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              “When could Rashid have had access to your hair?” Sarah asked, frowning heavily, her distrust of Elise seeming momentarily pushed aside. “I wouldn't put it past him to sneak into your bedroom while you were sleeping, though, so I suppose he could have gotten it any time since he came to town...” She paused, thinking aloud. “But then, why would he choose to act now? No one knows I am here, so what else has changed?”

              Elise swallowed hard, tugging her braid back from Gregory. She was about to see Sarah explode-- but if she continued to hide the truth, there was no telling what damage could come to Alex. Gregory and Sarah needed all the information she could give them, no matter what the cost to her.

              “He didn't need to sneak into my room,” she whispered, looking down at the carpet rather than meet Gregory's trusting eyes or Sarah's angry ones. “I don't remember him cutting my hair, but we've met several times without Alex present; it could have been any one of them.”

              Her words fell heavily into the deathly silence; for a moment, the only sound in the room was Elise's rapid breathing.

              And then she was up and moving, her back and head slamming into the wall hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs and make stars swim before her eyes. “WHERE IS ALEXANDER?” Sarah roared into her face. Gripping her neck in both hands, the taller woman shoved her higher on the wall, forcing her up onto her toes. Elise's hands scrabbled uselessly at Sarah's wrists as she fought for breath. “WHERE IS HE?”

              Elise could only shake her head helplessly, fighting back memories as tears spilled down her cheeks. She caught a glimpse of Gregory across the room, standing stock still by the couch as he watched them, his face paper-white. She was on her own.

              Sarah seemed to have realized Elise couldn't answer her questions if she couldn't breathe, because she eased her grip off of Elise's throat a hair; Elise coughed, air wheezing into her burning lungs in thin gasps.

              “How long have you been working with Rashid?” Sarah demanded in a soft, icy whisper.

              Elise shook her head again. “I-- I haven't,” she panted. “The day after he accosted us in the garden, he came to me in the coffee shop.” She glanced over at Gregory. “Gregory can confirm that much.” Sarah turned to her brother, who nodded woodenly. “I told Gregory and Alex both everything that happened then.” Her eyes pleaded with Gregory to believe her; even with his skill for reading her thoughts, she relaxed her grip on her shields, letting them both see her memories of the encounters she described. “Only, a few days later, Rashid called me. He threatened to hurt my grandmother if I didn't come have dinner with him-- so I did. And the things he said-- well, Alex warned me not to trust him, but Rashid told me I couldn't trust Alex. And neither of them was telling me the whole truth, so part of me wanted to meet him again, to know more from both sides. I saw Alex right after I left the restaurant, and I felt so guilty that I didn't say anything.”

              Elise found, suddenly, that she couldn't meet Gregory's eyes; he had trusted her, treated her kindly, allowed her into his home. She looked instead at Sarah-- at least Sarah already hated her. Her dark brown eyes were inches from Elise's own, but what should have been intimate was terrifying instead. She swallowed again before she went on. “I didn't want to believe him, really, and there were times when he seemed a little crazy. But when he called me again this past Monday, I agreed to go out to dinner once more. I wanted to hear what he had to say. He took me to the city, talked about bringing the world into balance by overthrowing the Queen and ruling as a couple in her place... it was too much. I told him I had to think about it, and he took me home. That was the last time I saw him.” She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking hard, trying to remember something she'd missed. Sharp pains stabbed through her head as she felt Sarah pawing roughly through her memories, but she was more surprised than Sarah was when the woman came upon a wall that felt like Rashid.

              Elise winced, gasping in real pain as Sarah sank little hooks of power into the block and tore it away-- and then, in its place, was her memory of Monday night. Rashid was gathering power, Elise turned to look at Sierra the Waitress's terrified face-- she felt a sharp tug at the back of her head, glanced back to see Rashid putting something into his pocket... and then the waitress was yawning, and Elise was realizing with embarrassment that she hadn't looked at her menu. Her eyes flew open wide, and she stared across the scant inches into Sarah's furious glare.

              “That,” the warrior growled. “Is why you do not trust Rashid.” Elise nodded rapidly, her heart thundering. “What happened next?” Sarah demanded sharply enough that Elise jumped.

