"I see being flogged half to death hasn't taught him any more respect," he remarked.

Gideon didn't bother to retort, more concerned about what he saw in Daegan's face, the taut lines around his sensual mouth. His dark hair was spiked, as if he'd been raking it. Anwyn went to him, rising on her toes to smooth down the strands.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"As we thought, Brian was at the dinner because of what Vincent witnessed. Belizar demanded a full report from him after he met with you."

Gideon's eyes narrowed. "Did he tell Belizar about his time with us before?"

"No." Daegan shook his head. "Brian confined his report to the present. He made it clear the condition was manageable, as long as Anwyn had my continued supervision as sire. He smoothly noted he already had some ongoing research, some injections that he thought would keep her functioning quite well. Unfortunately, the Council tends to turn information to their own objectives."

"We met their tests, and it p.i.s.sed them off. They want somebody to suffer, to feel like they still hold the upper hand." Gideon saw the truth in Daegan's gaze as Anwyn let out a creative and very unladylike curse.

"Us torturing Gideon in front of them wasn't enough suffering? Are these people all psychopaths?"

"A servant suffering isn't really suffering," Gideon said shortly, so Daegan wouldn't have to say it. Calm readiness descended on his body, as if it already knew a fight was ahead. "So what's the bullet?"

Daegan swept his gaze over them both. "Lord Uthe pointed out that someone with this type of uncontrollable affliction would be an automatic addition to my termination list."

Gideon scowled. "They're not touching her."

"That was also my reaction."

You know what needs to be done, and you are refusing to do it. Lord Belizar had said it in such a perfectly reasonable voice, and Daegan had reasonably noted he would disembowel anyone who thought about hurting her. Gideon's a.s.sessment was correct. They wouldn't be happy until they'd had him do something against all his principles, to prove his loyalty to them. Which meant they were in danger of losing it forever. Lord Belizar had said it in such a perfectly reasonable voice, and Daegan had reasonably noted he would disembowel anyone who thought about hurting her. Gideon's a.s.sessment was correct. They wouldn't be happy until they'd had him do something against all his principles, to prove his loyalty to them. Which meant they were in danger of losing it forever.

"So what do we do now?"

"I leave."

"What?" They spoke in unison. Gideon straightened while Anwyn's brow creased.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?" he demanded.

"After I refused to allow a discussion of Anwyn's termination, Belizar ordered me to perform a task while they deliberate. There's a rogue nest, fifty miles above Berlin. They've been preying on small towns. Reliable sources have provided their location for the next several days. This group is much like Barnabus," he rea.s.sured them. "They're made vampires, loose cannons, easy enough for me to dispatch. But taking care of a housekeeping matter in the Council's backyard will prove useful to their state of mind."

"You're not this stupid." Gideon stepped forward, anger in every line of his body. "Belizar's getting you out of the way to take care of Anwyn and me while you're gone."

Daegan shook his head again. "This is no longer about the two of you. It is clear to them that you both belong to me, so it is about my loyalty to the Council. And I do not go based on my trust in Belizar. I trust Uthe. I flatly refused to go on the a.s.signment until I had you safely returned home. However, Belizar insists on more discussion of Anwyn's seizures, given our track record with other made vampires with erratic behaviors. Uthe gave me his personal guarantee of your safety until I return, and he will post Brian here as a round-the-clock watch on you." He inclined his head to Gideon. "I trust Uthe's word. He is the one who loved my mother."

Gideon paused. "So what I said . . ."

"There was an element of truth to it, though I still take exception to the phrasing. However, as I'm sure your brother has told you, of all the Council members, Uthe holds the most honor and integrity." A grim smile touched Daegan's mouth. "Once, a long, long time ago, Uthe was a Templar. He's never left those principles behind. He also mentioned if I show my trust in the Council by leaving you in their hands while doing this, it's likely the older members will be sufficiently mollified to confirm my guardianship of Anwyn, with frequent reports on her status."

"We should just leave," Anwyn said. "I hate all of them. I don't care about their approval. I'll take the consequences of that."

