The presence was also mounting a massive attack on his mind. This was no tentative tapping. Dacian strengthened the wall around his thoughts with reinforced concrete and tempered steel. Nothing would get in. Then he stilled as only a vampire could and felt.

It was climbing the steps toward him. He could’ve charged down the stone stairs to meet it, but he didn’t like fighting in confined spaces. If it came to violence, the hallway offered more maneuvering room. Whatever it was didn’t seem to care if he sensed it. So he stood in front of Cinn’s door and waited.

A man emerged from the stairwell. Big, with sandy-colored hair that reminded Dacian of a lion’s coat, and a grim reaper tattoo on one bare bicep, he would’ve looked formidable even if Dacian hadn’t sensed he wasn’t human.

As the guy drew closer, he slowed, and his amber eyes grew colder in direct proportion to his power push.

The hell with him. This wasn’t Airmid. But even if it had been the goddess, Dacian didn’t take crap from anyone. He gathered his power and did some pushing of his own. At the same time, he tried to jump into the stranger’s mind. No deal. He wasn’t really surprised, but he wanted the man to know that two could play the same game.

The guy stopped several yards away from him and just stared.

“Seen enough?” Dacian kept his voice quiet, but he put all the threat he could into the question.

The other man didn’t answer for a moment, and then he nodded. “Yeah, I guess I have. I had a few things to do tonight, and I just got back. Decided I’d come up to make sure you really were guarding Cinn. I take over the guard duty at dawn.”

Dacian knew his smile was no smile at all. “Don’t trust me? That’s okay, because I don’t trust anyone, especially someone who hasn’t told me his name.”

The big man shrugged. “Names don’t matter, vampire. But if you need to know, I’m Edge. I’m one of your fellow ‘managers,’ which is just a fancy term Sparkle uses for the men she’s trying to manipulate at the moment. Right now it’s you, me, and Bain. The three before us were Eric, Brynn, and Conall. They’ve moved on to other projects.”

Dacian figured Edge was using the small talk to work up to something bigger, so he didn’t say anything.