Now the crowd couldn't keep still. The minute the fight began, they were shouting, some chanting Faith's name, others whooping and hollering. A great many were on their feet.

At first the recruits didn't seem to know what to do. Nobody wanted to go first, Miranda supposed, and it hadn't occurred to them to take her on together. They were too worried about their own skins and their futures to consider cooperation.

The man Miranda had been betting on finally lost his patience and dove in.

That was a mistake.

Faith stepped sideways, letting the man's momentum carry him past her, and dropped to the ground, her leg flashing out. The man stumbled over it, his inhuman grace suddenly becoming a very human clumsiness, but he corrected himself and turned in time to avoid stepping over the line. He got himself back together and attacked again, this time with considerably more acumen.

Meanwhile Miranda saw one of the others looking pale and scared witless; his nerves were going to make him careless, too. He drew his knife and lunged at Faith while her back was to him.

Miranda almost gave herself away yelling a warning to the Second, but it wasn't needed. Faith knew exactly what the kid was doing, and she parried a swing from the older man and spun around, steel flashing toward the kid on the follow-through.

Blood. The recruit lurched to the left, dropping his knife as his hands flew to his side. Crimson soaked his gray uniform. He tried to pick his blade back up, but it slipped out of his bloody hands, and before he could try again Faith whirled and kicked him hard in the shoulder, sending him sprawling, half in and half out of the ring.

The crowd booed the recruit. Miranda wanted to boo, too. He'd done a cowardly thing trying to stab the Second in the back. Cowardly and incredibly stupid.

An Elite grabbed the recruit by the arm and dragged him bodily out of the ring, and that was the last Miranda saw of him.

Faith didn't miss a beat. The other man came at her as she turned to face him, but his fist met only empty air. Still, he hadn't lost any strength or speed, and he'd recovered nicely from his first fumble. After another minute Faith spoke to him, and he froze where he stood, then bowed and stepped back to the edge of the ring.

Faith hadn't even broken a sweat.

They were down to four now, which meant only one was left to eliminate. Faith took on the blonde girl next, and as Miranda expected, she did well; Faith disarmed her twice, but never knocked her off her feet, and Miranda thought she saw approval in Faith's face.

The other two were a man and a woman, the former Hispanic and the latter black, and it was clear after Faith engaged the man that he wasn't nearly as skilled as the others. He was good, no doubt about it, but there was some elemental grace lacking in his movements that the rest had in spades. She didn't send him away when she was done with him, but Miranda knew that unless the last woman was dreadful, he'd be gone in a minute.

Luckily the last woman, who was a tall and insanely gorgeous dark-skinned goddess that every man in the room was staring at, didn't disappoint. To the shock of everyone assembled, the recruit actually managed to disarm Faith.

"Hand to hand," Faith retorted. The recruit nodded and dropped her own weapon.

Now the true talent showed itself; Faith was wicked with blades, but her straight-up martial arts skills were unbelievable. She seemed to have four arms, all of them spinning at once, never standing still long enough for the woman to land a punch. It was almost as if Faith could see the woman's moves before they were made, and simply not be there. Was it some sort of psychic gift of vampirism, seeing just enough of the future to know how to fight?

Finally, Faith raised her arm, and the din in the room faded again. She was neither panting nor slouching, unlike the recruits, who all looked like they were about to fall over.

"Honored Elite," Faith announced, "We have chosen our three new brothers. Will each of you step forward, please."

She read each name, and a round of enthusiastic applause followed the recruit to the center of the sparring circle. The strawberry blonde, the older black man, and the Hispanic man all took their places behind Faith, who praised their skill and perseverance, then introduced them each by name to the rest of the Elite. The applause was thunderous.

Miranda frowned. Why had they picked that last guy? The woman was a superior warrior-even Miranda recognized that. The woman looked shocked, but she didn't embarrass herself; one of the Elite took her arm and led her back away from the others. Unlike the first few culls, she wasn't taken out of the room. Maybe there was some kind of consolation prize or understudy role for her.

Then the double doors sailed open again, and silence washed over every mind in the room, all conversations cut off midword, as the crowd, as one, turned to face the door.

Miranda's heart leapt.

David Solomon entered the gym, followed by his own personal guards at a respectful distance. He wore his long coat, the Signet out where God and everyone could see, the light that shone from it brighter than usual. Every inch of him radiated the regal bearing of one born to the crown.

He strode into the room, across the floor, to the sparring ring where Faith stood with the three new Elite-to-be. As he passed each section of the bleachers, everyone on it stood, until every vampire in the room was on his or her feet in the presence of the Prime.

When he stopped, his gaze swept over the crowd, and as one, they bowed to him. He gave them a nod in return, and they were free to sit back down.

Then he faced the three, his cold eyes fixed on each of them in turn. They were clearly terrified of him, but to their credit they didn't try to avoid the steel of his gaze.

He moved slowly toward them, walking from the strawberry blonde, past the older man, to the last man chosen.

Miranda's eyes didn't even have time to register the movement. Without a word, David turned, reached under his coat, and with a flash of steel, spun around and sliced off the man's head with a curved sword.

