Was Maximus right? Had Vlad's first wife killed herself because death was the only way she could escape him?

I took in a deep breath. "Whatever her reasons, I'm not her. I know Vlad's dark side and I can handle it."

Maximus sighed. "Can you? The scars on your wrists show that darkness broke you once before."

I stiffened. "If you think Vlad is such a horrible person, why have you stayed with him all these years?"

His laugh sounded hollow.

"You misunderstand. I love Vlad and I'd gladly die for him. But whenever he loves something, he ends up destroying it. He can't help it. It's just his nature."

Marty threw me a hard look. Clearly, he had the same concerns, but all he said was "Do what you came here to do."

I stared at Maximus as I punched in numbers on the keypad outside his cell. The dungeon might look medieval, but it had all the conveniences of a modern jail. The bars disappeared into the rock floor with a soft swish.

Maximus didn't move. "What is this?"

"My bride price," I said coolly. "Vlad told me to name anything I wanted. I chose your freedom, as he knew I would."

Maximus still didn't move. I swept out my arm. "If you're waiting for a red carpet, I didn't include that."

Very slowly, he walked out of his cell, looking around as though expecting silver knives to rain down on him any moment. Objective accomplished, I turned on my heel and walked away.

"Since I probably won't see you again, thanks for saving my life. We're even now, so good luck with the rest of yours."

"Wait."

Cool fingers sank into my shoulder. I whirled, anger at his grim predictions making me whip my right glove off.

"Let go of me or I'll use this."

Maximus dropped his hand, a mixture of frustration and empathy skipping over his features. "Leila, had I known before how Vlad truly felt about you, I wouldn't have - "

"Convinced me he might be behind the bomb? Lied to him about me being alive? Or kept trying to sleep with me?"

"All of it," he replied evenly. "But you still need to be wary. You don't know him as well as I do."

He's right, you don't, my hateful inner voice whispered.

I turned away again. Whether I was mad at Vlad or not, I wasn't going to listen to any more disparagements about him.

"He's letting you walk out of here, Maximus. Bet you didn't see that coming, so maybe you're the one who doesn't know him as well as you think."

Chapter 31

With all the wedding guests last night, the house should have been bulging with people. Instead, everything looked normal, which was a relief to me. I wasn't up to making small talk with several hundred strangers. Contrary to popular opinion, I did know what I could and couldn't handle. Even though I was a human surrounded by vampires who had napped for longer than I was alive, I was still the best judge of me.

"Thanks, Marty," I said when we reached the foot of the main staircase. "I'm going back to my room now."

"Straight there?" he asked, his gaze narrowing.

I hoped he didn't smell the lie when I said, "Of course."

Another suspicious look was my response, but he left.

As I hurried up the grand staircase, the song "Ice Ice Baby" blared away in my mind. Let Vlad try to force his way past that to hear my real intentions. Still, I didn't have much time. Soon Vlad would realize I'd ended my farewell visit with Maximus twenty minutes early.

I went straight to the fourth floor, but instead of heading to my new bedroom, I chose a hallway I'd never entered before. Somewhere on this level, the traitor had to have left an essence trail. Then I pulled my right glove off and trailed my bare hand over the first doorknob I passed.

Images of Oscar flooded my mind. Aside from gleaning that the albino vampire was usually tired when he entered his room, nothing notable stuck out. I released the handle, doing a quick inventory on myself. No dizziness or nosebleeds, good. My power hadn't hit the danger zone, so on to the next one.

That turned out to be Lachlan's old room, useless since he'd been killed in an ambush by Szilagyi months ago. After another health check, I still didn't exhibit any warning signs, so I felt safe enough to try the third doorknob.

It was Maximus's room, and the deep loneliness imprinted on that handle took the sting out of my anger over his dire predictions. Was that part of the reason he had lied to Vlad over me? Because being with the wrong woman was better than spending another aching night alone?

