“No, we don’t have the means or the strength to fight off sycophants alone. However, I do think I can help you catch them. If you allow me to, I can use my skills to lead you to them. Like this case I am working on now where a sycophant killed a human in front of witnesses. Surely this creature is a danger to you all, threatening your exposure with its recklessness. If you let me I can lead you right to him.”

Josef leaned forward. “We don’t need the help of a human to police our own.”

“Don’t you? Do you know where he is?”

Josef shifted. “That is a job for the authoritarians. Men like Danton here pursue such creatures. Turn over your information to him and let him do the rest.”

“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you. I can find him for you and then I can let the…the authoritarians take over.”

“It is very dangerous, what you are suggesting,” Danton said.

“My job is dangerous. I live and breathe danger every day. I’m not going to be cowed by a little risk.”

“What about if I asked you to do something that was even more dangerous than hunting down a single sycophant? Something that could bring down a whole network of them. They are drug dealers and human traffickers, so you would be helping to solve human crimes at the same time.”

“I say point me in the right direction. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

“It might take some time.”

“Then I’ll take some time off work. How much time?”

“That will depend on you and how quickly you can enter their network. However, it might require you to do drugs.”

Renee hesitated. She prided herself on her clean living and clean body. And messing with drugs, even once, was asking for a world of trouble she might not be able to escape from. She didn’t know how to feel about it.

“It’s not something I would enter into lightly. I’d have to think about it very carefully.”

“A wise choice. This is a very critical matter and time sensitive. Think about it and give me an answer tomorrow morning,” Danton said.

“You…you mean you’ll allow me to keep my memories intact?” She was floored that it had taken so little to gain the privilege. She had thought it would be harder. She and Rafe had worked themselves up over this so much.

“We have to take a vote. My vote is yes. We can use you. You will be very valuable to us.”

“I vote no. She is reckless. She has been continuing to hunt for the sycophant in spite of being told how dangerous it would be,” Josef said.

“I vote yes.”

“I vote no.”

That left it in a tie. Renee held her breath, looking at Tomas and praying he said yes.

“I vote yes. But keep in mind this privilege can be revoked at any time.”

“Yes. Of course. I will respect your faith in me. You can trust me. But you can also trust that I won’t keep silent if I disagree with something. I am not a lapdog willing to do anything and everything you say without question. I can be reasoned with, so appeal to my logic and we should get along quite well. I will let you know about this assignment you are asking me to go on.”

“It will be very dangerous. If you are found out, you will be killed like that.” Danton snapped his fingers.

“As I said. I’m used to it. I worked two years undercover in a theft ring. I know what I’m getting into. I’ll let you know tomorrow. And…thank you. For letting me keep my memories. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

She got up from the chair and hurried toward the door before they could change their minds. She was through the portal and shutting it an instant later.

Rafe, who had been pacing the hallway, turned in surprise at the sound of the door. He audibly caught his breath and stood there unsure for a moment.

For all he knew they had wiped her memory, giving her the hypnotic suggestion to walk home and remember nothing of where she had just been. He stepped up to her and spoke her name softly.

“Renee?”

“Hmm? Oh! Who are you?” she asked.

Anxiety clawed through him. For a moment he was absolutely crushed. He had lost her. They had taken her away from him.

But then…then he saw the mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Renee!”

“Rafe!” she countered.

He reached for her, sweeping her up against himself and kissing her soundly. After he had left her breathless he pulled away and said, “That wasn’t funny.”

“It was a little funny,” she said, laughing as she patted his chest to comfort him.

“A very little.” He sighed on a big exhalation of breath. “But I am relieved you still remember. What did they say to you? That was quicker than I thought it would be.”

“I just told them how I felt about things. Told them my take on crime and punishment. Then they asked if I would be willing to go undercover for an assignment.”

“Undercover?”

“Something about drugs and sex trafficking.”

“No! Tell them no! I know exactly what they want you for and you need to tell them no!”

“I will do no such thing. Not without thinking it through first. And who are you to tell me no? You’re not my keeper!”

“Well someone ought to be. Do you know what they’ll be asking you to do?”

“If you mean take drugs, then yes. I do know.”

“That is far from the worst of it. They want to send you into a pit of vipers that even some of the bravest vampires would shy away from.”

“You’re trying to scare me. It won’t work. If you want to inform me further then be my guest, but you will not tell me what to do. I’ll make the choice on my own.”

Rafe realized he was going about this all wrong. She was an intelligent woman. He had to appeal to her intellect. And the more he told her what she couldn’t do, the more she would want to do it just to spite him. He needed her to think clearly about this. Not emotionally. He could not react emotionally. But how to stay dispassionate when her life was on the line?

“You’re right,” he said, his arms squeezing around her. “I don’t have the right to tell you what to do. But I can try to appeal to your logic. We’ll discuss it more later. Right now I want to get you safe at home. Here. I live here and there is no safer place for you on earth. Will you stay with me?”