His other concern, of course, was obsidian flame.
He’d decided to shift his strategy just a little and try one last time to eliminate the triad as a force in the upcoming confrontations. All he needed to do to solve this problem was to render Grace harmless, and he’d formed a plan that might just work. But he thought he’d check it out with Stannett first. Maybe the future streams could give him an edge on this one. That’s all he needed, just a slight edge.
He called down to Stannett. “Are you ready?”
Stannett unloosened his hands and met Greaves’s gaze. “Yes, master.”
“Good. I want you to search for a time when I’m alone with Grace and I want to know where and when.”
Stannett nodded. The women on either side of him tensed almost at the same time, then relaxed one by one. How many times Greaves had wished that he had Seer ability. Given his level of ambition, he’d always felt it a cruel trick of fate that he’d been denied the gift. Ah, well.
No more than a minute later, Stannett opened his eyes and smiled. “I found Grace alone and unprotected in Diallo’s Seattle courtyard garden. You were speaking very tenderly to her with all the gifts in your power. You were offering her things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Nothing that couldn’t be withdrawn should necessity dictate, things like world peace. She was falling beneath your spell, despite the fact that she is already breh-bonded to Leto, a sign of your power, no doubt. For that reason, I pulled back, getting a larger bird’s-eye view until I could see into the lane near the house.
“The vision expanded, and I could see Leto battling more of your Third Earth death vampires in that location.”
“Good.” Greaves actually smiled. “Was Casimir visible?”
“Unfortunately, that’s when the vision ended.”
“And when does all this take place?”
“Sometime this evening, though I couldn’t ascertain the hour. But it’s not yet dawn in the region. In fact, it didn’t even feel close to midnight.” He frowned slightly.
“What is it?”
“It would follow that you have already been planning this kind of tactic, but what do you intend to do with her?”
“It’s simple. I want to disrupt her thinking and have her return with me to Geneva.”
“Where you will have more Third Earth death vampires waiting?”
Greaves smiled. “Of course.”
He then issued orders to continue searching the future streams for signs of the colonies or of anything having to do with obsidian flame.
Hopeful once more, he dematerialized to his Estrella compound, where he chose from among his most powerful Third Earth death vampires. He suspected Casimir would intervene again, but it didn’t matter. Greaves just needed to distract Leto for the few minutes he would require to take control of Grace’s mind.
Casimir waited near Leto, still invisible. The forest had grown quiet. He glanced up at the night sky, barely visible beyond the layer of mist that Endelle had built to cover the colony.
He sighed. He understood why he’d been given this job: He understood Greaves’s mind better than anyone. Greaves didn’t have a conscience, and until recently, Casimir hadn’t had one, either. So how could Leto, with his hypersensitivity to right and wrong, ever truly know how devious Greaves could be?
His instincts were humming a warning tune. He made himself visible to Leto, which caused the warrior to take a step back. “What the fuck? Why didn’t I see a shimmering?”
“I’ve been here since you folded down to the colony. I can go invisible, or did you not know that?”
He scratched his chin with the edge of his thumb. “I keep forgetting that you’re even around. So what’s going on?”
“I have an uneasy feeling that Greaves is about to shake things up again.”
Leto looked up at the dome of mist and frowned. “Even with such a strong cloak over the colony?”
“Yeah, even with all this.”
Leto looked up at the house. “Gideon cleaned up the death vamps in and around the house. Grace is there now, in the courtyard. I’d say there are three squads of Militia Warriors in there now.”
“She should be all right then.”
Another squad of warriors reported to Leto, and he directed them into the south pastures. “Make sure there isn’t a wounded death vampire hiding in any of the haystacks, barns, or fields.”
The men took off. Leto planted his hands on his hips and looked up and down the lane. Casimir followed his gaze. What did the warrior see? What was he looking for? Was this who Patience was? Always looking for the enemy, trying to get one step ahead.