Daegan laid his hands on her tense shoulders, commanding her attention. "This is a new world for you, cher cher, and I know it is hard for you to understand. As I said from the beginning, I will not abandon the idea of your being accepted in this world, and the security that will bring you, until I have no other choice. Gideon, for all he abhors vampires, knows I speak the truth, for it is in his expression even now. He knows I am right."

Confirming Gideon's reluctant nod didn't make the words easier for Anwyn to hear. "I still don't care."

"Then you must trust us that it is important that you do do care, even when you don't wish to do so." care, even when you don't wish to do so."

"I don't like this," Gideon said. "It feels wrong."

Daegan considered him. "You think I am being misled, that he will allow harm to come to either of you?"

Gideon frowned. "No . . . What feels wrong is the nest of vampires. It's a trick, isn't it?"

"Perhaps more of a test than a trick." Daegan shrugged. "Uthe is sending me a message. They wanted to see if I'd trust their word, that you will remain safe while I'm gone, or if I'd defy them and take you home before performing their will. My loyalty appears to be the primary issue for them. The intel on the group is sound, though. I was seeking them when I was here before, but I ran out of time. Belizar told me he was expecting, or rather hoping, for information on them while I was here this time."

Gideon frowned. "There could be more of them than you expect. You might need reinforcement."

"I will be fine. Your job is to care for Anwyn." His tone final, in that way that raised Gideon's hackles, Daegan turned his gaze to Anwyn. A slight smile appeared on his serious mouth. "As I said, my loyalty is the issue. I think the rest is mostly show, because even the ones who suggested exterminating you are quite taken with you. If this is a trick to test my loyalty and abilities, and I take care of it, then I agree with Uthe. They will be more open to a different solution and accepting our proposal for your care and Gideon's continued service to you."

Daegan slanted Gideon a glance. "They are also intrigued by you, and what you seem to have become under her . . . thumb. You were right. Seeing you as her servant is more intriguing to them than your death. Vampires despise boredom above all other things."

"I'm thrilled to entertain them." But Gideon's gut still made unpleasant grumblings as Daegan drew Anwyn to him, his fingers tangling in her loose hair.

Though he always noticed the appeal of Anwyn's body, Gideon wasn't sure why his attention became even more p.r.o.nounced when Daegan's hands were outlining those curves. Regardless, his brainless c.o.c.k didn't seem to realize now was not the time to whine about the backlog of unreleased need.

"You believe you'll be safe if I tell you it's true?" the vampire asked her. "You won't worry?"

"I'll worry about you." Anwyn laid her hands against his chest, inside the open collar of his shirt. "I always have, every time you've left me."

"There is nothing to fear. When I get back, we will take care of this. As I have said"-his gaze took on a steely glint-"it matters not what the Council decides. You will be safe."

"And Gideon?"

"Who? Oh, yes, him, too. Maybe." Daegan was quick enough to evade her head slap, but caught her wrists and brought her to him for a long, thorough kiss, running his hands down her back to palm her a.s.s. Gideon wasn't sure which way to look, so chose to watch, caught in the unexpected trance of the voyeur, watching Daegan slide a hand up to her breast, kneading it so the curve expanded provocatively in the opening of her silk blouse, and her skin flushed, her nipple becoming obviously aroused under his manipulation.

"I wish I had time to give you pleasure, cher cher, but perhaps this sorry servant of yours can finish what I started, keep you occupied until my return."

"Or perhaps he'll do such a good job I'll have no need of you in my bed at all." She tossed her head, and then managed a short laugh as Daegan caught her hair in a less gentle hand and branded her with a harder kiss that stole away all smiles and laughter, left her gasping and Gideon aching from the raw s.e.xuality of it, his c.o.c.k tight against his jeans.

"We'll see about that when I return. For now, cher cher, I need you to promise me something. Try not to listen to your servant's mind while I take him outside and talk to him a moment."

"Is it something you think I can't handle?" Her blue-green gaze narrowed.