A gasp went up, and Miranda jumped back with a cry and almost lost her footing. Even over the noise she heard the sound of the head hitting the floor, followed by the body.

She dove back for the gap so she could see again, just in time for Faith to seize the man's sleeve and jerk it back, revealing a tattoo that caused another roomwide gasp.

David never spoke. He simply let the others see, allowing the tattoo to speak for itself, and stood by while two Elite dragged the corpse away by its feet, leaving a smear of blood behind. Miranda didn't see what happened to the head.

The Prime gestured, and the other recruit was nudged into the spot where the man had stood. Her face was pale, but she swallowed hard and took her place, standing up straight. When David's attention returned to her, she held his gaze and bowed. He smiled at her, approving, and inclined his head toward Faith.

The Second was completely unfazed by the execution. "Kneel," she commanded, and the three obeyed.

"Swear now, before these witnesses and before your Prime. Repeat, and take these words to heart: I do hereby pledge my blood and my life to the Signet."

They repeated, and she went on. "I swear everlasting fealty to the Prime of this territory and to all his allies. I will uphold his law and lay down my life for his if the moment comes. This oath binds me until my last breath, either in battle on the side of the Signet, or by swift execution in the event of my disloyalty."

All three gave the oath with full conviction.

Faith went to the Prime, who handed her a box from his coat containing three flat strips of metal. One by one Faith fastened a com around each new Elite's wrist. The three of them were practically beaming by then.

Finally, David addressed them. "Welcome," he said, his voice ringing off the rafters with absolute authority. "You may now take your place among your brothers and sisters in arms as full Elite."

The applause was deafening. The three new Elite hugged each other and shook Faith's hand, then bounded up into the bleachers to an empty spot, where they looked around in a daze, grinning from ear to ear.

David allowed the cheering to continue for a moment before stepping to the center of the room. The Elite came back to rapt attention once more.

"My warriors," he said, "these times are dark and dangerous, and those of you new to my service have come to us in a moment of challenge. We face an enemy determined to destroy the hard-won peace of our world and return to an older, barbaric way of living for our kind. We have already lost friends to this threat, and I cannot promise we will not lose more; but I give you my word, as I stand here before you, that I will not rest until every last one of these cowards is put down. As you have sworn to fight for me, I will fight for you."

With that, he bowed to them. Another roar of applause went up, this one thunderous, and the entire Elite stood, cheering for their leader, who drank in their allegiance from the epicenter, smiling slightly, before saying, "Dismissed."

A herd of footsteps descended the bleachers over Miranda's head, the sound deafening when coupled with the chatter among the departing Elite. She couldn't see the Prime anymore thanks to everyone filing out of the room, but she caught glimpses of Faith speaking with the three new recruits, assigning them somewhere with another Elite as their superior.

Everyone was carefully walking around the pool of blood where the executed man's body had fallen.

There was a beeping noise, and Miranda shrank back into the shadows as the door behind the bleachers opened just wide enough to admit a single figure.

"I thought I felt you over here," David said, a smile in his voice. She could barely see him in the darkness.

"Are you upset that I'm here?"

"No. I suspected Faith would bring you. What did you think?"

Miranda looked back through the gap again as the last thirty or so made their way toward the exits. Faith and the new recruits had gone, and a pair of uniformed servants was mopping up the blood. They didn't look disgusted or even unhappy at their task. It was entirely possible it was a routine thing for them.

"That was amazing," she said. "I mean, you see them walking around the halls with swords and you know they're good, but . . . Faith especially. She's fantastic. And the others . . . they really love you. It's not just a job for them." She looked back over her shoulder at him. "What about that man, the one you killed?"

"Last night we took a suspect into custody who's working for the insurgents. She told me, after gentle persuasion, that they had another agent trying to work his way into the Elite to take Helen's place as their primary informant. I looked back over the training logs and decided on the most likely candidate. The suspect in custody confirmed my suspicions. I wanted to make it crystal clear how traitors will be dealt with."

"Is the suspect dead?"

"No. We're still holding her. I promised her an easy death if her information turned out to be accurate."

She crossed her arms and leaned against the side wall of the bleachers. "Does it ever bother you, killing people?"

He sounded the tiniest bit hurt that she had asked. "Of course it does, Miranda. I'm not made of stone."

She didn't say she doubted that, but she thought it extra loud.

He came to stand beside her, looking out the gap himself at the now-empty training room. "When Auren was Prime, humans all over the South died every night to satisfy the bloodlust of his Court. It was kept out of the media because they feared Auren's wrath, but eventually our world would have been exposed and the entire territory would have been swarmed with vampire hunters. These people want the no-kill laws lifted so they can take lives again-hundreds of innocent lives. If I have to break the bones of every last insurgent to prevent that, I will, and though I may hate doing it, I won't waste one second on regret."

His eyes were hard, glittering in the dim light like shards of obsidian, and he added harshly, "I don't expect you to understand what I face every night. I am responsible for every vampire under my influence and every human they feed on. That means making difficult choices. Judge all you like-you would do the same in my place."

"What do you want me to say?" she demanded. "You're right, I don't understand. I'm never going to understand. I'm just a human, remember?"

