But it wasn’t as if the leeches openly advertised their internal conflicts to their enemies.
And why would any Nightsider so blatantly slaughter one of his own kind right in front of an Aegis operative?
Alexia could think of only one good reason. And that was because he had to stop the
“traitor” from telling her something he didn’t want her to hear.
She had to be very, very careful. Careful to show suspicion and mistrust, but not enough to seem as if she wanted to kill him.
“Who are you?” she asked the Nightsider coldly. “Why did you kill this man?”
He clasped his hands behind his back as if he meant to show just how harmless he was.
“As I told you, he was a traitor.”
In spite of her resolve, Alexia’s fingers twitched on the trigger. “‘The colony is not what we believed,’” she recited. “‘They want to destroy it.’ What was he talking about?”
“You don’t know?” he asked, eyes narrowing. “Have you not been observing the colony?”
“It has been a little difficult with someone trying to kill us,” she said.
“Indeed?” the Nightsider said, lifting both brows as if he were genuinely surprised.
“There are, unfortunately, many who would do anything to prevent cooperation between our peoples.”
As hard as he tried to express sincerity, the Nightsider couldn’t pull it off. She was dead certain he had already known someone had tried to kill them.
“We assumed it was the colonists who attacked us,” Alexia said. “They must have known we were watching.”
“They have protected themselves well enough so far,” the vampire said. “But then again, certain parties in Erebus would wish to prevent anyone from providing the Council with intelligence that might create obstacles to their plans.”
“What plans?” she asked, pretending ignorance. “Whose?”
The Nightsider glanced down at the body. “He meant to put you off your guard by confusing you, but there was much truth in his words. He merely twisted them around so that it seemed he was referring to others instead of himself.”
He met Alexia’s eyes again. “The colony is not, indeed, what any of us believed. This traitor did intend to report back to the Expansionists. We believed him to be one of our operatives, but in fact he was a double agent, as I recently discovered. I am certain he was hoping to persuade you to kill me when I caught up with him, and then eliminate you before returning to his true masters.”
“So he worked for the Expansionists,” Alexia said, continuing to play along, “and you work for the Council, like Damon.”
“Didn’t he tell you? The Council would hardly make the mistake of sending only one operative on such a crucial mission. And now that I know you have been attacked, the wisdom in that policy is apparent.”
“What did this man mean when he said ‘they’ wanted to destroy the colony? Why would the Expansionists turn against the settlement when extending the Citadel’s reach into the Zone is exactly what they’re after?”
The Nightsider sighed. “This traitor,” he said, “was about to tell you that the colonists, whom his masters secretly hoped to control, were determined to keep their independence and refuse to cooperate with any party in Erebus.”
His candidness caused Alexia an uncomfortable moment of doubt. Would he admit all this if he was with the faction most hostile to the Enclave?
He might if he planned to kill her after he made her think he was on her side. “Why would the colonists’ lack of cooperation be enough for the Expansionists to want the settlement eliminated?” she asked.
“They will brook no possible threat to their ambitions,” the Nightsider said. “They could create considerable trouble if they attacked the colony, and turn that trouble to their advantage. Of course, the Council would wish to prevent any action that might suggest bad faith in their dealings with Aegis.”
All very tidy, Alexia thought. But this Nightsider had said that his victim hadn’t yet made his report to the Expansionists. How could he, or the double agent, be so sure what the Expansionists intended to do after they received that report?
Because they already knew. The supposed “traitor” was going to tell the Council that an attack was coming.
Was that what Michael had been trying to tell her when he’d given her the strange communicator and spoken those few, ominous words?
Coming. Signal. Attack. Warn.
War.
Instinct told her to run on the chance she might actually escape and get the message to Damon. But she knew she had to keep the vampire talking in case he carelessly revealed the nature of the Expansionists’ plans. And what the other vampire had meant about the
“drugs.”
“That makes sense,” Alexia said belatedly, lowering the rifle. “But how did your double agent get caught in the sun?”
The Nightsider shrugged. “Once I learned what he was, I detained him. He escaped and was severely burned, but obviously not enough to prevent him from trying to provoke your sympathy and catch you off guard.”
Alexia kicked at the dirt with the toe of her boot. “Considering that Damon and I have been attacked several times by Nightsiders, why are you so sure I would have believed he was on our side?”
“Because both you and Damon have strong prejudices that would make you inclined to believe exactly what this one told you. The Expansionists want war, and they despise Daysiders more than any other faction in Erebus.”
“And that’s enough to make Damon discard his training and all common sense?”
“Perhaps you have observed that he is of a passionate nature, not unlike humans or your kind. He also has an inordinate amount of pride.”
“Like Opiri?” she asked.
The vampire ignored her mockery. “He is even more driven by irrational impulses than most of those you call Daysiders. That is the very reason he was sent to work with you.
But it also makes him, shall we say, more apt to act according to emotion rather than intellect.”
“And to believe a man who tells him what he wants to hear. But you still haven’t told me what that is.”
He hesitated very convincingly and sighed. “The colony,” he said, “was founded by a Bloodmaster named Theron. Theron’s philosophy—” he nearly spat the word “—
encouraged the concept of full equality among all citizens of Erebus, from Bloodmaster to the lowest vassal. It seems he has put this idea into practice.”
“And that’s the real reason the Expansionists want the settlement destroyed.”
“Perhaps,” he said.
She wasn’t going to push him. He’d given her a great deal more information than she’d expected to get already.
“That sounds like internal politics to me,” she said. “Once I get back to the Enclave, I’ll advise that we should continue to observe from a distance unless it becomes imperative that we interfere.”
“You ‘advise’ your superiors?” he asked mockingly.
“My opinion, as well as my partner’s, counts for something, yes,” she said. “In fact, I was on my way to rendezvous with my partner when I stumbled over this man.”
“I will gladly stand by to protect you until he arrives.”
Sure you will, she thought. Now that it was down to the wire, she had very few choices about what to do next.
“I’ve been wondering,” she said idly, as if she were reluctant to end a pleasant conversation, “how do you think the Council will stop the Expansionists?”