"No. You can handle anything. But I think there is some information that shouldn't be known to you, but should be to him. If you need it, it will be yours, but I think it will help protect you in certain ways. Plausible deniability. You understand?"

She nodded, though she looked confused and vaguely dissatisfied. He kissed her hands, backed away. "I will see you in a day or so, cher cher. All will be well."

Gideon arched a brow. As he followed Daegan out and shut the door, they moved down the hallway until they were out of her fledgling-vampire hearing range. "What kind of bulls.h.i.t was that?"

"The kind that will keep her alive." Daegan turned to face him, all traces of humor gone. "Despite your display of . . . loyalty, apparently the question of your fate is still undecided. Some still want you dead, even if Anwyn is allowed to live."

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h." Gideon shook his head, but now he understood. If Anwyn had thought he was still in danger . . .

"You are safe until my return, just as she is," Daegan said. "They know the impact on a vampire when her servant is abruptly terminated. I've convinced them that Anwyn would need me here to support her if that is the decision they make. Her well-being will give them pause where yours will not. It, and Uthe's guarantee, will keep them from acting prematurely. However, if anything happens to me-"

"Whoa. You said this was going to be an easy mop-up."

"Yes, it is. But we both know there's more to it than it seems. Even if it's not, every fight can go wrong. If that is the case, tell Anwyn to appeal to Uthe's protection. Tell him my last wish is that he honor my mother's memory by protecting the woman to whom I gave my heart. Let her keep the servant best able to care for her in my absence."

Though the words were spoken in a businesslike, brusque manner, Gideon was taken aback by them, the directness of Daegan's gaze. He cleared his throat. "So if I'm just as safe, why didn't you tell me this in front of her?"

"Because we both know she is far more fragile than she will acknowledge. She is nearing the end of her patience with this Council, and that would be the final straw. You understand why it is important for her to be accepted before we leave. She does not." Daegan lifted a shoulder. "If the time comes that she needs to know everything, you will know when and how to tell her."

Gideon digested that. "You asked me if I felt you were being misled. You were willing to trust my judgment over Uthe's loyalty."

"I have a great deal of faith in your precognition, Gideon. Don't let it go to your head, though. You're still dumb as a post on most other things."

Daegan put a hand on his shoulder, forestalling a retort. "As long as you tuck these thoughts in your mind somewhere and don't dwell on them, she won't see them. She hasn't mastered mind manipulation as well as all that yet. As before, Lord Brian will be useful if she has a seizure and you need a vampire's strength to help contain her."

Gideon still didn't like any of this. He agreed with Anwyn. He'd never wanted to be out of a place more, and Atlantis was looking as close to a home as he'd had in a long time. But he sighed, curled his lip in a half snarl. "Get your a.s.s back here as fast as you can, then. Any other rea.s.surance you want me to give her?"

Daegan nodded. Quick as a striking snake, he caught Gideon behind the neck, giving him a hard, thorough kiss, as thorough as the one he'd given Anwyn. When he let him go, Gideon was appalled to find he was clutching the male's waist beneath his duster, feeling the metal of his sheathed sword, the weapons he wore. His throbbing c.o.c.k was pressed hard against Daegan's thigh in insistent need. Daegan pushed him back gently, but with pleasure in his gaze.

"If I wanted to be a cruel Master, I would order you and Anwyn not to take your pleasure with each other until my return. But I think you've suffered enough for one day. I'll enjoy arousing you twice as much when this is over."

Tangling his fingers in Gideon's hair to give it a hard tug, he offered one more s.e.xy smile, a flash of fang, and then was gone.

If he'd had any intention of doing as Daegan had suggested, finishing with Anwyn what the vampire had started, it was halted by the immediate arrival of Lord Brian. The scientist wanted to run a few more tests and question Anwyn further on her current state, to fill in more blanks for the Council. After a couple hours of that, Gideon left them talking and prowled the suite restlessly.