I let go of the handle. Whatever Maximus's reasons, what was done was done, and I didn't have time to ponder why. I went to the fourth door, but before I could touch the handle, it opened. Shrapnel stared at me, surprise creasing his features.

"Leila. What are you doing?"

I snatched my hand back. "Uh, I . . ."

Maximus's door opened, further startling me, but it wasn't him. A beautiful redheaded woman came out instead.

"I said to meet me at the third door, Leila," she said, flashing Shrapnel a brilliant smile. "Not that it isn't easy to get lost in this huge place."

I'd first met her months ago. Vlad counted her as a friend, which was why she'd been one of our wedding guests, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember her name. Still, I gave Shrapnel an apologetic shrug and seized on the excuse, tucking my hand into my skirt pocket. He'd run straight to Vlad if he knew what I'd really been doing.

"Sorry, wrong door." Then to the redhead I said, "Ready?"

She flashed another dazzling smile. "Sure am."

Her Barbie-doll perfect looks jogged my memory. Right, her name was Cat and she was married to Bones, the vampire that had taught me how to block Vlad's mind reading by mentally singing. That's how Cat had known I was about to be busted by Shrapnel. She could read minds, too, and her helping me showed that she could be trusted. Otherwise, she would've let Shrapnel bust me.

Thank you, I sent to her.

She waved an airy hand. "I can't wait to see the communications room," she said, as though continuing a conversation we'd had before. "It's on this floor, isn't it?"

That question was directed to Shrapnel, whose frown was back. "Yes, but only authorized persons are allowed."

Cat snorted. "Vlad's wife isn't considered 'authorized'?"

Shrapnel opened his mouth . . . and nothing came out. Now that I'd married his boss, he couldn't be certain if anything was off-limits to me. Cat took my arm, whistled at the current that shot into her, and then went on with her cheery chatter.

"I bet Vlad's got the most high-tech stuff available to protect his people, so the communications room should give you great ideas for what you want in voice-activated software."

It was all I could do not to kiss her. Where would the traitor have likely left the most incriminating essence trail? In the room that would've been used to locate Maximus's cell phone signal. Cat must've been listening to my thoughts this morning for her to know exactly what I was after.

I controlled my grin with effort. "Great. I'm sick of not being able to use any tech stuff." Then I turned to Shrapnel. "Which way is it again?"

Those generous lips pursed in disapproval, but he said, "Left at the end of this hall, then it's the first door on the second hallway to your right."

"Thanks!"

As soon as Cat and I were out of his sight, I stopped her.

You don't have to go any further, I thought rapidly. If Vlad finds out you helped me do this, he'll be pissed.

"That's why Bones is packing now," she said with a little laugh. Then her voice lowered and she leaned in close. "But you don't shelve your best weapon just because using it is risky. Vlad told me that once. He's just too deep in Overprotective Male Mode now to remember it."

"You nailed that one," I said dryly.

An eye roll. "I've had lots of experience with it. One night we'll swap stories over drinks. But be smarter than I was, Leila. Know your limits, and when you reach them, ask for help."

"Believe me, I'm not looking to jump into the grave."

The stare she gave me made me wonder if I'd misjudged her age. It seemed to hold the weight of centuries even though I'd pegged Cat to be recently undead.

"Sometimes the grave finds you whether you're looking for it or not."

I said nothing, once again covering my thoughts with Vanilla Ice's one-hit wonder. Even if it did bring the grave one step closer, I was doing this. Until we found the traitor, no one in this house was safe, least of all me.

The communications room looked like a smaller version of something NASA would have. A dozen manned computer stations were spread out around a large map of the world with multiple pinpoints indicating safe houses for Vlad's people. Another interactive map could be rearranged by grabbing things out of thin air, and a third 3-D image was a digital recreation of this house. Right now, all the lines on it were green. If any of them turned red, it indicated a security breach.

