Viève walked away with Kamen, her mind spinning. They wanted her to come back. They wanted her. She had been stressing out, trying to think of a way to make herself useful to them so that she would be allowed to stay, but then Jackson had asked her to come back.

Tears threatened and she didn’t know why. No. Wait. She did know why. No one had ever wanted her before. No one had ever gone out of their way to request her presence. No one except maybe Kamen. But Kamen wanted her for sex. It was great sex and more than she had ever hoped to have in her life, but it was still just sex. And that was the way it should be after only a day of knowing one another. She couldn’t possibly ask for more. But what a day it had been. Twenty-four hours had changed her life so dramatically. The lives of all the Nightwalkers had been changed so dramatically.

But here now was an opportunity to maybe make things…more. Maybe she could find a place here. A wanted place. Maybe one day Kamen might want her for more than sex. She didn’t see how, seeing as though he was so driven to do other things and…well…she was who she was. But at least there was a chance she could maybe make herself useful to him to the point where he might not want to let her go. Not any time soon. Oh, she had no doubt that it would come to an end at some point. She would invariably do something stupid or wrong and it would piss him off enough that he would be done with her. But until then she wanted to live this life of feeling like she was wanted. However long or short a time as it was, she wanted to live this life.

And who knew…maybe when Kamen was done with her she might still find a place here among these people. They had all been so kind and accepting so far. Again, she had not had the opportunity to screw up yet, and that was only a matter of time. At least they had found her useful so far. Now all she had to do was keep being useful to them. And she could be. If there was a coming battle, her deathtouch could make a difference.

If she was able to do it. She had never used her deathtouch before. Not to pass plague or to kill a Nightwalker. Her cell members had sneered that she was a coward, that she didn’t have it in her to be a true Wraith. That she was watered down by her half-breed genes.

But she would be able to do it. She would continue to play their games and become more comfortable with the idea of touching someone in a fight. When Apep came she would be unafraid to do what she had to do.

Or at least that was what she hoped.

“You’re deep in thought,” Kamen remarked to her.

“Hmm? Oh. I…I was just thinking of what we will say to the Doyen.”

“We will simply tell him what we have done and that it is time for him to hold up his side of the bargain.”

“I pray it’s that easy,” she said wistfully.

“Come.” He came to a stop and held out his hands to her. She took them readily. “Ready?” he asked.

She nodded. She had learned it was best to close her eyes during the streak. It made it wholly less disconcerting. She closed her eyes and focused on where they had to go, just as she had the first time. She didn’t know if he needed her to, since he already had been there and knew where it was, but she did it all the same.

The streak was hard and fast. They left it with a jolt and when she opened her eyes they were once more inside the wire fence in that desolate desert area. She was still holding his hands, so she was easily able to phase them together and pushed them down into the rock and soil. They appeared in the same room as before, only this time it was by design rather than happenstance.

However, the room was empty. They moved toward the door and peeked out of it. There was a large hallway just beyond the door and they could hear people talking. They slipped out into the hall quietly. They had to find the Doyen without running into any of his subordinates first. To be safe, Viève made sure she had tight hold of Kamen’s hands. As long as he was phased, no one could use their deathtouch on him. She would not see him harmed through some sort of misunderstanding.

The hallway emptied out into a large living area, a well-appointed room with marble tiled floors, thick Persian rugs and old restored antiques. The artwork on the walls was large and, no doubt, expensive.

There were three men in the living area. Each was seated on different chairs, all facing one another. None of them was the Doyen. They were Wraiths in business suits, their gray hair and faces standing out sharply against navy blue and black fabrics.

Viève and Kamen snuck back into the hallway. There were several doors leading off it that might lead them to the Doyen. They phased through one of the doors and found themselves in a large bathroom with shining black marble and brushed nickel fixtures. Luckily it was unoccupied. The thing about phasing was it was easy to phase into someone else’s privacy.

There was a second door adjoining into the bath and they moved toward it, their feet floating six inches off the floor. This time when they phased through the door the room was very much occupied. They stumbled right into a large office that had at least four Wraiths in it.

Someone caught sight of them right away.

“What the hell?”

Viève panicked as all four Wraiths turned to face them. She went to push off. To get them out of there.

Three of the occupants of the room came rushing toward them.

“Viève, wait!” Kamen said.

“No! I have to get you out of here!”

“Viève, it’s the Doyen!”

Viève stopped moving and turned to see that the fourth person, sitting in a relaxed pose behind the desk, was the Doyen.

The other three Wraiths reached them and formed a wall between them and the Doyen.

“I can’t get to him,” Viève whispered. “Wraiths can’t phase through one another!”

“Gentlemen,” the Doyen spoke up, “let the half-breed through.”

The Wraiths cast doubtful glances between each other and the Doyen. Then they stepped aside and let Viève and Kamen move forward. They came to a stop on the other side of the desk.

“Well now, I really hadn’t thought I would see you two again,” he said.

“We’ve done what you asked!” Viève blurted out. “All eleven Nightwalkers are joined together. The Wraiths are the only holdouts.”

The Doyen absorbed this news slowly. Then he stood up and came around the desk to face them.

“All eleven? Even the Mysticals?”

Paulette had not said she would or she wouldn’t join them, but she had attended their game play all night and did not seem to be in a hurry to leave.