"Is this one of those 'I may not come back' missions?"
"They all are, but the risks I face are fewer and fewer the more power I get."
"As in fewer other vampires who can beat you in a fight?"
"Precisely." He glances at his watch.
"Are you going to kill them all, one by one?"
He turns away. "If that's what it takes to prevent what I know is coming, yes."
"What's coming?"
He shakes his head. "You already know."
"Dominion," I say and he nods. "Julien told me the Blackstone Group’s plans. I feel so alone," I say, regretting it instantly, for I sound like a spoiled child upset that her parents are going out. He's at my side in an instant, sitting beside me, one arm around me on the back of the sofa.
"I know," he says, stroking my cheek with a finger. "I didn't mean it to be this way, but it has to be for now. This is war, Eve. People have to make sacrifices."
"I wish you'd tell me more," I say, my voice wavering just a bit. " I don't know who to trust, what to believe. What to decide."
"I've told you as much as I feel I safely can. You must understand that the more you know, the more danger I put you in. On this, I disagree with Julien."
"I found this book," I say, hoping to keep him with me a bit longer. I open it and flip through a few pages. "It says that if a vampire kills outside the Treaty, they're banned from the Council. You killed that man last night and Julien killed Luke. Which means…"
"Which means we’re out of the Council," he said. "But that was a foregone conclusion when Julien was staked and I had to go to Soren. I was just in denial."
"Michel, you have to tell me what's going on." I put my hand on his arm, hoping to sense something in him but he's a blank. "Why are Adepts so important? What happened to you to change you?"
He runs his finger over my bottom lip.
"This is war and you're the weapon."
"What's the endgame?"
"Ah, now that is the question," he says and smiles. "The one I can't answer without endangering you even more than you already are."
"Why?"
"Because if you knew, you'd be dead if anyone found out." He leans over and kisses my cheek. "You'll know soon enough, depending on how things go in the next while. Just remember, I didn't want any of this for you. But you had to be so damned strong willed that I couldn't erase your memories of me."
"So damn cryptic," I say as he stands up. I follow him to the door. "Tell me this one thing," I say and take his arm. "When I drink your blood, I experience telepathy for a short time, right?"
"Yes, but only as long as the blood remains in your system."
"You once said if I were your blood slave, we could connect even at a distance."
"I'd know where you were," he says. "How you were. You could call me, even just in your mind, and I'd hear you."
"I never read about that in any of the material at the SCU. What else aren't you telling me? Why am I so important?"
"You're the conduit."
"What does that mean?"
"I can't tell you. I don't want you to know." He shakes his head and presses his finger against my lips. "That's enough for now."
"Feed me your blood before you go."