'I understand.'

'Lisandro is going to disarm your master so he will not do anything unfortunate.'

Mischa spoke carefully, and I could feel the small movements against my gun as he enunciated his words. 'That won't be necessary. I am quite calm.'

'You were going to shoot Truth as he bent over you,' I said.

'I thought about it,' he said, 'but your gun against my head dissuaded me.'

'And when my gun isn't against your head, what's to dissuade you then?' I asked.

'My temper is hot, but your cold steel has dampened the flame of it.'

'Fancy talk, but how do I know you won't get all hot and bothered later?'

'Mischa,' Jean-Claude said.

'Yes, my lord.'

'Give us your word of honor that you will not in any way, through any means, seek retaliation against Truth, or Wicked, for this incident.'

Mischa went so profoundly still that I could feel the change in his body through the barrel of my gun against his head. I knew that if I'd dared to raise my gaze from his center body mass to his face, it would have that unreadable emptiness to it that the old vampires got when they went very still, as if they were well-crafted statues rather than people.

'Mischa,' Jean-Claude said, 'give your word.'

'And if I do not?'

'Then ma petite will finish this argument for you.'

'My death may take Goran's life, as well.'

'It would be a shame to lose him for such an inexplicable reason, but he understood the risks when he joined the battle at your side.'

'Truth stopped Mischa from hitting you a second time,' Wicked said. 'Why did you join the fight on his side?'

'He is my master,' Goran said, as if that explained everything.

'Wives attack the police when they try to take their abusive husbands to jail. It's one of the reasons that police hate to go on domestic disturbance calls,' I said.

'Why would you help your abuser?' Truth asked.

'I don't know, but they do,' I said.

'Better the devil you know than the unknown,' Jean-Claude said.

'What?' I asked.

'Never mind, ma petite; Mischa, give us your word and we can all go to bed for the day.'

Now that he'd said it, I could feel the press of dawn above us like the hand of some giant hesitating over a butterfly, except we were the butterflies and knew what was about to happen.

Mischa gave his word.

'You may put up your gun, ma petite. Old-school vampires are many things, but we are not oath breakers.'

I hesitated for a fraction of a second, but he was right. It was one of the few things that made dealing with the really old vampires better than dealing with the weaker modern ones. Modern vampires lied just as easily as people did, and their word wasn't worth shit.

I took my finger off the trigger and eased my gun back. The mark of my barrel was imprinted on his skin where I'd pressed it tight. If he'd been human it might even have bruised. I stepped back before I raised my gaze enough to meet his blue eyes. I expected to see anger in his eyes, but instead I saw respect, even admiration. I had not expected that.

'May I get up?' he asked.

Jean-Claude said, 'You may.'

Mischa kept looking at me and didn't move.

'You heard your lord and master,' I said.

'But he will not kill me and you will.'

'He won't shoot you,' I said. 'That's not the same thing as not being willing to kill you.'

'Fair enough, my dark queen, but you have the gun and he does not.'

'Get up, Mischa, but don't do anything stupid.'

He sat up carefully, never taking his gaze from me. 'You would have killed me.'

'It's my job description,' I said.

'Killing someone you have a warrant of execution for, who has already taken human life, is one thing, but you would simply shoot me for thinking about harming Truth. Either you value him as your lover more than we thought, or you would have done it to protect any of your guard.'

'I don't point a gun at someone unless I'm willing to pull the trigger. I don't pull the trigger unless I'm willing to kill. And I never bluff, Mischa; do we understand each other?'

'No, but if you are asking, do I believe that you will kill me, then yes, yes, I do. I'm looking in your eyes and there is no remorse, no relief that you didn't have to shoot me. You simply don't care one way or the other, no real emotion at all about what has just happened. I didn't know that about you.'

'Know what?' I asked.

'That you killed coldly. I thought you would kill in hot blood like you fuck.'

'I don't enjoy killing,' I said. 'I enjoy sex.'

'I enjoy killing,' Mischa said, and smiled just a little bit when he said it, which was disturbing. He watched my face and I knew he'd caught that flicker of distaste from me. 'That bothered you, that I enjoy killing. Why did that bother you? I am no worse than your werelion, Nicky, but he is your lover. If you were squeamish about such things, why would you fuck him?'

'Enough,' Jean-Claude said, and his voice was harsh enough that everyone looked at him.

Mischa and Goran bowed low again. Truth and Wicked did more bows from the neck and put their right fists over their hearts. I couldn't see what Lisandro and Emmanuel did, but I doubted either of the wererats showed that formal a reaction. I just stood there not quite sure why everything had turned so stylized.

'Dawn is almost upon us.' He held his hand out to me and I went to him, holstering my gun as I moved. He took me in his arms and kissed me less thoroughly than he had earlier, but I could feel the sun on that edge of hovering nearness. There had been nights when I fought just to have the sun rise and help save me from the vampires, and now I was in the arms and heart of the biggest vampire in the country. The irony wasn't lost on me, but I'd stopped worrying about it.