Promise curled her fingers around her daughter’s hand as I drawled, “What about the rest of us?”

That dimpled smile reappeared. “Oh, the rest of you are as disposable as last month’s fashion.”

“Excepting the whole millstone around our necks dragging us to certain death, you’re quite entertaining.” Robin gave her what looked like a leer to me but probably had a more sophisticated name. I didn’t waste time trying to guess what it was. With Robin all roads led to Rome, and Rome was apparently in his pants.

Cherish’s own smile slid to something with more heat in it. “You aren’t wrong, cielito.”

“Little heaven?” He raised his eyebrows. “Not so little, anasa mou. And you owe me several thousand dollars. Perhaps we could arrange a trade?”

“We did come here for a reason,” Niko said, with little patience for the flirting. “Although I’m sure Oshossi and his ccoa would happily wait to let you consume each other before they consume you.”

“Oshossi? A ccoa?” Her eyes suddenly black, Cherish dropped her mother’s hand and went to the slit in her skirt. A knife appeared in her hand. “What did Oshossi say?”

“Threats,” Niko answered. “Very inventive threats. I doubt you’d want to hear them.”

“No, probably not.” The eyes stayed black. “I can handle a ccoa. You should go.”

“You could.” Promise lifted her hand to touch a smooth strand of Cherish’s hair, but dropped it before she did. Her expression clouded. “You were always brilliant at whatever you’ve done. Fighting, dancing, riding. . . .”

“Lying, stealing.” Which Promise had remembered, if not said. The dimple disappeared and the smile turned rueful. Her eyes cleared. “Go, Madre. I’ll send you its fur when I’m done. It’ll make a nice coat.”

“No.” Promise shook her head. “You could handle a ccoa, but a ccoa and Oshossi, I’m not so sure.”

It damn sure hadn’t been a walk in the park for us.

“He’s impressive and he seems clever,” Niko remarked, as neutral with the daughter as he was the mother. “Is he?”

“He is. He is very, very clever. The stupid rarely have anything worth stealing, but if I’d known how clever he is and how determined. How proud . . . No one who steals from him shall go unpunished. And I was a fool not to have determined all this beforehand.” She shook her head. “But it is done now. Until he kills me or I kill him, these attacks will never stop.”

That pretty much said it all.

Niko said, “Tell us more about Oshossi. How did you meet him? What weapons does he favor besides machetes, or does he prefer to let his animals do his killing for him?”

“It was at a party. An embassy affair—not your sort of party at all,” she aimed at Goodfellow. “The nudity was partial at best.”

“It’s not the quantity, it’s the quality,” he said loftily, “but go on. Tell us how you circled in on your mark.”

She went on to describe meeting Oshossi—an embassy party, he must’ve invested in some seriously inventive dentures to cover those pointed teeth. Both immediately recognized the nonhumanness of the other. They enjoyed each other’s company, each rolling in the dough. Jewelry for her, fancy suits for him. Cherish’s stolen, Oshossi’s his own. “He’s handsome,” she said, toying with her necklace again. “Yet . . . not. He’s hard planes and angles, much like an Aztec statue. But I’m sure you saw that for yourself. I never saw him carry a weapon.” She frowned. “I should’ve known by his eyes.”

“What about his eyes?” I asked. Those cold leopard eyes. Predator through and through.

“They were my eyes. Not the color, but the weighing and measuring. The assumption that everything is yours for the taking. That the world is for you to pick and choose.” She yanked the necklace from her throat in one fierce motion and let it fall carelessly to the floor. “I took my measure in mirrors of gold and found myself wanting. Too bad I only realize that now.”

“Yeah, too damn bad,” I commented with a lack of sympathy that had Promise giving me a glance of exasperation. I understood she wanted to protect Cherish, especially as Cherish seemed to be trying to change her ways. So I could see her wanting to protect her, just like I wanted to protect Nik, but the difference was Cherish had brought this upon herself. She could have a change of heart, but she couldn’t change that.

Too goddamn little, too goddamn late, and, worse yet, at the wrong goddamn time.

Niko folded his arms in consideration for a second, then told Robin, “Try looking among your kind for Oshossi.”

Goodfellow frowned, “The pucks?”

“No, the rich assholes with money to burn,” I said. “He’s probably staying at some fancy hotel if he’s not in the park. Nobody knows the room service in the city like you do.”

He smiled in fond memory. “The Once and Future King, that is I. If the food is worthy of eating and the bed of breaking, then I have ruled there. I’ll make some inquiries.”

Cherish looked surprised we were still considering helping her. She had finally managed to put herself in Promise’s place and seen the picture wasn’t one you wanted hanging on your refrigerator. Not the slightest bit bright, pretty, or optimistic. No rainbows or kittens—not one damn puffy cloud or shining yellow sun in sight.

But while it was nice she didn’t want to get her mother killed, it didn’t much matter. Promise was her mother. I’d heard that makes a difference. Maternal instinct. I’d read about it in a book once. Could’ve been a fairy tale for all that it related to me and Nik, but with normal people—and vampires—I guess it did exist. Promise was sucked into Cherish’s problems. She’d stood firm earlier, knowing that the Auphe were worse than anything Cherish faced. And they were, but you didn’t have to face the Auphe to die. Lesser things can kill you. The cadejos were one thing. Now there were ccoas and Oshossi, who, like the Auphe, wasn’t ever going to give up. Cherish was up to her neck in it, no doubt about it.

And so were we . . . times two.

But there was Promise, reclaiming Cherish’s hand with a mixture of determination and resignation, and Niko, who was looking at me with a bemused quirk of his lips. Promise wasn’t ready to give up on Cherish, and Niko wasn’t ready to give up on Promise. That could only mean one thing. I sighed, went over to the couch, swiped the remote from the chupa, and started surfing for porn.

It was going to be a long night.

I woke up to the low mumble of the TV and a light touch on my skin. I reacted instantly. Promise’s hand caught the heel of mine before it hit her nose and rammed shards of bone into her brain. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Caliban.” With one hand she put aside the remote she had retrieved from my sleep-loosened fingers, and with the other she squeezed my hand. “It’s your watch.”

I pulled free from her grip, yawned, and ran a hand through tousled hair. “Yeah? Okay.” I yawned one last time. “Sorry about trying to kill you. I’m not a morning person.”

It was the plus side of not knowing any normal people. They could handle it. Although I didn’t usually come out of sleep in a homicidal flurry. But when the Auphe were around or I had a nightmare or I was running on fumes, instincts were difficult to hold back. Hard to explain to your average-Joe roommate why you crushed his larynx when he snuck in your room to borrow your jacket.

“So I’ve heard.” She watched as I sat up and pulled my hair back into a ponytail with a holder I took from my jean pocket. “It’s almost morning. I don’t believe Oshossi will be coming. Not yet. Maybe when the night comes again.”

“Can’t wait,” I grunted. “I hate to say it, Promise, but your daughter is almost as much trouble as the Auphe.” Actually, I didn’t hate to say it. It was true. No, I didn’t mind saying it one damn bit, not when that trouble was one more burden Nik didn’t need right now. I cared about Nik, I cared about Robin, I even cared about Promise, although I trusted her a whole lot less now. But Cherish? Her I didn’t have room for.