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Professor Dresner answered, her voice laced with surprise. “I didn’t expect to hear from you tonight. Did Aden cancel your appointment?”
    “No, I suppose you could call what we had a meeting, but a very unsatisfactory one. I’ve never dealt with such an arrogant—”
    Dresner interrupted her with a laugh. “Oh, my dear. They’re all like that, the more powerful the vampire, the more arrogant he’ll be. And, yes, they can seem rude, though I’m not sure they see it that way. I think they simply have no time for the slow thought processes of a lesser species.”
    “Lesser  . . . you mean us?”
    “Humans, yes. You must have gathered by now that they don’t consider themselves human anymore, but rather something superior, more evolved.”
    “And yet they need us lesser types to survive.”
    “As we need cows and chickens, my dear.”
    Sid scowled. She hadn’t thought of it exactly that way and didn’t particularly care to. “It would serve him right if I wrote an article on him instead of Klemens and his criminal network.”
    Dresner’s response was instant and surprisingly prim. “I don’t think—”
    “Don’t worry. I already got that lecture from Aden. No writing stories about secret vampire stuff, or at least not the challenge, which is the only thing I know about him.”
    “No,” Dresner said, still sounding a bit stiff, but clearly trying not to. “I would imagine he wouldn’t like that. Vampires are very secretive about their society. It’s why I was so surprised you managed to get an invitation to their challenge gala. Although, as I said before, there are always a certain number of attractive humans invited to these things for obvious reasons.”
    “Yeah, there were a lot of those reasons going on in the corners by the time I left the party last night.”
    Dresner’s mood swung to a delighted laugh so quickly, it made Sid’s head spin. “I can imagine,” she giggled, sounding far more girlish that she ever should.
    That was one thing Sid found rather uncomfortable about the good professor. She didn’t only study vampires, she seemed enamored of them. And though Dresner had never said as much, Sid was convinced that her vampire expert had “donated” blood on more than one occasion.
    Sid winced as the professor’s giggle finally trailed off. “Well,” she said, feeling uncomfortable. “Anyway, as I was saying, I’d barely begun to tell Aden what I was there for, when he got a phone call from someone named Bastien. I think that must be his assistant, the guy who met me at the elevator.”
    “His lieutenant, you mean, and he’s far more important than you might think. His full name is Sebastien Dufort. His friends call him Bastien.”
    “Lieutenant, gotcha. I don’t know what he said, but Aden told him they were leaving immediately, then hustled me out of there.”
    Professor Dresner made a noise that sounded suspiciously like disappointment. Had she been hoping for tales of Sid’s adventures in vampire debauchery? But when the professor spoke, it was to ask something else entirely. “He didn’t say where he was going?”
    “No,” Sid responded drily. “He barely said good-bye. But I overheard one of the guys on the phone on my way out. Maybe Bastien, I don’t know, but he was saying something about Silas. Whatever that is.”
    “Not a what, a who,” Dresner said absently. There was a pause during which Sid could hear her shuffling something on the other end, then she said, “I’m sorry, dear, I’ve just received a message, and I have to respond to this. Different time zone, you understand.”
    “Oh, of course. I didn’t mean to interrupt. By the way, Aden asked me to come back tomorrow night—ordered me actually, but—shall I call you?”
    “Please do. I hate to rush, but I really must go.”
    “Okay, I’ll talk—” But she was already gone. Sid frowned at the phone, then shrugged philosophically. Dresner was an odd duck, but a useful one. Sid tucked