Tempt the Stars

with a girl in a skimpy outfit.
    Leaving the merchant with the camel-filled shop to sort things out for himself.
    And me to get hauled off the ground by an irate war mage.
    “Thanks,” I told him. “I didn’t see—” I stopped, because Caleb wasn’t looking real concerned over my skinned knees right now. Caleb was looking the way Pritkin had a few times back when we’d first met.
    Right before he tried to kill me.
    “What?” I said, looking around for another chariot. But the street was clear—at least of maniacal vehicles. People were washing back into the lane, including the immigrant’s family scurrying to collect what remained of their belongings. Things were returning to what passed for normal around here.
    But Caleb didn’t look like he thought so.
    “Notice anything?” he hissed.
    “What are you—” I stopped because I had. I’d just noticed something. Not something added, but something missing.
    Or somebody.
    “Where,” Caleb asked me through clenched teeth, “is that damned vampire?”

Chapter Sixteen
    I scanned the crowd, but there was no sign of a mouthy vampire in a dusty Obi-Wan robe screeching about being almost run down. Or a calm, serene one under the control of a being probably used to the crazy drivers around here. There was no one at all but the thinning stream of people through the gate and the life around the shops getting back to normal.
    I didn’t understand. We’d been distracted for only a second. Where could she have gone so fast? And why would she just leave us in an alien city filled with guards who probably had our pictures taped to their dartboards?
    My mouth felt dry, so I swallowed. “I asked her where Pritkin was being kept. Maybe she went off to find out.”
    Caleb shot me a furious look. “And maybe she went off to win bonus points with her lord and master by ratting us out!”
    I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous. If she didn’t want me going after Pritkin, all she had to do was stay in Vegas. I’d never have made it this far without her. I could have opened the gate, but not gotten past the guards. I needed an incubus for that—”
    “And she made sure you got one!”
    “Yes, so why help us if she just planned to turn us in?”
    “Perhaps she thought she’d get more if we proved a credible threat,” Caleb said, seething. “Telling her precious master what we have planned while we’re still in Vegas might win her a point or two. But if she stops us when we’re actually in his city, when we’re less than a mile from our goal, she could expect him to be a lot more generous!”
    “Not if she helped us get in to begin with!”
    “She can say she was afraid if she didn’t go along, we’d manage to find another way in, and she wouldn’t be able to warn him since she wouldn’t know what it was.”
    I tried to think of an objection to that—tried hard. Because if Rian had decided to rat us out, we were pretty much screwed. And that was especially true a moment later, when a rolling, metallic sound clattered across the souk, coming from the direction of the gate.
    The door on this side was still open, and still coughing out straggling parties of new arrivals. But I had a really bad feeling that maybe that wasn’t the case on the other side. It looked like they were rolling up the welcome mat for the night—with us inside.
    “She timed it perfectly, all right,” Caleb snarled, grabbing my hand and jerking me toward one of the side streets.
    “Caleb, listen,” I said, running along behind. “She’s helped Pritkin before, more than once. She’s even put herself in danger to help him. There’s no reason to believe—”
    “There’s every reason! You heard her yourself. She’s overdue to return, probably by a few hundred years. Maybe Rosier got tired of her little dodge and her helping his wayward son, and told her she had to make room for someone else. And maybe she decided to hell with that—and to hell with us!”
    And damn it, that sounded horribly logical.
    “Then why did Casanova spend all that time arguing with us?” I demanded. “He was trying to turn us back!”
    “Maybe she told him to ham it up, to make sure we didn’t suspect anything. Or maybe he really didn’t know. He’s a vamp, and they always look out for number one. And Mircea is his master. What kind of reception do you think he’ll get when Mircea finds out he put you in danger?” He whirled on me suddenly. “Can he stop her from saying anything? Can he