While I'd attended Conclave, a deserted planet had been chosen to drop Alliance trash and refuse on—I decided to take the bomb there right away before any of us were blown to bits. While Norian and Lendill casually discussed what we might do with the bomb, I folded away, placed the bomb carefully upon a tall mound of trash dumped on the deserted world of Tykl and folded back to Norian and Lendill.

"You may want to let the Alliance members know that the bomb is now on Tykl," I said, dusting myself off. Tykl wasn't a clean place—not with that much trash and debris dumped on it. Norian and Lendill shut up immediately and stared, blinking a time or two before shrugging their acceptance at my solution.

Lendill was the one who offered to make the communication. "Lissa Beth, I know you have a sensitive nose," Norian said instead. "Can you give us information on who was down here while the patch was placed?"

"Honey, it stinks so bad, I can't even sort out the scents of the three workers. If anybody knew that somebody might be looking for scents, they chose the perfect place to hide that bomb," I grumped. It worried me, too—if they were concerned about scents, then they knew I might be one of the investigators.

"That bomb would have taken out half the city," Lendill observed dryly.

"Do you think that half the city is all they were aiming for, or is there another one of those things out there somewhere?" I asked, holding back a shiver.

"Lendill, can we get into the city records and find out where maintenance crews have been working in the sewers recently on the other side of town?" Norian asked.

"Sure. Let's go back to headquarters and we can pull up the information," Lendill nodded.

I wasn't willing to spend any longer in the sewer than I had to, so I misted the three of us to the opening, replaced the cover and then misted us to ASD headquarters. "Why haven't we found somebody to do this for us before?" Lendill asked when I dropped him and Norian off inside the small office/sleeping quarters.

"Because nobody else can do this," Norian straightened his clothing absently. "Lissa Beth is the only one, aren't you, Lissa Beth?"

"How the hell should I know? And stop calling me Lissa Beth."

"But Lissa Beth, I like that name too much," Norian smiled. Yeah—looked like I was going to be stuck with thirty years of being called Lissa Beth. Lendill went to the wall opposite the sleeping cubicles, tapped a code into an alarm system keypad and a computer console slid out of the wall.

"I think I saw this in a James Bond film once," I said, watching while Lendill sat at the console and began searching for information on sewer repairs.

"James Bond?" Now Norian was interested.

"A fictional spy character," I mumbled. "Around three hundred years ago."

"Maybe a little more than that," Norian was grinning again.

"Norian, have you been snooping around?" My hands were on my hips now and I was glaring at him.

"I have—I check out all my Liaisons. Information from Earth isn't easy to come by, but it can be had."

One of my claws slid out and I pointed it at him. "You'd better be able to keep your mouth shut, Norian Keef."

* * *

Norian watched Lissa carefully. He'd gotten the information, all right. The memoirs of the man who'd held the office of President when Lissa disappeared had been copied and placed carefully back in the archives before he was done, and then he'd placed a few well-planned questions here and there among the vampires who'd come to Le-Ath Veronis from Earth.

The windfall had come from her personal guard, who threatened Norian afterward. Norian now knew about Lissa's childhood; he'd gone to pull those records himself. He didn't blame Rolfe for making the threat—Lissa needed to be protected in that way. Norian was the only person inside the ASD who held all that information, and it would stay with him. He understood the devastation of a cruel childhood all too well.

* * *

Norian was lost in thought for a few seconds and didn't seem concerned at all about the claw pointed in his direction. I let it slide back in. "Here we go, boss," Lendill had been working to get the required information, oblivious of what had passed between Norian and me. Norian turned to see what Lendill had. We found records of seven repairs made in the sewers citywide, so we set out to check every stinking (in the literal sense) one of them.

Why is it that the thing you're looking for is always at the last place on your list? As if you have to put in the effort before the reward comes. We found a second bomb, but this time we also found something else. This patch job was the biggest of all of them, so I misted inside and nearly gagged. Nine bodies, in addition to the bomb, lay inside a hastily excavated tomb. Bringing the bomb out first, I placed it beside its twin on Tykl before returning and misting the bloodied bodies out of their bricked-up hole. Norian and Lendill stared at one in particular.

