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“It seems pretty clear,” Derrick said. “She wants the armor. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be negotiating with us. She’s been waiting for this.”

I shut off the ignition. “Bitch should have stayed exiled. If she lays a hand on Mia or Patrick, I’m taking her out.”

“It might not be that easy.”

“I’ve got a gun loaded with silver-nitrate rounds. She’s got a withered, centuries-old heart, just waiting for a bullet. It seems simple to me.”

“If it was really that simple, she would have been dead a long time ago.”

“Why does this vampire hate you again?” Miles asked.

I opened the driver’s-side door. “It’s a long story involving Mia, my old boss, and the former magnate. And some GHB. But that’s just a side note.”

Selena’s car pulled into the space next to us. She got out, adjusting her shoulder-holster. We’d stopped by one of the CORE’s hidden armament depots on our way here. Selena flashed them her ID badge, and they made sure we didn’t leave empty-handed. Personally, I hated guns. They killed a lot more people than magic ever did. But in situations like these, you needed all the firepower you could get.

“Lucian’s in position?” Selena asked.

I nodded. “His painting at home gives him access to the speculum network, so he’s waiting for our signal. If things get hairy, he can teleport himself into the lab.”

“That must be how Sabine got in. Through Las Meninas .”

“Which means she’s got a necromancer in her pocket.” I shook my head. “Fucking Braxton. I’m going to feed him that Vorpal gauntlet.”

“Easy, tiger.” Selena put a hand on my shoulder. “You’re worried about Patrick and Mia; I get it.

But you have to treat this like any other hostage situation. At least try to give her what she wants.”

“What she wants is a world-class beating. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Tess.”

I sighed. “Calm and coolheaded. I promise.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Really? And I have such an honest face.”

Selena turned to Derrick. “How’s the sensor on your gun working?”

He squinted along the sight line. “I’m pretty sure I can actually hit something. It might take me a few tries, though.”

“That’s better than nothing. And Miles? You’re ready to go?”

He drew his Sig Sauer. “Ready as I’ll ever be. I’m using the Glaser rounds that you suggested, which mushroom on impact. So if I get a clear shot, the vampire’s definitely going to feel it.”

“Make sure to stay in the rear. If Sabine starts whispering to any of her companions, you’ll be able to read their lips.”

“I am more than a closed-captioning service, you know.”

“Of course. But right now, it’s kind of like a two-for-one deal. Interpret first, and shoot later. If bullets start flying, we’re probably screwed anyways. So at that point it won’t really matter.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell climax from FUBAR,” I said.

“Sometimes it’s like you’re not even speaking English,” Selena replied. “But you’re right. I do keep you around for the intrigue.”

“I knew it.”

We made our way through the parking lot. Selena used her card to let us in through one of the main-tenance doors, and we found ourselves in a deserted hallway. She pulled out her PDA. “I’m syncing this with the main network. Sabine may have disabled some of the building’s security features, but I should be able to reactive them. With Becka’s help.”

“I hope she hasn’t figured out what Becka’s job is.”

“For once, her age will work in her favor. She looks far too young to be an expert at anything.

Sabine will probably just mistake her for an intern.”

“And Cindée?”

“She can take care of herself. There are a lot of nasty toys in the weapons locker that she can use, if she manages to gain access to it.”

“Shouldn’t we be calling in a SWAT team or something?” Miles asked. “Surround the place and demand her surrender at gunpoint?”

“You’ve been watching too many movies on TNT,” Selena told him. “Sabine’s an immortal, and she’s halfway to crazy. She wants to deal with us and only us. If she gets wind of any kind of armed operation going on outside the building, she’s going to kill the hostages and cut her losses.”

“You’re sure?”

“Trust me. Everyone’s still alive because Sabine thinks that she can still get whatever’s in that vial.

If we eliminate that possibility by trying to capture her, she’ll go nuclear. I want to avoid multiple homicides wherever possible.”

“I think that’s in the handbook,” I added.

“But what if someone else calls nine-one-one?” Miles asked. “This is the night shift, right? There must be other technicians in the building.”

“It was a half day today. Becka and Cindée are only here because we called them in. Even the cleaning staff has gone home.”

As we passed by an elevator, an idea occurred to me. “Wait. What about Esther? She’s always here, right?”

