"I don't have the manuscript, if that's why you're here. Michel took it fromme."
He frowns and shakes his head, then sits down across fromme.
"Michel is such a prude to deny you some goodsmut."
"It'ssmut?"
"Just kidding. To him it would be." He leans over. "He's got a terrible soft spot for you, Eve. He wouldn't want you to think less of him." Julien shakes his head, still grinning. "You know – devout priest debauched, turned into a vampire's plaything. Only a prude would deny the reader the pleasure of reading it and I thought he got rid of all his prudery longago."
"He doesn't even knowme."
"He doesn't even know you? Are you kidding? He's known you since you were ten and your mother returned toBoston."
"He never said anything. He said he didn't really know mymother."
"Well," Julien says, pursing his lips, his hands clasped on the tabletop. "Know could mean many things." He grins suggestively atme.
"I thought you were the one who knewher."
He nods. "You know, you were supposed to be forme."
"What do youmean?"
"Your mother – she wanted me to have you as my Adept." His expression is serious now. "She trusted me to train you. She just wanted you to have a choice and decide yourself whether to join the Council once you were eighteen rather than being forced into this life. She was going to have me train you in martial arts and forensics so you could be a Blood Witness – if you wanted. Then, she was murdered and everything came crashingdown."
"BloodWitness?"
"You know – like a human psychic sleuth. You have the ability to connect with vampires telepathically and read memory traces in the objects killers touch. The SCU will use you to police the Treaty, investigate cases. Didn't Michel explain? Didn't he showyou?"
My face heats at the memory of just how he showedme.
"Oh," he says, smiling slowly. "I see he did show you. Oh, Michel, Michel…" He shakes his head, still grinning suggestively. "That surprises me. But a Blood Witness?" he says and settles back. "It's like any other crime scene investigator, except your job will be to touch vampires who are suspected of killing a human outside of the treaty to see their last kills. You can see if they were sanctioned or not. Gather evidence to use against them and read violent memory traces in physical objects theytouch."
"I can dothat?"
"Yes, but you've been kept out of this world and are untrained. Your skills have to be developed. Training should have started when you went through puberty, but we lostyou…"
"You said the SCU. What isit?"
"The SCU is Special Cases Unit of the Council of Clairveaux. It's a special police unit that investigates vampire killings to ensure they are sanctioned. Blood Witnesses work with ordinary police investigators to gather evidence. A Blood Witness's testimony is used as evidence in a trial. You can also use telepathy to search for evidence at crime scenes, but I suppose if you work out, Michel will be explaining itall."
"Are there others likeme?"
"Exactly like you? Not very many, no. There are some humans with touch telepathy but not with your special gifts. You're likegold."
"Specialgifts?"
"Now that would be giving too much away. Besides, that will be determined tonight at theinterview."
I frown at his unwillingness to tell me more. "My mother never said anything to me aboutyou."
He shrugs one shoulder. "She was waiting until you were older. Didn't want to start you too young. Wanted to give you a chance to shine in thearts."
"You gave her the manuscript so she could understand you andMichel."
He nods and his gaze moves over my face. "Michel must love torturing himself," he says. "To take youon."
"Why?"