“I am not privy to their decisions. In any case, you and your partner need no longer be involved.” He reached inside his sleek black jacket. “When I located Damon, I was to present him with his new assignment, which is to escort you back to the Border and return to Erebus for further instructions.”
His new assignment? This guy said he’d just found out about the double agent and had been chasing him, but he’d had time to return to Erebus and get new orders for Damon before Damon had reported back himself?
She frowned slightly and met the vampire’s gaze. “I think you’d better come back to camp and repeat all this to Damon,” she said. “You wouldn’t want him working in the dark.”
The Nightsider grimaced at her weak joke. “Of course,” he said, bowing like a courtier.
“It’s that way,” she said, pointing east.
He hung back with a knowing smile. “Please. A lady should always go first.”
“I didn’t know women had any special privileges in Erebus,” she said.
“I merely defer to your human customs,” the Nightsider said, pressing his hand to his heart as if he had wounded her. “We regarded males and females as equals long before your kind dreamed of giving your women the right to vote. Equals,” he said, showing his teeth, “in their freedom to compete for rank and power.”
“And you really think that we humans—” She broke off, sensing Damon long before the Nightsider was aware of his approach.
She didn’t know why her senses were so much keener than a full vampire’s, but she wasn’t about to question her unexpected advantage.
Unfortunately, Damon made no attempt to sneak up on them. As soon as he walked out from between two bigleaf maples with her VS in hand and saw the Nightsider, he began to run toward Alexia. He stopped between her and the vampire, his anxious gaze raking up and down her body. He glanced at the dead Nightsider and turned to face the living one, head slightly bent and shoulders tensed to repel attack.
The Nightsider didn’t move. “Damon,” he said.
“Lysander.” Damon’s voice was so utterly cold that Alexia could almost feel ice crystals form in the air between him and the vampire. “What are you doing here?”
Lysander looked at Damon’s ragged clothing, his bare chest under the dirty jacket and the shadow of a beard on his jaw with unconcealed contempt in his deep purple eyes.
“The same thing you are,” he said.
“I doubt that very much.” Damon glanced again at the body. “Who is this Opir? What happened to him?”
“Lysander killed him,” Alexia said.
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.”