His cell door opened. Xiu stepped inside. She appeared unarmed, but Joseph was not fooled. He stood, holding his ground, watching her face, studying her mind. He found nothing helpful. All he knew for certain was that she was not a vampire, but that was little comfort.
Xiu was pretty. Her face, however, lacked Six's blunt honesty—and bet eyes held a sly light that he disliked immediately. Not straight or true; he felt her cruel streak the moment he looked at her.
Joseph? Six's tentative voice filled his head, surprising him. What is happening?
Hold on, he said, wary. I don't know yet.
I am coming, she said immediately.
Xiu stepped deeper into the cell. It was small; her movements brought her quite close. Again, Joseph refused to back away. Small defiance. He knew it was not worth much.
"Hello, stranger," murmured the woman. "That is your name, yes?"
"If you like," he said, pouring power into his voice, hoping to hook her. He did not. His power slid over her mind, washing off so easily that for a moment he wondered if he had any kind of gift at all.
"Stranger, stranger," said the woman again. "How interesting that you are here."
"Very interesting," he replied carefully, even more wary now. "I don't quite understand the reason why."
"Treason," she said easily. "Aiding and abetting men who wish to destroy this country and take precious lives."
"I've done nothing of the sort."
"You are calling me a liar, then?" Xiu smiled. "No need to waste your energy on denials. I know what you are. I know who you are."
Joseph said nothing. This was not a fight he could win. Not like this. He pushed harder with his mind, skin puckering with the sudden chill, a side effect. He drew more energy from the room—energy that was heat—and continued searching for a way into Xiu's thoughts.
A process interrupted when she cold-cocked him in the face. Her fist moved fast—his only warning was her blatant emotion, and he was able to twitch backward, a flinch. The movement saved his teeth, but his nose flashed pain. He tasted blood, felt the hot dripping rush from his nostrils.
Xiu hit him again. He tried to fight back, but the odds were so uneven he might as well have been trying to take a swing with his arms and legs cut off. He could not even entertain the idea of biting her ankles. She was simply too fast, too strong; like Six, training so long and hard that fighting was the same as breathing.
So he took the risk. He had to. He opened his mouth and began to chant. Low soft tones, a rumbling roar as soft as distant thunder. The language of his grandparents, of the steppes and endless skies. Vocalizing was unnecessary when using his powers—language was not the same as will—but it made a difference to his strength, his focus.
Except nothing happened. Joseph could not reach inside her heart. A barrier stood around her spirit, with not even a tendril free to control. She might as well have been made of stone.
Xiu stood back from him, smiling. "Now this is quite interesting. A puzzle."
Joseph stopped chanting. His throat hurt. "Who are you?"
"Just a girl," Xiu said, but there was something in her forced giggle that was so not girlish, so much a parody, that Joseph took another hard look at the edges of her mind, and found something so startling—and so obvious—he wanted to slip his head underneath her boot for an added stamp of stupidity.
"You are not Xiu," Joseph said, slowly standing, swaying.
"Not Xiu," said the woman, pursing her lips. "But Xiu enough, I think. Enough to get close to you, Joseph Besud. And to certain information I need."
Joseph shut his eyes. He could feel the possession, now that he knew what to look for. Another mind, layered over the woman's. A natural barrier, made by virtue of there being one too many people inside a single body.
"So you're the new hire," Joseph said. "All of this, to help terrorists murder people."
"All of this," said the possessed woman, "to help myself. You aren't much of a necromancer, are you?"
"Enough of one that you want me dead."
"That was part of the bargain struck with the vampires. Nothing more."
Liar, Joseph thought. Xiu smiled. "Professional secrets, Mr. Besud. You cannot blame me for wanting to be the only man of my kind. To be honest, I never thought about what that would mean until I was introduced to this latest opportunity."
Joseph shook his head. "Who the hell are you?"
"No one," Xiu said, her voice taking on an odd multitonal quality inside his mind. "No one you need to be concerned about any longer." She leaned forward, her smile turning sly. "Nor do you need to be worried about Six and her imminent transformation. I have plans for that one."