“I’m not arguing with your reasoning.”

   “But you will not help us?”

   “I can’t agree to assassinate her for you. I’m sorry, truly sorry, but I can’t tell you, ‘Yes, I’ll do it,’ because if I said that, you might count on it. You might make plans based on her being dead.”

   “We would.”

   “And if she didn’t get dead, then those plans would get you killed. I won’t be responsible for that.”

   “I am told that if you slay the animal to call of a master vampire their death can drag the vampire down to true death at last. Is that true, Marshal?”

   “It can be,” I said, and I didn’t like where this conversation was going.

   “I thought that the death of their animal or their human servant was a guarantee of their destruction.”

   “Most of the time the death of one causes the death of the other, but I’ve known vampires powerful enough that it didn’t work that way.”

   “You give me no hope, Marshal Blake.”

   “I thought you were going to give us some hope about Riley and his girlfriend,” I said.

   “If someone told you that, then I truly am sorry, for I have no hope to offer for Riley and his lady. He was young and foolish, but a good boy.”

   “He seemed like a nice person,” I said.

   “He was.”

   I didn’t like that he used the past tense. “Do you know where Riley and his lady friend are?”

   “I do not.”

   “Do you know what happened to them?”

   “Not precisely, but he will be tortured to death. It is the penalty for disloyalty, or sometimes it is the penalty for catching her attention. She has always been unstable, but the last two years, she has become much worse.”

   The timing was after we’d killed the Mother of All Darkness. Was this our fault, my fault? “I’m sorry, Moran, truly.”

   “I believe you, Marshal Blake. If you had not been able to enter the church, then I would not have helped you. I did one deal with the devil centuries ago. I thought it would keep my people safe, but I was wrong.”

   Kaazim leaned into us from the pew behind. “Is Moran your real name?”

   “One of them.”

   “What is the name that most know you by?” Kaazim said.

   “Roarke,” he said.

   Kaazim’s gun was suddenly pointed at Roarke’s head. “If you move, I will kill you,” he said in a low, careful voice.

   Nicky had grabbed me and was moving me backward, away from the man.

   Slane said, “I was told he was just one of Roarke’s seals. I did not know he was Roarke himself.”

   “We will discuss your potential treachery later,” Kaazim said.

   “Who is this guy?” I asked.

   “He’s her moitié bête, and the king of the Roanes,” Jake said, as he moved into the pew we’d just left.

   “Fuck,” I said.

   “Do not curse in the church, Marshal,” Roarke said.

   “Why did you want this meeting?” Jake asked.

   “Inside the church, she cannot see into my heart and mind. I had to arrange the meeting as she ordered, but I have carefully kept my mind blank of the details. I told her I was going to church to pray here so she would not be alarmed when I vanished from her mind. I also knew it would prevent Damian from recognizing me too soon.”

   “What do you want, Roarke?” Kaazim asked.

   “I want M’Lady to die and my people to be free.”

   “What are you supposed to be setting us up for? What does the Wicked Bitch want to happen here today?” I asked.

   “She wants Damian back, and she would like your moitié bête at her mercy. God forgive me, she would like all your pretty men at her mercy.”

   I just dropped the shields that were keeping out Damian and Nathaniel, and Dev, and Domino and Ethan. I just let them know what I knew. If Damian hadn’t been with them they could have come into the church to use it as a sanctuary, but the vampire couldn’t enter it and we couldn’t leave him alone. Damn it!

   “If anyone attacks our people outside this church, I will kill you,” Kaazim said.

   “But don’t you understand? That is exactly what I want you to do,” Roarke said.

   “What are you saying?” I said.

   “I believe in God, Marshal Blake. I cannot take my own life, but if I am killed, then it may drag her down to death with me.”

   “Your death might just kill her human servant and not her. She might sacrifice the servant to save herself,” I said.

   “But if she is bereft of both her animal and her servant, then she will be far less powerful, true?”

   I didn’t know what to say, because he was right, but it wasn’t a guarantee. “It would hurt her power base, but maybe not enough to free all your people.”

   “If she is no longer my master, then she can no longer draw on all the other Roane through me. She will have to wait for my people to elect a new king, and that will take enough time for Damian to lead you to her stronghold and help you kill her.”

   Jake said, “If someone is killed inside a church, it ceases to be consecrated ground until the rituals are performed again.”

   “But I will already be dead, and she will be weakened.”

   “I did free Rafael and his wererats. I freed them by killing the old master of the city that could call rats. Once she was dead, they were free.”

   “All I want is for my people to be free of the monster that I let into our peaceable kingdom,” Roarke said.

   “Are there other Roane waiting outside to attack us?” Jake asked.

   “There are, but they are waiting for me to signal them.”

   “I thought you said the signal was you leaving the church,” I said.

   “That is for attacking you. She wants to capture you, too. Didn’t I mention that?”

   “No, you left that part out.” I wanted Nathaniel in the church with me, but if he came inside, that might alert the waiting bad guys.

   “Why does she want Anita?” Nicky asked.

   “She wants to kill you as you killed the Mother of All Darkness, so she can drink the power inside you, as you drank the Mother.”

   “So she needs me alive to kill me in person,” I said.