the smell of dried blood on him didn’t make the aspect rise. I was too goddamn happy. “Jesus!

Augie!”

“Pick one,” he said. “Now be quiet, Dru. Got work to do.”

I shut up. But I still kept hugging him.

“I got here in time.” He lifted the large red file with his free hand. It was spattered with blood, both

black and crusty drying red. “It’s in here. Christophe?”

“I did not doubt you, Augustine.” Christophe subtracted it from his fingers. Opened the accordion

file and pulled out, of all things, a mini tape recorder. The papers inside made a whispering sound as

he closed the file with its rubber band, then tossed it. A passionless, accurate throw, flying in a perfect arc to land at Bruce’s feet.

“I require the Council to view—and hear—the evidence,” Christophe said and held the recorder up.

He pushed the “play” button. It was an old-fashioned model, and the hiss of magnetic tape filled the

expectant, watery silence. I might’ve worried about nobody being able to hear it in this cavernous

space, but the djamphir were all utterly quiet.

I’d read the transcript when Dylan dug it up. Still, I wasn’t prepared for the shock. The first voice

was cold and male, with a funny lisping tone because the fangs made it hard to enunciate. It was a

sucker’s voice, chill and final as the grave, rasping with hate.

“Do you have it?”

The other voice . . . God. “The information’s well-guarded.”

The sucker sounded like he was losing patience. “That’s none of our concern. Where is she? We are

prepared to pay for the information.”

“Keep your money,” Anna said. “I just want the bitch dead.”

The sucker laughed, a horrible silk-soft, rotting sound. “I can arrange that.”

Kir let out a high-pitched moan. Nobody paid any attention.

“How can we be sure?” the sucker continued. “He will need some guarantee.”

Anna made a short, dismissive sound. You could just see her waving her hand, waving it away like

it was no big deal. “Oh, that’s easy. I’ll take care of that. A prearranged signal, from the very location. You take care of her and I . . . ”

Static filled the tape then. My mouth was desert-dry.

“Ephialtes,” the sucker hissed. I was cold all over, wet with sweat under my T-shirt. Aching as I

held onto Augie. He had his arm around me. But Christophe had turned, and he was staring directly

at me.

Do you see? his cold eyes asked me. Do you see now, Dru?

And I did. But I didn’t understand. How could you sell someone to the vampires? And if Anna was

with the Order, she would know what the suckers could do. How they savaged djamphir, not stopping until the body was reduced to rags of flesh and splinters of bone.