“This is about survival. About being gunned down in the streets. Driven from our homes. What are the Porters and your precious New Millennium doing about that, Isaac?”

“We’re trying to show the world we can exist without killing each other.”

“I forgot what you’re like.” She smiled bitterly, displaying a dying ant squirming between her front teeth. “I bet you hate every minute of your trips to D.C. and your time in front of the cameras. You’d rather be locked away in your ivory tower, shut away from the real world.”

I spoke softly and quietly, fighting to keep my anger under control. “The blood on my sleeves looks pretty fucking real to me, Deb. So were the bodies I saw tonight.”

“What happened in Lansing was part of several coordinated attacks,” said Lena. “Who are you working with?”

“How many vampires do you have working at New Millennium?” Deb asked.

“Seven,” I said.

“Let me guess. They’re all in security?”

“Six are security, yes. The seventh prefers janitorial work. She works nights, and it’s nice having someone who can command insects and rodents to evacuate a building.”

“While everyone with any real power is human. Typical Porter setup. For all your talk about remaking the world, did you ever consider who you’re remaking it for? Because it sure as hell isn’t us. And don’t pull that ‘But my best friend is a dryad’ bullshit. Your pet nymph doesn’t prove shit.”

“Pet nymph?” Lena repeated softly. The room fell silent, save for the creak of wood as she flexed her hands.

Deb snorted. “I read your file, back when I was like him. I read your book. You’re just a happy little sex slave.”

Lena lifted Deb by the throat. A spike of oak grew from the palm of her other hand. “Are you trying to make us kill you?” She hesitated, then tossed Deb away. “My god, that’s exactly what you’re doing, isn’t it.”

I studied Deb, and the anger drained out of me. I recognized the numbness in her voice, the despair and hopelessness in her eyes. “Lena’s grown beyond her book. We could help you do the same.”

Deb rubbed her throat and worked her jaw from side to side. “Beyond her book, hm? How’d you pull that off?”

That spark of curiosity was the most I’d seen of the old Deb since we’d arrived.

“You first,” I said. “Who planned those attacks?”

“Hell if I know.”

I pulled a book from my jacket. “I could make you tell me.”

“The fact that you haven’t is why you’re losing.” Deb rubbed her eyes. The skin appeared strangely loose, like old, ill-fitting latex. “You’re the only one playing by the rules.”

“Who hired you to manipulate those werewolves?” asked Lena.