“You have another one of the books, safeguarding it for Teeleh, I imagine.” Darsal didn’t know this, of course, but she said it as if it were well-known. “I have three. But the three I have are with Billos, and Billos can only be gotten to via the book in your possession. Are you following me?”

“You’ve lost the books in your possession? You’re even more foolish than I thought. You have nothing to bargain with.”

“I do have something. I have your desire for the three books that Billos has. I can get them. But I need your book to do it.”

So now it was out there. And judging by Alucard’s stillness, he was interested.

“So Billos used the books. Did he open them?”

“No.”

“You saw this?”

“I saw him touch the cover of one book with blood and vanish with all three.” She paused. “What would have happened if he had opened a book?”

“You don’t know? No, of course you don’t. You’re just a spoiled young warrior pretending to be important. Why he would choose you to match wits with me and the Dark One is beyond comprehension.”

So Alucard knew who the Dark One was.

“Then tell me, what would happen if Billos opened a book?”

“It would depend. There were four books here: one with the Horde, one with Teeleh, one with me, and one with the Roush. Gather all four, and they would create a breach into the lesser reality where the last three books are hidden. But there is no way for him to return here with the books. Unless he has all four from this reality.”

“He had only three, yet he went. I saw him.”

“He’s not where he might think he is.”

Darsal pondered this but couldn’t wrap her mind around the scope of these realities he suggested.

“So you’ve gone? You can tell me what to expect?”

“I’ve been to where I assume your friend went by touching the book with blood. But I would need all four books to go to Earth.” Alucard slowly smiled, but offered no further explanation.

“So you need four books to go where you want to go?” Darsal questioned. “Which is different from where Billos went, because he only had three. So where has Billos gone?”

Alucard’s response came slowly and carefully. “To a place of unlimited opportunity.”

“Then that’s what I have to offer you,” Darsal said. “Three more books and yours back after I retrieve Billos’s. They would have my neck for making this deal with you, and frankly I’m not sure I can offer it much longer. Any minute and I’ll decide to give my life up instead of the books. Which will it be?”

“You expect me to believe that you’d give up the four books for one piece of meat?”