"No way to know if he was in on this, or got too close and was killed as a result," Norian muttered angrily as they glared at one of their missing agents, now deceased. Lendill nodded at the assessment. The other bodies were dressed in various ways—some looked like maintenance workers; the others could have been anyone. The nametags and ID hadn't been removed from the maintenance workers, though—three men and one woman still wore their city-issued identification. One of the nine was Norian's agent, so that left four others whom we couldn't identify.

"Lissa, can you take these to the city morgue?" Norian asked me.

"Yeah, I can take them there. How are we going to explain this?"

"We have someone there," Norian replied enigmatically. Lendill called somebody on his communicator and passed along information, then supplied directions. I gathered all the bodies as mist, then lifted Norian and Lendill. Someone met us on the loading dock behind the city morgue with nine body bags. Norian, Lendill and I helped get the bodies inside the bags then hauled them inside.

The agent who met us was barely five-four and nearly balding, with a round face. He looked to be the physician type to me. Norian then got on his communicator and I figured he was contacting somebody at Charter Headquarters. If anybody ran the Alliance, it was the Founder and the Charter Members. They had their own staff, seldom came to Conclaves and cast their votes from remote locations. Must be nice to be them.

All of us were covered in blood and muck after the bodies had been stored in refrigerated boxes, so Norian finished filing his report quickly. We left the morgue employee behind and walked roughly two blocks before I turned to mist again, getting us back to ASD headquarters as swiftly as I could. The smell of rotting bodies clung to my clothes and skin and I wanted it gone.

"Go ahead and get a shower," Norian pointed Lendill and me toward the two shower cubicles. "I have a few more people to speak with." I was happy to get into the shower as quickly as I could—the scent of death was making me gag.

At least the showers had doors that shut and afforded a little privacy. I came out after a while, clean, dressed in my PJs and a robe and combing out my hair. Norian was still waiting outside—I'd deliberately showered quickly so Norian could get his bath if he wanted. He nodded to me and went inside.

I'd brought a couple of books on comp-vid with me, so I settled down to read for a while. "I thought you'd be asleep," Lendill observed after stepping out of the shower wearing a bathrobe. At least he had some modesty—Norian didn't seem to own any.

"I will be before long," I answered his question while covering a yawn. Lendill nodded and went toward his cubicle—it was the last one, just past Norian's sleeping spot. I tapped a bookmark in place between digital pages and snapped off the light above my bed. At least the beds were wide and comfortable—I couldn't fault the Alliance over that, even if they did need to learn a few things about privacy.

* * *

An unusual scent greeted my nostrils the following morning, and I was trying to puzzle it out in my mind before opening my eyes. I stretched beneath the covers—it's always a good idea to work the kinks out of muscles before rising. The covers felt heavy for some reason—heavier than they had the night before. I managed to crack open my right eye and when I did, I found myself staring into the eyes of a huge snake resting on top of me. If my scenting skills hadn't given me information there at the last second, I might have killed the snake before shrieking and misting off the bed, which would have been disastrous.

Chapter 5

My hands were shaking and I was trembling head to heels as I slid down the wall of my cubicle. It took several seconds to convince my voice to work as I watched the huge snake rise up in my bed and spread his hood, much like a cobra might. Only this hood appeared to be fringed with tiny, hair-like points. This snake was at least twelve feet in length and nine inches in diameter at the widest point. "Norian Keef," I managed to gasp eventually, "change back this instant. I could have killed you, you stupid schmuck!"

Norian was giving me his widest grin yet as he materialized on my bed, completely naked. "Now see," he chuckled, "you're the first woman I've ever met who worried that she might kill me instead of the other way around."

"You couldn't discuss this over breakfast or something? You had to crawl into my bed? And what kind of snake is that, anyway?" I was still trying to catch my breath and keep my body from shivering.

"A lion snake," Norian replied casually, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. A lion snake. A fucking lion snake. Only the most poisonous snake in the known universes. He might have killed me while I slept.

"No, breah-mul, I would never do that," Norian must have seen the realization flash across my face. Well, it was all fine and good to say that. Another thing to actually do it, or in this case, not do it. "I understand the trust issue; I have it myself," he went on when I didn't say anything. "My kind have our own form of compulsion and there are few who have discovered what I am that still remember. You are the one who I cannot make to forget, so you will have to keep my secrets as well."