Esther worked downstairs, in the guts of the lab. She may have been a living computer, or a bio-mechanoid, or something along those lines, but nobody was certain. She controlled all the data keys and secret files that this branch of the CORE had on everyone, including me.

Selena started to dial an extension on her PDA, then stopped. “It’s possible that she’s monitoring the lines. I’m not sure I want to risk it.”

“Can’t we e-mail her?”

“Sabine could have access to the whole network. We have no idea how much tampering her necromancer friends have done already.”

“I can go downstairs and see if she’s here,” Derrick said. “I’ll need your security badge, though.

The elevator won’t take me to her floor without it.”

Selena gave him a look. “You’re not planning mutiny, are you?”

“If I was, I’d like to think I’d be a bit more creative about it.”

“Fair enough.” She handed her ID badge to Derrick. “Be careful. If you see anyone, don’t engage them.”

“Run and hide. Check.”

“You’re more use to me alive than in pieces. So, yes. Run and hide.”

He nodded. “I promise.”

Selena pressed the button on the elevator, and the doors opened. Derrick stepped inside. He inserted Selena’s key-card into the security slot, and the panel indicating the basement floor lit up.

“See you all soon,” Derrick said.

The doors started to close. Miles blocked them with one hand.

“Wait. This is the part where I kiss you for luck.”

“What do you think this is, Die Hard?”

“Shut up.”

Derrick grinned. “Fine. But make it quick. My boss is watching.”

Miles leaned in, kissing him lightly on the mouth.

“Luck,” he said simply.

“Thanks.”

The doors closed.

“Let’s go,” Selena said. “I already can’t believe I let that happen. We have to get to the trace lab.”

We continued down the hallway, then went up a flight of stairs. The fire door opened onto another corridor, which led to the reception area. Most of the fluorescent lights had been shut off, but a few were still flickering. I could feel cold air from the ceiling ducts. In the distance, I heard voices.

“Keep your weapons lowered, but don’t holster them,” Selena said. “No matter what, keep your finger on the trigger. She moves fast.”

We made our way slowly forward. The door to the trace lab was ajar. I walked in, scanning the room. All the machines were humming away contentedly, but there was no one here. The door to the evidence locker was open. I walked over the entrance, and saw that the glass case holding the armor was empty. A yellow Post-it had been affixed to the space where the armor recently resided.

We’re in the egg. Come join us for tea.

“I really hate her,” I said. “Did I mention that already?”

We headed for the Nerve. I kept seeing grim scenarios in my mind. Patrick and Mia already dead.

Becka and Cindée incapacitated, or worse. The Nerve somehow turned against us, like that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where the holodeck gets taken over by an alien probe, and Data’s wearing the creepy sun mask. Wait. Why did I remember that? Derrick must have been rubbing off on me.

The door to the simulation chamber was open.

“Let me go first,” I said. “I’m the one she’s looking for.”

“We’ll go in at the same time,” Selena replied. “I am el jefe, after all. It would be bad form to enter behind you.”

I grinned slightly. “Thanks.”

“Just keep thinking about the dental, and it’ll all seem worth it.”

At the moment, all I could think about was how I’d been trained to kill vampires since I was a teenager. I knew a variety of techniques for putting down Sabine like a rabid animal, and I wanted to use all of them at once.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was Mia, and my heart unclenched slightly. She was unhurt and sitting on the floor. Patrick was a few feet away from her, unconscious. He didn’t appear to be hurt in any way, but he was slumped across the ground, eyes closed.

“Tess!” Sabine was standing on the mezzanine floor, next to the controls. “It’s so nice to see you.”

“Fuck you, Sabine.” I scanned the room quickly. Becka was sitting in a swivel chair close to Sabine, her arms tied behind her back. Cindée wasn’t there. Maybe she left before Sabine arrived, or she was hiding somewhere.

Two familiar figures were standing next to one of the monitors. One I’d expected to see again, but the second was a surprise.

“Cyrus?”

He grinned at me, smoothing his bleach-blond hair. “Hey, Tess.”

“You’re working for this piece of trash?”

