'So,' I said, 'we're just letting them leave?'
Vayl took hold of my arm. 'No, we are letting them think we let them leave. Come.'
We hurried to the Mercedes and pulled into traffic a comfortable distance behind the limo. Ordinarily this would be an easy tail considering the make of their ride. But inside our car the atmosphere was far from relaxed. Finally Vayl said, 'I do owe you an explanation.'
'Just tell me what I need to know to survive this mission. You can save the rest—'
'—for the plane ride back?' We smiled at each other. 'At this rate we will have to fly to Ohio by way of Portugal.' Our shared laughter eased the tension, and by the time Vayl spoke again he sounded more like himself.
'I think, first of all, we must face the fact that you have been the target of these attacks all along.'
'I'll buy the first attempt,' I said, 'but why would they poison
'Think about it. They taint my blood supply, I turn on you and take yours. All of it.'
'That doesn't quite make sense to me. I mean, you didn't, and—'
Vayl stopped me with an irritable shake of his head. 'You are looking at this like a human being, Jasmine. Look at it from a vampire's perspective.'
Vayl stopped, stared hard out the window, and by the time he met my eyes again I knew we'd made the same leap. Like a couple of kids on their way to yelling, 'Jinx, you owe me a coke!' we chorused, 'The mastermind is a vampire!'
Chapter Eleven
'It makes perfect sense,' Vayl rushed on as I tried to gather my scattered thoughts enough to keep us from crashing into the nearest electric pole. 'A vampire would know that, when faced with a deepening hunger, I would turn to the nearest possible source of nourishment.'
'You make me sound like a granola bar.'
'Jasmine!'
'I'm joking, I know it wasn't that way. Go on, go on.'
'Most vampires, at least the ones who scoff at the idea of assimilation, would have drained you without hesitation. This one is, I believe, no exception. That also explains much better the appearance of Liliana. Until you, only vampires knew of her connection with me.'
'How many knew?' I asked.
His shrug and grimace told me not to get excited. 'All of the Old Ones, who could have told anyone. Everyone Liliana ever consorted with. I would wager the information is shared by hundreds.'
'Including a senator. I mean, that's where we're going with this, right? I saw Martha right before we left. She was still human then.'
Vayl nodded, 'And still is I will wager. But that does not clear her. It only makes her a potential partner, or patsy, of the senator.'
'A senator though? Are we sure we're sober?'
'Remember I told you at the beginning that something seemed off about this mission?'
'Yeah.'
'The Committee was supposed to meet with us before we left. They called it a six-month review. Despite Pete's reassurances that he and I were happy with your performance, they wanted to ask you a whole slew of questions. Something about making sure we had made the right decision.'
The specter of my past lifted its raggedy head and cackled. The thought that it might always haunt me felt wretched. I wanted to crawl into the nearest bed and burrow under the covers until I was just a lump. Nobody expects anything of lumps. It could be a peaceful existence. Unless you'd just eaten chili. And I liked chili. Never mind.
'Then, without warning, the senators canceled their interview. They said this new mission was much too urgent to put off any longer. Although when I discussed it with Pete he made no mention of a need to rush.'
'So what are you getting at?' I asked.
'If the interview had taken place, the undead politician would have been forced to attend. You are a Sensitive. As soon as you entered the room you would have pegged the vampire.'
'A vampire senator.' I shook my head. 'Scary. But how did they figure to pull it off? People in Washington get kind of suspicious when you only come out at night.'
Vayl shrugged. 'Technology has befriended the human race; I imagine there are times when it smiles kindly on vampires as well.'
Well, maybe. Or maybe our senator had a double. Public figures had done the same throughout history. Or maybe he or she was so newly turned and this plan so quickly hatched that he or she could go a couple of weeks in the dark without raising suspicion. Bottom line, our senator had found a way.
I said, 'Okay, so at this point we have a dirty plastic surgeon with terrorist ties allied with a Most Wanted vampire allied with a senator. You know what this smells like don't you?'
'Raptor?'
'That son of a bitch is the only one I can think of who could pull together three such unlikely collaborators.'
