Master of Darkness by Susan Sizemore

it to humans.”
    â€œThat’s different. It’s for humans’ own good,” he added, trying to remember his role.
    This brought a snort of derision. “Are you Clan people really as noble as your PR claims? We’re in a hurry. All you have to do is read his surface thoughts. Make him tell us what he knows about Dawn, then we’ll let him go.”
    â€œI’m lying right here,” the Hydra rasped. “Ask me anything.”
    â€œI want truth,” Eden said.
    â€œGet these sticks out of me,” the Hydra said to Laurent. “The silver burns.”
    Laurent didn’t know why he was reluctant to probe the other vampire’s thoughts. The Hydra was weak, helpless to defend himself.
    Justinian would have ripped open an enemy vampire’s mind without any compunction; Laurent had watched him do it. He’d felt the madness descend on Justinian’s victim as well. He’d been told he was weak for feeling sorry for the victims, and it was true. Pity was weakness. Compassion was weakness.
    Indifference—now, that was an acceptable survival trait. He managed indifference quite well most of the time.
    The Hydra was staring at him, his expression full of pain, but also calculation.
    â€œWhat?” Laurent asked.
    â€œDon’t I know you?”
    He recognized the other vampire now; a scumbag with the unfortunate name of Roswald. They weren’t well acquainted, but they had worked a couple of smuggling operations together many decades ago.
    Laurent stepped quickly away from Eden.
    â€œYou’re no—” Roswald began as Laurent knelt beside him.
    Laurent put his hand over the vampire’s mouth. “Silence.” He leaned close and whispered in the Hydra’s ear. “Rat me out, and you’re dead.”
    He stared into the other vampire’s eyes while the earth rolled inexorably toward sunrise. Itseemed to take hours before the other vampire acknowledged Laurent’s dominance by looking away.
    How you doing, Wally?
Laurent asked, entering the other’s mind.
    The Hydra offered no resistance.
Been better. What are you doing with the monkey bitch?
    Working a scam
.
    Ah. I see. This really hurts
.
    You taking this Dawn drug? Or is the sun going to wreck your complexion in a few minutes?
    The jolt of fear that went through Roswald told Laurent that the other vampire wasn’t a user.
    Are you a dealer, then? A smart dealer doesn’t use his own product
.
    It doesn’t work that way,
Wally answered.
You know the drill with our kind
.
    â€œSounds like somebody hasn’t given him permission to use Dawn,” Laurent told Eden.
    It was hard to communicate verbally while he was touching another mind, but Eden was anxiously waiting for information.
    â€œHow does he get permission?” she asked.
    â€œBy killing the hunter that’s after his boss,” Laurent answered.
Right?
he asked Roswald.
    â€œRight,” Roswald answered aloud.
    â€œWho is your boss?” Eden asked the prisoner. “Where do we find him?”
    Can I lie to her?
Roswald asked Laurent.
    Fine with me
.
    Even as Laurent answered the verbal thought, he slipped deeper into the other vampire’s mind. He found out the truth about who was in charge of the drug dealing, and other pertinent details. Maybe he did it for the challenge, maybe he did it because the information might prove valuable to him.
    He suspected he did it because Eden wanted him to.
    Which was not a good reason at all. Playing into the hands of the good guys was not profitable. Or safe. Or sane.
    The safe and sane thing would be to keep the knowledge to himself as a card to play, when and if he needed it for his own sake.
    Remember that
, he told himself, and stepped away from Roswald.
    â€œYou can let him go now,” he told Eden.
    â€œBut—”
    â€œI said you would if he talked. You did hurt him.”
    â€œHe was trying to kill me!”
    â€œHe