I sighed. “Look, she told me she – and the council – want to use hell as their own private jail.”
“And you believe that?”
“I believe it’s insane. I also believe the council has nothing to do with Hunter’s desire for the keys, and everything to do with Hunter’s desire for power and ultimate control.”
“A comment that suggests you’ve had a whole lot more to do with her than you’ve admitted so far.”
“Given the bitch wants the keys to hell, and I’m the only one who can find them,” I replied, “it would be fair enough to say she’s been in my face recently.”
“So why not come to me or Riley? We could have —”
“You could have gotten dead,” I cut in, voice flat. I met his gaze, and I had no doubt the anger and frustration so evident in his was just as fierce in mine. “Didn’t you hear what I said? Jak was just the start. You, and then Riley, and then maybe even Quinn would have all followed —”
Rhoan snorted. “Do you honestly think she would be fool enough to hurt Riley? In any way? She knows Quinn’s vengeance would be swift and deadly.”
“But she doesn’t have to physically touch Riley. Killing you would effectively do that for her.”
Rhoan accepted that with a grunt. “Even so —”
“Even so, you’re talking about a woman who has every intention of challenging a Mijai warrior, and who fully believes she will best him.”
Rhoan blinked and glanced at Azriel. “Seriously?”
“She is delusional, but not stupid,” he replied. “She would employ fair means and foul to assure victory.”
“Foul meaning what? She’s a vampire – a very old vampire, granted – but what fear would any vampire hold for the likes of you?”
“Mijai can be killed, and not just when in flesh form. Hunter knows that.”
“Besides,” I added, “she’s never been just a vampire. She’s far more. And she knows magic.”
Rhoan met my gaze again. “And Jack?”
Jack Parnell was senior vice president of the Directorate and the man in charge of the entire guardian division. He also happened to be Hunter’s brother. “I’m not involved with either the Directorate or Jack. How much he knows about Hunter and her plans, I have no idea.”
“He’s her half brother, so one would imagine —”
“Not necessarily,” Azriel commented. “While Jack has some tolerance for Hunter’s more excessive nature, he would not condone what she is currently attempting if he knew about it.”
Both Rhoan and I glanced at him. “When did you read him?” I asked.
Azriel’s gaze met mine. “When you were brought in on that Directorate case. I read the minds of all you meet. It is always better to know who and who isn’t a potential threat.”
“So how much does he know?”
“He knows what she is, and tolerates her excesses in that regard —”
“And what, exactly, is she?” Rhoan cut in.
“A Maenad,” I replied. “Or so we’ve been told. They’re supposedly the female followers of the Greek wine god Dionysus, and have the whole orgasmic-rites and tearing-people-apart deal going.”
“Huh.” His gaze came to me again. Though some of the anger had fled, it still glimmered in the background, ready to erupt at a moment’s notice. “So perhaps our next step would be to talk to Jack —”
“You can’t,” I said, alarmed. “She will kill you if she thinks you’ve discussed this with me in any way. I don’t want —”
“Give me a little more credit than that,” he cut in. “No one at the Directorate knows I contacted you. I made the call in a secure dead zone.”
Meaning secure from both electronic and psychic intrusion. “Even so —”