"No. Haitian."

Holly rummaged in the drawer for a knife and took it to the table where she began neatly slicing her apple. Maybe she was too young to understand the glory of good coffee. Then I realized she had just armed herself with a sharp knife. Again.

"So what flavor is your witchcraft?" Hunter asked.

"Why do you ask?" Lehana asked back, her manner cool but her eyes darkly serious.

Maria and I exchanged wary glances.

Hunter shrugged. "Just curious."

Lehana stood and peered down at Hunter, who sat across from her. "You think I am a Vodoun, a priestess of Santeria, and you have a problem with this?"

Amber, at the head of the table, wordlessly rose and went nonchalantly to the refrigerator. If I'd been sitting with them, I'd have retreated too.

"I didn't say that," Hunter replied. She crossed her legs and draped one arm across the back of the adjacent vacant seat, all with an unruffled, you-can't-make-me-uneasy expression.

I noted her sense of ease, her body language. It reinforced her just-curious response; any other pose might have disqualified her defense.

Lehana's eyes slitted. "You want to find out what flavor my magic is? Come with me somewhere private and I'll give you a taste."

"Can't just tell me here?" Hunter tsked. "Secrets, hmmm? Afraid to expose yourself? Worried someone might pick up on the power-stone you're faking your way through this with?" Hunter stood abruptly. "I notice a lot of things, Lehana. Like your hand going to your pocket often during the tests. I noticed you holding something in your hand when you chose your scorpion—even caught a quick glimpse of it. A vinculum isn't easy to come by. I have to wonder, which Elder gave it to you?"

The fluorescent lights overhead flashed and went out.

Plunged into darkness, the underground kitchen became a blackened cave. Someone squealed. Someone else swore in a mutter.

"Does this mean bad things have happened in the Great Hall?" Amber's voice came from my left.

"Maybe it's just the lower level circuit or just the kitchen," Maria offered from my right.

Hunter said, "I'll go find out."

Remembering the dark hallway, I said, "Shout for the police. They've got to be somewhere out there and they will have flashlights."

I heard Hunter groping along the wall. "Door should be here somewhere." Crack! "Ow!"

"You okay?"

"Yes," she hissed. "Door's open, I walked into it!" A second later she shouted into the hallway, "Hello?" Her voice echoed down the corridor.

"If bad things are happening in the Great Hall," Amber pressed, "is announcing our exact location a good idea?"

"If the vampires wanted to find us," I said, "they wouldn't have any trouble locating us in the dark even if we were silent."

"Thanks. I feel much better now," Maria added sarcastically.

"Don't worry," Hunter said from the doorway. "An Eximium massacre would ensure bad PR, and neither VEIN nor WEC would sabotage the other politically. They may have their rivalries, but they understand that if they give mundanes a reason to turn against one group, the others will shortly suffer the same fate." She didn't pause before her voice resounded down the corridor again, "Hello? Anyone there?"

"Vein?" Maria asked.

"The Vampire Executive International Network—VEIN," Hunter said.

"Of course. What else could it be?" I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the counter. The solidity of it was nice in the dark.

"I see a light," Hunter said.

"Hello? This is Officer Moore. Who's calling?"

"The contestants!" Hunter answered. "We're in the kitchen. What's going on?"

"Not sure. The electric's out all over the building." His voice was closer now. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah."

I could see the faint blue glow of an outline on Hunter and knew the officer was getting close.

"I'm sure the emergency candles are here somewhere," Hunter said, "we just aren't familiar with where they'd be." She backed into the room as Officer Moore entered with a flashlight held over his head.

"Well, we'll find them," he said and moved toward the cabinets, flashing the light around to take in the room. "Oh my God!" He rushed to the tables. "No one move. Everyone stay right where you are!"

In the glow of his flashlight, I saw Lehana in a chair, eyes wide and vacant. A large dark stain covered her chest.

Lehana was dead.

Holly, and the knife she'd been cutting her apple with, were missing.

She had evidently killed twice. Giving her the presumption of innocence when she was missing just wasn't logical. But neither was killing to get ahead in a competition, then disappearing and not being able to compete anyway. It made no sense! Except, she had exhibited some signs of militant extremism. Maybe she wasn't here to win either, but to ensure the placement of a certain kind of priestess. We might actually be after the same thing—but with decidedly different ways of achieving our goals.

I paced, angry and hoping Morgellen would poke her head into the room for just a moment. She'd pressured the officer to let us continue, and she might have even used magic unethically to ensure his cooperation. And another life had been lost.

The lights had not come back on, but Lydia had appeared with Officer Detrick and a flashlight and located the candles. While Detrick briefly questioned us—I think he took my pacing for nervous energy—by candlelight in the kitchen, Lydia and Moore disappeared into the hall. I could hear Moore on the radio calling for backup. And I heard the beginning of the reply, "Negative."

When our statements had been taken, Moore called Detrick to the hall while Lydia joined us. "I've replaced and lit the candles in the hall's geodes," she said. "We're going to take you back to the holding room. It has only one entrance, so you'll be safe there. The officers are insisting we lock you in for your own safety. One of them will remain posted outside the door." Seeing I was about to protest, she added, "It will be brief, I promise."

The halls seemed colder as we returned to the holding room, and the shadows that had at first seemed like appropriate ambiance had become frightening areas demanding scrutiny.

When we arrived, Officer Detrick went in first and quickly searched the room. Declaring it secure, he gestured for us to enter. We wordlessly gathered inside the door and watched it swing shut, then heard the crisp metallic sound of the bolt sliding shut.

The sound had a finality to it. Something all prisoners must feel when they hear a lock engage.

While I was glad our safety was taking precedence, I'd already decided that if I had to, I would call on the ley line and force that door open. I silently started plotting a spell-rhyme.

Maria, Hunter, and Amber sat on adjoining cots, each holding a candle. Another flickered near the door. I sat on my cot with my own candle. In the wavering shadows, I could just make out the pillow on the head of Holly's empty cot next to mine.

Maria and Amber were murmuring to each other. Hunter stood and crossed the short distance to my cot and sat next to me.

"You okay?" Hunter asked.

I reached under my cot for my sweatshirt, intending to put it back on. "Yeah, you?"

"Yes."

It had been my hope to basically ignore her. Since I had told her off earlier, being buddies wasn't something I expected to happen. Now though, Hunter's voice seemed less authoritative. I studied her.

She wore a goose-egg bruise on her brow where she'd walked into the door, but her expression was calm and blank. Still, her hands were trembling as she smoothed over her hair.

"You sure?" I asked, letting her see in my face that I didn't believe her.

Her expression softened, almost as if it relieved her to know she didn't have to put up a front for me. She took a deep breath, let it go. "No," she whispered.