It had been one of the few times Dmitri had come down hard on him, managing to drum it into his head that Lijuan and the others in the Cadre were dangerous. He’d never forget what Naasir had said to him when Dmitri yelled that he didn’t intend to bury another child and that Naasir needed to have a care for his life.
“Am I a person, Dmitri? Will you be sad if I die?”
Hardened and cruel though he’d become, the innocent question had shaken him. “Yes,” he’d said, as honest in his answer as Naasir had been in his question. “You are a person. You are Naasir. I’ll lose a piece of me if you die and it’s a piece I’ll never get back.”
Naasir had stared at him for a long time before coming over to hug him. “Okay, Dmitri. I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was a person before.”
As a result of the fact that Naasir had grown up under Dmitri’s care, their relationship was unlike the relationship he had with the others in the Seven. Naasir still obeyed his every order, still asked him questions a child might ask a father. Dmitri often thought the sliver of humanity that had survived in him until he found Honor, had survived because of the tiny, feral boy with silver eyes who had pelted out to see him when he returned to the Refuge after an absence.
The same way Misha had run to him after his trips to the market.
It had torn his heart to pieces each time Naasir did the same, but Dmitri had caught him in his arms without fail, unable to bruise the spirit of the wild boy who didn’t know that Dmitri was meant to be without heart, without hope.
That boy had never lost his delight in his favorite game.
These days, Naasir liked to sneak into cities and territories. Not only did the penchant make him the best scout in Raphael’s forces, but Naasir’s abilities were an excellent test of a city’s defenses. The fact that it amused him was a bonus.
Coming down to the carpet in a movement as graceful as a cat’s, the vampire who wasn’t quite a vampire grabbed a large plate that held an entire chicken. “The sentry on the building with the blue lights almost caught me,” he said, ripping off a drumstick after sniffing at the meat and making a face. “She’s good.”
“Do we have holes in our defenses? If so, they have to be immediately plugged.”
“Only if the scout is someone better than me.”
Dmitri relaxed. Naasir’s skills at covert infiltration were unmatched, part of the reason he’d led the small team of saboteurs during the battle. “I just received a message from Janvier.” It had come in while he spoke to Aodhan about angelkind’s inability to comprehend certain truths. “He’s heading this way.” The news, the vampire had indicated, was bad.
“Is his hunter with the Cajun?”
“Not tonight.”
Having finished off the drumstick, Naasir crunched the bone in a way that made Illium and Dmitri both wince. “One day,” Illium said, “you’re going to get a bone shard stuck in your gullet.”
Naasir shrugged and tore off the other leg. “Let’s play chess.”
“Last time we played chess,” Illium replied dryly, “you threw the pieces out a Refuge window and down into the gorge.”
“I’m better at it now.” Naasir growled, but it wasn’t anger, simply an emphasis on his words. “Caliane is trying to civilize me.”
Having accepted the piece of meat Naasir held out, like a lion sharing with his pride, Illium said, “How is that progressing?”
Naasir gave some meat to Aodhan, too. He never did that with Dmitri because, in his mind, Dmitri was another predator who would be insulted by the offer. Dmitri wondered if Illium and Aodhan realized Naasir saw them as younger cubs who had to be fed by the top predator. He was the same with Venom. Not Jason or Galen, though. Jason, like Dmitri, had been an adult while Naasir was a child. Galen wasn’t that much older than Naasir in angelic terms, but the two had never known one another as children.
“I told Caliane that trying to civilize me is like trying to civilize a jungle cat,” Naasir said with a shrug. “We pretend to like people until we get hungry and want fresh meat.” A glance around, a glint in his eye. “I honestly do like you all. I haven’t thought about eating you for at least two centuries.”
Aodhan looked at the vampire. “I am relieved,” he said in a tone as serious as Naasir’s.
“Really, Sparkle?” Naasir moved out of the way with quicksilver speed before Aodhan’s very well-aimed bishop would’ve hit him dead smack in the center of his forehead, the vampire’s laughter as wild and gleeful as when he’d been a boy who’d managed to startle Dmitri by grabbing on to his leg under the desk.
Dmitri was rescuing the bishop when Janvier appeared in the doorway. Naasir hauled him into a back-slapping hug, the younger vampire returning the embrace as enthusiastically. When they drew apart, Naasir took a sniff of Janvier. “You smell of our hunter. Where is she?”
“Resting.” Janvier’s smile faded. “I have some bad news.”
13
Ashwini knew she should stay home, sleep, but her body wasn’t hurting, while her heart was in agony. After giving Janvier the holster she’d had made for him, she waited until he’d driven off before she left her apartment building again, having arranged to borrow a car from her doorman’s cousin as she’d done a couple of times before. She figured the money might as well go to a young couple raising a family as to a rental place.
“Thanks,” she said when the stocky blond handed over the keys. “I was planning to jump on the subway to your place, but Nic told me you were already on your way.”
“I needed the drive and it wasn’t like I was asleep.” Yawning, the twentysomething male stretched, bones popping one after another. “Anyway, I better get back home before my wife decides to divorce me for leaving her alone with the baby.” A good-natured laugh. “The lungs on her come from her ma, no doubt about it.”
Ashwini frowned when he turned to head to the nearest subway station. “Hop in with me,” she said. “I’ll drop you off on my way out.”
He scratched his head. “You sure? You paid for it fair and square—more than fair.”
“It won’t take me out of my way,” she lied. “The company would be nice.”
“In that case, I won’t say no.”
He was good company. Easygoing and besotted with his wife and baby both. Listening to him patter on about the two of them distracted her for the time it took to drive him back to his apartment building. Once there, she saw him stop in front of the stoop to wave up at the silhouette of a woman in a third-story window, her arms rocking a baby.