Tempting Evil

you're not studying by then, you get nothing.'

'Bastard.'

'Totally. Go read.'

I did.

The air in the tram was rich with the overwhelming scent of humanity. I hung out near the back door, desperately trying to get some of the fresh air coming in from the cracks of the bifold doors. I hated trams at the best of times. They were far worse than trains—smaller, more crowded—and always managed to give me that 'penned-in' feeling.

I hitched the backpack onto a more comfortable position on my shoulder, managing to hit the man standing beside me yet again. He swore, and I snarled right back. Poppy had attitude. Right now, in this stinking, humanity- soaked metal box on electric wheels, I was ready to give it.

I glanced at the windows, studying the night flooded street, and noted with some relief that we were nearing my stop. Butterflies stirred in my stomach, but I beat them down ruthlessly I couldn't afford butterflies, or fear, or anything else. For good or for bad, I was now on the path of no return. What might lie at the very end of that path, no one, not even me, was willing to guess. I could only hope it was a return to normal life.

I flicked the small, skin toned disk that had been slotted under the skin behind my left ear, and said softly, 'Carlisle Street,' as I reached up to pull the cord. The buzzer sounded, letting the driver know someone wanted out at the next stop.

'She's near Luna Park.' Jack's soft tone whispered out from the receiver that had been carefully placed into my right ear.

The tram lurched to a stop and the door swished open. I all but fell out, then sucked in several gulps of air. God, even fume-filled, this air felt like heaven in comparison to the tram.

'Your stray vamp on time?' I asked, as I headed up Carlisle Street toward the amusement park. Though the Government had made Luna Park a prostitute free zone, many of them still plied their trade along the side street that ran the length of the park's rear.

'He'll be there in ten.'

'You sure?'

'He wants to live, so yes.'

I snorted softly. A vamp desperate to survive was more likely to run than risk the Directorate going back on its word. And knowing what I knew of the Directorate, that was an odds-on chance.

'And he's primed to attack, not kill?'

'He was warned.'

'So what did he do to gain the Directorate's attention?'

'Killed a couple of humans.' I could almost hear Jack's shrug. 'Nothing too extraordinary.'

Unless you were one of those humans. 'So why wouldn't Dia be able to defend herself?'

'She abhors violence.'

'And she works with Starr? That's highly unlikely, isn't it?'

'Given we know so little about her reasons for working with Starr, that's hard to say.'

I fell silent as several packs of humans pushed past, then said, 'Assure me again that these things in my ears won't be discovered once I'm in Starr's estate.'

The last man of the last group gave me an odd look. I flipped him the finger.

'These are from Quinn's labs, and there is nothing out on the market like them. And certainly nothing that can trace them. You will have to be careful when and where you contact us, though, because the signal can be traced when in use.'

'Kade didn't say anything about the electronic scanning situation.'

'No. But then, he's basically restricted to the grounds and scanning would probably be done from inside.'

'How did you get these things from Quinn, without him demanding to be in on the mission?'

'We didn't ask. We took.'

I raised my eyebrows. 'When?'

'Two nights ago.'

'And?'

'He came down to Melbourne almost immediately.'

So he had been down here, just as I'd guessed. The bastard couldn't even give me one honest answer.

I was better off without him in my life. Truly.

So why did the thought of never seeing him again hurt so much? It wasn't as if I had a future with the man, for heaven's sake. A vampire could never be my soul mate.

'Then he suspected it was us?'

'His security was better than we thought.'

I rolled my eyes. 'How often have you told me never to underestimate the enemy?' I stopped at the streetlights and looked around. A tall brown haired woman in pale gray stood near the park's famous laughing- mouth entrance. 'Spotted my quarry. Try not to jabber in my ear for the next few minutes.'

Jack's snort was loud enough to make me wince. 'I have done this before, darlin'.'

I grinned and crossed with the green light. A quick look at my watch said I had seven minutes to go.

I hitched my pack, took a deep breath, then slipped into Poppy, letting her identity, her attitudes, fill my surface thoughts. Then I strode directly toward Dia.

'Don't tell me the great Dia Jones has been reduced to hawking her wares on the streets,' I said, voice low and sarcastic. 'Always knew you were a fraud.'

Her startled gaze swung around to mine, and in that minute I realized two things. The first was the fact that Dia Jones was completely blind. And second, the unearthly sense of power that had been evident in the photograph didn't even begin to do justice to the true power of her gaze. Even unfocused, her blue eyes were magnetic, unforgiving. All seeing.

Which was an odd thing to think about a blind woman.

'Excuse me?' she said, voice soft yet hinting at ice.

Which suited the complexion that lay underneath the makeup.

'People like you make a living from ripping off the gullible. It disgusts me.'

'And is a thief any better?'

I raised my eyebrows, wondering how she'd guessed. Wondering what else she'd guessed. 'At least I don't make a living on the suffering of others.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'And you think I do?'

'Well, what else do you call feeding false hope to suckers?'

She regarded me for a moment, her luminous blue eyes seeming to see right through me. Those butterflies stirred again, though I had no idea why.

'And you do not believe in hope?'

I snorted. 'Hope is a fool's desire. I deal with realities.'

'Really?'

With a suddenness, and an accuracy, that surprised me, she reached out and grabbed my hand. My instinctive response was to pull away, but I checked the strength of it almost immediately. Partly because I was curious about what she was doing, and partly because the minute her fingers touched mine, an odd sort of energy seemed to run over them. It felt like the power that caressed the air right before a summer storm.

She didn't say anything for several minutes, just gripped my fingers and frowned as the energy of her touch flowed between us. Then she sighed, and smiled as she released me.

'You will save us,' she said softly.

Us? What the hell did she mean by that? Her and me? Did that mean she knew about the planned attack? Somehow, I didn't think so, but before I could ask what she actually meant, awareness surged, prickling like fire across my skin. With it came the stench of unwashed, unripe flesh.

Jack's stray vamp had shown up ahead of time.

And he'd brought a couple of friends along.