Karen Chance - Claimed by Shadow

Mac shot the vamp an unfriendly look. "Don't listen to him, Cassie. If you don't want to talk, don't. He can't force you with me here.”

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, mage. I know your reputation, but much of your magic is useless at present, and my strength is unchanged. Not that I would dream of forcing Cassandra to do anything against her will. I merely think she ought to know who her newfound ally is and what he wants.”

"You stay out of our business," Mac said, his tone ominous.

"Ah, but it isn't yours alone, is it?" Marlowe asked. "She has a right to know with whom she's become involved." He turned to me, looking innocent. "Or do you already know that Pritkin is the Circle's chief assassin?”

Mac choked on the contents of the flask he'd been sipping from, and then all but confirmed it." "That's neither here nor there!" he gasped as soon as he got his breath back. Marlowe didn't even look at him; his eyes were fixed squarely on me.

"I take it this is news?" he asked.

"Tell me.”

"Cassie, you can't believe anything one of them says. It's all rubbish-" Mac began, but I cut him off.

"I'm too tired to debate this, Mac," I said, and the weariness in my voice was genuine. All I wanted was to find a soft patch of moss, one that wasn't too damp and was free of moving tree parts, and sleep for about twelve hours. I was mentally and physically near exhaustion, and my emotional state wasn't all that great, either. But Marlowe was right-I needed to hear mis. I could decide whether to believe it later.

Marlowe didn't need a second prompt. "We wondered why a demon hunter had been assigned as the Circle's liaison to us. There are plenty of vampire experts available and many of them are far more… diplomatic… than John Pritkin. The timing was also suspicious, with the Circle removing their old liaison and substituting Pritkin only hours before you were brought in. It was as if they knew you were coming and wanted him to be there.”

"They hoped he'd mistake me for a demon and kill me," I said. This was old news, something Mircea had figured out early on. It had almost worked. Pritkin didn't know much about vamps, but he was an expert on demons. And some of my powers, especially possession, had made him very suspicious.

"I heard that theory, but it seemed strange that the Circle would simply assume you would do something to alarm Pritkin enough for him to attack you. Had things gone the way we planned-had you not escaped and Tomas not betrayed us-it would have been a quiet evening." I fidgeted at this evaluation of my first meeting with the Senate, which had been anything but quiet from the start, but didn't interrupt. "I thought there might be more to the story," he continued, "and began a discreet inquiry.”

"You don't know anything," Mac said vehemently.

Marlowe raised an eyebrow, the look on his face one a king might have bestowed on a peasant who tracked mud across his castle floor. "On the contrary, I know a good deal. For instance, I know Pritkin has at least a thousand kills to his credit, and probably more. I know that he's the man the Circle turns to when they want to make absolutely certain someone ends up dead. I know that he is famous for using unorthodox tactics to bring down his prey"-he gave me an arch look-"like having one mark help him to locate another-”

Mac uttered an expletive. "Don't listen to him, Cassie." He paused to stomp on a root that had been trying to curl around my ankle. It slunk off into the forest, but I had no doubt it would be back. I felt a strong yearning for an axe. "You may not know us, but you do know vamps. They lie more than they breathe. John's a good man.”

Marlowe let out a contemptuous laugh. "Tell his victims that!" He glanced at me, as if trying to gauge my reaction to his news, but I'd hit that washed-out sensation that comes from too much exertion in too little time. I couldn't manage to make myself care very much if Pritkin wanted me dead. It wasn't exactly a novel idea; I'd been operating on that assumption all along.

I started searching through Mac's backpack for some dry socks. I'd had a pair in my duffle, but Mac must not have bothered to pack them. It's a clue that you are hanging with the wrong crowd when you have beer, guns and about a ton of ammunition, but no clean clothes.

Marlowe looked slightly put out that his bombshell wasn't causing the uproar he'd expected, but he continued nonetheless. "You've entrusted yourself to Pritkin's care, but you know virtually nothing about him! The Circle has obviously sent him to kill you.”

"This is a perfect example of what vamps do, Cassie!" Mac thundered. "They cobble together some half-truths that leave them looking lily-white and the rest of us covered in shite!”

"He needs your help to find the other rogue," Marlowe told me earnestly, ignoring Mac. "But as soon as he has her, you're dead. Unless you let us assist you. The Senate only wants-”

"-to control your every move!" Mac broke in. "Cassie, I swear to you, John was appalled when he found out what the Circle intends. They've gone power-mad! Even if they get their way and both you and Myra die, they can't be sure their chosen initiate will become Pythia. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of unknown, untrained clairvoyants in the world. What if it went to one of them? And what if the Black Circle found her first?”

I smiled slightly. "Better the devil you know, huh?" Mac looked somewhat appalled at what he'd let slip, but it was exactly because he hadn't made a rousing speech in my favor that I tended to believe him.

I glanced at Marlowe. "Mac has a point. Pritkin was declared a rogue himself today for protecting me, and was almost killed in the bargain. Seems kind of extreme for someone who is only setting me up.”

"He is known for such tactics," Marlowe said, waving it off. He gazed at me intently, his eyes practically radiating sincerity. "Cassie, we have no desire to manipulate you. Our aim is to offer you an alternative to domination by the mages. That has been the fate of Pythias for generations, but it doesn't have to be yours. We can-”

I held up a hand, both because I didn't want to hear it and to keep Mac, who had grown dangerously red in the face, from going ballistic. "Save it, Marlowe. I know the truth. And I don't intend to be dominated by anyone.”

"You know what you've been told," he replied urgently. "And you will need allies, Cassie. No great leader has ever ruled entirely alone. Elizabeth has gone down in history as a magnificent queen, which she was, but one of her chief talents was choosing able people to advise her. She was great partly because those around her were great. You cannot remain isolated. You will not be able to work that way. In the long term-”

"I'm not real interested in the long term right now, Marlowe." I was just trying to live through the day.

"In time, you will come to understand that you need allies, and the Senate will be there. Unlike the mages, we want to work with you, not control your every decision.”

"Uh-huh. Which is why Mircea put the dúthracht on me?" There were a lot of things I wasn't clear on, but that one was crystal. The geis wasn't used to advise; it was used to control. The look on Marlowe's face said he knew that.

"We will find a way to break it," he promised. "And in the meantime, the Senate offers you its protection." I rolled my eyes and Mac snorted.

"Yeah," he said contemptuously, "just substitute 'prison' for 'protection' and-”

"You might wish to consider," Marlowe said smoothly, "that despite Lord Mircea's lapse of judgment, the Senate has protected you in the past. Whereas the facts make only one conclusion possible: the mages want their candidate on the Pythia's throne and will stop at nothing to see her there-including your death.”