“Yes.”

“Why?”

James looked down at the white tablecloth, his hand jumping up to smooth his navy tie against his chest. “I can’t say.”

“And Ryan is here now?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

This time his eyes darted back up to my face and he frowned at me. “Danaus, I…”

I held up my right hand, my fork still pressed between my thumb and index finger. “Never mind. Forget I asked.”

James slumped in his chair and pulled off his glasses so he could rub his eyes. “You know how he is,” he grumbled.

Yeah, I knew how Ryan worked. He liked to be in control of the flow of information at all times. Ryan was from the school of thought that knowledge is power and he liked knowing more than everyone else.

I pushed aside my empty plate, cleaned of the steak and vegetables, moving on to the eggs. “How did they take Mira’s presence at Themis?”

Resting his elbows on the arms of his chair, James stared at his glasses as he held them with both hands. “She’s a great source of information, assuming she’s telling the truth,” he said slowly. One corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “But I think they’re glad that she’s gone.” James looked up at me. I was surprised to find that his gaze was sharp, unlike the unfocused stare of someone suddenly caught without their glasses. Not for the first time I wondered if he actually needed his gold-rimmed spectacles.

“What did she do?”

“Not much.” He shrugged as he slipped his glasses back on his nose. “Just her usual mischief, I imagine. But she stopped sleeping not long after her arrival and I think most people stopped sleeping as long as she was awake and wandering the halls.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask how Ryan had managed that unique feat, but I swallowed the question. I doubted if James actually knew even though he doubled as Ryan’s assistant when I was out of town. And even if he did know, I doubt he would be permitted to tell me.

Reaching for the coffeepot, I poured another cup, somewhat relieved to find that Mira hadn’t caused too many problems. It was probably best that she had shaken things up back at Themis. I was learning that their understanding of vampires had little to do with reality, defying my entire reason for joining the society in the first place. “Is there anything else that I should know about?”

“Not much. Ryan has pulled back most of the hunters to Paris, London, or the Compound recently. He believes things have become too…tense at the moment and thought it best if we pulled back to guard our own for now. Last I saw, only Farkas and Collins were left in the field.”

“Doing what?” I demanded, an uneasy feeling slipping down into the pit of my stomach. My right hand slipped from my coffee cup to rest on the arm of the chair.

“Farkas is on a quick scouting mission in Turkey. Something about a shake-up in the dominant werewolf pack in the area. Collins was sent to take care of a vampire hiding out in the Ukraine.” James adjusted his glasses.

“When was Collins put on vampire duty?” I snapped, my right hand convulsively tightening on the chair so that the wood creaked softly.

James swallowed audibly and sat up straighter in his chair. “Last month.”

“He doesn’t have enough experience in the field and should never have been sent alone,” I barked. “Who put him on vampire duty?”

“I think Ryan did.” James scooted back in his chair so that he could put a little more distance between him and myself. “Collins was told to only pursue the vampire during the day. If he can’t locate its daytime resting spot, he is to call for assistance.”

“Collins is going to end up dead,” I grumbled. My grip on the chair loosened and I reached for my coffee in an effort to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.

“I heard it was a young vampire,” James countered, trying to soothe some of my anger. It wasn’t working.

“That doesn’t make them any less dangerous; just a little more careless. I have the ultimate authority over who is on vampire duty. Ryan knows that.” I sat back in my chair, glaring at my empty coffee mug.

Why hadn’t I been consulted? Derrick Collins had been with Themis for only a couple years and just served as backup on vampire hunts on a few occasions. He didn’t have enough experience in the field to handle a nightwalker, even a fledgling. I had always had complete authority over those who served on vampire duty. I was the only one who hunted alone. I was also the only one with the skill, speed, and experience to hunt them at night.

Ryan had overstepped his bounds. The warlock had put an inexperienced hunter in an extremely dangerous situation and a part of me was reluctant to ask why. And this wasn’t the first time. He had also brought James along to Crete, where the naturi were holding one of their sacrifice attempts. In this instance, I had to agree with Mira. The researcher had no business being anywhere near that dangerous situation, and Ryan had brought him along as potential bait.

Ryan was very wise and very careful, but I didn’t always agree with his methods. His conscience had no problem withholding information or sacrificing a few lives here and there to accomplish his greater schemes. And while I wasn’t a pawn, I had no doubt that I was still a chess piece for him to play with.

“When is my meeting with Ryan?” I demanded.

James pushed to his feet, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. “He said to come down whenever you’re ready. Room 705.”

I needed a shower, shave, a fresh set of clothes, and then I would be ready to deal with a warlock. “Tell him thirty minutes.”

James nodded once and wordlessly left the room. I sat for a minute staring at the rumpled sheets on my bed. An uneasiness twisted in my chest. Themis was no longer the home that I needed it to be. When I had joined centuries ago, it was in the pursuit of more knowledge of the creatures that lurked in the darkness and fed off all that was good in humanity. Now I felt as if I were simply a foot soldier for Ryan in his quest for…whatever he was reaching for next. The information now flowed up to him instead of down through the entire collective. Not for the first time in the past few years I wondered if it was time to move on.

But for now, such thoughts had to be put aside. In thirty minutes, I would discover what had dragged Ryan away from his ivory tower and, hopefully, I would find out how and why he had given Mira the ability to walk around during the day.

The sun had already set when I finally walked down the hall to Ryan’s suite. Prior to his arrival in the United States, he had been meeting with various groups regarding the new naturi problem. A trio of warlocks from Quebec had made an unexpected appearance at the Compound during my last stay in the UK, demanding to speak with Ryan. There was no particular hierarchy among witches and warlocks. While small and large covens existed around the world, no single being ruled and set laws for the group. No king, president, or dictator.

But there was Ryan. In their small sect of the world, he was one of the oldest and strongest. He was also one of the only warlocks that were in contact with all the other creatures of the world. And as the head of Themis, he had near limitless amounts of information at his fingertips.

No, Ryan wasn’t their king, but if he asked, their first thought was “How high?”

Outside Ryan’s suite I paused for half a second. Mira was in there. I had hoped for a private meeting with the head of Themis, but I was beginning to see that was an impossibility. Still, the sight that greeted me when James let me into the room brought me up short. The entrance to the suite opened immediately to a large parlor of sorts with a sofa, chairs, and coffee table. To one side sat a large desk, stacked with several tomes that the warlock most likely brought with him from England. Ryan sat relaxed in a high-back leather chair, while Mira was perched on his desk before him, her bare feet resting on the edge of his chair on either side of his outstretched legs. There was a strange intimacy to the tableau that made me want to back out of the room, but I didn’t move.