The vampires laughed at me, and I said nothing. “Do you have any suggestions, Dakota Frost?”
“Start with an olive branch to Arcturus,” I said. “I need him in this fight, and more importantly, we all need to be on the same side. Send him the message that you’re laying off the ban on exposed tattoos, that you’re willing to
