“Don’t get me wrong, demon. We are opportunists. We survive by stealing the choice cow or the best ale— but without cattle or a keg in sight, we starve. Prosperity is in our best interest. You look like you might offer that.”
Mac took a sip of his Scotch. “Then you’re on my side?”
“Surviving in this Castle is like playing a dozen chess games at once. I’ve spent centuries ensuring there was no true winner.”
“Why not?”
The prince smiled. “Whom among the warlords would you choose to rule?”
Thoughts chased across Mac’s face. “Good point. Are you going to see to it that I lose, too?”
“You offer a novel outcome: peace and integration with the outside world. That interests me. After this long, anything that piques my interest is worth a great deal.” Miru-kai took another taste of the Scotch.
“How long have you been here?”
“When I arrived, Jerusalem had just been taken by the Christians.”
“That was what, around nine hundred years ago?”
“Perhaps?” Miru-kai felt a strange sensation. Wonderment. Fear. Most of all, a need to burst out of this prison. As it came back to life, he grew more restless. Besides, there was no reason to stay anymore. The pattern had changed. He’d just buried his emotional ties to the place. “Simeon was with me the whole time.”
“How does a mortal get to be part of a dark fey’s court?” Mac asked.
“He was a poor knight. My father invited him to join our court in exchange for teaching me the ways of the sword. My father failed to mention that there was no release from his vow. If he set foot on his own land, he would turn to dust, because a hundred years had passed without anyone realizing it. So Simeon stayed on. For all that time, he was a steadfast friend and my second father.”
Mac was sitting back in his chair, watching him, catching every nuance. “Did you do that a lot? Take mortals?”
Miru-kai tolerated the questions, hoping to trade information for a spoonful of trust. “We need humans around us. They provide much that we lack. Humans, especially their children, love more easily.”
“You took children?”
“Don’t you read fairy tales, demon? My own grandfather was a mortal, taken as a babe.”
“That’s sick.”
“We raise those children as our own. Protect them as well as or better than their human parents ever did. Occasionally, as with my grandfather, we wed them. The ability to connect emotionally is a mortal trait we treasure. I would give much to live among humans again.”
There, he had hinted at his true reason for this so-civilized conversation.
Mac gave him a shrewd look. “I don’t think the outside world is ready for a prince of the dark fey.”
Miru-kai gave a mournful smile, careful not to show his fangs. “You won’t set me free?”
Mac laughed. “You’ve been fighting the guardsmen here for close to a thousand years, and you’re damned good at it. You’re the prince of a dark power. Plus, you’re a tricky bastard. I’m not that much of a fool.”
Disappointing, but no surprise. “And yet you let Reynard go. Don’t you know every guardsman who leaves the Castle for more than a day or two inevitably goes mad? Did you never hear the sad story of Guardsman Killion and his murder spree? That was only a handful of years ago.”
Mac didn’t even blink. “Reynard is no madman.”
“How do you know? The guardsmen have quite a history. Don’t forget you had to kill half their number when you took over the reins of power.”
“What are you saying?”
“Sacrificial lambs, every one of them. Their fates were sealed by their forefathers thousands of years ago. The Order is the type of gruesome business only humans can dream up. Worse than anything I’ve ever been mixed up in.”
“Interesting, but I’m still not letting you go.”
“There is nothing I can offer you in exchange for my freedom?”
“No.”
“You let the hellhounds leave the Castle.”
“Bad example. We rescued them from slavery to warlords like you.”
Miru-kai rose, picked up his own flask, and slid it into the pocket of his tunic. It was time to change tactics. “Don’t say that I didn’t ask nicely.”
Mac set down his glass, stood up. “What do you mean by that?”
“I’ve stayed a prisoner long enough. It’s time to leave this place.”
The gun was suddenly in Mac’s hand again. “Not happening. Not until I know there’s a snowball’s chance you’ll behave. What you just said about kidnapping doesn’t help.”
“You could win me as an ally. Think what that would mean.”
“I would guess a big fat headache. You’re a trickster by nature. You can’t help yourself.”
Unexpected anger sliced through Miru-kai. Odd, but he had wanted the demon’s friendship. That surprised him. “Then know what it is to cross the dark fey!”
He saw a flicker of something on the demon’s face that might have been fear. Good.
“Making threats only digs you in deeper,” Mac growled.
It was like teasing a bad-tempered dog—amusing and scary at once. “I will leave this place.”
Mac’s face flushed, fire flickering in his dark eyes. “And how do you think you’re going to do that?”
Time to go. The prince turned on his heel, pausing with one hand on the door handle. He looked back. “It’s a chess game, remember? You’ll have to see my moves as I make them.”
“This isn’t a game. You can’t win. You can’t escape.”
“I have the means. . . .” Miru-kai grinned, this time showing his fangs. “And I’m sure I can do at least as well as a rabbit. You can’t even keep a bunny behind bars.”
He opened the door. Oh.
A handful of guards stood there, chains of cold iron ready to fetter the prince.
No fey could escape cold iron.
By Oberon’s balls!
“For future reference,” said Mac, “just because you don’t see security, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. This office has surveillance cameras and a silent alarm.”
Miru-kai wheeled as one of the guards grabbed his wrists, snapping metal cuffs around them. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Mac folded his arms. “I don’t like chess.”
Chapter 12
Saturday, April 4, 11:00 a.m.
101.5 FM
“This is Oscar Ottwell with your CSUP news. Our top story is yesterday’s attack by an out-of-town vampire at the North Central Branch of the public library. Leaders of the supernatural community anticipate repercussions following this unprovoked and very public incident. We’d like to remind our listeners that if you have any knowledge of strange vampires in your area, please call CSUP immediately. We’ll notify the proper authorities on your behalf.”
“Of course we’ll look after Eden,” Holly said. “Honestly, we’ve got it covered. Us and the four hellhounds in the front yard. When Alessandro found out about the vamp attack, he went nuts with the security.”
Ashe looked at her sister, who was standing in the doorway of the Carver family home. Holly was small and dark-haired like their mother, more of a sprite than an Amazon. She stepped back, letting them inside.