He shrugged. “What can I say? Not every vampire agrees with the treaty. And Sabine pays top dollar. She’s, like, independently wealthy or—”

“Stop talking, Cyrus.” Braxton was standing next to him. I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to recognize his cold, reptilian eyes before. He met my gaze, and I tried to find a spark of human, or even demihuman, compassion behind those eyes. But there was none. It was the same expression of casual malice that my old boss, Marcus Tremblay, had fixed me with just before trying to kill me.

“I really should have killed you in the parking lot,” he said.

“Yeah. Likewise.”

“What were you trying to accomplish by visiting Trinovantum? Did you honestly think that Lord Nightingale would listen to you?”

“It was worth a shot. And I found a nice bone dagger, the same kind that you used to kill Luiz Or-deño. Once the Jell-O mold around it hardens, we’ll have some sweet impression evidence to use against you.”

That wasn’t strictly true. But something told me that Braxton wasn’t going to be around long enough to see a court date, so I figured there was no harm in angling for a confession. Sometimes, you really could get something out of nothing.

He just laughed. “Those knives are a dime-a-dozen at the Night Market. You won’t be able to prove anything.”

“Care to wager on it?”

“Not really. I’m done dealing with you.” He turned to Sabine. “I’d like to kill her now, if you don’t mind.”

She shook her head. “Simmer down. You’ve waited nearly a hundred years to take Ordeño’s place on the Dark Parliament. You can wait a few more minutes to get your revenge on.”

Selena frowned. “I thought Deonara was next in line for Prime Solium. How is Braxton going to take the seat?”

Sabine rolled her eyes. “You’re too slow, darling. Deonara’s not going to live through the night. Not once I send Cyrus through the painting and into her living room. That’s the problem with speculums. Once you gain access, privacy becomes a bit of a moot point, really.”

“My money’s on Valesco in that fight,” I said. “She’ll kick his ass.”

“Yeah, I would have said that, too,” Cyrus piped up. “But I’m not going to fight her. I’m just going to drug her and then burn her house down.”

I stared at Sabine. “I see you haven’t changed.”

“And neither have you, Tess.” She made an annoying clicking sound. “Can’t dress, can’t fight, and can’t form an independent thought to save your life. Did you honestly think I wasn’t watching you from the very beginning?”

“Did you honestly think the two vampires you sent after me last year could take me down? That was a weak gesture.”

“Of course it was. And you forgot about me, didn’t you? You didn’t pay me a second thought after that.”

Right. I saw where this was going now. A Miss Havisham revenge tragedy. Sabine really did need her own genre at this point.

“I didn’t forget anything,” she continued. “Not the pain of exile. Not the various shitholes I had to crawl through in order to survive as a banished creature. And certainly not the weapon you deprived me of. And by that, I mean little Mia.”

Mia stared at her coldly. “I still owe you for killing my parents. And if you get too close, I’m going to rip your eyes out, bitch.”

Sabine chuckled. “I doubt that. Or haven’t you realized yet that those drugs you’re taking are suppressing more than the virus in your blood? They’re also diluting your powers. Making you into a nice, useless doll for the CORE to control.” Her face fell theatrically. “Or hadn’t Tess told you about that? Doesn’t seem fair to keep you in the dark, especially when she’s supposed to be your guardian.”

Mia looked at me. “Is that true?”

I honestly didn’t know. It was altogether possible that the CORE was suppressing her powers for their own gain. It made sense. But nobody had ever told me anything, as usual. It was my turn to look at Selena.

“I don’t know. Is it?”

She shrugged. “If it is, then it’s been done without my knowledge. I just pick up the drugs from the pharmacy counter. They’re supposed to be retrovirals.”

“They’re trying to manipulate you, sweetheart,” Sabine said. “Just like they do to everyone else.

That’s their game. They control all the magic, all the weapons, and eventually, they control your head as well. What do you think telepaths are for?”

“Are you honestly trying to turn her against us?” I asked. “This whole plan seems pretty lame, Sabine. Nobody here trusts you. Braxton only wants to kill me, and Cyrus is only in it for the money. What are you trying to accomplish?”

“Terrorism calls for strange bedfellows,” she replied.

“They’ve all been useful to me, just like Marcus was. Braxton got me into the hidden city because nobody else would listen to his conservative rantings. And Cyrus was bored and looking for something to make his blood boil again.”