“You don’t believe me, that’s fair,” Nita agreed. “But what have you really got to lose? If you don’t answer them, I’ll just kill you. If you do answer them, I might be telling the truth and will let you go.” She paused. “Obviously I won’t let you go while I’m in the room. I’ll be long gone. But I’ll call whatever number you want to have someone come to find you.”

He tried to speak through the gag, and Nita leaned over and plucked it from his mouth, arms fast, careful not to give him an opportunity to bite her.

He licked his dry lips, his chin brushing against the plastic tubes sucking his blood out. “Fine. I’ll answer your questions.”

“Excellent.”

“But first, answer one of mine.”

Nita shrugged. “All right.”

“What did I do that you want vengeance for?”

Nita blinked. “Pardon?”

“You said you wanted vengeance, that you’re not a forgive-and-forget kind of person.” He blinked slowly. “But I don’t know what I’ve done. I’d like to know.”

She stared at him. “You . . . what?”

“Was it because I came to visit you in the market?” He sounded curious. “Are you getting vengeance on everyone who came to see you?”

“What? No.” Though eventually maybe she would. She hadn’t really thought about that. She wondered how many of the people who’d visited while she was in the market were hiring people to hunt her down now. A lot, probably. “You killed someone important to me.”

“Oh.” He considered. “Who were they? I’ve killed a lot of people over the years.”

“You killed him two weeks ago. Just before you went to the market. In Chicago.”

His cold eyes blinked at her. “I see. And who told you I killed him?” He sighed, veins standing out blue on his pale, bloodless face. “No, wait, let me guess. INHUP?”

Nita blinked. “Yes.”

His smile was bitter. “How convenient that all their enemies die by my hand. You know, if I’d committed all the crimes INHUP claims I did, I’d never have time to sleep.”

“Vampires don’t sleep.”

“That’s beside the point.”

Nita crossed her arms. “So you want me to believe you’re innocent?”

He shrugged. “You can believe whatever you want.”

Nita considered the possibility. She did only have INHUP’s word for it. But if Zebra-stripes believed being innocent would keep him alive, he’d obviously lie.

She put the thought aside now and moved on. Whether he was innocent or not, it didn’t change what happened next. He had answers to her mother’s past, her father’s death, and, most importantly, he had information on INHUP that must have kept him off the list.

Nita intended to find out what it was.

“My turn for questions.” Nita crossed her arms. “Firstly your name.”

“Andrej.”

“Andrej what?”

He hesitated. “Smirnov.”