Free Touch the Dark by Karen Chance Page B

impression that the pins could become swords very easily. “You see how many of our seats are empty, how many voices silenced.” I blinked in surprise. I’d assumed there was a problem, but not that — four ancient vampires aren’t exactly easy to kill. But she confirmed it. “We are greatly weakened. The loss of some of the greatest among us is felt keenly by all in this room, but if it continues, it will echo around the world.”
    She stopped, and at first I thought it was for a dramatic pause, but then she zoned out on me. Some of the really old ones do that sometimes, drawing into themselves for a minute or an hour or a day, and forgetting that anyone else exists. I’d gotten used to little time-outs with Tony, so I didn’t let it bother me. I noticed that Tomas had been joined at the door by yet another guy I didn’t know. What looked like a life-sized statue stood near him, a rather crude one with no paint to cover its clay exterior and poorly defined features. Tomas and the new guy seemed to be arguing about something, but their voices were too low to hear. I had a brief moment of nostalgia for Tony’s audience hall, where most of those present were murderous scumbags, but at least I knew their names. I was jumpy enough standing in blood-soaked clothing in front of a group of vamps powerful enough to kill me with little more than a thought, without also having to work in the dark. Rafe was a comfort at my back, but I’d have preferred someone whose specialty was more in the guns-and-knives line.
    â€œWe are missing six of our number,” the Consul abruptly continued. “Four are irrecoverable, and two others hover on the edge of the abyss. If any power known to us can restore them, it will be done. But it may well be that we strive in vain, for our enemy has lately obtained a new weapon, which can undo us at our very conception.” I resisted the urge to glance back at Rafe, whom I hoped was following this better than I was. Maybe he could fill me in later if the Consul never got around to making sense.
    â€œTomas, attend us.” She had barely finished speaking before Tomas appeared beside me. “Can she be of use?” He was resolutely not looking at me. I wanted to yell at him, to ask what kind of coward couldn’t even hold my gaze while he betrayed me, but Rafe’s fingers tightened almost painfully and I regained control.
    â€œI believe so. She occasionally speaks when there seems to be no one there, and tonight . . . I cannot explain what happened to one of the assassins. There were five. I killed three, and her ward dealt with another; but as for the last . . .”
    â€œTomas, don’t.” I definitely did not want him to finish that sentence. It would not be good if the Senate decided I was a threat, and if they found out about the exploding vamp, they might feel a tad on edge. How can even an ancient master fight against something she can’t see or feel? Of course, Portia’s intervention had been a fluke — I don’t go around with an army of ghosts and I sure as hell can’t command any that I meet up with to fight for me — but there was no way the Senate could know that. I somehow doubted they’d take my word. Most ghosts are too weak to do what Portia’s friends had managed; she must have called every active spirit in the cemetery and, even working together, they had barely had enough power. It wasn’t something I could duplicate, but if the Senate didn’t believe that, it could get me killed.
    Tomas’ jaw tightened, but he didn’t look at me. Big surprise. “I am not sure how the last assassin died. Cassandra must have killed it, but I did not see how.” That was true, but he had definitely seen frozen vamp parts all over the aisle, and there weren’t a lot of ways they could have gotten there. I was surprised he’d hedged his reply for me, but it didn’t