She stepped out of the flow of departing Templars and regarded the thin, pale man. What in the world would someone of his standing want with a recruit? "Can I help you, Envoy Pavarotti?"

"I'm quite confident you can, Miss Borathen." He smiled, showing clean white teeth. "Justin Slade has, of late, become a topic of conversation in the capitol."

Elyssa felt a spark of surprise. How would the vaunted politicos of the Overworld know about Justin? Then again, why wouldn't they? Hadn't he just brought in Vadaemos Slade, one of the most wanted fugitives? And his connections to the most powerful spawn house in the States might also make him a person of great interest. It meant people like Pavarotti might want to use him to their advantage.

"What can I do for you, Envoy?" She tried to keep her voice calm.

"First, let me express my sincere regrets about his kidnapping. Maximus will be brought to justice, I promise you."

"And?"

The vampire smiled. "The Red Syndicate would very much like to meet with Mr. Slade, assuming, of course, his rescue is successful."

Elyssa's stomach knotted. To think they might fail was too painful to even consider. "If the Red Syndicate helped rescue him, he might be willing to meet. Otherwise, I doubt he will."

"Point well taken, Miss Borathen." Pavarotti swept a hand at the crowd of Templars. "I'm highly confident your father will succeed. But I will take your request to the Syndicate and do what can be done from our end." He licked his lips and offered another greasy smile. "It's a very delicate situation, as I'm sure you understand."

A delicate situation would be if she held her razor-sharp katana against his pale throat. She resisted making the comment. "Very well, Envoy. I hope the Syndicate can come through." Any bit of leverage she had was well worth spending if it meant getting Justin back. "And I'm sure my father would feel indebted to the Syndicate for any help rendered." More likely, her father would look at it as interference, but she didn't care.

"Thank you for your time, Miss Borathen." He offered her his hand, giving her the kind of soft, wimpy shake she'd expected from a politician.

Exhausted and cramped with tension, Elyssa went to a guest bunkhouse and tossed her duffel bag on one of the empty bunks. She locked the door behind her, hoping the others would go to one of the other guest quarters in the complex. She'd barely faced away from the door when a knock sounded. Elyssa growled. Unlatched the door, and flung it open. "What—" The words died on her lips.

A large man in a type of scaled armor she had never seen before stood outside. His face was covered by a mask of the same material. He towered over his comrade, but Elyssa would rather face the big man any day than the person he was with.

Underborn, the most notorious assassin in the Overworld, smiled at her. "Good to see you again, Miss Borathen."

Chapter 11

I would have face-palmed if not for my obvious inability to do so at the present time. Why hadn't I thought of using magic before? True, I could barely light a candle or blow it out, for that matter. And my attempts so far usually ended with disastrous results. Setting myself on fire wouldn't solve anything, and the room appeared to be made of concrete on all sides. A gust of wind wouldn't do me much good either, not unless I could blow myself right out of this hellhole.

Shelton and Bella had taught me quite a bit of general magical knowledge. Willpower was a big deal. So long as I could envision and desire an action with enough focus, I could make it happen. I had no problems with the desiring part, and envisioning wasn't too tough either. Focus was my problem. My mind was like a reel of discombobulated images, constantly fighting for airtime.

Maybe, just maybe, I could figure something out. I thought of the vampire guarding me. Mind control was way above my abilities. Still, someone else might replace her and that person might be easier to manipulate. I had powers, dammit. I just had to figure out how to use them.

Closing my eyes, I used my incubus senses to open myself up to the magical energy in the vicinity. I extended a wisp of essence toward a nebula of sparkling power and soaked it in. A tiny galaxy of magic whirled lazily overhead, mesmerizing me with its simple beauty. I wondered if it had magnetic properties causing it to coalesce like that. As I looked around the room with my sixth sense, I noticed darker strands of energy, some of them in similar patterns to the brighter energy.

Lines of magic pulsed up the walls and in the ceiling overhead as well. All in all, the energy patterns looked very similar to what I'd seen at Shelton's hideout. I wondered how it would look in the Grotto, Thunder Rock, or at another of the angel relics scattered around the planet. Bella had told me about the powerful ley lines running through those places. I'd felt the power rush against me after making a circle in El Dorado. Although some arteries of energy in the ceiling seemed wider than what I'd seen at Shelton's, none of them seemed large enough to be more than just a tributary to the great river of magic I imagined ran through the relics.

