Rubbing his temples, Marius leaned forward. "It's very important that we support each other right now.

It's bad enough that we've lost Ryan and Christian. Let's not compound it." Fleur fought back a sudden rush of tears, and n.o.body said a word as they gave a moment to the men they had just lost.

"Sorry about that comment, Fleur," Ian said, breaking the silence. "Just don't let Reston treat you without respect. Make sure you understand him." She managed a smile. "I will. I plan on finding out everything he knows. I think that's something I'm capable of doing fairly well-even without the training I missed." She paused. "Look, I know this isn't something we like to think about, but have we been looking into... internal possibilities?"

Marius nodded. "But if someone wanted to put you in charge by killing your brothers, it seems as though they would make themselves known. Try to get something out of it. Has anybody approached you, tried to influence you?"

"Not in the least. It's only been you three and myself since it all started."

"We'll keep our eyes open, but we feel quite sure this was an attack from the outside," Warrick said.

"Does the outside include the rogues?" Fleur asked.

"Of course," Marius said disdainfully. He hated the rogues as much as anyone she knew. "The outside

includes anyone who has no allegiance to us. To you. Anyone who is not represented at the a.s.sembly."

"So, we've got humans, rogue vampires, or the dogs," Fleur said.

"My gut says that the humans are lying. It's either that, or the werewolves are smarter than we've given

them credit for," Ian said. "It's not a vampire." He gave Fleur an apologetic look. "It's just not likely a

vampire would have tried to put you in power. Not after..." Fleur nodded wearily. She knew. She stood up, the night's events suddenly catching up with her. "I'm exhausted. Um, you all know what you're... supposed to do, right?"

Ian covered his mouth and started to cough, Warrick snickered, and even Marius looked amused. "We know what we're supposed to do. Protect you and the rest of the a.s.sembly families. And protect ourselves from ourselves."

"Right. Good. Well, I'll just go to bed." She waved. "Good night, gentlemen. See you tomorrow."

She'd gotten two steps out of the room when Mar-ius caught up with her. "Fleur, are you all right?"

"Of course. I'm fine. It's all very new, but I'm fine."

"This is a dangerous business. The humans headed down a slippery slope with those mechs, one that's

not good for anybody." Fleur leaned against the hallway wall. "You said the same when we discovered they'd toyed with the demon underworld. Nothing came of that."

"Nothing we know of."

She just shook her head. "I still think we should have told the humans there's a possibility of demons

finding their way here."

"Keep it to yourself, Fleur. We've got more immediate concerns."

"I know. It's not really relevant to the mech situation, anyway." Fleur studied Marius's face for a

moment. He looked particularly dangerous tonight, and she wondered if he'd been out.

"I don't think that mech's actions were any sort of accident. Then again, I don't think humans are even

prepared for what they create. Fleur..." Marius suddenly hesitated, looking grave and tired.

She sighed. "Say it. You know I hate it when you don't say what's on your mind. Go ahead and say it."

"I wonder if you're really ready for this. And I feel that I'm largely responsible. We didn't think this

would happen. Our mission is to protect our kind, most of all those who lead the a.s.sembly. Not only did we fail Ryan and Christian, but we have failed by not preparing you. Nothing's impossible. We should have been ready for the chance that you would be called into service."

She looked at him fondly. "You can't blame yourself for me!"

He frowned, rubbing his temple as if he'd like to erase from his mind what was bothering him. "You've

not been fully trained. You should have been in on all the war room meetings for years before trying to take on this sort of responsibility. It's too much, too soon."

"Well, baptism by fire, then," she said lightly. Why were they repeating all their fears? It was time to do,

not to worry. "Look, I know everyone is gossiping about me downstairs and throughout the strata for that matter, but the fact is that I'm it-I'm the one this responsibility has fallen to. And until someone can come up with a more deserving replacement, I'll serve."

"Like your mother before you..." he said softly. "I can't bear to see you likewise destroyed."

"Save the sentimentality for the women you're trying to woo," she said. Looking for a change of subject

she added, "There has been somebody recently, hasn't there?" She gave him a small smile. "Let's not go there," he said, rather more grimly than she'd expected. "Again? You picked someone who isn't a vampire again?" She rolled her eyes. "It's not something one controls," he said. "Not in my case anyway." "I'm sorry." He shrugged. "We've got bigger problems to worry about." "Well, don't worry about me. I don't want to see myself destroyed, either. And I'll do my best to prevent it for all of us."

He nodded and turned away.

Fleur returned to her bedroom, closed the door and slumped heavily against the wall. Good G.o.d, this business was exhausting. She made it to her bed and flopped backwards on it. Her hand crept to the gem at her throat.

"s.h.i.t." She forced the word out through her locked jaw. Fear was welling up inside of her. "s.h.i.t! I have absolutely no idea how to pull this off," she said into her pillow. "You are not going to cry, Fleur. You are not going to cry."

