Ravenous

'You've had me watching Fairview for over a hundred years, monitoring what you said was strong, unstable coastal magic. Was that the whole reason you wanted me here, rather than at your side, where a champion ought to be?'

She looked amused, as if waiting to see what trick he might perform. 'Whatever do you mean?'

He felt his lip curling back, revealing fang. The old loyalty that bound him to his queen was hanging by an unraveling thread. 'A mere surveillance job could be handled by any reliable hireling. You didn't need a warrior here, unless there was something big that might need fighting.'

Omara's chin jerked just a fraction. He'd hit the target. 'Do you have a point?'

Alessandro hesitated, but ultimately let the words go.

'You worked with Elaine Carver when she banished the demon before. You expected that demon to find its way back out of the portal. You just didn't know when, or how it would manage it, but you knew it was coming. You've had me watching for it.'

'And if I did?' Her eyes were bright and hard. 'What does that matter now?'

'Why the secrecy? Why pretend you have no idea what is going on?'

'Up till now, I did not want to admit that, despite my magic and the Carver witch's sacrifice, the portal might reopen. To say such a thing would be to invite accusations of weakness.'

'But now the demon is here, and yet still you say nothing. Why not?'

A long beat passed, and Omara's expression crumpled into a rictus of agony. She buried her face in her hands, her body collapsing into itself.

What now? What more could she possibly be hiding? Alessandro scrambled to his feet, automatically offering comfort, but she waved him away, hugging herself.

She lifted her face. Her eyes were dry, but her expression was raw. 'I pretend ignorance for a good reason. I cannot say I know about the demon and then do nothing to stop it. I've been waiting to see what your witch can do. I must be sure of my resources.'

'What do you mean?'

'I don't have the power to stop the demon anymore.' She stood up, her arms folded across her body. 'When my Seattle apartment was ransacked, the thief took my grimoires, all my magical tools.'

'What?' Omara had lied to him in Sinsation. An utter lie. His stomach was a lump of granite. 'You said none of those things had been taken!'

'They were all taken. Every tool I need to perform the smallest shred of sorcery. Every magical instrument that I took decades to attune to my power. It will take me a century to replace a tenth part of it all.'

The queen angled her back to him, staring out the window at the nightscape. She dropped her arms to her sides, her breathing heavy and slow. He could see she was deliberately, brutally forcing her emotions under control. 'No one knows I am powerless. I've been pretending for weeks. Stalling. Bluffing.'

Alessandro's mouth went dry with shock. 'The Book of Lies?' He named the tome of demon magic that had won Omara her throne.

'Gone.' The word came out like a curse.

It was Omara's best weapon. Indescribably deadly. Full of violent secrets. And it wasn't as though she could order another from Evil4U.com. She had stolen it from a demon herself, a bold stroke that had nearly cost her everything.

Omara looked nowhere near so victorious now. Her fires banked, she seemed small and frail. 'I have enemies that would tear me to pieces if they knew I've lost the book. You're right about Clan Albion's ambitions, and they are just one name on a long list. I cannot be exposed. That's why I need your witch's help so badly. She must work the magic that I cannot.'

He touched her shoulder with his fingertips. She flinched as if they were red-hot, but did not shake him off.

'Why didn't you tell me?' he asked, fear for her pushing aside his earlier anger. 'You took me in when I had no clan. You are my queen. You know I will always protect you.'

'Because I can't even defend my throne from other vampires, to say nothing of demons. Your loyalty, brilliant flame though it is, cannot protect me from everything. It was information I could not afford to share. Not with all the work I have done. I've made too many gains with the human lawmakers to lose my seat halfway through the game.'

She spread her hands in a gesture of despair. 'I've been trying to hold on, to find a solution before my weakness is made public. There is no one with my skill and patience willing to negotiate with the humans.'

'I know. We have everything to lose. Who took the book?'

'More important is where it is now, and how I can get it back.' Omara lifted her head, pride warring with a look of numb misery. 'I'm afraid.'

Alessandro felt his body go cold and still. There was something else, something neither of them wanted to say. There were no ex-monarchs among the vampire clans. Crowns were always taken by a combat to the death. It was the one fight where champions weren't allowed.

Without her power, Omara was as good as dead.

Chapter 16

Holly experienced an acute sense of deja vu. Here she was again, following a medical emergency crew, her male companion of the moment felled by a mysterious evil. Even one of the ambulance attendants was a repeat from the Flanders house.

Maybe dating immortals has its merits, she thought, fighting off a wave of grim hysteria. At least the Undead are hardy.

She tailed the ambulance in her Hyundai, trying to steer while hitting a speed dial on her cell. She had no idea what she was dealing with and wanted backup. So far tonight she was batting zero. First she'd failed to identify Mac's malady. Then she hadn't been able to tell the ambulance attendants what they needed to know about his medical history or even his emergency contact numbers. The hospital would have to call the police station for his personnel file. Now Holly had to figure out what—and how much—to tell the doctors. Supernatural illnesses were a matter of hot debate in the medical community. Some doctors refused to treat such cases altogether.

Alessandro's phone went to voice mail. Whoever had called him away had him fully occupied. Damn. She closed the phone without leaving a message. She was going to have to handle this one on her own.

It was nearly midnight when she skidded through the doors of Emergency, her high heels sliding on the bare tile. She blinked and squinted, the bright light surreal after the darkness of the streets.

'I'm looking for Conall Macmillan,' she said to the nurse behind the admitting desk. 'He came in by ambulance a few minutes ago. How is he doing?'

'You a relative?'

'Sally Macmillan. I'm his sister.' Goddess forgive me a white lie.

The nurse typed something, glancing at the computer screen as it refreshed. Her expression never flickered. 'Can't tell you anything one way or the other. There's nothing here. The doctor admitted him, but that's it.'

'Why not?'

'It's busy tonight.'

Holly bit back a protest. 'Can I wait with him? Where is he?'

The nurse pointed down a hallway to the left, her attention already on somebody else. Holly headed past the cluster of chairs filled with walk-ins waiting their turn for attention. She stripped off her wrap, feeling grossly overdressed. The air was hot and antiseptic, a dying ballast flickering the fluorescent lights overhead.

There was little to see anyway. The hallway was painted a muddy yellow, but little bare wall was visible. Filing cabinets, metal storage lockers, and even desks crowded the corridor, making impromptu offices. Narrow rolling beds filled any spare hall space, the occupants waiting for the doctors. Not enough staff, not enough room. Fairview was growing faster than its hospital funding.