Daysider

Damon’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t seem surprised. “Why?”

Alexia spoke before Lysander could answer. “He said the man was a traitor, a double agent working for both the Expansionists and Independents.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed. “But to whom was he a traitor?” he asked.

“The ruling faction, of course,” Lysander said, glaring at the Vampire Slayer. “Put that abomination down, Damon. You know such weapons are forbidden in the Zone.”

Damon set the VS on the ground, still within easy reach of both him and Alexia. “I never heard that you’d gone to work for the Council,” he said.

Lysander shrugged, a consummately human gesture. “You do not hear everything,” he said. “Or do you think you should be consulted in every matter that comes before the Council?”

“If it enables me to complete my mission, yes.” He stared into Lysander’s eyes. “You knew what I was sent to do?”

“Of course.”

“How long have you been out?”

“I left Erebus soon after you did,” the vampire said.

“Have you been in contact with the others?”

Shifting his weight ever so slightly, Lysander managed a sneer with a fractional twitch of his upper lip. “So many questions. I have not seen the others since I left with him—” Lysander gestured at the body “—and discovered he was working for the enemy. I was tracking him when this female—”

“Her name is Agent Fox,” Damon said sharply.

“She was nearly taken in by the traitor’s lies. I put an end to the conversation.”

Lysander raked Alexia with another disdainful glance. “I was told you had been shot at.”

“You didn’t know?” Damon asked, nearly growling.

“It was not in my purview to watch over you,” Lysander retorted. “You should have been prepared to deal with any opposition.” He smiled with some secret satisfaction. “Or have you become so incompetent since Eirene died?”

Eirene. Alexia flinched on Damon’s behalf and watched tensely for his reaction. But Damon didn’t move a muscle.

“You said you were with him, ” Damon said, indicating the dead Nightsider. “Council agents work alone. Or are you an exception?”

“He was already under suspicion. I was to observe him until he made a mistake and revealed himself for what he was.”

That wasn’t what he’d said before, Alexia thought. “He wasn’t suspicious?” she asked.

“He was not as clever as he believed himself to be,” Lysander said.

Neither are you, Alexia thought. “Lysander was very surprised to hear about the attack on us,” she said to Damon, emphasizing the adverb.

Some subtle change in his expression convinced her that he had picked up her hint.

“He must have been very intent on his work to miss the noise,” he said.

“Yes,” Alexia said with a glance at Lysander. “We assumed the shooters were from the colony, but Lysander suggested they could have been Expansionist agents.” She shook her head. “And you thought that wasn’t possible.”

“It makes little difference now,” Lysander said with obvious impatience. “You will be pleased to know that neither of you will be at further risk.”

Alexia felt the abrupt change in Damon as ice melted and nascent fire took its place.

Anger was more than a description of an emotion to dhampires. She could taste it, smell it, sense it in a way indescribable to humans. Damon’s hatred overwhelmed her senses.

“It would not have been a good thing if Ms. Fox had been killed,” Damon said, his muscles so tense they were almost trembling.

“But she is alive,” Lysander replied. “And now we can move to prevent the Expansionists from destroying the colony.”

She could see Damon’s mind racing behind the unnatural stillness of his face. “Why would they do that?” he asked. “We know they secretly support it. Its establishment furthers their agenda, and they hate the Enclave. Destroying the colony would only please Aegis.”

“Ask the little Half-blood,” Lysander said.

Damon glanced at Alexia without letting his attention waver from Lysander’s face.

“It wouldn’t please Aegis,” she said, wondering why Damon had even suggested it.

“Any precipitous action in the Zone could be considered an act of hostility against the Enclave.”

“Then perhaps they want to start a war,” Damon said, bringing up the same possibility he and Alexia had so thoroughly discussed before.

“That isn’t the motive Lysander suggested earlier,” Alexia said, addressing Damon as she carefully watched Lysander’s expression.

She told him about the vampire’s claims that the colony had chosen not to cooperate with the Expansionists as they had expected...and that the colonists wanted equality for all Nightsiders, no matter what their rank.

Damon’s eyes flashed with genuine surprise, but he didn’t let the emotion cross his face. “How do the Expansionists plan to attack?” he asked.

“Their plans are no longer any concern of yours.” Lysander’s jaw flexed. “I have new orders for you. You are to escort Ms. Fox to the Border and return to Erebus.”

“Indeed?” Damon said through his teeth. “When did you receive these orders?”

“You question me? ” Lysander asked, his deceptively thin body drawing taut with offense.

“You’re an operative and a Freeblood, not a Bloodmaster.”

Lysander stewed silently for a moment and then seemed to relax. “I told you I had left Erebus soon after you did. The Council reconsidered its original orders and planned to recall you soon after you were gone.”

“Why?” Damon asked.

“Your only duty now is to obey. You are to leave immediately.”

“But I haven’t received any new orders,” Alexia said, moving up beside Damon. “I’m — We’re not going anywhere until we can make a full report to Aegis.”

She could see Lysander assessing her statement, comparing it with her earlier, more cooperative attitude. “That would be most ill-advised,” he said. “The dangers of remaining are too great.”

“I doubt that either Agent Fox or her partner will consider that sufficient reason to abandon their mission,” Damon said.

“That is your problem.” Lysander removed a folded sheet of paper from inside his jacket and offered it to Damon, careful not to touch his fingers.

Damon opened the sheet and read the brief sentences with a frown. Alexia could just make out some of the words of the Nightsider’s script before he folded the paper again.

“Clear?” Lysander asked.

“Very clear.” Damon tucked the orders inside his jacket. “You make an excellent messenger, Lysander.”

The Nightsider smiled tightly. “See that the Half-bloods return safely to their territory.

And you had better move quickly. You will need blood soon, and you would not want to rely on them for nourishment.”

Damon took Alexia’s arm in a firm, possessive grip. “Watch your tongue, Lysander,” he said. “She is not a serf.”

“I take it that you have an attachment to this Half-blood that is not only foolish, but forbidden,” Lysander said. “I would have thought you’d learned your lesson.” He smiled condescendingly at Alexia. “But she is a pretty thing. And spirited. Just like Eirene.”

Damon’s bone-deep trembling passed from his fingers into Alexia’s arm, through flesh and muscle and