              “I called Rashid on Wednesday. Alex and I...” She hesitated, but she had to be honest; still, she closed her eyes again. It was hard enough sharing this with them, let alone doing it while she could feel both of them present in her mind-- she didn't have to look Sarah in the eyes as she spoke. “We kissed. And I felt-- I felt what it would be like to be with someone, to truly be a part of something real, something precious. And I couldn't betray Alex anymore. So I called Rashid and turned him down.” She realized tears were running down her cheeks. “I thought about warning Alex, but he's defended himself against Rashid for centuries-- I didn't think there was anything Rashid could do to him that he couldn't handle.”

              When it became clear that she wasn't going to say anything more, the silence stretched. Elise waited, held against the wall by Sarah's unrelenting grip, her eyes closed as she waited for them to make up their minds. If they decided they didn't believe her, she didn't know what was going to happen. All she wanted was for them to come up with a way to save Alex.

              Without warning, Sarah's hand closed around her throat, cutting off her air supply once more. Elise's eyes flew open as she fought the brutal grip in panic. “Listen, girl,” Sarah hissed. Elise forced herself to be still and, assured of her attention, Sarah loosened her grip marginally. “I'm not saying I believe a word of that pretty story. But whether you meant to or not, the fact is that you put my best friend in grave danger. From now until the moment we get him back, you will do absolutely everything I tell you to, understood?” Elise nodded as much as the tall woman's restraining hand would allow. “He told me you were hiding something,” Sarah hissed, almost to herself. Abruptly, Sarah let go, and Elise sank against the wall, still feeling the phantom ring of fingers around her neck. As Sarah stalked back to the couches, Elise heard her mutter, “Let Alexander decide what to do with the little minx.”

              Elise wished she could fall through the floor, just disappear, anything to get away from Sarah's self-satisfied glances and Gregory's disappointed silence. She stayed where Sarah had left her until the vampire snapped her fingers like she was calling a dog. “Get over here, girl. You may as well sit like a person while we figure out how to fix your mess.”

              Elise stood quickly, walking stiffly back to the love seat with her head down. She didn't want to have to meet their eyes anymore; slowly, hoping they wouldn't notice, she began to pull her shields back around herself like a cloak, hiding the hollow ache in her chest where she concealed her tears. The dark emptiness she had hidden for the past three years was yawning inside her, threatening to overwhelm her; she fought it, trying to stay focused on what Sarah and Gregory were talking about, but she couldn't erase the knowledge that at any point, she could have saved Alex just by telling him what she was doing. She hadn't hated herself this much in years. He was the first person who really believed her, truly wanted to help her, and this was how she repaid him.

              “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something useful, you dumb--” Sarah snapped, and Elise's head jerked up as she gasped-- just in time to see Gregory's hand come down firmly on Sarah's shoulder.

              “That,” he interrupted flatly, his normally gentle voice deadly. “Is quite enough.” Elise could see his knuckles whitening from the pressure he was exerting. “What's done is done. Behaving with anything less than courtesy will help nothing and no one.” After a moment, Sarah nodded once, stiffly, as if the gesture was being pulled from her against her will. Gregory released her and she sat back, arms crossed over her chest furiously as she studied Elise.

              With deadly calm, Sarah addressed Elise carefully, and Elise found that she couldn’t ignore the woman’s words even if she wanted to. “The minute you decided Alexander didn’t need to know these things, you took responsibility for protecting him from the fallout.”

              Elise drew in a sharp breath. “I—I didn’t know. I never thought of it like that.”

              Sarah shook her head, her eyes narrow. “Now you will.”

              Rather than sit beside his sister once more, Gregory crossed the room and sat down next to Elise-- a gesture she appreciated more than she could possibly express. Clearly, Alex wasn't the only one who believed in her. Swallowing her tears and forcing down the gaping pit of depression that threatened to tear free of her tight hold, she sat up a little straighter and looked at Gregory with her chin almost level. “Why sunrise?” She asked him, the thought just occurring to her. Across the room, she saw Sarah go still.

              Gregory frowned. “I'm sorry?”