Yeah, he couldn't settle down in a castle full of vampires. But that wasn't it. Those rare instances he'd ignored his gut, it had always been a mistake. Sometimes he'd very nearly not lived to regret it. Something was wrong with the whole setup.

He looked at Anwyn again. While he always worried for her, nothing raised his hackles, not even Brian's proximity. Daegan's belief in Uthe's and Brian's trustworthiness was apparently sound, because his internal concern compa.s.s showed no flags when it pointed toward her. And while Gideon didn't like keeping Anwyn out of the loop, Daegan had been right. Gideon understood a great deal about the myriad contradictions of the vampire world that she didn't yet. He and Anwyn weren't a threat to the Council. Their fate had everything to do with Daegan and the power games the Council was playing with him.

However, as he turned his thoughts to Daegan, chills ran through his lower belly. Danger was headed his way, not theirs. And Daegan thought he was G.o.dd.a.m.ned invincible.

When a quiet knock came on the door, Gideon already had his weapon out. He kept the knife at the small of his back as he went to answer. Lord Brian rose, drawing Anwyn behind him with firm courtesy. It upgraded him a notch in Gideon's estimation. The vampire's face made it clear that if there was a threat, despite Uthe's a.s.surances and Brian's service to the Council, the young vamp was ready to fight.

Gideon opened the door. His suspicions ratcheted up tenfold at the sight of Stephen's servant, Alanna.

"Let me in, quickly." She was already moving across the threshold. Gideon allowed it, mainly because she wasn't wearing much to hide a weapon, a diaphanous creation that would have made her more at home in an Arabian Nights tale than a drafty Berlin castle. Still, he grasped her arm, controlling her movement into the room as he closed the door. "Don't touch me," she said sharply. "I'm not armed, and I only have a few moments to tell you this."

He ignored her request, but his touch did ease when she seemed willing to stay standing in the same place, far from Anwyn. Of course, logically, Anwyn had the strength to snap a human servant in half. "Here to deliver a message for your Master?"

"No." Her color was pale, her eyes feverish, making Gideon even more uneasy. When he worked with cells of vampire hunters, some had carried that kind of expression. They'd usually just lost someone they loved, and that f.u.c.k-it-all look made it almost a certainty they wouldn't come home from the next fight. Because that was the way they wanted it.

"Lord Stephen has deceived the Council. He is sending Daegan Rei into a trap."

Anwyn stepped forward then, heedless of Lord Brian's hand on her arm. "Tell us what you mean," she said sharply.

"Lord Daegan was told this was a disorganized, weak group of made vampires. That group actually left Lord Stephen's territory some weeks ago. Instead, Daegan Rei has been sent to the stronghold of a vampire called Xavier."

"Xavier?" Brian's brow creased. "He has no stronghold. He's one of the lower-ranked vampires of Stephen's former overlord territory. Last I heard, he was living quietly in the North."

"No." Alanna shook her head. "That is what Stephen wanted the Council to believe. Xavier has only gained in strength. Stephen allowed him to recruit and organize a military-trained force of vampires."

"To what end?" Brian demanded.

While Gideon knew Lord Brian had seniority here, and the ear of the Council, he silently hoped he'd get past the politics and find out more about Daegan, before he or Anwyn-especially Anwyn-blew a gasket.

"I won't speak to Lord Stephen's motives. Those are obvious enough." Alanna turned her gaze to Gideon, surprisingly. "Xavier is a well-educated man who prefers to act as a mercenary. He and his vampire force own and operate out of a fetish club called the Coffin. I don't know his ultimate plans, but Stephen has allowed him to act as if it is his territory within a territory, so to speak, in return for the favors Xavier's vampires do for Stephen-"

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h." The missing motive fell into place at last. Gideon gritted his teeth. "Barnabus was a test run, to see how Daegan operates. Stephen wants Xavier to take out Daegan."