He glared at her wordlessly for a moment before saying quietly, "You'll never be just anything, Miranda Grey."

Behind him the door opened again and Faith said with studied nonchalance, "Everything all right in here, Sire? I was going to take Miranda back to the suite before I went to the patrol leaders' conference call."

Eyes still fixed on Miranda, David said to Faith, "That's fine. I'll meet you in the conference room."

With that, he turned away from Miranda and walked past the Second out into the night.

Faith watched him go, then gave Miranda an impressed look. "Nice work," she said. "Not many people can get under his skin like that."

Miranda tried, and failed, to come up with a clever rejoinder. All she could summon was a sigh. "Let's go. I'm hungry."

"You two are so cute," Faith remarked as they walked.

"That's not exactly the word I'd use."

Faith walked with her hands clasped behind her back, ostensibly looking up at the cloudy night sky. More rain was on the way. "You know," she said, "When I met the Prime, he was a lieutenant in Arrabicci's Elite, and a very different person. He was arrogant, even cruel at times. War was a game to him, and consequences were for humans."

Miranda frowned. "What changed?"

"I don't really know. He's never been one to share the details of his past-for the most part vampires don't talk about that kind of thing. We all have a tacit understanding that everyone has a painful history." She held open the Haven door for Miranda. "All I know for sure is that the Signet changed him. I don't think any of them realize what a burden that thing is until they have it around their necks. They take the power, the responsibility, and the fame, and there's no way out but death."

Faith gave her a sidelong look and concluded, "If you ask me, he needs a Queen."

Miranda groaned. "Not you, too! I thought you said all of that was just rumor."

"It is. But it's still a nice idea. It's almost a fairy tale, or some sort of archetypal myth. You're Persephone, wrenched away from spring and taken to live in the underworld, where you eat the pomegranate seeds and become the Queen."

Miranda rounded on her. "You've got to be joking. Has everyone around here conveniently forgotten what happened to me a couple of weeks ago? Do you really think now's a good time for matchmaking? And what, I'm supposed to give up being human for a man? When I don't think I'll ever want one to touch me again? There's so much that's insane about that I don't even know where to start, forgetting about the fact that nobody in their right mind would ever, ever want to live like you. God, Faith, please just let it be."

Faith looked neither taken aback by her outburst or the least bit sheepish. She shrugged. "I didn't say you should go jump his bones right this second, or in a month or a year. I'm just saying . . ." She nodded to the suite door guards and, again, held the door as for Miranda as she said, "Don't deny yourself the possibility of happiness one day because you're broken right now. At least consider the pomegranate seeds. Who knows? Besides . . . I hear Hades is spectacular in bed."

Faith was laughing as Miranda slammed the door on her.

Eight.

The insurgent had apparently never seen a Prime before.

He struggled in the grasp of the two Elite who held him on his knees on the wet concrete, his eyes huge and white, whimpering under the gaze of the black-clad man who stood watching him impassively and waiting for him to shut up.

David was running out of patience. The spy in the recruits had been dealt with and the informant executed, but so far none of the captives had provided any useful information leading to the rest of the syndicate. The attacks had died down, turning back on humans again, but their viciousness was increasing. The last victim had been flayed, her skin stretched like a cow's at the tanner and branded with the Seal of Auren. David could only hope that she had been dead when her flesh was peeled from her bones.

The next step was to take the interrogation to the streets of Austin, and so he had come to the Shadow District where the vampire-only bars and businesses were, to go through all of this again, this time out in public where the others could watch from their hidden corners and carry the news to their friends.

"Are you finished?" he asked.

The insurgent was gaping at him and his mouth was working soundlessly, making him look rather like a fish on dry land.

"Let's make this quick," David went on. "I have better things to do than stand out here in this godforsaken weather and torture you. Now, tell me who you're working for and where I can find them."

No answer. He hadn't really expected one. He was starting to think that the reason none of the captives had told him anything was that they honestly didn't know. He was sure Helen had been higher on the totem pole, but the rest . . . all their tattoos had been fairly new. They couldn't have ranked too highly in the organization yet. They were expendable, and so they knew little of the real plan or the leadership. Chances were this fool had no idea whose service he was in.

He decided to take a different approach and motioned for the guards to loosen their hold on the vampire. The insurgent all but tumbled to the ground with a grunt, catching himself with his hands.

David crouched in front of him, leaning in to catch his eye. "Let's just talk, then. What's your name, lad?"

Confused by the sudden change of tone, the kid-and kid he was, he couldn't have been over ten years immortal-muttered, "Rollins."

"How long have you been a vampire, Rollins?"

The kid didn't meet his eyes, but said, "Three years."

"So I take it you've never seen me before."

"No, Sire." There was both fear and contempt in the last word.

"What did your new friends tell you about me?" David asked.

Rollins looked from left to right at the guards who were still blocking his escape and judged the odds were not in his favor. "They said you were the enemy. That you want to tell us all when to feed and what we can feed on. That pretty soon we'll all be living in camps out at the Haven standing in line for blood."

"I see. Do you know who's behind all of this, Rollins? Where those stories came from?"