“Who did you expect to be there?”

Her sly smile widened. “Now you begin to ask the important questions. I expected only Immanuel, Joseph, and me.”

“Why only the three of you?” And then I got it. “Oh.” To Eli, I said, “Immanuel’s modus operandi. He took power by drinking down vamps with more power than he had. He had gone away tasting like one thing and he came back tasting like something else. Like a skinwalker. I bet once he realized that he could be identified as a fraud by his blood, he quit letting people who had drunk from him in the past drink from him again.”

Bethany said nothing, her fingers stroking the bracelet like it was a cat. Like it was alive.

“Was there a coup d’état in the works against Leo’s uncle, the Master of the City at the time?”

“My little skinwalker is gaining in insight and wisdom and treachery,” Bethany said, which I took as a yes.

“Did Leo know of it?” Had he been involved in this? Did he have more knowledge than he had let on?

“No. My Leo was always loyal, if foolish and naive.”

“Was Immanuel, Leo’s son, behind the planning of the coup d’état?”

Bethany swiveled, leaned forward, and lay across the bed on her stomach, her bare butt arched up and bare feet in the air, her ankles crossed, her eyes avid on me. “The skinwalker is truly treacherous, like a cat with a mouse, its small screams piercing.” She licked her lips in what looked like anticipation as she answered more than I had asked. “Leo would never hear evil of his beloved son, his murderous and traitorous son, who tried to kill his uncle.”

Something cold and certain moved deep within me, and I asked, “You and Immanuel went to Joseph Santana to try to get him on your side?” Bethany nodded. I asked, “Maybe you offered to swear allegiance to Joseph if he’d help Immanuel?”

Bethany’s lips parted and she breathed out a soft sigh. “Old betrayals. Ancient strategies that came to naught. We had an agreement. We had bought property together. But that night when we went to share blood and join together, Adrianna was there with her little paramour.” Bethany’s face pulled down. “They ruined everything.”

I put it together in a rush. “Joseph had agreed to work against Amaury, but turned on you to work with them. They beat you to it. Did the Son of Darkness agree to work with Adrianna and the Barbie?”

“I do not know what barbie is.” She looked confused. “Santana refused us.”

“And while you were there, with Immanuel and Adrianna and her scion, a fight broke out.”

“Question,” Wrassler said, and I rephrased the sentence.

“Yesss.”

“And the necklace worn by Joseph Santana broke and the dragon went free? Biting the Son of Darkness on its way out? Biting Immanuel? And . . . Ohhh.” Understanding rose within me. “Biting you.”

“Yesss . . . ,” she hissed softly, a look of near joy on her face. “Though there was little poison left in the creature.”

I didn’t add, And everyone it bit went insane, but it was a near thing. Because it was true. Santana became a gibbering bag of bones hanging on a wall. Immanuel became u’tlun’ta. Liver-eater. Spear-finger. Bethany got less poison from the bite, but she later drank from Santana, getting more poison, enough to go insane, and she was still crazy. And Adrianna had probably been weirder than usual ever since too. Holy crap. It had to have been a long time after the SoD was hung on the walls of HQ before Leo and his pals drank from him, long enough to have muted the poison in his blood. But that poison, shared through blood from vamp to vamp . . .

I didn’t know what it might mean, but it couldn’t be good.

I said, “Who killed Barb—the scion of Adrianna?”

“Immanuel.”

“Why?”

“She staked him.” Bethany shrugged again. “He was defending himself.”

“Did you bring him to Leo as well as Joseph Santana when they were injured?”

“Yes. And Leo protected his son, while Amaury took the other prisoner. I thought to heal the Son of Darkness. I drank of him, though he was raving, and gave him of my blood. I do not remember aught else of that time.” She lifted her index finger. “I am done. There will be no more questions. No more answers. I am hungry and sleepy and”—she looked at Wrassler—“and I desire a partner. Find a human to spend time with me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And send these away.” Bethany curled into a fetal position, her face turned to the wall, one hand still stroking the gold bracelet.

We left her bizarre quarters and returned to the main entrance, not speaking, Eli letting me absorb the information that Bethany had provided. She had given me facts, but I understood a lot more than she had suggested. I understood what Immanuel was and why he had become a liver-eater. I understood what Santana had wanted, and how he, and his blood, combined with the bite of the arcenciel, and the taste of Immanuel’s blood, had poisoned all of the Mithrans of New Orleans so long ago. Probably making them less sane and more emotional and more reactive, more passionate and less rational as the blood of the bitten Son of Darkness and the bitten u’tlun’ta passed through them, one by one.

Santana had planned to take over as chief fanghead of the United States, starting with Amaury Pellissier. I was betting he still wanted that, and with his insanity decreasing with the ingestion of so much fresh, healthy blood, and so many years gone by to leech out the poisons, he was probably going to go for it again.

Layers upon layers, plot atop scheme atop conspiracy. The vamp way. My way of life now, until I settled things there, served out my contract, and left. And I would never, ever know enough to predict anything. I’d always be flying by the seat of my pants, because vamps’ hidden histories held all the informational treasure. That and Reach’s files. I pulled up the business number and punched CALL.

“Wise Ass,” Alex said. Yellowrock Securities. YS pronounced as only a teenaged boy would, but only when he saw our number on his screen. That had been made plain.

“Did Reach know anything about the night that Joseph Santana was taken? I ask because it goes back to what Satan’s Three knew and what they might have passed along to Adrianna. And Dominique. And combined with the info Leo gave us, it might tell us where Santana is now.” I thought for half a second and added, “I remember from the land deeds there was property in Barataria. That was where Immanuel had property before I killed him.”