              Elise fussed with the end of her braid in agitation, then stopped abruptly when she recalled the use to which her hair had been put tonight. “Rashid told me to come alone-- if he really wanted to ensure that, he'd have told me to be there right away. But even if he doesn't know that she,” she jerked her head at Sarah. “Is in town, he knows I've met you, Gregory.” Before Sarah could say anything, Elise cast her a cool glance. “And no, I didn't tell him-- he figured it out all on his own.” Sarah looked away, and Elise continued. “So if he knew there was someone I could go to for help, why give me the time?”

              Gregory thought about this for a minute, staring out over the city lights. Finally, however, it was Sarah who spoke up, her voice entirely devoid of emotion. “He didn't care.”

              Elise blinked at him. “He's that confident?”

              Sarah's lip curled just a bit as she looked at her. “No, he just doesn't care. Listen, girl-- it doesn't matter that this has become about some power struggle between the two of you. He has Alexander at his mercy for the first time in nine hundred years-- he wants time to play.”

              Elise clenched her teeth together and swallowed back the wave of nausea that rolled through her as she took the other woman's meaning. “What will Alex be like when we find him?” She whispered, more to herself than either of them.

              Gregory stroked her hand, trying to calm her. “Elise, I think you should brace yourself for the possibility that even though we'll be there by sunrise, Alexander may not.”

              Elise pulled her hand back, frowning at him. “Rashid won't kill him.”

              Sarah snorted. “This isn't a fairy tale, little girl-- the hero doesn't always live to--”

              Elise cut her off. “It has nothing to do with that,” she snapped, waving her hand dismissively as she tried to keep her loathing out of her voice. She'd had higher hopes for Alex's friend than this. “Look, Rashid took Alex-- the person he hates most, yes, but also someone he knows I care deeply for-- after I turned him down. He's not looking for revenge, he's looking for leverage. He'll keep Alex alive because he knows I'll do whatever he says to keep him that way.”

              Both siblings looked startled; Elise raised her eyebrows at them. “Just because I'm tired of playing politics, doesn't mean I'm bad at it,” she said, taking a stab at her usual humor. Suddenly, she felt exhausted. It was nearly two in the morning, which gave them just over five hours until Rashid's deadline. They still had to plan their rescue, and in the meantime, who knew what Rashid was doing to Alex. Gregory and Sarah were both looking at her now, and Elise experienced a moment of clarity in which she realized a chilling fact: they didn't know exactly what to do. They had ideas, clearly, but Sarah was too close to this, too emotionally involved, and Gregory was unused to getting his hands dirty. Alex had been their leader, and because of her mistakes, Alex was gone.

              Elise rolled her shoulders back and continued with confidence in her voice that she almost felt. “Rashid has tipped his hand: he told me his plans, and I rejected them. He has no way to know whether I told Alex-- or you, Gregory-- and that, I'm sure, would have sent either one of you running to tell the Queen.” Gregory nodded, and Elise heard Sarah snort.
Apparently, it's not just me she has a problem with
, Elise noted, tucking the knowledge away for future reference. “So this coup he's planning, overthrowing the Queen-- he needs an omnivore. He all but admitted to me that he tried pitching his “equal partners” theory to the Court, and they all turned him down. If I'm his last hope, and his cards are on the table, then he's well and truly desperate-- desperate enough to kidnap anyone, let alone his life-long enemy. But if he needs my cooperation, he's certainly capable of dangling Alex's life over my head for the next century or two if that's what it takes.” She chewed at her thumbnail nervously as she thought, trying not to picture what life would be like if Rashid's plan succeeded.

              Gregory picked up anxiously where she'd left off. “Rashid doesn't care if you tell me before sunrise, because there's no one else close enough to help. It wouldn't matter if we called Sarah-- or even the Queen-- tonight; no one's getting here from overseas in time. He's counting on me to counsel you to go along with him, trusting that with you at his side, he'll be able to turn back anyone who comes after you. He's preparing either to conquer, or to make his last stand.” Gregory's face was pale, his eyes wide, and Elise could see him taking in the magnitude of what he'd just said. She wasn't as familiar with the world Rashid was planning to wage war on, but from the way they all spoke of the Queen and the Court, the thought of siding against them made her palms slick with sweat.