When Cat and I opened the door unannounced, the area for this room went red. Then, much like Shrapnel, Vlad's staff decided they didn't want to be the ones to tell me I needed better clearance than the wedding ring on my finger and it returned to green.

"Check this out, Leila," Cat said, pointing at the screen nearest to her. "The different sections on this security grid indicate that it checks for trespassers on the grounds, in the air, and a hundred feet below the ground, too."

"That's right," the monitor tech said with faint surprise.

Brisk nod. "I designed a similar system for my old job."

I leaned in next to Cat, pretending to be fascinated by the security details. In reality, I palmed a pen and stuck it in my skirt pocket. Then we moved to the next station, where I swiped a paper clip. By the time I'd feigned interest in every workstation, my skirt pocket was full of stolen items.

Cat helped by angling her body to shield what I was doing, but I could only hope that if a sharp-eyed employee had seen anything, he'd chalk it up to me being a kleptomaniac. Now, to beat a hasty retreat. I'd used up every minute of the half hour I'd arranged for releasing Maximus. With luck, by the time Vlad heard where I had really been, I'd already have psychically sorted through my stash to see if any of the employees on this shift were the traitor.

"This has been great, thanks," I told the group as we left. Once in another hallway, I gave Cat a grateful smile.

"I owe you. Now, get the hell out of here."

She grinned. "You've made Christmas come early for my husband, you know. Vlad once mocked Bones for his overprotectiveness by saying he should've married a docile girl who wouldn't stray too far from the kitchen."

Then she enveloped me in a quick hug before dashing off with a cheeky "Karma's a bitch!" thrown over her shoulder. In the next blink, Cat was gone.

I was still smiling over that when I rounded the next corner - and almost ran right into Vlad. Ice Ice Baby, too cold! rang across my mind as I gave him my most guileless look.

"Hi. Cat was just keeping me company until you came back."

He glanced in the direction she'd disappeared to before returning his attention to me.

"Fourteen hundred and thirty-one."

I blinked. "What's that?"

"The year I was born, which is not, as you'll note, yesterday."

I stifled a groan. Busted already. "Vlad, I - "

"Not here," he interrupted, grasping my arm. Then he propelled me down the hall and into our bedroom far less romantically than he'd done last night. Once the door shut behind us, I started back in on my defense.

"Look, I was being careful. See? No blood, no problem."

Vlad leaned down until his mouth was near my ear. "Before Maximus walked out of this house, I hadn't paid your bride price yet. You could've picked using your powers to find the traitor instead of his freedom."

"That is not fair," I hissed, my voice equally low.

A light kiss preceded his response. "Neither is life."

I pushed him away, sending my next message with my mind because I was too angry to trust keeping my voice down.

You can't expect me to do nothing when my abilities could find the traitor that leaked information to Hannibal AND probably helped the person that blew up the carnival, too.

Vlad crossed his arms over his chest almost casually. "When it could kill you at any moment, I can."

I'm fine! I mentally shouted.

"You were also fine the time before when your powers caused you to hemorrhage to death in my arms."

Spoken in a whiplike tone I'd seen centuries-old vampires cower under. All it did was add to my growing ire.

Oh, but all's well if I bleed to death in your arms while you're turning me into a vampire?

Not a hint of shame colored his tone when he said, "Yes."

Pride stiffened my spine.

Unless you lock me in this room, you can't stop me from using my powers to find the traitor.

The grin he flashed me said I'd made a critical mistake.

"Don't you dare," I said out loud.

He closed the space between us, that charming wolf's smile never leaving his face. Then his arms went around me. I remained stiff despite things inside me reacting to the feel of his body.

Seriously. You try it and there will be DIRE consequences.

His lips brushed my ear again. "Imprison my new bride in our bedroom? I'd be a walking Dracula caricature."

He wasn't giving up that easily. That's why I didn't relax my rigid posture even when he sensually nibbled on my earlobe.