Victor gave me a small bow. "Always a pleasure, Rose.' Robert merely stared off into space again. Nice to know some things never changed.
"What do you want?' I demanded.
"You know what we want. We're here to help you help Vasilisa.' I didn't believe that for an instant. Victor had some scheme in mind, but my hope was to capture him before he could do any further damage. He studied me expectantly. "Have you found the other Dragomir yet?'
I stared incredulously. "It's only been a day!' I almost had to redo my math on that one. It felt more like ten years. Nope. Only a day since I'd last spoken to Victor.
"And?' Victor asked. "And, how good do you think we are?'
He considered. "Pretty good.'
"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but it's not as easy as it seems. And actually ... considering what a cover-up this has all been, it really doesn't seem easy at all.'
"But you have found something?' Victor pressed.
I didn't answer.
An eager gleam lit his eyes, and he took a step forward. I promptly took one back. "You have found something.'
"Maybe.' Again, I had the same indecision as before. Did Victor, with all his scheming and manipulating, know something that could help us? Last time, he'd given me nothing, but now we had more information. What had he said? If we found a thread, he could unravel it?
"Rose.' Victor was speaking to me like I was a child, as he often did to Robert. It made me scowl. "I told you before: It doesn't matter if you trust me or my intentions. For now, we're both interested in the same short-term goal. Don't let future worries ruin your chance here.'
It was funny, but that was similar to the principle I'd operated on for most of my life. Live in the now. Jump right in and worry about the consequences later. Now, I hesitated and tried to think things over before making a decision. At last, I chose to take the risk, again hoping Victor might be able to help.
"We think the mother ... the mother of Lissa's brother or sister ... is related to Sonya Karp.' Victor's eyebrows rose. "You know who that is?'
"Of course. She turned Strigoi--allegedly because she went insane. But we both know it was a little more complicated than that.'
I nodded reluctantly. "She was a spirit user. No one knew.'
Robert's head whipped around so fast that I nearly jumped. "Whos a spirit user?'
"Former spirit user,' said Victor, instantly switching to soothing mode. "She became a Strigoi to get away from it.'
The sharp focus Robert had directed toward the two of us melted into soft dreaminess once more. "Yes ... always a lure to that ... kill to live, live to kill. Immortality and freedom from these chains, but oh, what a loss ...'
They were crazy ramblings, but they had an eerie similarity to some of the things Adrian said sometimes. I didn't like that at all. Trying to pretend Robert wasn't in the room, I turned back to Victor. "Do you know anything about her? Who she's related to?'
He shook his head. "She has a large family.'
I threw up my hands in exasperation. "Could you be any more useless? You keep acting like you know so much, but you're just telling us what we've already found out! You aren't helping!'
"Help comes in many forms, Rose. Have you found Sonya?'
"Yes.' I reconsidered. "Well, not quite. We know where she is. We're going to see her tomorrow and question her.'
The look on Victor's face spoke legions about how ridiculous he thought that was. "And I'm sure she'll be eager to help.'
I shrugged. "Dimitri's pretty persuasive.' "So I've heard,' said Victor. "But Sonya Karp isn't an impressionable teenager.' I sized up a punch but worried Robert might have his force field up again. Victor appeared oblivious to my anger. "Tell me where you are. We'll come to you.'
Once more, a dilemma. I didn't think there was much the brothers could do. But this might present an opportunity to recapture him. Besides, if we had him in person, maybe he'd stop interrupting my dreams.
"We're in Kentucky,' I said at last. "Paris, Kentucky.' I gave him what other info we had about the blue house.
"We'll be there tomorrow,' Victor said.
"Then where are you now--'
And just like last time, Robert ended the dream abruptly, leaving me hanging. What had I gotten myself into with them? Before I could consider it, I was immediately taken to another spirit dream. Good Lord. It really was deja vu. Everyone wanted to talk to me in my sleep. Fortunately, like last time, my second visit was from Adrian.
This one was in the ballroom where the Council had met. There were no chairs or people, and my steps echoed on the hard wood floor. The room that seemed so grand and powerful when in use now had a lonely, ominous feel.
Adrian stood near one of the tall, arched windows, giving me one of his roguish smiles when I hugged him. Compared to how dirty and bloody everything was in the real world, he seemed pristine and perfect.
"You did it.' I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "You got them to nominate Lissa.' After our last dream visit, when I'd realized there might be some merit to Victor's suggestion, I'd had to work hard to convince Adrian that the nomination idea was a good one-- particularly since I hadn't been sure myself.
"Yeah, getting that group on board was easy.' He seemed to like my admiration, but his face grew grimmer as he pondered my words. "She's not happy about it, though. Boy, she let us have it afterward.'
"I saw it. You're right that she doesn't like it--but it was more than that. It was spirit- darkness. I took some of it away, but yeah ... it was bad.' I remembered how taking her anger had caused it to flare up briefly in me. Spirit didn't hit me as hard as it did her-- but that was only temporary. Eventually, if I pulled enough over the years, it would take over. I caught hold of Adrian's hand and gave him as pleading a look as I could manage. "You've got to look after her. I'll do what I can, but you know as well as I do how stress and worry can agitate spirit. I'm afraid it'll come back like it used to. I wish I could be there to take care of her. Please--help her.'