"Yes. Because Daegan terminated Ella Maher. Stephen did not know until he came onto the Council how she died, when he learned of Council's use of Daegan Rei. Ella Maher was a lover of Stephen's. They were close, as close as my Master comes to affection. He wants the Council to cease using Lord Daegan for a.s.sa.s.sination of made vampires, but he also wants personal vengeance."

d.a.m.n if Daegan hadn't been right about that as well. I may have been a.s.signed to kill someone they considered a friend or a preferred lover . . . I may have been a.s.signed to kill someone they considered a friend or a preferred lover . . . "How does Barbra figure into this?" "How does Barbra figure into this?"

"She supports Lord Stephen's objectives for made vampires, though she is unaware of his personal vendetta."

"So Xavier knows Daegan is coming." That came from Anwyn.

"Yes. He has had time to prepare, and has a force of fifteen combat-trained vampires." Alanna reflexively took a step back toward the door as Anwyn moved forward, her expression forbidding. Brian put a quelling hand on Anwyn's shoulder, but Gideon didn't know if she felt it. Of course, he was having difficulty reining back his own reaction.

"But Lord Stephen is beginning to fear Xavier's strength," Alanna continued. "Xavier is being less respectful. Stephen did not foresee the long-term result of his actions. If he gives Xavier up to the Council for acc.u.mulating a private army, he will reveal his own wrongdoing. Xavier knows Stephen holds no power over him."

"So while Stephen a.s.sumes Daegan will be killed, he also hopes he'll kill a big enough group of Xavier's vampires in the process so that Stephen can control Xavier's base once more." Gideon's lip curled.

"I must go now," Alanna said shortly. "You do what you will with this."

Gideon grasped her arm again. "We need more information."

"You have all that I have time to give you. My Master will demand to know where I've been when I return to his quarters." As she gazed up at him, reality dawned. Gideon's gut tightened.

"You're Stephen's full servant. He'll know what you've done."

"Yes."

"We can protect you." Gideon had no clue how he could do that, but the way she stood there, quiet and brave, with thin, pale arms and the eyes of a wounded doe, made it impossible for him to say anything else. But the look she gave him told him she'd already accepted whatever outcome came from this.

"No, you can't." Her gaze shifted to Lord Brian now. "I do not betray my Master lightly. At one time, I believed he cared for me. Then he denied me the right to go to my brother's funeral. He had another engagement, a dinner in France. Twelve vampires. Despite my grief, or perhaps because of it, he had me fully partic.i.p.ate in that dinner, giving me to all twelve of them. And to their servants. It went on for three days. I realized later it was to test my loyalty to him over my love for my brother."

Lord Brian's gaze flickered, but he said nothing, nothing on his face indicating whether or not he condemned or held compa.s.sion for the woman.

At his lack of response, her face went even more wooden and she looked toward Gideon again. "A servant serves, because she believes she is vital to the heart and soul of her Master. I was an Inherited servant, so I did not expect or ask for anything except an unconditional sense of value. Stephen does not have a heart or soul. Good-bye."

"Wait." Gideon stopped her once more at the doorway, his mind still sifting through possibilities, ways they could keep her from Stephen's retribution. "Why did you help us? I was responsible for your brother's death."

Those liquid brown eyes reached deep inside of him, squeezing his jaded heart. "Because you told me you were sorry," she said simply. "And you meant it. It was the first time anyone acknowledged my grief. In your eyes, I saw you understood, truly, what it was to lose one you loved. I may hate that you were the instrument that took him from me, but in the world we live in, I know genuine feelings from false. And I have now seen the monstrous side of them that causes you to take their lives. Do not worry about me, Gideon Green. I do not want or need your help. The end will be a blessing for me. Go save your Master. Good-bye."

Shrugging off Gideon's hand, she slipped out the door. Brian came to Gideon's side, Anwyn with him. Anwyn's eyes were angry, worried, searching. "Anything?" Gideon asked.

She shook her head. "I'm calling to him. He said it was fifty miles away. Maybe I'm not strong enough yet, but he can hear my mind from that distance. If I was worried or afraid, calling to him, he would hear. He would answer, Gideon. Oh G.o.d . . ."