She wished her mother was there. This was all too much. Her cousins didn't believe in her, she had the fate of her people in her hands and, well, then there was Dain. She didn't want it to happen again. She couldn't let it. Not with a human. Not with Dain Res-ton. The immediate attraction she'd felt for him was all wrong. It had to be.

She thought of the strong line of his jaw, his lean, muscular build... Under that street armor, under the roughness, he'd looked like a G.o.d. Did vampires like herself believe in myths like human G.o.ds? Green eyes flecked with copper shouldn't be so disarming, but the intensity of Dain's gaze had bored straight through her. And the way Reston touched her, the way he'd handled her as if he had a right... it excited her in a way she couldn't remember ever feeling. The thought of Dain taking her face in his hands, pressing his lips down on hers-there was no innocence with this man. Just that one image, that one moment, that one sensation. And thinking about it made her burn.

Fleur wrapped the sheets around her taut body and turned her face into her pillow. She'd made love to a human before, and so she could imagine what it would be like with this one, so bent on dominating her, body and mind.

Truth be told, he'd nearly finished her in his apartment. She'd nearly come undone. Being human, he probably hadn't felt half of what she had; but standing in his grasp or across the room, she had felt his desire, and it too had been powerful.

But Fleur would not be brought down by pa.s.sion again. Dain Reston wouldn't be another Hayden. She wouldn't let him.

She returned her thoughts to the crisis at hand, pulled her fear back with a few deep breaths. Fear was what her cousins and the a.s.sembly expected- fear and incompetence. The mech hadn't managed to kill her, Dain Reston had said; and while she'd told him she was lucky, that wasn't it. She obviously wasn't considered a threat. She wasn't strong enough or important enough to kill.

It was time to prove everyone wrong.

Chapter Seven.

Cyd stood before the stucco wall of the station, idly tracing a graffiti tag with her fingertip. Two paper sacks lay at her feet. She looked up as Dain came down the steps, and gave him one of those chin nods requiring as little energy as possible to execute. She hadn't bothered to check in, but he'd seen her from the window and swiped her ID card for her.

"You seen your shrink lately?" he asked by way of h.e.l.lo. She gave him a withering look. "Have you?" she asked pointedly. Dain crossed his arms over his chest. "No. But then again, I'm not the one with the shakes," he said, gesturing. Her fingers, resting on the outline of garish neon pink paint, were trembling.

She pulled her hand away and turned to lean her body against the wall. "Maybe I was just caught off guard by having a vampire slam down on the hood of my car."

"Something wrong, Cyd?" he asked. "I'm just looking out for you."

Something in her expression softened. "I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "So, what's she like?"

"Who?"

Cyd gave him a look. "Downloaded your report from home this morning. You don't believe I actually

read your reports, do you?"

Dain looked at her and grinned. "I don't always read yours."

Cyd rolled her eyes. "So... what's she like?"

Dain chuckled.

"Really?" Cyd drawled. "Oh, s.h.i.t. Here we go."

Dain just kept grinning. "I liked her. In fact, I've got a meeting scheduled with her in Strata plus-one."

His partner did a double take. "You're supposed to hate vampires," she blurted.

"What do you mean 'supposed to'? As far as I'm concerned, everybody gets a fair shake. It's in the job

description." Her words made him feel slightly uncomfortable. Dain still seemed to be caught between what he wanted to feel and what he really did. He'd never admit it to anyone but, without remembering so much of what the love between he and Serena had felt like, he still felt a sense of loss. It was much harder to feel the intensity, the will for vengeance, that he knew he should have. Loss and loneliness and a longing for a wife he didn't even know anymore-that's what he felt most of the time. Unlike when he'd stood a hair's breadth away from Fleur last night, when he'd felt a lot of other things. After she'd left, he taken out an old photograph of Serena, a little stunned at the resemblance between the two women. Apparently, he had a type.

"... and it's not like I'm surprised," Cyd was saying. "You always like what you can't have."

"Who says I can't have her?"

With a snort, Cyd peeled herself off the wall, grabbed the paper sacks and headed toward a squad car.

"Do we need to have that discussion about which body part you need to be thinking with on the job?"

she asked as they settled in. "We haven't had to have that discussion for a long, long time, have we?" He grabbed a sack. "Breakfast burritos?" he asked hopefully.

Cy nodded and took the other. "I was in the mood. Thank G.o.d they serve them twenty-four hours here.

You know, out in the sticks you can only get them in the morning. OJ?" she offered.

"Yeah." He slid the dry-ice canister from the slots between the two front seats and tossed it in the well by Cyd's feet. Then he stuck their two metal juice cans in the empty slots. " 'Course, when I'm off the job, which body parts I use are my own business."

"Not if you're going to get them bitten off by vamp girl."

Dain winced, and reflexively moved his bag over the body part in question. "d.a.m.n, Cyd. Don't hold back or anything." He sniffed his burrito and grimaced.

She caught the look, sniffed her own burrito, shrugged, and swapped her sausage for his ham and cheese.