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“Very philosophical,” he said.

“Philosophy’s great,” I said. “But remember this: don’t ever threaten us again. Because if you do, I’ll kill you. Because I don’t give a fuck about your tortured past. Now, shall we go?”

Asher stared at me for a few heartbeats. “By all means. I cannot wait to introduce you to the council.”

He meant it to be ominous, and it was. I didn’t want to go and meet the bogeymen of vampirekind, but we were going. One thing I’d learned about master vampires. You can run, but not far enough. You can even hide, but not forever. Eventually, they catch you. And master vampires don’t like to be kept waiting.

10

I DROVE. ASHER gave directions. He also hung on the back of the seat. I didn’t ask him to buckle up for safety. Jean-Claude sat in the passenger seat next to me, silent, not looking at Asher or me.

“Something’s wrong,” Jean-Claude said.

I glanced at him. “You mean besides the council coming to town?” He shook his head. “Can’t you feel it?”

“I don’t feel anything.”

“That is the problem.” He turned as far as the seat belt would let him and met Asher’s eyes. “What is happening to my people?”

Asher sat so his face showed perfectly in the rearview mirror, as if he wanted me to see him. He smiled. His whole face moved when he smiled. The scarred skin had muscles underneath. Everything seemed to work just fine except for the scars. The look on his face was smug, self-satisfied. The kind of joy that cats get from tormenting mice.

“I do not know what is happening to them, but you should. You are—after all—Master of the City.”

“What’s going on, Jean-Claude? What else is wrong?” I asked.

“I should be able to feel my people, ma petite. If I concentrate, it is like…background noise. I can feel the ebb and flow of them. In extreme duress I can feel their pain, their fear. Now I am concentrating, and it is like a blank wall.”

“Balthasar’s master has kept you from hearing the cries of your vampires,” Asher said.

Jean-Claude’s hand lashed out in a blur of speed that was almost magical. He grabbed Asher’s coat collar, twisting it into a choking ring. “I—have—done—nothing—wrong. They have no right to harm my people.”

Asher didn’t try to get away. He just stared at him. “There is an empty seat on the council for the first time in over four thousand years. Whoever empties that seat takes that seat. That is the law of succession.”

Jean-Claude released Asher, slowly. “I don’t want it.”

“You shouldn’t have killed the Earthmover, then.”

“He would have killed us,” I said.

“Council’s privilege,” Asher said.

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “You’re saying because we didn’t roll over and die, we’re going to be killed now?”

“No one has come here planning to kill anyone,” Asher said. “Believe me, that was my vote, but I was the minority. The council just wants to make sure that Jean-Claude isn’t trying to set up his own little council.”

Jean-Claude and I both looked at him. I had to swing my attention back to the road before I was ready to stop being astonished.

“You are babbling, Asher,” Jean-Claude said.

“Not everyone is happy with the current council’s rules. Some say they are old-fashioned.”

“People have been saying that for four hundred years,” Jean-Claude said.

“Yes, but until now there was no alternative. Some see your refusal of the council seat as a blow for a new order.”

“You know why I did not take it.”

Asher laughed, a low roll that played along my skin. “Whatever do you mean, Jean-Claude?”

“I am not powerful enough to hold a council seat. The first challenger would sense that and kill me, then they would have my council seat. I would be a stalking-horse.”

“Yet you killed a council member. How did you manage that, Jean-Claude?” He leaned on the back of my seat. I could feel him. He picked up a curl of my hair, and I jerked my head away.

“Where the hell are we going? You were supposed to give directions,” I said.

“There is no need for directions,” Jean-Claude said. “They have taken the Circus.”

“What?” I stared at him, and the only thing that kept the Jeep from swerving was luck.