Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

he said, which was something I didn’t want to know. He saw my reaction and explained, “That means we can leave those we casually feed from alive, Mercedes. Still, humans are one thing, and vampires another. We’re not supposed to be able to do it to each other. You don’t have to worry, though. No vampire can remake your memory—probably not even one who is a sorcerer.”
    Relief climbed through me. If I were going to pick things I didn’t want a vampire to do to me, messing with my thoughts was very high on the list. I touched my neck.
    â€œThat’s why you wanted me with you,” I sat up straighter. “You said he’d done it to another vampire. What did he make the other vampire think he’d done?”
    Stefan looked wary…and guilty.
    â€œYou knew he’d kill someone, didn’t you?” I accused him. “Is that what he did to the other vampire? Make him think he’d killed someone?” The memory of the slow death I hadn’t been able to prevent made me clench my fists.
    â€œI didn’t know what he would do. But yes, I believed that he had killed before and made my friend think he had done it.” He spoke as if the words left a bitter taste in his mouth. “But I could not act without proof. So more died who should not have.”
    â€œYou’re a vampire,” said Samuel. “Don’t try to make us believe you care when innocents die.”
    Stefan met Samuel’s eyes. “I have swallowed enough death in years past that more sickens me, but believe as you wish. So many deaths threaten our secrets, werewolf. Even if I cared nothing for any human’s death, I would not have wanted so many to die and endanger our secrets.”
    So many to die?
    His sureness that noise wouldn’t disturb anyone in the hotel when Littleton had invited us in became suddenly clear. The thing I’d seen kill the woman would not have hesitated to kill as many people as he could. “Who else died tonight?”
    â€œFour.” Stefan didn’t look away from Samuel. “The night clerk and three guests. Luckily the hotel was nearly deserted.”
    Samuel swore.
    I swallowed. “So the bodies are just going to disappear?”
    Stefan sighed. “We try not to have disappearances of people who will be missed. The bodies will be accounted for in such a way as to cause as little fuss as possible. An attempted robbery, a lover’s quarrel that got out of hand.”
    I opened my mouth to say something rash, but caught myself. The rules we all had to live by weren’t Stefan’s fault.
    â€œYou put Mercy at risk,” Samuel growled. “If he had already made another vampire kill involuntarily, he might have been able to make you kill Mercy.”
    â€œNo. He couldn’t have made me harm Mercy.” Stefan’s voice held as much anger as Samuel’s, giving a little doubt to the firmness of his answer. He must have heard it, too, because he turned his attention back to me. “I swore to you, on my honor, that you would take no harm from this night. I underestimated the enemy, and you suffered for it. I am foresworn.”
    â€œâ€˜All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’,” I murmured. I’d had to read Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France three times in college; some of his points had seemed especially relevant to me, who had been brought up with the understanding of just how much evil there really was in the world.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Stefan asked.
    â€œWill my presence in that hotel room help you destroy that monster?” I asked.
    â€œI hope so.”
    â€œThen it was worth what little hurt I took,” I said firmly. “Quit beating yourself up about it.”
    â€œHonor is not so easily satisfied,” said Samuel meeting Stefan’s gaze.
    Stefan looked like he agreed, but there was nothing more I could do for him about that.
    â€œHow did you know that there was something wrong with Littleton?” I asked.
    Stefan broke off his staring contest with Samuel, dropping his eyes to Medea who’d crawled onto his lap and crouched there, purring. If he’d been human, I’d have said he looked tired. If he’d dropped his eyes like that in front of a less civilized werewolf, he might have had problems, but Samuel knew that a vampire dropping his gaze was not admitting