He lifted his chin in the air. “I don’t have to answer your questions.”

“But you do have to answer mine.”

It wasn’t the volume of Kai’s voice that made the mage cringe. It was the way his magic amplified it, bouncing it off the massive body of water behind them. Flocks of panicked birds took to the air and fled the scene.

“Unless, that is, you would like me to give you a firsthand demonstration of how I deal with traitors.”

“I know all about your reputation for demon magic, Drachenburg,” he spat. “And you can’t hurt me.” The nervous tinkle of his magic betrayed his false fortitude. “I am chosen. I was born of magic, evil and monstrous, but I shall be redeemed. I will kill the other monsters. All the other monsters.”

Kai remained unimpressed. “What else did you steal from me?”

“The heavens will open up and rain down death upon your kind!”

“If you don’t stop spewing nonsense and start answering my questions, I will rain down a thing or two on you.”

“Death first!”

“That can be arranged,” Kai assured him, stepping forward.

Sera caught his arm. The look he gave her could have wilted metal, but she only smiled right back at him. “There’s no point, Kai. He’s one of them. A Convictionite. Can’t you see that he’s been completely brainwashed?”

“I don’t care what they washed.” Sparks shot out from the lightning whip, sending the mage into convulsions. “I’ll wash it right out of him.”

“I think it’s too late for that. This…hatred, whatever it is, it’s a part of him. I can feel it pulsing through his magic. It’s decades old. You can’t separate out something that’s always been there.”

Kai killed the light show. “You’re saying he was born this way?”

“I’m saying he was raised this way. The Convictionites must have gotten him early, when he was just a young boy. A baby maybe. He is as much a Convictionite as the rest of them are.”

“Except he’s a mage. And they hate mages.”

She shrugged. “Since when did people make sense? Maybe you should let me talk to him.” But when she tried to approach the mage, Kai moved to block her way. “Honestly, Kai. What do you think he can do to me? You have him pinned down. And I’m not a delicate snowflake.”

“More like a snow beast,” he grunted.

She showed him her teeth. “Keep talking, dragon.”

He met her stare. “Fine. Talk to him. But if he doesn’t behave, I’m going to eat him.”

“You don’t eat people, Kai.”

“No, I don’t.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Fine, I’ll just think of some other way to kill him.”

“You can’t kill him,” she said. “He might know something we can use against the Convictionites. We need to take him back for questioning.”

“I thought you weren’t amenable to my method of questioning.”

“I’m not. You have anger management issues.”

“I’m managing my anger just fine, sweetheart,” he told her, a hard grin cutting across his face.

Nearby, a gust of wind rocked a tree, stripping it of all its leaves. A pair of lovers out for a walk jumped back in alarm as they were nearly buried beneath the leafy waterfall pouring down from the tree.

Sera gave Kai her best mega-bored look. “A little early in the year for fall, isn’t it?”

He said nothing.

“Ok, then.” Sera crouched down beside the mage. “Hi, what’s your name?”

“Die, demon bitch!”

“That’s a nice one. Shall I call you ‘Mr. Demon Bitch’ or just ‘Die’ for short?”

Shockingly, the mage didn’t burst into laughter. From the way Kai was glaring at him, though, she didn’t have long before he burst into flames.

“You’ve been planning this for a long time,” she said.

“Huh?” the mage asked, clearly puzzled.

“This undercover operation. Drachenburg Industries doesn’t hire just anyone. You needed an in. Connections. Those take years to forge.”

“I went to school with Finn Drachenburg, dragon boy’s cousin. He got me the job as a lab researcher in exchange for me agreeing to spy for him.”

Sera didn’t press him further. As long as she didn’t ask him direct questions, he seemed to get around to spilling the details anyway. It might be part of his mental conditioning. Maybe the Convictionites had programmed him not to answer questions in case he was ever captured.

“So you’re a double agent,” she said. “That must have been difficult, fooling your coworkers in the lab. Fooling Finn.”

He snorted. “Supernaturals are stupid and arrogant. None of you ever suspected a thing.”

“I’m curious how you made it through the Magic Games without the Council ever learning your secret.” She gave him a crooked smile. “I’m going through the Games right now, you see.”

“I never went through the Games. I’m a non-combative mage,” he said. “But even if I had gone through them, I wouldn’t have cracked.”

“You sound so sure of yourself. The Game Architect prides himself on his ability to crack anyone.”

“Duncan Blackbrooke?” He sneered. “A spineless and spent old man. Did you see how he fell to pieces when I sent the vampires after him? Pathetic,” he added with disgust.