“Then why support him at all?”

“Better the devil you know than the one you don’t,” Harrison answered. “At first we were unsure who the other candidates would be, and then once we found out, Dorian continued to be our best answer. We were quite surprised when you became a candidate, and considering your history, I was certain you would not be open to the prospect of working with us.”

“Oh gee, why not? I mean, you only murdered my mother and tried to kill me. You invaded my clan’s home and killed one of my cousins. Not the brightest thing you’ve done, because they’re going to kill Laura and every damn vampire she’s ever made, and every necromancer she’s ever recruited. And their families. And their friends.”

“That was Dorian’s doing, not mine or hers. No one authorized it.”

“I don’t believe you, and they don’t care.”

“Dorian tended to solve problems with a slash-and-burn mentality. You will find that I’m much more diplomatic about such things,” Harrison replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “I would welcome the opportunity to attempt to make amends with your family for his crime.”

“Fat chance.” I snorted. “Look, just get to the point. What do you want?”

“Your cooperation. We would like to open a dialogue with the residents of Faerie.”

I barked a short, derisive laugh. “Yeah right. They won’t talk to you, especially now.”

“I’m sure they could be convinced to listen, if the subject were interesting enough.”

“Well, unless you vamps somehow managed to overcome your abomination status, I don’t see how they’re going to be convinced to listen to you.” I didn’t care what his offer was, because the faeries weren’t going to take it. Any idiot magician could tell them that.

“They will want to listen to this. We need the help of the faeries. All of us, not simply the vampires. Magicians have lived well while we have been hidden, and better still while the majority of mankind simply does not believe we exist. However in these modern times the voids come ever closer to rediscovering our existence.”

“Voids?” I asked, confused. I hadn’t heard the term before.

“Humans devoid of magic-straights. Each of us has our own methods for preventing detection, and they have worked well thus far, but in the past few years it has become almost impossible to keep things secret. The government searches for terrorists, and instead they uncover necromancers, shapeshifters, witches and sorcerers. Those of us who are able have been spending a great deal of time and effort to ensure that the investigators come up empty-handed, but there is only so much we can do. Eventually, they will find us, and once the public gets a hold of it…well, as a witch I’m sure you’re familiar with the history of the Burning Times.”

The blood drained from my face. Thousands, perhaps even millions of magicians were killed during the Burning Times. It was a dark span of our history, when the church declared open war upon our kind. As pacifists, witches suffered the brunt of the attacks. We let ourselves be slaughtered. Martyred.

I licked my lips. “Where do the fairies come into this then? They aren’t a part of this world, and they can kick out any fool who tries to invade theirs.”

“I think that if given the opportunity, they would like to play a greater part in this one again. To do more than play pranks, cause mischief, and seek out dalliances with the mortals. If they join with us, they can have a solid place in our world again. Perhaps even regain their lost fertility.”

That was definitely a carrot that would catch the faeries’ attention if dangled in front of them. No offspring of any sort had been conceived in Faerie since Faerie had been conceived itself.

“To what end?”

“My associates and I are of the opinion that we should take the initiative and inform the public of our existence before they stumble upon it themselves-after we take necessary steps to ensure our safety, of course.”

“So you want me to tell the faeries about your cunning plan, so they can help you expose all of us to society?” I asked, raising a skeptical brow.

“Essentially, yes.”

“Why don’t you ask them to help keep us hidden instead? Living with the straights didn’t work out before, that’s why we went into hiding in the first place.”

“This will be different from what came before.”

“Why, because society is so much more tolerant than it used to be? Have you looked at the news lately? We’d just be another group for everyone to hate.”

“Are you familiar with Machiavelli’s work The Prince?”

“Sure, read it in college, why?”

“Then you know the theory of how it is better for a leader to be feared than loved. When we lived side by side, we appealed to the populace by helping them. We healed them, we protected them, we educated them, and they repaid us by slaughtering our kind in droves. I propose that this time we rule them, as we are uniquely equipped to do so, and that we be the ones who deal out the death when necessary.”

I blinked at him, horrified by his matter-of-fact tone-he would make tyrants out of us. “Oh hell no.”

“I assure you, Catherine, it is the only way. I need you to help me set things in motion.”

“Absolutely not,” I spat.

“I thought you might feel that way, at first. Given time, you’ll come to agree with my point of view.” Standing, he circled around behind his desk and sat in his chair. Harrison tapped out something on his keyboard for a moment, and then leaned back in his seat.

“Yeah, right, so not going to happen.”

“I wish you to stay here until your initiation ceremony, so that we may discuss this further. Will you agree to this?”

“No.”

“You may want to hear the second half of that offer before you turn it down,” he advised. From behind me I heard the sound of the elevator doors opening, and I turned toward them.

“Mac,” I gasped. Leaping to my feet, I ran to meet him, and he’d only taken a few steps out of the elevator when I threw my arms around him in a crushing hug. I’d never been so happy to see someone in my entire life.

“Oof! Glad to see you too, Cat.” He was too pale, and seemed thinner than usual, but he was alive. Alive. I sniffed him to make sure he wasn’t a vamp, and much to my relief he still smelled like librarian. Sweaty librarian, but definitely not a vampire or necromancer.

“What happened? Your plane-everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“Never got on the plane, they nabbed me before I even got to Midway,” Mac replied.

“But why?”

“Insurance,” Harrison answered, still seated at his desk. “In case Dorian failed, we wanted to make sure that we had something you valued for negotiation purposes. We had no idea that his plane was going to crash, but it does create an interesting dilemma.”

“What kind of dilemma?”

“Well, the world believes that Mr. MacInnes is deceased, because we arranged for the computer records to indicate that he got on the plane. When the plane crashed, he was counted among the dead. To the rest of the world, he’s already a dead man. If you do not agree to my terms, Miss Baker, I will kill your friend.”

I stared at him, horrified. “And if I agree, we’ll both go free and unharmed when the time is up?”

“Of course,” he replied, nodding. “We’ll even compensate you financially for wages lost while in our company.”

I swallowed hard. There were many words rushing through my head, many of them involving four letters, but I choked my anger down and nodded. “All right, you win. I agree to stay until the time of my ceremony and listen to your plans.”

“Excellent. For now, I’m sure you could do with some food and rest. And before you try calling your cousins to your rescue, I should also point out that this entire building is triple warded against faeries. They can’t hear you, nor will you be opening any portals to Faerie from here,” Harrison advised. “I suggest you enjoy your stay for the time being. We will discuss matters further tomorrow, over dinner.” He smiled at me, and I really hoped that I wasn’t the one on the menu for the meal.