She arched a dark brow. “The Oracles might want to have the first right to question her.”

“I’ll let Styx and the Commission hash out jurisdiction.” He slid the sword into the scabbard angled across his back. “I have no interest in politics.”

Some elusive emotion flickered through her eyes.

Relief?

But why?

Because he had no political ambition?

Yeah, right.

“I’ll ask Levet to keep watch on her until the clan chief arrives,” she offered before glancing around the rapidly decaying building. “Not that anyone would willingly come here. Even the animals have fled.”

“Yes. Fear.” He grimaced at the thick emotion that poured off poor Melinda and filled the air. “It’s as potent as the violence was in the swamps. And no doubt as potent as the lust that swayed Melinda and her friends into their first orgy. Do you see a pattern?”

“Emotions,” she readily admitted.

Of course she would have connected the dots, he wryly acknowledged.

Her intelligence was as lethal as her powers.

“Strong, primitive emotions.” He narrowed his gaze. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mierda.” He rammed his hand into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out his cell phone. “Why do I bother?”

“Santiago.” Her fingers landed lightly on his arm. “Wait.”

“What is it now?” he growled, not giving a damn how rude he sounded. She’d slammed the door in his face for the last time. She wanted all business between them? Fine. They would be all business.

“I’ll tell you what I do know,” she said softly.

He froze, frowning at her with open suspicion. “Why?”

She blinked, clearly having expected him to jump for joy at her grudging offer. “I beg your pardon?”

“Why are you suddenly willing to share?”

She hesitated, then, stepping back, she wrapped her arms around her waist in an oddly protective gesture.

As if she was feeling . . . vulnerable.

“Because you were right.”

He was right?

Was the sky falling?

“I need you to say that again,” he said slowly.

“You were right,” she repeated. “It’s not fair to ask you to assist me in hunting Gaius without fully understanding the danger.”

Hmmm. He wasn’t sure he trusted her abrupt change of heart, but he’d never been a vampire to look a gift epiphany in the mouth. “I’m listening.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard rumors about the creation of the Veil?”

Santiago snorted at the ridiculous question. Like every vampire, he’d heard the fairy tales surrounding the Veil.

“The one where it’s a rift in time and space that sucked you and your people through?” he asked. “Or the one where you ascended godlike to a higher plane of existence?”

She grimaced. “The Commission circulated a dozen different stories after they created the Veil.”

So the Oracles had been responsible for the wild tales. Interesting. “Why?”

“So no one would guess their true purpose.”

“And that was?”

“To trap a creature on the other side.”

Santiago took a minute to consider her startling confession. Of all the stories that had circulated over the centuries, he’d never heard even a whisper that the Veil was some sort of cosmic prison.

“What creature?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

He snorted. Did she think he was stupid?

“How can you not know?”

She paused—not like she was going to refuse to answer, but as if she was carefully considering her words. “From what I was told, it’s more a spirit than an actual creature.”

He frowned. Spirit was a broad term. It could mean anything from a genuine ghost to a hundred different species that had no corporeal form in this dimension.

“So what made this spirit so dangerous that they would cage it behind a magical curtain?”

“They didn’t share that information with me.”

He studied her pale, perfect face. He couldn’t sense a lie, but that didn’t mean anything. This female was a master at disguising her true emotions.

“You agreed to live in the same prison as a spirit that was so dangerous the Oracles had to create a rip in space to protect the world from it and you didn’t even ask what it could do to you?” he drawled in disbelief.

She shrugged, her gaze steady and her expression unreadable. “The spirit had been in hibernation for centuries and most assumed that it would never awaken,” she said. “I was merely there to be an early warning if it began to stir.”

“How were you supposed to know it was”—he deliberately paused—“stirring?”

She shrugged. “The Oracles claimed that the peace my people sought would be disturbed.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

So, the Oracles create a rift to protect the world from some mysterious evil. Then, instead of letting sleeping evil spirits rest in solitude, they eventually sent Nefri and her clan to the other side.

There was something missing. Hell, there was a whole lot missing.

“Why you?” he abruptly demanded.

Nefri clenched her hands. Was this vampire never satisfied?

She’d revealed far more than she should have. Certainly enough to get her in trouble with the Commission.

Never a good thing.

But was he satisfied?

No.

He had to poke and prod and—

“Nefri,” he repeated, his expression predictably stubborn.

She absently toyed with a lock of hair that had fallen on her cheek and sternly reminded herself that Santiago was risking his life to assist her in finding Gaius.

He deserved the truth.

The whole truth.

“The Commission was aware that I sought asylum for myself and my clan.”

He stepped forward, gently brushing her fingers aside so he could tuck the lock of hair behind her ear. “Asylum from what?”

Her lashes lowered to hide her eyes. “It’s a long and boring story.”

“It might be long, but I seriously doubt that it’s boring,” he said dryly. “Tell me.”

A tiny shiver of pleasure raced through her body. “As you’ve so kindly pointed out, I’m ancient even by vampire standards.”

“You can’t make me believe you’re sensitive about your age, cara,” he protested, his fingers tracing the line of her cheek before moving to outline her lips. “Not when the years have given you the regal beauty of a queen and the powers of a goddess.”

She pulled away from his touch. How could she concentrate when his lightest caress was sending distracting jolts of arousal through her body?

“Very pretty, but not entirely accurate.”

A knowing smile curved his lips at her revealing retreat.

Aggravating vampire.

“No?”

“My powers haven’t come with age,” she corrected him. “They were a part of me from the night I was made into a vampire.”

His smile disappeared as his eyes darkened with astonishment.

Not surprising.

Most vampires gained their powers in a slow evolution over their foundling years. Some gained more than others, but it was a fairly predictable progression.

She, on the other hand, had been blessed with a profound excess of power from the night she’d been “turned.”

At least she was told she’d been blessed.

It had felt more like a curse.

“Dios,” he murmured. “That must have been a shock to your sire. Always assuming he stayed around.”

It had happened so long ago Nefri barely recalled awakening alone and naked on the banks of the Euphrates River. She had a vague memory of roaming alone and disoriented, unable to recall her former life, before a man had appeared in the cave where she was hiding and carried her away.

At the time she’d been relieved to have someone explain what and who she was. But that relief hadn’t lasted long.

“He returned for me once he realized I could be of use.”

Santiago’s features hardened. “I can imagine.”

“Yes, I’m fairly certain you can,” she said softly, struck by a sudden revelation that he was one of the few who truly could understand.

Was that why she felt so drawn to him? Because they shared similar scars from their past?

Well, that and the fact that he was insanely gorgeous, sexy, powerful, and fiercely loyal.

“Nefri?” he prompted, frowning in confusion.

“I wasn’t placed in the pits,” she said, turning to glance down the shadowed hallway. More to hide her expression than to make sure they were alone. Although the fear swirling through the air was muted as Melinda remained in a deep sleep, it was still potent enough to prevent any unwelcome trespassers. “But I was trained to become a weapon for my clan chief.”

“You defended the clan?” he easily guessed.

She nodded. “When we were being attacked, but more often I was used in our battles to conquer other clans.”