"Are you sure this is a good idea? Inspector Proust closed the club down once—what if he comes back?"

"Perdy won't allow him entrance," Ophelia said, flip-ping a clump of her golden ringlets over her shoulder. Despite my insecurity at the situation, she spoke in a comforting tone of voice as we stood at the top of the three steps that led down to the club proper.

I looked behind us at the door that led to the street. There was no doorman, not even a bouncer in attendance. "How can she keep him from coming in?"

"Wards," Ophelia said, tugging my arm as she de-scended into the club. "Didn't you feel them when you came in? Come on, we'll get a table and have Perdy help us with the wording of your challenge."

I looked around the club as I obediently followed Ophelia. It looked the same as the last time I was there— smoky, crowded, music pulsing at almost a subconscious level. It was also wyvernless.

Well, almost.

"Cara,"Fiat cried as a group of people between us parted. "I had hoped that I would find you here.",.

Ophelia stopped and glanced back at me curiously. I made brief introductions. "A word of warning, Fiat—if you or any of your goon squad even looks like you're thinking of abducting me, I will scream bloody murder. I know for a fact that G & T is a neutral territory, and any-one who violates that neutrality will be in very hot water."

Fiat laughed, his blue eyes unreadable. "Ah,cara, you have such fire. You truly are worthy of being a wyvern's mate. Drake doesn't deserve you."

"No, he doesn't," I said dryly.

"As for violating the rules of G & T—" He smiled. "—who is there to stop me from doing whatever I desire with you? The Venediger is dead. No one has claimed his tide."

"We will stop you," Ophelia said suddenly, pushing her way in front of me. "Aisling is my friend. Perdy and I will stop you from harming her."

Fiat dismissed Ophelia's declaration with a flicker of his eyes. He lifted my chin with one cool finger, taking a long moment to study my face. "So determined, so force-ful. But still mortal."

"She might be mortal, but she is challenging Drake Vireo," Ophelia trumpeted. "It is not everyone who has the courage to do so."

As it had the night I had called Drake Puff the Magic Dragon, the entire room went silent.

Respect dawned in Fiat's eyes as he considered me. "So, the Guardian plans to challenge her mate for control of the sept."

"No," I said quickly, shaking my head to add empha-sis. "It's not like that—"

"Yes, she is," Ophelia cut in, waving a hand at me to shut up. "She will challenge him, and when he fails, she will rule in his place."

"But, I don't want—"

"Yes, you do," she whispered, turning so Fiat couldn't hear what she was saying. 'That's how a challenge is conducted. Ostensibly it's for control of the sept, but the loser must abide by whatever terms the winner sets. If you make one of the terms that Drake must turn himself in to the police, he will have to do so when you beat him."

"If Ibeat him," I pointed out.

She waved that away. "You will triumph. You will have me and Perdy in your corner."

I watched as she turned back to Fiat, wondering if I should tell her that I knew the truth about her twin.

"We are about to formalize the terms of the challenge. If you will excuse us," Ophelia said with lofty arrogance, pushing Fiat aside to stride toward the back of the club.

"I will see you later,cam," Fiat said, imbuing the words with a dark promise that was echoed in his eyes.

"Not if I see you first," I murmured, wary of outright insulting him. I was beginning to see the folly in tweak-ing a dragon's tail.

"This way—Perdy's office is in the back." Ophelia was waiting for me at the entrance to a dark hall that led to the bathrooms. We walked past the bathrooms, turned a corner, and headed for the two leather-studded doors that opened off to either side of the hallway. One of the doors bore black-and-yellow crime scene tape.

"That's the Venediger's office. Perdy said the police have sealed it, but she has the Venediger's solicitor work-ing on releasing the business papers to her," Ophelia said, nodding to the door on the right. She opened the door opposite. 'This is Perdy's office. It's smaller, but it's— Goddess above, no!"

I looked at the body hanging in the center of the room, abstractly noting the fact that whoever killed Perdita had used a rough rope as the binding that tied her feet and hands together behind her back. Her body was suspended sideways in midair, the same rough rope wrapped around her waist several times before it was attached to a hook in the black beam that crossed the ceiling.

"The Third Demon Death," I said, not even looking at the circle drawn beneath the slowly rotating body. I didn't have to. I knew what it would show.

Ophelia hit the floor in a dead faint.

18

1 stood in the opening to the hallway and searched the club for a familiar face, wishing more than ever that Jim was with me. I needed someone trustworthy, someone who wouldn't take one look at Perdita's dead body and run screaming to the police, but how was I to tell who was who?

There was a slight anticipatory rustle to the crowd of people drifting around the club as everyone paused and looked at the front entrance. Drake sauntered down the steps in a show of masculine grace, Istvan and Pdl in tight wing formation behind him. I stepped back, into the shadow of the dimly lit hallway, not wanting Drake to see me. He was the last person I wanted to call upon for help with Perdita.

Even as I scanned for someone familiar, the crowd rip-pled again as Fiat approached Drake with languid grace. The two men exchanged cheek kisses; then Fiat leaned in to say something private to Drake, his hand gesturing to-ward the hall I stood in. Drake lifted his head as if to smell the air. I stepped farther back into the shadows, re-treating to Perdita's office.

Ophelia moaned as I patted her cheeks in the approved "vague assistance to woman who has fainted" manner.

"Perdy?" she mumbled, her eyelashes fluttering.

"No, it's just me," I said, looking up when the door opened. "And Drake and Fiat, and Pal and Istvan, and I think that's Renaldo and another one of Fiat's bullies in the hall, although it's a little hard to see with everyone in the way."