seen or heard from, under any circumstances, until this charade with Kevin and Rahel was over
with. ''Cher-''
''Oh, relax, this is a secured line. My buddies from the Wardens and Homeland Security all say
so, plus my own personal Djinn bodyguard. So I'm being a good little convict,'' she said. ''By
the way, thanks for booking me at a nice hotel. Lewis said I could order room service any time I
wanted, but no bonking the waiters, no matter how hot they are. Oh, I'm ordering movies, too,
and you guys are paying. Even if I order porn.''
If that was the worst of it, I'd gladly pony up the cost of pay-per-view. ''You need anything?
Clothes?''
''What's the point? Not going anywhere. I'm just lounging around in a T-shirt. It's like a pajama
party, except I'm going to get really bored with painting my own toenails. So I'm going to call
you and take it out on you.'' She paused for a second, and her tone grew more serious. ''Is this
really dangerous? You know, for Kevin?''
''Maybe.'' I couldn't be dishonest with her, not Cherise. ''But he wanted to do it. In fact, he kind
of insisted.''
''He would. Rahel's doing me, though, right? So he's covered?'' She made it a question,
painfully eager for reassurance. I swallowed hard.
''He's covered,'' I said. ''Rahel's smart, and she's strong. If anything goes wrong, she can get
him out.''
Not if she can't see the danger. But I'd fought that battle with David, and lost. All I could do was
hope that Kevin, whom I'd properly prepared with all the information I had about the antimatter,
would be able to recognize trouble coming and help her avoid it.
''These Sentinel people. Do you know who any of them are?''
''No,'' I said. ''Well, one, but he's dead now.''
''Then how do you know who you can trust?''
''I trust you,'' I said. ''I trust Lewis. For this, I trust Kevin. I always trust David. But believe me,
my trust circle's getting smaller all the time.''
''Good. Maybe you won't get yourself hurt quite as often.'' I heard the TV come on in the
background, and the bed creak. ''Okay, I'm going to my happy place. Russell Crowe movie
festival, baby. Sorry you can't be there, but if you decide to come over-''
''I'm not in New York,'' I said, ''and even if I was, going to see you would blow our whole
operation.''
''I guess.'' She sighed. ''Okay, Mr. Dreamypants is on. Call you later?''
''Yes,'' I said. ''Hey, Cher?''
''Yeah?''
''Do you know any good caterers?''
Cherise's question about the Sentinels stayed with me the rest of the day, as I went about my so-
called normal life. If anybody had turned up likely suspects for the Sentinels list, they weren't
sharing it with me. No sign of David, and no messages from beyond. I got calls from various
Wardens either congratulating me about the upcoming marriage, or fishing for gossip about the
confrontation with Kevin. I answered honestly to both, so far as it went. I didn't try to hide my
frustration with Kevin, but I told them it was Lewis's problem, not mine.
None of the phone calls had seemed overly strange, but my paranoia dials were all on high. I
couldn't rule anyone out.
Hearing my doorbell ring only made my self-preservation alarms go off. I was boiling pasta. I
took the precaution of turning off the burner-in case I died, no sense in burning the building
down again– and went to look through the peephole.
It was David. Oh. I had told him to start acting like a human, hadn't I? I needed to get him his
own key. I unbolted the door and swung it wide-
David lunged forward, grabbed me by the throat, and drove me back to the wall as he kicked the
door shut. It was a real threat; his grip was bruising my neck, making parts of me panic in fear of
imminent strangulation. I grabbed for his wrist, which was stupid, and tried to get a scream past
his hand.
No good.
He smiled, and I recognized the expression. It wasn't David's, although he was wearing David's
face. I croaked out, ''Don't you fucking pretend to be him!'' and David's body shrugged, and the
Djinn morphed into his more usual form.
It was Ashan, leader of the Old Djinn. Venna's brother and boss, and the least likeable creature
I'd ever met, including the ones who'd tried to kill me. Ashan was a cool, smooth, handsome
bastard, all chilly grays and ice whites, and he didn't care for people at all. He liked me a good
deal less than that. ''I've come for a purpose,'' he said, ''but I don't need to hear your prattle.''
I made some incoherent noises, which got the point across that his grip on my throat was
impairing my ability to curse, and he finally let up enough to allow breath in, profanity out. After
the profanity, I got my pulse rate dialed back from Going to Die to Total Panic, and said, ''What
the hell are you talking about?''
''You brought this on yourself,'' Ashan said. He emphasized that by slamming me back against
the wall with painful force. ''I was content to let you live, but you, you push, you always push.''
''Let go!'' I snarled. He must have sensed I meant business, because although he didn't obey
instantly, he finally released his grip and stepped back. Not far back, though, and the cold fury in
his eyes stayed in place. ''Where is David? What have you done to him?''
He slapped me. A solid man-slap, one that I was not prepared for; it burned and I felt a wave of
total rage crest at the top of my head and flow down every nerve ending. Somehow, I held
myself back, but my hands clutched into convulsive fists. ''You will destroy him,'' Ashan said
flatly. ''I care nothing for you, but I do not want another war among the Djinn, and you will
bring it on. It is best if you disappear from this world before you can rain destruction on all of
us.''
Word had gotten around fast, even on the outer reaches of the aetheric. I hadn't expected the
Djinn to approve, but I hadn't expected this. ''All because we're getting married?'' Venna was
right about one thing: The two of us engaging in a little sexual adventure hadn't bothered too
many people. It was the wedding that was pissing them off.
''It is a vow,'' Ashan said. ''And a vow is, for us, unbreakable. Do you understand? You will
bind him to humanity, and he is the Conduit.''
All at once, I got it, and it was like a second, harder slap, only this one was directly to the surface
of my brain. ''Oh crap,'' I breathed, suddenly not angry at all. ''You mean that by taking vows
to love and cherish in sickness and in health-''
''Through him, all of the New Djinn could also be bound,'' Ashan said. ''Conduits to the Mother
must not make such vows. We became slaves the last time such was made. I will not allow it to
happen again, not for such small gain as your personal happiness.''
And another thing came crystal clear to me. Ashan wasn't screwing around this time.
I read it in his expression: He was going to kill me. Problem solved.
And I think he would have, except that right at that moment, somebody else tried to kill me.
I thought it was Ashan who'd attacked for an instant, as I felt the force slam into me and pin me
back to the wall, sink past my skin, and close around my heart like an iron hand. But I could see
that in fact it wasn't him, because he'd been forced back from me by the attack, and he was off
balance and confused.
I remembered David at the diner, blown back by the aetheric attack that had taken out Lee
Antonelli.
They were coming for me. No warning, no quarter. I was under attack by the Sentinels.