I tried to probe down the hallway with my senses. I felt the cold presence of other vampires nearby, and a smattering of normal humans, some female. But they were just out of reach. Even if I managed to lure a female nom down here, the vampire guarding the door would be sure to stop her.

Out of idle boredom, I tried creating magical sparks even though there was nothing to catch on fire. I managed a couple. I heard the guard outside talking on the phone, the other end of the conversation clearly audible to my super hearing. They talked about Maximus and how they'd like to get it on with him.

How could people be so stupid as to fall for someone like Maximus? It made no sense. He was obviously a power-hungry jackass like most politicians, and yet people believed in him and supported him. How could so many humans be so stupid? I growled as a sudden surge of anger exploded in me.

Idiots!

A white fireball the size of my head exploded in the air above. Spots danced in my eyes from the blinding flash of light.

Holy crap. Did I do that?

The door slammed open and the vampire rushed in. "What the hell was that noise?" she said.

I pretended to be asleep, hoping the rapid beat of my heart wouldn't give me away.

"Was it you?" she shouted. "What exploded in here?"

I didn't answer.

"I asked you a question, you nasty thing," she said, her footsteps fading away from me.

"This entity made no explosion," my roommate said in his calm, emotionless voice. "It does not know the source."

The vampire cursed and I heard the sound of a hand smacking flesh. "I don't know why Maximus keeps you around. He should just get it over and end you."

"This entity finds such a prospect undesirable."

"This entity finds such a prospect undesirable, oh, boo hoo hoo," the vampire said in a mocking voice. "Cry me a river, dumbass."

"It is not possible to produce such a quantity of moisture," he replied.

His statement was met with another smack. The vampire stomped toward me and stopped. I heard her breathing right next to me. She must have lowered her head because I felt her breath against my ear. Even worse, I smelled it.

"Are you asleep, snookums?" she cooed in my ear. She sniffed and it was all I could do not to cringe away.

She touched my face. Her skin felt room temperature and soft. Something moist touched my neck and I realized it had to be her tongue. I jerked, eyes opening as I tried to get away from her. She laughed.

"Not asleep anymore, are we, pookie bear?"

"Stay away from me," I said, voice trembling.

She leapt atop the table, straddling me. Her red eyes locked onto my chest. "Hmm, Maximus is so messy." She leaned over, eyes locked onto mine, and grinned with malicious intent. Extending her tongue, she licked the crusted blood from my chest.

I shuddered and writhed. "Get the hell off me!"

"Careful, incubus boy. You might turn me on." She ground against my boxers and moaned. "Maybe I should give you a test ride. Maximus won't mind, so long as I don't drink your blood."

I shook my head and bucked, but couldn't dislodge her. She'd have to inject me with enough Viagra to excite a nursing home because the thought of having sex with her ugly ass made man brain number two shrink up like a stack of dimes. "Get off me, you perv!"

She pushed a clump of matted hair from her face, and smiled. Her fangs retracted, and she looked almost normal, although nowhere near what I'd consider cute. "I can be gentle," she said in her girly voice. "I have lots of experience." She leaned down and nipped my ear, sending a shiver of revulsion through me. "After all, I used to work in a brothel during the California Gold Rush."

Her lips touched mine and she pressed her tongue hard against my mouth, forcing it through my clamped lips. I would have bitten her tongue, but gagged instead at the onslaught of tonsil hockey and her nasty, dead breath.

I convulsed and heaved at her unwanted touch. She leapt off me, quick as a cat.

"I'll have to train you, I see." She tapped a finger against her chin. "Thankfully, I'll have plenty of time to break you in."

A phone, presumably hers, rang, and she walked away to answer it. Before long, she was chattering away about Maximus again.

After my racing heart slowed down, exhaustion flowed through my body, leaving me feeling weak. I had done something amazing, causing a fireball to explode over my head, but what good did it do me here? I couldn't blow a hole through the wall.

Thanks to Maximus drinking my blood, the vampiric prostitute guarding my door, and the moron who shared this room, my future looked terrifying.

"What are you doing here?" my guard said, breaking off her phone conversation.

A female answered. "I'm bringing him food, Amanda. What does it look like?"

The guard snorted. "Trying to get back into Maxi's favor again? Dream on. I never should have taken—"

"As if you're getting any from him," the other woman interrupted.