Keziah was lounging in her chair, ostentatiously relaxed, but her gaze was intent. Amira had ducked back into her sister’s shadow. Thaddeus had his big hands curled over the arms of his chair, ready to move. His lips were drawn back in a silent snarl. Natividad couldn’t guess what he might do if there was a fight, except that his wife still stood with by her side, her arm around her shoulders, and Natividad knew that DeAnn would no more stand by and let Grayson hurt Miguel than she would herself. But Grayson wouldn’t anyway, she was suddenly confident of that. No, the one at risk was Alejandro.
Alejandro took two steps out to the middle of the room, until he stood right beside Miguel. Then he set his hand on his brother’s shoulder, took a hard breath, let it out, and sank down to one knee. He didn’t bow his head, but he didn’t look Grayson in the face, either. He said, “Master.”
The tension in the room eased. Thaddeus leaned back in his chair, his shoulders relaxing and his expression smoothing out. Keziah raised an elegant eyebrow. Ezekiel’s watchfulness didn’t change at all. Grayson stared hard at Alejandro.
“Master,” Alejandro said again, finally lowering his head submissively.
Grayson tipped his head back in satisfaction, the fire in his eyes ebbing. “Stay down,” he growled at Alejandro, and glanced around the room. He looked back at Miguel last of all. “What else can this enemy of ours do? Now that he has pulled down that church, can he come against us here with new power?”
“I don’t know,” Miguel said. He hadn’t gotten back to his feet. Natividad thought that was probably a good thing.
“Will he come against us here? Or against your sister, perhaps? One hardly believes he has yet achieved his aim here.”
“I don’t know,” Miguel said again.
Grayson turned to Natividad. “Vonhausel’s purposeful destruction of your mandala and the church that anchored it, even at considerable risk to himself; and the wide slaughter he attempted in Lewis: those acts are explicable if we stipulate that by this destruction he gains or enhances his ability to work demonic magic. Magic, in some measure, similar to vampiric magic, and thus threatened by the clean magic of the Pure. Even Vonhausel’s determination to destroy Dimilioc is consistent with this hypothesis, for, as we have at last rid ourselves of vampires and the blood kin, he must guess that we would never permit a black dog to use any similar undead magic.”
“Yes, sir,” Natividad said shakily, since he seemed to expect a response.
“You know the things your mother taught you. Consider what you might do for us. You may wish,” Grayson growled, “to discuss this with your brother.”
“Yes, sir,” Natividad whispered.
“You have a plan, I suppose,” Keziah said, smoothly, to Grayson. “I trust it does not entirely depend on this little Pure girl single-handedly defeating our enemies and saving us all.”
The Master glowered, not at Keziah, but at Natividad. “Certainly if Malvern Vonhausel particularly wants you, he had better not get you.” He looked deliberately around the room once more, compelling everyone’s close attention. “However, I believe Vonhausel does suffer from one important disadvantage, which we may use. He cannot trust any of his followers. They are strays and curs, neither trained nor accustomed to any civilized standard. He cannot allow any of his black dogs to control his moon-bound shifters: any to whom he gave such power would immediately turn against him. He must either free the shifters to run as they will, or he must keep them gathered close about him and rule them himself. Ezekiel?”
Ezekiel gave a lazy smile. “He would sooner kill them himself than release them. To him, they are tools for his use, weapons to his hand – and weapons which might be turned against him if one or another of his followers were ambitious.” The young executioner paused.
Natividad found herself trading a meaningful glance with Miguel. Her twin had cautiously gotten back to his feet but stayed beside Alejandro, who had not moved and did not look up. But they did not need their brother to explain to them that all of Vonhausel’s stray black dogs must be ambitious to bring him down, either to rule in his place or just to get free of the constraints he imposed on them. That was what stray black dogs were like.
Grayson rumbled quietly, “Yet holding so many shifters under his constant rule must require a great deal of his attention. I believe we may safely assume that Vonhausel will find the remaining time of the full moon difficult. Yet this is also the only time he may use his full strength against us.” He lifted heavy eyebrows at Miguel.